General

Category Archives for General.

British Airways Parent Company Acquires SkyTeam Member Air Europa

Nov 04 2019

IAG, parent of British Airways, also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, and LEVEL. Now for the price of €1 billion they’re acquiring Air Europa (10 times current earnings). The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2020.

They are currently the third largest Spanish airline, behind Iberia and Vueling already owned by IAG. This is a blow to transatlantic redemptions using Delta miles.

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Why Spinning Off Frequent Flyer Programs is a Bad Idea

cash
Nov 02 2019

On Wednesday morning I debated Stifel Managing Director Joseph DeNardi on whether or not to spin off frequent flyer programs at the Airline Information MEGA event in Florida.

Joe is the best-known face of the argument that loyalty programs are the primary drivers of revenue and value for airlines, and he’s argued that the overall businesses are undervalued because investors don’t clearly see how much good, high margin revenue is coming in from credit card partnerships versus from the airline as old-line industrial. He was charged with defending the idea of spinning programs off into a separate business, and I was charged with arguing against this.

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Qantas Selling Access to LAX First Class Lounge

Oct 31 2019

There was a time I would have argued that the Qantas first class lounge at LAX was the best lounge in the United States. That was before United opened its Polaris lounges, and American opened its Flagship First Class dining rooms.
While I prefer the ambiance of the Star Alliance business class lounge’s outdoor deck with fire pits at LAX, the sit down dining of the Qantas lounge makes it the most desirable place to spend time in the Tom Bradley international terminal prior to a flight.

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Iranian Beauty Queen Has Been Living in the Manila Airport For Two Weeks

Oct 29 2019

Beauty pageant winner Bahareh Zare Bahari, who has been living in the Philippines on a student visa, was detained on her return to Manila from Dubai two weeks ago because Iran submitted a ‘red notice’ to Interpol seeking her arrest and deportation. She’s seeking asylum, claiming Iran is abusing the Interpol process to silence dissenters. Interpol won’t reveal information about arrest warrants without the permission of the country submitting the request.

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