A few commenters have argued that Visa charges more for foreign currency conversion than MasterCard — that a Visa with ‘no foreign currency conversion fees’ isn’t really because Visa marks up their exchange rate by 1%.
I’m testing this out on a few trips. I mentioned in the comments that I’m experimenting with comparisons, and I’ve had a couple of folks ask about the status of this in the comments and also by email, so I thought I’d provide an update.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Maybe you’re an ex-military pilot who led a sqaudron over Macho Grande and lost many men. You’ve vowed never to fly again. But you find yourself onboard a commercial jetliner with the cockpit crew knocked out after they’ve eaten the fish.
Or maybe you don’t have any flying experience at all, but you’ve got to safely land your airline’s 737 anyway.
Delta pilot Tim Morgan made a video explaining everything you’d need to from the moment you enter the cockpit.
A Tennessee man
Back in October a flight was delayed 11 hours after a passenger became unruly, stripped naked, and requested sex from a flight attendant. In May a man, angry at US Airways for overbooking his flight to Jamaica, stripped naked and walked around the Charlotte airport for an hour to protect the airline’s overbooking….
Hotel upgrades have a great deal of discretion. While rooms may be pre-assigned to guests, the front desk agent can usually make a decision (within certain bounds set by the hotel — the best suites may require a manager’s approval).
There are many reasons they might upgrade you — your status, because you’ve been dis-serviced in some way, because you tipped them. Here are the techniques that work.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Apparently a case of self-medicating with alcohol gone horribly wrong. A man on an Air India Boeing 787 flight to Birmingham, England was traveling with his 10 year old son. 40 minutes prior to landing he “removed his trousers and stood in the aisle. He pulled down his boxer shorts exposing his buttocks.”
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air Europa launched its own frequent flyer program, Suma in December.
Like Copa and United, Air Europa decided to build its own program rather than renting the loyalty engine of a larger partner carrier.
Initially at launch they were offering to status match Air France Flying Blue elites. I wrote at the time, “We’ll see, once people start registering and submitting requests, whether they’ll status match elites from other programs as well.”
With Delta’s Richard Anderson retiring, we lose the most cronyist airline CEO in the country, who seeks to use government to gain every possible advantage over competitors and sees taxpayers as his own bank account.
With his team simply being elevated, it’s possible that Delta stays this course. But there’s also an opening. And United may be looking to fill it. United successfully killed an effort to expand the ‘perimeter rule’ at Washington’s National airport from 1250 miles to 1475 miles. Because they don’t want competition to be allowed against their flights at Washington Dulles.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
