United today announced that customers can have fees waived for changes to travel through end of the year provided they make their change or cancellation by April 30.
You’re better off waiting for a significant flight change or cancellation and insisting on a refund, and the April 30 deadline should be extended anyway. There doesn’t seem a strong reason to act now.
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.
Israel’s Ministry of Finance turned down El Al’s request for a $350 million government-backed loan. In explaining the decision, the finance ministry said it “did not believe El Al would be able to repay” the money.
El Al has suspended all commercial flights and is operating only cargo and government-sponsored repatriation flights.
Delta and United announced that their elite status would be extended through the end of next year. Air Canada followed on Monday. Now Alaska Airlines has announced their own extension of elite status, along with companion certificates, and shared other things to expect for elite members in the weeks ahead.
There are few flights, few passengers. The airlines are applying for government money that limits their ability to furlough workers.
So instead of sitting idle they’re spending their time making masks. Quality, non-scammy masks are hard to source. Delta even had half a million masks stolen.
A New York City private school though hasn’t been so lucky and is now locked in a battle with Miami Beach’s Eden Roc hotel over a $2.3 million deposit for an April trip. Even though the hotel is closed, they won’t refund the deposit and are demanding an additional $1.2 million.
In my experience so far with group bookings hotels are being much more hard-nosed than with individual reservations. They have money and they do not want to give any back.
When current American Airlines management ran US Airways they were notorious for bad labor relations. They never managed to get a single pilot contract for America West and US Airways pilots, so never completed the merger. Instead they sat back and benefited from lower wages as the two pilots groups fought against each other.
Now American’s flight attendants may wind up fighting against each other, as two classes of employees within the union are treated very differently. This, as the flight attendants are ostensibly in new contract negotiations with the airline and as there’s a move afoot to dump the current Association of Professional Flight Attendants with the Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers Of America.
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.
Delta can’t take government money and furlough pilots. Without the ability to furlough pilots they can’t get pilots to agree to cuts. And pilots getting full pay while everyone else suffers is going to make it hard for Delta to make the case to other work groups to remain non-union.
Chris Guillebeau’s books are empowering because they’re actionable, for instance The $100 Startup talked about finding the things people as you questions about – where others see you as an expert – and turning that into a business. And most importantly, not waiting until sometime in the future, not putting together a business plan and raising money and someday actually doing it but bootstrapping your way to success.
This time he’s written a narrative, rather than a how-to. It’s a story, rather than a manual, about a man drowning in student debt, with his job in jeopardy and losing his apartment. But he finds his focus and begins with small steps, including a challenge to earn $1000 in a weekend. Chris sent me an advance copy, and it’s a great new take for him on how to take stock and improve your life when you’re starting from a rough place.
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 »
