It’s been clear for months that airlines need to continue waiving change fees in order to convince customers to buy tickets. Otherwise their plans are just too uncertain to pull the trigger on travel.
American’s policy has been extended, applies to award travel even next year, and the airline will allow name changes on business travel tickets.
David Harris, Jr., whose book title describes himself as a black conservative, posted a livestream refusing to wear a mask on American Airlines. With a wink and a nod he suggested that a medical issue with a mask was enough to exempt anyone from the requirement. It was clear he didn’t have a ‘real’ medical need. Indeed he had a photo of himself on Instagram wearing a mask.
He’s posted a new video to twitter showing the airline turning him away for his past mask altercation, and he’s shocked that no one from the airline told him he was banned.
Air Canada started off with arguably the best top elite tier in the world. They had a competitive award redemption program. A decade ago it was best in North America. A series of devaluations and the addition of fuel surcharges changed that, though it remained competitive because of even greater devaluations by U.S. airline programs.
The program was disjointed because the elite program was separate from – and owned by a different company, even – redeemable mileage earning and burning. Air Canada re-acquired their Aeroplan frequent flyer program, and they’ve announced plans for relaunching it November 8.
There are some great new features of the program. On the whole it seems like the program is better. There are, however, some features not to like or wish were better.
For several years gun crimes have been a major concern in the U.S. except when they’re happening in Chicago. A couple of things have changed, though. And protests and riots in downtown Chicago have prompted the airline based there to move operations to the suburbs and layover flight crew at airport hotels.
The federal government is considering new rules “that would allow border officials to temporarily block an American citizen or legal permanent resident from returning to the United States from abroad if the authorities have reason to believe the person may be infected with the coronavirus.”
However they’d do this based on their best guess – and not testing – and they’re considering doing this now after the coronavirus barn door has already been left open.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air Canada has announced the details of their new frequent flyer program that will launch November 8th. I’ve had a chance to dive into the minutiae and speak with executives. Here’s your complete guide for what to expect.
This is a really thoughtful program, attractive for both casual users transferring points – because of the flexibility of redemptions and elimination of fuel surcharges – and for their most loyal customers. I especially love top elites conferring ‘status for a day’ on friends and colleagues, and earning 50% discounts on award redemption up to 11 times a year.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
United’s top elite tier is Global Services. There’s no published criteria for achieving this status.
Right now though they’re offering it to targeted members for a certain amount of spending on flights within 90 days, and letting members choose the challenge period (even retroactively).
After all the scare stories, Customs and Border Protection acknowledged “most of the fake IDs were for college-age students.” Isn’t the biggest risk then that someone could be tasked with buying booze for a non-socially distanced rager as colleges open this fall?
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 »
