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.
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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.
Showtime’s store has Billions merchandise and the last item on the page for apparel lists a men’s white Axe Capital t-shirt that they personalize for you, with your name or whatever else you enter. It is pricing at $0 plus shipping and tax, which comes out to less than $6… whether you order just one shirt or several.
Taipei’s Songshan normally offers domestic flights as well as international flights to some destinations in Japan, South Korean, and China. On Friday only one flight is expected to arrive at the airport, EVA Air from Shanghai Pudong.
With so little traffic the airport is hosting a “pretend to leave the country” tour. Passengers will board a plane – and get off – without ever leaving Taipei Songshan airport.
Uou can spend 30,000 points per night – same as before – and have all of your dining included, (even room service) booking rooms that run $1500++. The property re-opens in mid-July. It’s a special place, and right now a special value when you can find rooms available for redemption.
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 »
