Lenders are putting up $5 billion against United’s MileagePlus. They have a huge interest in making sure the currency remains as attractive – or becomes even more attractive – to program members, to assure the revenue stream needed to pay back the loans.
Yet credit card companies have had ‘anti-devaluation’ clauses in their co-brand agreements for years and it hasn’t done any good. Here’s why.
US Customs and Border Protection responded to a FOIA request (.pdf) detailing each instance where Global Entry was revoked between November 6, 2016 and June 6, 2017.
There are several reasons someone might have their Global Entry participation revoked: bringing snacks into the U.S. that you fail to declare, being investigated for or convicted of a crime, or bringing people with you through Global Entry who aren’t in the program.
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.
Dozens of puppies were found dead on a Ukraine International Airlines flight from Kiev to Toronto last weekend. And come on, we all love puppies.
On June 13 the aircraft landed with 500 puppies on board. Many were “suffering from dehydration, weakness and/or vomiting and 38 of them were found dead.” Ukraine International Airlines ‘feels bad’ for allowing this.
The Home2 Suites by Hilton at the Kansas City airport adds 3% to customer bills for ‘credit card processing’ though apparently when pushed they’ll remove the fee.
The truth is that it’s cheaper to accept credit cards than other payment methods, and it’s an underhanded tactic no different than a resort fee to impose a hidden add-on on customers. Why should a customer have to cover a business’s cost to accept their money, on top of the cost of the product they’re buying?
A woman in Naples, Florida riding her bike on Thursday morning was blown across the road beside the Naples airport as a plane took off.
The woman reported she “went sideways. So immediately as I started flying, that was the first thing that came into my mind, oh my god are there cars coming?”
Despite airline requirements, customers continue to flout the rules. And one passenger did so with enough of a flair for the dramatic that his flight actually diverted.
The Department of Transportation fined Spirit Airlines $350,000 for pretending that passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding had volunteered to take later flights, and undercompensating those passengers. The U.S. government found ”a pattern of non-compliance with the compensation scheme” at Spirit.
Spirit referred to involuntary denied boarding “as the “volunteer option”, and customers were forced to sign an “acknowledgement form” stating so.”
So far the Treasury Department has awarded just 16% of the $4 billion in payroll support grants that the CARES Act provided for cargo airlines.
The U.S. Treasury hasn’t reported agreements for payroll support for Federal Express, UPS, or DHL. Instead most of the grants have been to smaller companies.
Compensation may not be gone for good. The airline appears to be surveying what sort of compensation they should be offering. The new options aren’t likely to incur liability on the airline’s books – although they may add crowding to the start of the boarding process, and to the airline’s lounges, at precisely the time when the airline’s best customers will value distancing most.
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 »
