General

Category Archives for General.

United Elites Have a Leg Up: Status Benefits for the New York City Marathon

Nov 05 2016

United invited elite MileagePlus members running in the New York City marathon on a first come, first serve basis to join a fuel up dinner tonight — the night before the race — at Del Posto restaurant in New York for a special carbo-loading on Mario Batali specialties. Olympian Meb Keflezighi will be a special guest at the dinner.

United has a VIP race start tent tomorrow morning with special bib pick-up station to avoid lines and private bathrooms. They’re also providing personalized medal engraving, post-race massages, and snacks.

Continue Reading »

American Starting to Limit 24 Hour Holds When Purchasing Tickets Online

Nov 04 2016

As an official policy, American switched to offer 24 hour refunds when purchasing travel a week or more in advance and eliminated 24 hour holds — but continued offering holds as an option on the website, indicating this would go away at some point but didn’t specify when.

American is less generous than Delta or United who allow 24 hour refunds even for purchases made within a week in travel, however this is not required by the Department of Transportation.

Continue Reading »

Former Miss USA Arrested for Stealing Noise Cancelling Headphones at LAX Security Checkpoint

Nov 04 2016

Los Angeles KTLA news anchor and 1994 Miss America Lu Parker was arrested on suspicion of petty theft on Wednesday morning at LAX terminal 6 which serves Alaska Airlines plus some gates for Delta and American. The former Miss USA allegedly stole a pair of $200 headphones from another passenger who identified her to authorities. The incident took place in the TSA passenger-screening area of Terminal 6 at LAX, and Parker was later removed from a flight and arrested, a spokesperson with the LAPD said. Lu Parker Used to former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Date Copyright: buzzfuss / 123RF Stock Photo Apparently she picked up the headphones during the screening process from a passenger going through the checkpoint along side her, and proceeded to her flight with her newfound gains. There is, reportedly, a…

Continue Reading »

British Airways Avios Changes Coming in 2017 and Cuts Coming to BA Product to Become More Like Norwegian

Nov 04 2016

It’s been tough to be a British Airways customer over the past few years, and things are about to get much tougher in the face of uncertainties surrounding Brexit and competition from low cost transatlantic carriers like Wow Air and especially Norwegian.

And they’re going to mash together all the different Avios programs into one. They haven’t told us what that will look like, but British Airways makes it look like the independent and more valuable ones moving to the less valuable shared program. We’ll have to wait and see.

Continue Reading »

Worst Reason Ever To End an Airline Frequent Flyer Partnership?

Nov 03 2016

On Tuesday I wrote that Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic would be ending their partnership November 13. It will no longer be possible to earn Virgin America miles flying Virgin Atlantic and vice versa. And it will no longer be possible to redeem Virgin America miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic and vice versa.

This was done without much notice to members. It wasn’t listed on either airline’s website, and neither airline has as of yet emailed members. Virgin America agents were briefed and sharing the details with customers who asked, while Virgin Atlantic agents appeared to know nothing about it.

Continue Reading »

Delta Launching International Premium Economy With Real Foot Rests

Nov 03 2016

Delta has announced its international premium economy product which will launch in fall 2017 with its the arrival of its Airbus A350s. This is, basically, domestic first class with foot rests.

When American became the first US airline to announce international premium economy a year ago it seemed rushed, with speculation that they were trying to get out ahead of Delta. American has now already rolled out premium economy on their new Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Continue Reading »