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.
There are business class roundtrips between several U.S. cities and Europe from $1650. That’s an amazing deal, especially from the West Coast, and this deal was available “from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami and many more cities in the US” to Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels, and more – with travel valid through mid-January.
What’s even more amazing is that some small online travel agency sites are making these fares available for less – much less.
There’s been a lot of coverage this week of the opening of the new New York LaGuardia Central Terminal building (a.k.a. “headhouse“). The old terminal B was ugly, the new terminal B is bright from natural light and new. So, shiny things.
The truth about the new project is there’s only one thing about it that really makes the travel experience better, and that’s only going to last a short period of time: new restrooms.
You’ll know the airline industry is healthy again when we start to see really low fares. There are good deals around right now, but few great deals.
Low fares will signal that it’s possible to encourage people to travel again with good deals. High fares suggest discretionary travelers are still staying away.
So while in normal times, with planes full, airlines prefer high fares – in the COVID-era we need to see low fares before predicting an airline recovery.
David Leavitt is worth tens of millions of dollars. He’s the County Attorney for Utah County, Utah (they ran out of names, Utah County includes Provo) and is currently running for Utah Attorney General.
Leavitt is also the brother of Mike Leavitt, former Utah Governor and Secretaries of the EPA and Health and Social Services. And he’s a Delta ramper. He didn’t have time to do everything so he gave up singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to take the job.
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.
Cambodia will make you put down a $3000 deposit on arrival not just for required COVID-19 testing, and for costs associated with required quarantine, but also to cover your required cremation should you die in one of their hospitals.
We know now, or at least the latest science leads us to believe, that masks really can make a difference controlling spread of SARS-CoV-2.
The FAA and TSA can’t legally mandate mask wearing. Airlines are mandating them, but not enforcing the mandate. Many airlines are handing out masks for free already. However FEMA went out and purchased 100 million masks for passengers at airports and transit stations.
Hyatt was first out of the box with a lucrative hotel promotion 2500 bonus points for your first stay if you’re elite, triple points starting with second stay for everyone. I took that as an opening gambit, expecting to see strong promotions to put heads in beds across the board.
IHG Rewards Club, the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Kimpton and related brands, is next up offering U.S. residents up to quadruple points on stays June 12 through September 8.
Fridays and Sundays are still big travel days. Wednesdays are still slow. And Thursdays – traditionally strong, especially late in the day – aren’t coming back yet because that’s the end of the consultant business week and business travel isn’t returning any time soon.
Seeing the bounce off the bottom has led to a great deal of optimism – too much optimism – about how quickly travel will return.
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 »
