In an interview Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says that airlines have to refund customers when they cancel flights. That’s clear, published DOT policy.
Secretary Chao also said that the government should not ground the airlines, and that flying decisions should be left up to them – and that the nation needs the airlines flying, even now.
Hyatt has already extended reservations flexibility through June 30, including refunds for prepaid hotel reservations for those who need or want to cancel.
They’ve also now worked through how to handle elite status, upgrade certificates, and free night awards. And they’re also announcing a further pause to expiration of points.
The Ukrainian crew of a Portuguese-flagged Canadian-operated German cruise ship sank a Venezuelan attack boat that fired on it in international waters.
More than 75% of hotel rooms in the U.S. were empty last week. And things were even worse in the top 25 hotel markets: 19.6% occupancy, and revenue per available room down nearly 86%.
You can fly to Australia from all across the U.S. this fall and winter starting at just $360 roundtrip.
Airlines are waiving change fees for travel booked now, so if you do have to change your planes you’ll at least get a full travel credit without penalty to use on a future trip. Hopefully this is far enough out that we can travel again without worry!
American’s May schedule will have only 10% of its usual international flying, and about 20% of its domestic flying.
They’ve just announced what they’re planning to fly internationally for summer. It’s much more ambitious.
Hyatt has extended their coronavirus travel waivers so that prepaid bookings remain refundable through June 30. This matches a move already made by Hilton and Marriott.
There are, however, no new World Of Hyatt updates. So points are still set to expire again starting in June, elite status has only been extended for Asia Pacific members (who are not at this point in the epicenter of virus spread), and free night certificates have not been extended at all and continue to expire (although you should be able to convert expired certificates into points).
At an internal meeting on Friday, American Airlines President Robert Isom told employees “every lost bag is nearly $60.” That amount was new to me.
In January alone American mishandled 74,975 bags, the most in the industry by far, and not any improvement over the prior year. At $60 per bag it cost American $4.5 million, and annualized at the same rate $54 million. Extrapolating similar costs for the industry would mean US carriers losing over $160 million a year to mishandled bags.
American Airlines and their credit card partner Barclays have updated the offer for the credit card they market inflight. And with this change, American Airlines is again encouraging flight attendants to hand out paper applications on board to passengers, even while they’re reducing the rest of their service levels to promote health and safety of cabin crew and customers alike.
American Airlines sent out a message to flight attendants who have been through training to qualify to pitch the card inflight.
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.
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 »
