New No Notice Changes From Marriott, JetBlue, How Can They Keep Doing This? [Roundup]

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About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. The only jetBlue travel credits I have are for the $5.60 security fees. As I understand it, jetBlue some time ago decided that these cannot be used to pay security fees on new tickets purchased with points. How petty of them.

  2. While the Etihad partner award chart is now live, it seems that online partner award redemptions are not. It still said to call in. (It is Friday in Abu Dhabi as I write this.)

  3. @nsx — they are doing you a favor. By paying the $5.60 fee with Amex you get travel interruption insurance.

  4. Deregulation at its best.

    What do people who voted in favor of deregulation were expecting? That companies would not abuse their market power?? Ahahahah.

  5. Hi Gary,

    I quite agree with Amy!

    This is certainly deregulation at its best.What do you expect when you voted in favor of deregulation? These companies would never want to abuse their market power

  6. I am assuming the “How can they keep doing this?” was tongue in cheek to say the least, Gary. How they can “keep doing this” is (reasons you should love, given your policy positions!): 1) deregulation, 2) T&Cs that clearly given them the authority to make no-notice changes at any time, 3) and the fact that the market will bear these changes – travel spend is still on an all-time tear. So I hope any exasperation or surprise was intended as comedy.

  7. T&Cs that clearly given them the authority to make no-notice changes at any time

    Well, no, that one is no longer valid, according to Feredeal law, and anyone who wishes can sue Marriott for the change without notice and possibly prevail…

    Changing Your Terms and Conditions? If So, Your Company Must Provide Express Notice to Consumers according to the law (see: Stover v. Experian Holdings, Inc., No. 19-55204 (9th Cir. 2020))

    “The Ninth Circuit recently reminded companies that they must provide notice to consumers when they change their terms and conditions, even where original terms state that they are subject to change at-will and at any time (i.e. the original contract contains a “change-of-terms” provision). Without express notice to the consumer, any change is unenforceable.

  8. Just so we’re clear on “voting for deregulation,” it was the Carter Administration that implemented airline deregulation. It has been in place for over 40 years. I agree with you in that there needs to be some level of regulation/consumer protection in place. But, let’s correctly recognize how we got here.

  9. @Efogator
    Not sure what ballots you got, but I’ve never had the opportunity to vote on deregulation of airlines.

  10. The regulation has been fantastic for The Average Joe’s pocketbook. I remember one time seeing Affair of around $650 round trip from Atlanta to Miami and this was probably 35 years ago today you can probably make that same trip if you search real hard for 119 in today’s money that $650 today would probably be $1,800 so as bad as I hated Carter I think this is one good thing he did for the average United States citizen. The only thing he didn’t do was go far enough.. he should have eliminated cabotage laws which would have allowed foreign carriers to transport US citizens between cities inside the United States. That would have allowed for massive competition. I read a study where if foreign carrier such as Ryanair EasyJet and so on we’re allowed the transport people inside this country airfares would drop by around 17% more.

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