Citibank and Visa have stolen the Costco relationship away American Express, which has been the exclusive card product at the wholesaler’s stores in the US for 16 years. Details of the deal have finally come out, and we can see just how badly Citi let itself get creamed to do so.
British Airways and Iberia disagree with the rest of the airlines of Europe over complaints about the 3 big Gulf carriers (their parent company is ~ 10% owned by Qatar, and prior to that BA sponsored Qatar into oneworld).
Of course BA and Iberia are joint business venture partners with American who is a prime driver of complaints.
Etihad has big ownership stakes in several European carriers, and Emirates is a huge Airbus operator which just signed a nearly $10 billion deal for new European engines. Things get even more complicated still..
American, British Airways, and BA’s ‘OpenSkies’ are matching cheap business class prices to Paris. The fares are hundreds of dollars cheaper than La Compagnie when stacking discounts. And you earn miles and status.
At under $1200 it’s one of the best non-mistake business class deals to Europe we’ve seen, available all summer and into early fall.
American has credit cards now issued by both Citibank and Barclays, and both come with 10% rebates on award redemptions. What happens when you redeem an award — and you have both cards? Here’s what happened to me yesterday.
Hillary Clinton flies United coach… but gets special ground service. Free miles for signing up for a frequent flyer program. How to spot a terrorist through their ticketing strategies. And more…
The end game in the US airlines’ war on the Gulf carriers is revealed — Delta’s CEO says that US government should step in to limit their ability to reduce prices. It’s all about limiting choice and raising airfares. Now who still stands behind the US airline position?
The airline industry’s lawyers and lobbyists continue to push the envelope for rights to utterly disregard their members. Some programs are worse than others in terms of their actual behavior, but here the industry as a whole contends there are no restraints at all on changes to mileage programs that might occur — no need for advance notice to members at all.
That is an untenable position, and it needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
A truly disgusting story, and I feel for this family, who found vomit at their seat. I’ve had similar things happen, and the airline handled things in real-time. United didn’t, they offered only that the family could travel the next day. United handled things badly, I think, but was the family really ‘forced’ into anything?
It may not be EVA Airways’ Hello Kitty, but it’s still awesome — the new Star Wars R2D2 livery for Japanese Star Alliance carrier ANA!
They sure know how to keep it cozy with industry over the office of the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
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 »
