A woman who left mute by a stroke she had 10 years ago was set to fly from Los Angeles to Phoenix. Her drivers license was expired. The TSA document checker insisted she state her name, but she couldn’t, because she’s mute. So she wasn’t allowed to fly. A TSA representative says “it could have been handled differently by the family” (along with the TSA itself) and that it won’t happen to this family next time because they now know about the special programs the TSA offers for disabled people. Apparently document checkers are not required to know about such programs, however. The problems began when Heidi, who was left wheelchair-bound and unable to speak or write after a stroke a decade ago, was stopped by the Transportation Security Administration due to an expired driver’s…
General
Category Archives for General.
Gogo Internet Spies for the NSA, Italian Cronyism Shuts Down Emirates, and New Award Space Alerts (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 10, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: I’ve been a huge fan of gogo inflight internet, I’m so much more productive as a result, it makes my life so much easier since I’m no longer hopelessly behind when I land. In fairness I thought it was worth highlighting the news that gogo has apparently built in special accommodations to allow NSA monitoring of its traffic, far beyond what’s required by law. My guess is that this was a trade to get permissions to even operate its service (victims of blackmail, essentially). But do know you’re being watched. Italian airlines (with the support of Delta) sued to block Emirates from flying New York – Milan. And they won in an administrative court, which rules that fifth freedom rights cannot be granted to a non-EU nation. Emirates…
Here’s Why I Still Trust American AAdvantage. Should You?
This week American AAdvantage made several changes to its program: Rolling out a new three-tier pricing model for AAnytime awards (paying extra miles when regular award seats aren’t available). Eliminating free stopovers on international awards at the North American gateway city Eliminating distance-based oneworld explorer awards Increasing the telephone booking fee from $25 to $35 (they still do not waive this fee for awards that cannot be booked online, and most airline partner awards cannot be).
One Change American AAdvantage Now Must Make
American is going to have to change its award ‘routing rules’ — a perhaps unintended consequence of yesterdays announced changes. Without changes, members are going to face some absurd results. As American and US Airways integrate, they’re looking at each element of both frequent flyer programs to figure out what to keep and what to change. While I’m not surprised at the loss of distanced-based oneworld explorer awards, one thing that now must change as a result are American’s award routing rules. One of the more arcane rules of AAdvantage award travel is that you cannot connect in a third region — award travel between two regions cannot touch a third region unless a specific exception is in place. So you cannot fly from the US to Asia via Europe.. You have to fly direct…
Hilton HHonors Visa 50,000 Point Bonus Expires April 18
Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Visa Signature® Card 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first four months $50 statement credit after you spend $50 or more on your first hotel stay within the Hilton HHonors Portfolio during the first six months of cardmembership This is the best offer for the no annual fee Hilton card that I’ve seen. I didn’t write about it when it first came out, but since it expires April 18th I thought it worthwhile to give some attention for those that can benefit from it. This free card gives you free Hilton Silver status. Better to walk into Hilton as a silver than as a base member. First, because of the bonus points and in some cases free bottled water. But second and more importantly is that it serves as a reason…
United’s New 787-9: Freshly Painted and Nearly Ready to Fly Non-Stop to Melbourne
I’m a fan of the Boeing 787, it’s early teething problems notwithstanding. And I’m looking forward to the routes it opens up. United is flying non-stop to Melbourne. British Airways is flying to Austin. There will be plenty of secondary cities that get non-stop service, and I think it will be ultimately disruptive of a lot of models since it will divert traffic away from existing hub flights. United’s first 787-9 with a longer fuselage, greater seating capacity, and additional range has gotten its paint job up at Boeing. This is the plane type they’ll be using to launch Melbourne, Australia service. (Credit: The Street) United already operates 10 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, on which it seats 219 passengers. With its fuselage stretched by 20 feet, the 787-9 will be configured with 252 seats, including 48…
The Why, How, and What of Devaluation Plus Double Miles and Changes at Qantas Too (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 9, 2014 – Part Deux)
More news and notes from around the interweb: The Real Problem With American’s Change to its Frequent Flier and Bag Fee Policies (my piece for Conde Nast Traveler Wandering Aramean analyzes American’s new AAnytime award levels. He finds that the three levels are not based on ‘fare buckets’ or ticket price but instead calendar days. Of the 278 days he looks at, 51% are at tier 1 (so sometimes lower priced than before), 42% at tier 2, and 7% at tier 3 (as I reported yesterday, tying to the old US Airways blackout dates). Q&A on changes to the Qantas frequent flyer program The segment on bundling airline perks I was filmed for continues to make the rounds. An earlier interview I did with Christian Science Monitor got folded into a piece published yesterday tied…
Another Free Starbucks Star!
I was genuinely surprised last week by the positive reaction when I posted about a possible 15 free Starbucks ‘stars’. Then when I followed up that – after some initial hiccups entering the codes — the deal was working. And finally when 10 more stars were uncovered that could be added to an account. Starbucks is back officially this time with a free Star opportunity. Log into your account and scroll to the bottom of the page. The first task was a couple of clicks to download their ‘global responsibility’ report. Then I merely had to go back to the front page and enter my email address for them to send me a claim code. 30 Stars in a year earns ‘Gold’ status, which doesn’t get you much: But a Gold member earns a free…
Suntrust’s Delta Debit Card No Longer Available for New Accounts
I’ve been using the Suntrust Delta debit card to earn lots of miles. It’s a pin-based debit card, so you can use it to pay taxes online with a fixed transaction fee (less than $3 per payment) while earning one mile per dollar. That’s a much better deal than paying ~ 2% for credit card payments. Folks have also used it to buy and then deposit money orders — earning 1000 miles per transaction for less than $1 (money order fee). This is a deal that has made no sense whatsoever, in terms of why in the world Suntrust has been offering it. Debit transactions are simply no longer a profit center because the transaction fees are capped. It doesn’t make sense to reward or incentivize debit transactions any longer. That’s why we’ve seen banks…
No Big Changes to Hilton Award Categories This Year
Last year’s changes were, apparently, enough that they don’t feel the need to go back to the well in a major way with more award chart devaluations this year. And they even seem to recognize that they’ve done real damage to trust in the program. They’re not taking actual substantive steps to undo any of the changes they’ve made, but they promise to be transparent. Here’s a note I’ve just received from Mark Weinstein, a Vice President at HHonors. I wanted to personally let you know we are updating a few hotels’ reward categories as part of our periodic review process and, even more specifically, share with you that this year we will not be making any major reward category changes or introducing new hotel reward categories. We are taking steps to be even more transparent by better communicating adjustments…
