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.
The late co-founder of the airline Herb Kelleher wrote in 2011 about the airline’s legacy of never having to furlough an employee, saying it was because their employees work hard and never forget the customers paying the bills. In the early 1970s they had to return one of their Boeing 737s due to financial challenges, but they kept their employees on.
Of course we’ve never seen travel demand collapse the way we have with the coronavirus pandemic though Southwest Airlines is actually well-positioned relative to its peers to recover.
Hotels can and should adjust pricing to generate the most revenue they can. That’s called the room rate, and hotels publish numerous different rates every day and vary their rates as needed. They can also incentivize use of on-property facilities, or raise and lower prices at those.
The worst approach would be for hotels to act in a deceptive manner, and undermine trust, when they’re struggling to fill even 40% of rooms and need that trust to get customers to travel let alone choose them for that travel. And raising pricing when occupancy is low, in the middle of a severe recession, seems like the height of stupidity.
Without people traveling, and with fewer immediate opportunities to spend accumulated miles, the airline has a challenge with its co-brand credit cards. They earn around $3 billion a year in revenue through their partnerships with Citibank and Barclays, but spending is going to fall both because of less travel and also because of the economy in recession.
The airline has an interesting approach to this, encouraging spend on their cards between May 1 and December 31, 2020. Spending on their Citibank and Barclays cards will earn credit towards lifetime elite status. Here are answers to questions not available in American’s original release.
Flight attendants and even passengers are now expected to wear face masks when flying. But what about face shields? Some airlines are outfitting their cabin crew in full personal protective equipment. That provides a consistent look for the airline.
What about a flight attendant taking it upon themselves to wear a face shield, when that’s not something the airline allows? Is it alright during the pandemic, or something the airline should be able to ban?
TSA is rolling out changes to the security process, already in effect in some airports and complete across the nation by mid-June. They want to reduce contact between passengers, and between passengers and screeners, and to remind customers to minimize actions that lead to screeners opening up bags and giving pat downs.
Delta’s CFO acknowledges SkyMiles members taking “a little hiatus when people aren’t going to travel,” but that the program still continues to motivate spend because it gives people “something to look forward to [the] prospect of saving up for something.” Then he offers insight into how the Delta portfolio is performing relative to American Express’s other products.
While U.S. airlines are going to great length to clean their aircraft, lavatories are shared spaces that don’t get cleaned during the flight. One airline though is going to begin sanitizing their lavatories every 45 minutes – something that’s crucial on a long haul flight.
Usually onboard harassment involves a creepy guy and alcohol. This time onboard harassment involved alcohol and a creepy girl. Maybe that only happens, or at least happens most often, when the victim plays in the NFL.
Munoz showed promise for United early on but missteps and his choice of airline President did in his legacy.
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 »
