TSA sceeners have maintained a private Facebook group for years, where about a third of the agency’s employees are members, as a as a home for mocking passengers with racist tropes and homophobic rants.
The page is called “TSA Breakroom,” it’s limited to agency employees, and there are 18,000 members.
On Wednesday morning I debated Stifel Managing Director Joseph DeNardi on whether or not to spin off frequent flyer programs at the Airline Information MEGA event in Florida.
Joe is the best-known face of the argument that loyalty programs are the primary drivers of revenue and value for airlines, and he’s argued that the overall businesses are undervalued because investors don’t clearly see how much good, high margin revenue is coming in from credit card partnerships versus from the airline as old-line industrial. He was charged with defending the idea of spinning programs off into a separate business, and I was charged with arguing against this.
Each year the American Airlines management team does a musical performance – all dressed up for Halloween. This year it was Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ filmed around their new Skyview campus.
CEO Doug Parker stepped into the role of Billy Ray Cyrus.
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.
Hyatt’s ‘soft brand’ – the umbrella for independent hotels to join Hyatt without matching specific brand standards – is called “Unbound Collection.” The chain is offering double elite qualifying nights for stays at Unbound Collection hotels through end of year. (Registration required.)
There are 20 Unbound Collection properties.
Already on their sixth transfer bonus of the year, having just launched transferable points, and Capital One has shared in the past that “limited-time offers like this will be another major perk for Venture and Spark Miles account holders to take advantage of.”
This month they’re back with a bonus on transfers to Air France KLM Flying Blue, a great program to pool points in, with reasonable redemption rates and good business class availability.
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.
Many Marriott Platinums see their suite night awards expire unused. Nonetheless, when they work they’re great.
Marriott has made two changes to Suite Night Awards, each reflecting problems with Marriott’s own internal systems that they’ve been unable to solve.
United has held firm that they can take a customer’s money for a lifetime service and change the terms (the “our fingers were crossed” rule). Unlike Delta and American, people who purchased lifetime United Club memberships cannot continue to use United Clubs unless they’re flying United or designated partners same day.
To me United’s decision undermines CEO Oscar Munoz’s credibility to claims that the airline is motivated by a desire to do the right thing for customers. It all come down to trust. But then what do you think their elimination of award charts means?
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 »
