Category Archives for General.
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.
With all of the unpleasantness of air travel — full planes, cramped seats, crazy passengers and grumpy employees — we can all use a little bit of unbridled enthusiasm. And maybe it takes a small boy to remind us of the wonder of flying, starting in one city and soaring through the sky landing somewhere else. And looking out at the window along the way.
American Express now lets you redeem Membership Rewards points for airline tickets and prepaid hotels at Expedia.com.
You link your American Express Membership Rewards card to your Expedia account (only one eligible Card can be linked per Expedia account) and then you’ll be able to see your point balance and its associated dollar value for use at Expedia.com.
Dave Neeleman founded JetBlue after his non-compete from Southwest’s acquisition of Morris Air where he was CEO expired. During that non-compete period he was involved in the launch of Canada’s WestJet.
A citizen of Brazil as well as the U.S. (and also now of Cyprus), Neeleman launched Brazilian carrier Azul after being forced out at JetBlue. He’s also a partner in Star Alliance carrier TAP Air Portugal.
For a decade it was unheard of to see roundtrip fares to Southeast Asia for under $600. I don’t even bother sharing fares to Europe unless they’re under $500… preferably under $400. There was a time these would be presumed to be mistake fares. Airlines would have claimed they were mistake fares. Now they’re just a good fare sale, the kind of thing that pops up now and again if you’re watching.
China’s Anbang Insurage Group, which owns the Waldorf=Astoria New York and other hotels in the U.S. and which tried to buy Starwood before ultimately being outbid by Marriott, has been ordered by the Chinese government to sell overseas assets and repatriate the proceeds to China.
Anbang says they have no plans to do that.
The only North American city on sale in July is New York JFK – Paris Orly (so excluding Air France’s De Gaulle flights). Disappointing…
Good on American for offering a legitimate craft beer. Beer Advocate describes it as “[b]ursting with tropical aromas and juicy fruit flavors from Mosaic and Amarillo hops” and “perfectly bitter with a refreshing, sublime finish.”
I’m not a fan of Airbnb because they don’t do a great job standing behind reservations. In fairness, hotels overbook and walk guests too.
However I’m also not a fan of the disingenuous scare campaigns hotels band together to use in lobbying to get government to shut down the competition, to get people to narc on their neighbors to regulators, and running sting operations against unsuspecting hosts.
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.
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 »
