I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Back in October we learned that Barclaycard would issue two American Airlines credit cards once the US Airways and American frequent flyer programs merge. It turns out that was – literally – only half right. Barclaycard is losing the ability to issue new US Airways/American credit cards with the merger, and Citi will get that right exclusively in the U.S. US Airways and American are merging frequent flyer…
About Gary Leff
United Introduces Premium ‘ps’ Service, Boston – Los Angeles
United is putting a ‘ps’ Boeing 757 onto one of its two daily Boston – Los Angeles flights this summer. Between July 2 and August 17, United will fly: 8:30am – 5:01pm, Los Angeles – Boston, UA528 6:00pm – 9:11pm, Boston – Los Angeles, UA717 This move is interesting for several reasons: United ran Boston – Los Angeles with this premium ‘international-style’ seating for several days in November. When they have extra capacity with the aircraft to fly a roundtrip cross country flight, they seem to decide to put it on the Boston route. It’s fully flat seating, but with the standard domestic product and upgrade rules. Elites can get complimentary upgrades on these flights. Boston – Los Angeles is a high yield route compared to other cross country flights (aside from New York –…
When You’re Frustrated By Your Airline’s Flight Delays, Don’t Do This.
Sit-ins, refusing to leave the aircraft, are becoming a thing in Iran to protest poor operational performance of Iranian airlines. Iranian news media have cited several recent incidents in which passengers enduring prolonged delays have refused to leave aircraft once their planes belatedly arrived at their destinations, sometimes as much as 22 hours late. In some cases, the on-board sit-ins have lasted for several hours, according to media reports here. When you’re frustrated that your airline isn’t getting you to your destination on time, what you want to do when you finally get there is get of the plane not prolong your flight by hours. Passengers blame ‘top officials’ for chronic delays, though they are circumspect when doing so. “People got very angry and exchanged insults with local officers and even started criticizing top officials…
Manufacture 14.3 Billion Miles With Credit Cards, How Many Cards Can You Get from Each Bank, and the Real Reason the A380 Fails?
News and notes from around the interweb: How many credit cards will each bank let you have? Air Tahiti Nui buying 2 Boeing 787s. The Papeete-based carrier which flies to Tokyo, Auckland, Los Angeles and Paris (via Los Angeles) will use them to replace A340s. We can probably expect a new lie flat business class in dense configuration. Parents owe $14.3 billion in unpaid child support. Is it just me, or does it make you think: 14.3 billion miles in potential manufactured spend? American Airlines to phase out complimentary cabin pressurization (from The Onion and HT: Kevin D.) Are United and American looking at flying to New Zealand? Speculation is United could fly a 787 from San Francisco to Auckland, and American could fly from Los Angeles (one imagines a 787 as well). Air New…
The Last Hotel Internet Domino Falls. Hilton Will Offer Free WiFi, But There Are Catches…
IHG Rewards came out with internet for everyone a year ago (though of course most of their hotels already gave it to everyone as a brand standard, only the upper-tier ones did not and in certain regions). And Marriott announced this two months ago, with a restriction of having to book through Marriott channels. Starwood launched announced free internet in December and started offering it a month ago. They require bookings to be made through a Starwood channel to be eligible. Days later Hyatt announced free internet — no loyalty program membership or booking channel requirement whatsoever. That left Hilton dangling out there as the only major US chain still charging the bulk of its guests for internet. That couldn’t be sustainable, and indeed they emailed this morning to say they’re going to offer free…
Hyatt Made Several Changes to Its Terms and Conditions. Here’s What You Need to Know.
Hyatt just updated its terms and conditions for Gold Passport. I cannot emphasize enough that loyalty programs should share with members when they do this, and explain the changes that they’re making, even when the changes are innocuous or consistent with other announced changes to a program that have been made. Here’s what Hyatt has done.
Inflight Internet: It Isn’t Too Expensive for What You Get, It’s Too Cheap
The Marvel — and Tradeoff — of Inflight Internet Inflight internet is one of the truly amazing advances that’s made a direct difference in life over the past few years. Some people hate it, it makes them feel obligated to stay connected whereas flying was one of the few times where they could turn off their life. They couldn’t be reached. It was an opportunity to read a book, or even to nap during the business day. Cherished personal time. In some ways inflight internet is one example of the trend towards eliminating the distinctions between work and personal time, although much (though certainly not all!) business travel is done during the work week. For me, it’s not only made me more productive it’s generally reduced my overall stress level. I used to hate landing…
Should You Travel to Countries With Awful Human Rights Records?
The ethics of traveling to certain parts of the world — places where human rights aren’t respected, where a sex trade exists (perhaps illegal but unfettered) or where ‘guest workers’ have their passports taken on arrival and have little choice but to toil in unsafe conditions – can be complicated. I think it’s difficult, and certainly uncomfortable, for a world traveler to ponder how their choices affect the people they meet. And it’s even tougher to ponder the signals their choices send — does visiting Turkmenistan endorse that regime? Does it provide hard currency that sustains the regime? Is your tourism in some way fostering terrible conditions that people live under? Sometimes that might be the case, although rarely does one person’s decisions materially affect the situations of people on the ground and rarely would…
How JetBlue is Winning Hollywood With Cheap Prices for First Class
JetBlue is winning Hollywood. Not the studio contracts, of course. If you have a deal with Paramount, you’re flying American on the lucrative Los Angeles – New York route. But the ‘real’ Hollywood. The actors and directors and producers and independent talent who work for a living, aren’t traveling on a studio’s dime, but view the world through the lens of those who do. One of the best sources of clients for my award booking business has been Hollywood – recognizable actors who have had many small roles in film, or recurring roles on cable TV, comedic directors whose shows we know but that we wouldn’t recognize in an airport. They travel in circles with actresses and actors who fly private, or who are flown in international first class all over the world. They want…
Revenue-based Frequent Flyer Programs are Good for Flyers — and Not for the Reason You Think.
Revenue-based frequent flyer programs are good for consumers — just not in the way airlines would have you believe. Frequent flyer programs are the most successful marketing creations ever. And as such they get consumers to behave irrationally. Customers buy more expensive tickets than they otherwise would. And not even for the elite benefits, non-elites do it too and low level elites who may not get much incremental value from their status. Frequent flyer programs turned airline seats, which were otherwise commodity products, into differentiated products, and differentiated products consumers were willing to buy at a premium. But when you commodify the relationship, and you turn the frequent flyer program into a straight rebate there’s little advantage to choosing one program or another. What’s more, the leader in the revenue-based space — Delta Air Lines…
