News notes from around the interweb:
- Leaked photos of Google’s new debit card
- I wrote about a reader who was downgraded by Marriott from Platinum to Gold, and asked for Platinum back – Marriott gave it to him. Here’s another successful data point.
- Brian Sumers asks at Skift whether customers will remember American Airlines doing the right thing with refunds for cancelled flights, when United and JetBlue were sticking it to customers?
I told the Chicago Tribune that during good times airlines could chase away customers and it wouldn’t move the needle (United recovered from David Dao!) but with planes empty they can’t afford to turn off their customer base.
- Get 50% off your T-Mobile plan just agree to limit your data usage for the next 3 months while you’re home more.
- Hotels want the Federal Reserve to pay their mortgages for a year
- Is reduced air travel affecting the accuracy of weather forecasts?
- Nothing in this interview is incorrect although it goes too easy on Expedia. Online travel agencies are getting beaten by Google because they aren’t very good. People don’t need travel inspiration from companies, investors will be too gun shy about travel startups after this, and leisure travel will come back first.
After seeing the original post on Marriott upgrading status for asking, I did the same (a meeting I held never posted and I ended with 42 nights). They upgraded me from gold to platinum. Took a few days to get a response, though. I can share the screenshot from twitter, if needed.
@ Gary — The bailouts need to stop. Why should we, as responsible people who don’t live beyond their means, bailout companies? Last time around, it was free money for irresponsible home owners who couldn’t pat their mortgages, and now it is businesses.
I will be surprised if AA gets any benefit from “doing the right thing” with refunds. Consumers just aren’t that attuned to these things, and buying an airline ticket is largely a single transactional event. Almost all will fly the next time with whomever is cheaper or more convenient. (That’s why I think you always overstate the value of airline loyalty programs). The benefit AA management will have is the personal satisfaction of trying to do the right thing (which is underestimated — the people running corporations are human, too).
I have only needed one refund so far, from American in my case. I called about 10 days ago to cancel–at the last minute they changed the flight I couldn’t take anyway, so that entitled me to a refund since some segments were canceled and rescheduled. I called and said the rescheduling would not work, so I would need to cancel. The agent said, “I’m so sorry to hear that Ms. ____. Because it was a canceled flight, you are entitled to a refund. Here’s your ticket number….” and he sent me to the prefunds.aa site. I didn’t have to even request. This morning I received an email that my refund was fully processed. It seemed sort of fast to me in light of everything. It was no hassle. He didn’t try to get me to take a voucher or anything. It sort of betrayed the horror stories I’d read, but, yeah, you make it that easy on me and I will be back. I AM pretty loyal.