News and notes from around the interweb:
- How fast can you travel before it kills you?
- The long collapse of USA Today Travel. I’m glad the excellent Ben Mutzabaugh and Dawn Gilbertson still appear to be there. Years ago they picked up a feed from this blog. I also did some writing for them.
- New premium Qantas credit card has a 150,000 point signup bonus and offers first class lounge access passes. It has an AU$1200 annual fee, and still isn’t good for earning points via spend because of Australia’s regulation of interchange.
Qantas First Class Lounge Sydney - Hertz points now expire after 18 months instead of 24 months, and best I can tell they didn’t tell anyone. It’s on their website though. I never got a notice. I note this comes after ‘joining’ SkyTeam. Sounds about right. Once upon a time Hertz was go-to. Now I wonder, does anyone still rent from them.. on purpose?
- Singapore Airlines subsidiary SilkAir will put lie flat Thompson Vantage seats in Boeing 737s I don’t love the Thompson Vantage for transatlantic long haul where it’s popular as a Boeing 767 seat, and there are some long SilkAir flights, but this is a nice step forward.
- Delta’s brand benefits from the A220
Those headlines have added to the narrative that American is falling behind, just as the headlines for Delta’s A220 have helped the airline strengthen the already-strong brand image that it is an innovator and leader in taking care of its customers. Delta was certainly smart to take advantage of the built-in customer-friendly features of the A220, but it went a step beyond. And it is going to be rewarded for that.
- The US pressured Denmark to finance new airports in Greenland as part of its geopolitical chess match with China (WSJ)
- Overbooking is becoming an issue in Canada. And it didn’t take David Dao being dragged off a United Express flight to do it. (HT: Reid F.)
Its not speed that we need to worry about based on our present technology but Cosmic Radiation and other forms of Radiation we are exposed to in a normal commercial flight.
Most of our Astronauts are victims of Cancer most likely due to the high levels they have been exposed to in Space.
My discussions with Aircraft crew on long flights indicates long term work on all Airlines indicates a major impact on their health.
This is an interesting article.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-32786537
Hertz is still #1 to me. 2,750 United miles per rental and with the same rate offered directly via Hertz website. Doesn’t hurt that being United Plat I get free Presidents Circle. Came in handy last year arriving late at an airport with no clean Hertz cars and 30+ people in line, they shuffled 3 pres circle members off to the side and got us a car within 3 minutes.
I guess maybe I just proved your point with that story, but seriously what do you need from a rental car company other than a seamless pickup/dropoff and good selection of cars?
(Posted via United WiFi connection somewhere over Canada, Gary! )
I do about 40 car rentals a year and Hertz is definitely my last choice among the big players. They have the worst cars, worst service and the most service screw ups. They are living off their established reputation. Last week, I had to sign out of my loyalty profile to get a lower rate (in other words, they sometimes try to charge their loyal customers more to rent). Still, National keeps getting more expensive and sometimes I have to pick Hertz based on price. BTW, if you “prepay” for your Hertz rental, your points don’t generally post. You have to call. This will be more important now to infrequent renters.
@chopsticks
I guess I’m asking…when you say “worst service and most service screw ups”…what exactly is happening? I rent my car online, get to the Hertz lot, pick my car, drive up to the window, show them my driver’s license and I’m on my way. When I come back I park my car and walk away. I barely talk to one person and it’s amazing. What part of that process is getting screwed up or how is it getting complicated? Do they suck at last minute changes to reservations? Do they accidentally bill you for gas or insurance after you decline it?
I’m at 22 rentals last year so not as many as you but not an “infrequent renter” by any means, should be enough for me to have run into poor service at some point (different airports all over the US)