News and notes from around the interweb:
- When United started talking this summer about figuring out the purpose for each of its hubs there was renewed speculation that Washington Dulles could lose hub status. I suggested at the time that if might lose connections to smaller cities but would remain important and rely more on local traffic. Latest news is that United has extended its lease at Washington Dulles through 2024 (HT: @IadisGr8, though it’s not).
- As expected, Frontier Airlines now offers PreCheck
- Club1 Hotels is a new site offering wholesale hotel rates. It’s normally paid membership but for a limited time they’re giving free one year memberships if you sign up now. And they’re giving away $500 in hotel credit to a reader of this blog. With far fewer entries than usual so far, odds are good, so enter.
- Air France KLM will install gogo’s high speed 2ku internet
- Making America(n) Great Again their MBA recruiting ads, as seen at ‘usairways.greatjob.net’ (integration isn’t done, it seems), pitches:
Restore American to Greatness.
For much of the ’80s and ’90s American Airlines – the “on-time machine” – was arguably the greatest airline in the world. After a challenging decade for the entire airline industry, we have emerged from what many analysts call the most successful airline restructuring in history. American is now on the precipice of something truly great. We’re building the largest airline in the world and already generating record breaking profits, including 2015 when American earned not only the highest pre-tax income in company history but the highest pre-tax income of any airline in history. We’re restoring American as the greatest airline in the world and #goingforgreat.
- New Orleans wanted an airport hotel but no one wanted to build it.
- IHG Rewards Club is offering employees of several companies double points October 1 through end of year, registration required:
As a recent MBA from a top tier school that AA attempts to recruit from, there is nothing “great” about their low salaries and uninspiring job opportunities
@Gary I just tried using club1hotels. They quoted me $1450. When I go to book, it’s $1800 with a $350 “Tax Recovery/Booking Fee”. So much for a better deal. Have you actually booked ever booked with them? Even if $1450 was subtotal, this is Boston, with about 14.5% tax, not 25%.
@dijbouti give me dates to recreate? i posted screenshots comparing prices in the contest thread.
@Gary I’m on the move right now but it’s 4/14-18 in Boston. Think it was the Omni Parker hotel that I was looking at. Will verify once back on my computer.
I also tried Club1 for a couple of business class tickets. They were about 1,500./per ticket higher than I could get on the open market, and I don’t know if there were fees on top of that because I never went past the initial price quote.
It seems like a good concept, but I’m not sure the value is there at this time.
From what I hear is that AA IT salaries are also at the very bottom.
@Gary Confirmed. Search April 14-18, Boston, Omni. Omni Parker House comes up at $1350.27 and $1354.18. Beats me what the difference is. Anyway, click the $1350.27 one and pick the traditional one-bed (the one still at $1350.27) and get this:
TOTAL PRICE 1687.84 USD
Booking Amount: 1350.27 USD
Tax Recovery/Booking Fee: 337.57 USD
That’s a 25% upcharge. If I go to Omni’s site, I get the same room for $1606 subtotal and $232.05 taxes (about 14.5%, which is correct). So the whole thing seems pretty scammy at this point. Yes, it comes out cheaper than what I can get online (but not what I can get with the Prestige card 4th night free, in this case), but to advertise $1350 and then have $337.57 in “tax recover/booking fee” is misleading at best.
How can you get the ihg codes for double points like Amazon?