United said that partner awards would continue to price as they always had even once award charts were removed for United flights. This wasn’t true – since they were charging extra for booking partner flights close to departure.
Nevertheless they kept a copy of the Star Alliance award chart on their website. Now they’ve removed it. And a spokesperson says this is exactly what you should have expected!
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.
It will be some time before we’re doing very much international travel. One reason is that immunity passports aren’t going to work.
However as some states begin to open their economies we’ll begin to see a little more travel again. Indeed we’re already beginning to.
Stop blaming and shaming airlines on social media for full flights. I guess I’m shocked that people are shocked there would be others sitting near them on a plane. Why would anyone think the airline was selling them a ticket but not selling tickets to other people?
Ultimately if you do not feel it is safe to fly, then do not fly. If you do fly, wear a mask (whether the government is requiring it or not). Bring hand sanitizer – the TSA has relaxed carry on liquid rules for this purpose. And wash your hands.
American Airlines is going to start handing out masks to passengers on some flights. Several airlines are requiring flight attendants to wear masks.
And now JetBlue is becoming the first U.S. airline to require it of passengers starting May 4. Masks provide some measure of protection for other passengers in the event the wearer is asymptomatic but spreading the virus.
United has made a change to elite qualification, making status harder to earn, and they’re putting the change into effect in the middle of this year. Travel on partner airlines won’t count as much towards earning MileagePlus premier levels – the amount of qualifying dollars you can earn will be capped.
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.
American is rolling out deeper cleaning of aircraft between all flights, eventually extending to all of their domestic operation, and – supplies permitting – will begin offering masks and hand sanitizer to passengers. Starting May 1 flight attendants will be required to wear masks as well.
American Airlines has updated its rules have been tightened to require customers to be at the gate earlier, and to board flights earlier.
Requiring passengers to spend more time congregating in cramped gate areas is the opposite direction from where the airline should be moving in the current era which calls for greater social distancing. And closing the doors earlier means more passengers missing more flights.
Starting in early September, and running through end of schedule, it’s possible to get business class award seats on the longest flight in the world – the Singapore Airlines Newark – Singapore flight – and you do not even need to use Singapore’s own miles to do it.
It’s incredibly rare when Singapore Airlines makes long haul business class award space to partner airlines. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen things this open since a glitch back in July 2012.
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 »
