This is hardly peak tourist season for Dubai, with daily temperatures averaging about 100 degrees. Still, staying somewhere like Al Maha Desert Resort seems fantastic for social distancing. You get your own standalone villa with your own private pool. When I was there you could choose to take all of your meals in-villa too as part of the resort’s all-inclusive approach. And redemptions are available every day using Marriott points.
An Italian customer wrote to Emirates customer service to complain about a flight attendant who was texting using her phone while sitting in the jump seat. He said he’s a Skywards Platinum member, and he was going to complain broadly in social media unless he received compensation. Emirates fired the flight attendant.
Cabin crew, though, doxed the guy and also have been gossiping about him claiming he steals salt and pepper shakers from aircraft and tries to scam ‘to go’ bottles of wine. They want flight attendants to be on the lookout for the guy, looking out for him taking phtoos inflight (since he took a photo of the flight attendant he complained about) because UAE law places restrictions on photography of others.
There are two Boeing 747s that serve as Air Force One. The windows are armored. Its body can stand up to the force of a nuclear blast on the ground. When airborne it is always followed by the Doomsday Plane.
For several years hotel chains have worked to get customers to ‘book direct’ rather than through third party agents because it lowers their distribution costs. They’ve imposed contracts that limit the ability of their properties to offer discounts, and they’ve advertised to convince you that booking directly through them gives you the lowest price, but that’s often not true.
Now that the global pandemic has decimated hotel occupancy, properties are doing everything they can to cut costs and look for business – and that includes cutting more deals with third party distributors.
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.
Rakuten is offering 90% cash back at LifeLock, or 90 American Express Membership Rewards points per dollar if you have your earning style set to receive Amex points rather than cash.
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.
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 »
