Back in the Fall I started to write about a legal case surrounding miles and points where I served as an expert witness. The case had concluded, and the attorney who engaged me gave me signoff to post about it, with my commitment not to include any names. At the time we both thought it would be a good idea for people to know the risks involving small business program accounts, because I know there are plenty of people who have opened accounts in the name of their company out there. Reader Jess asked me to come back to this, so I thought I’d lay out the story in broad strikes. Full disclosure: as an expert witness I was compensated for my time advising defense counsel and also for my time in court.
About Gary Leff
New Video Reviews of the Etihad A380 Residence and First Apartment
Etihad debuted the most over the top product offerings of any airline with the launch of their first Airbus A380. There’s the three room ‘Residence’, just one per flight that hosts two passengers (a living space, bedroom, and private bathroom) as well as the ‘First Apartment’ which is the most spacious first class seat in the sky. Put the First Apartment this way: Emirates has 4 suites across on the upper deck of their A380. Etihad has just 2 suites across, and a single aisle between them, on their upper deck of their A380. While you can book the Residence with Etihad’s own miles (and indeed, Etihad is a Citibank transfer partner), it’s not practical. But you can book the First Apartment with American miles. The first route was Abu Dhabi – London. Abu Dhabi…
San Diego Airport Lounge Access for (Almost) Everyone
The Airspace Lounge opened last summer. There are (4) ways to access the lounge, which encompasses pretty much everyone:
The Most Important Travel News and Advice From the Past Month
Whether it’s recapping the month’s news to get you caught up or passing along tips like “six tricks to get through to airline customer service when phone wait times are long” here’s the opportunity to learn what you missed in miles, points, and travel in February. Credit Card Rewards Advice Four rewards cards that deliver you the most value (and the card to get if you want just one) The card I don’t have… but would never give up if I did Data Shows What Credit Score You Need to Be Approved for the Best Rewards Card 50,000 Mile United Business Card Offer Now Publicly Available Your Miles and Points Just Got More Valuable and Your Travel Just Got Easier Flights to Asia you can pretty much always get business class award tickets on In…
Flying an American Airlines Inaugural: the Speeches Were Cancelled, But the Breakfast Tacos Free Flowing
My grandmother hasn’t been well. Her condition hasn’t been great since my grandfather passed about 18 months ago, but in recent weeks it’s taken a serious turn for the worse. I’ve been out to see her a few times. She’s been in a rehab center, and just over a week ago went into the hospital. She was released, and is living at home with 24 hour care. She’s been home for a few days, and I’ve been back in the country for a few days. I settled on Thursday for my visit because it meant I wouldn’t need to connect, thanks to American’s new Austin – Miami non-stop service. The flight leaves just after 6am, and the return from Miami departs just before 8pm. That makes it perfect for a same-day in and out trip…
Delta Backing Off its 3 Week Advance Purchase Requirement for Saver Awards
At the beginning of February Delta appeared to impose a three week advance purchase requirement in order to redeem awards at the saver level. Domestic economy class awards at 12,500 miles one-way simply didn’t exist on most routes for travel within 21 days. When you’d find space at this price, it was usually on partner Alaska Exceptions were for some very low load factor routes like subsidized ‘Essential Air Service’ routes And a handful of anomalies. It really does seem Delta is backing off of this (HT: Reader Marc L.).
What is Fuel Dumping? Could American Buy Alaska? And LAX is About to Have a Very Bad Day.
News and notes from around the interweb: What is fuel dumping? American is permitting voluntary changes and ticket refunds for Venezuela travel as a result of that country imposing new Visa requirements on American citizens. Would American Airlines buy Alaska? Historically the price for the Seattle-based airline has always been too high. And the DOJ would certainly demand a pound of flesh (off the top of my head, slots at O’Hare and gates at LAX). It would be a strategic complement. Of course one might argue similarly about an acquisition by ‘Anyone But United’. Terry Maxon has daylight images of American’s new Boeing 787 Why every day will be like a bad weather day at LAX… for the next 3 years. Passengers feel sorry for toddler traveling with loud, obnoxious parents (HT: Paul H.) The…
What Makes a Domestic Airline Lounge Special?
There are some really special, amazing airport lounges in the world — places that are more ‘top end private club’ than ‘somewhat more quiet waiting room’.
Delta’s First Story Didn’t Work. Their New Line Isn’t Any Better. Don’t Be Fooled.
When Delta removed all the award charts from their website without any notice (indeed, just weeks after they went into effect and less than 3 months since some were even posted), their initial story was that they had improved website award search enough that they were no longer needed. [W]e did remove Award charts today. Delta’s expanded search capabilities and calendar at delta.com offer more flexible and accurate view of Award prices. Of course, that was disingenuous at best. The website’s award pricing was still very broken It still doesn’t support many of Delta’s airline partners There’s no mutual exclusivity here, having a functional award booking site and having an award chart go perfectly well hand in hand. (Cf. United Airlines, Aeroplan, ANA, British Airways to name a few.) Now — after changing terms and…
Pursuing Deals — What Lines Will You Cross?
Gene Hackman to Tom Cruise in The Firm: The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is (a) whatever the IRS says, (b) a smart lawyer, (c) 10 years in prison, (d) all of the above. There are a lot of grey areas in miles and points, and those grey areas are largely the making of the programs themselves. They are large and complicated and the people who manage them don’t always understand or remember the rules they’ve created. What Rules Are We Obliged to Follow and When is it Ok to Push the Envelope? When it comes time to write terms and conditions for a promotion, they don’t always do a full and complete job thinking through the implications. US Airways Dividend Miles used to be notorious for sloppily written terms. And so millions…
