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.
Since there’s no cost to participate, taking them up on the offer seems like an easy move to get Avis President’s Club and Radisson Hotels status which might be useful to match elsewhere. (And you can use Avis status to match to another rental car chain if you prefer that as well.)
In the fall, I was first to report that Southwest Airlines would end onboard service earlier, and make passengers stow their laptops earlier. This means less time where service is available on board, and as a result Southwest is cutting drink service entirely on some flights.
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.
At approximately 8:35 a.m. local time on Sunday, February 2, 2025, United Airlines Flight 1382 aborted its takeoff roll at Houston Bush Intercontinental airport. The Airbus A319, which was headed to New york LaGuardia, faced failure of the plane’s right engine. The crew rejected takeoff at high speed, slowed, and came to a stop on runway 15R.
I sometimes assume too much – airline miles are old hat to me, I’ve been traveling for work for 3 decades and writing about this space for 22 years. But when I start talking to people who are familiar, and earn plenty of points, even some of the starting points are new.
So I started thinking, what are the 10 basic lessons to share with someone just paying attention to miles and points for the first time? And this is the list I came up with.
U.S. and foreign airlines are granted anti-trust immunity all the time to collude on schedules and pricing, jointly deciding who will fly where and how much they’ll charge. The power the Department of Transportation has to allow this comes from an unusual, historical place, and its use has exploded in recent years.
The Sabena case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Sabena’s defense was that this was common practice in the industry. Airlines all denied it, and pointed fingers at other carriers including Pan Am and TWA as well as KLM and other foreign carriers flying across the North Atlantic. Ultimately a consent decree was entered into, and an Iberia executive was jailed for continuing the practice.
Perhaps nobody enjoyed the perks of using donated campaign cash on travel as much as the former one-term Senator from Arizona. Halfway through her term she became an independent. The expectation was she’d avoid a Democratic primary this way, since the once-liberal firebrand had moved to the center while in office. She had plenty of money on hands in her campaign coffers, and she kept spending it on travel – even as she was no longer campaigning.
Hotels are nickel and diming guests for things I never used to hear of their charging extra for. The Aloft hotel in McAllen, Texas reportedly billed a guest $80.50 for washcloths because she used them to remove makeup.
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 »
