One Hilton Hotel Banned Staycations

by Gary Leff

Nov 21 2019

A couple was having work done on their home so they needed a one night hotel stay and booked the Hampton Inn nearby. When they handed over their ID and credit card at check-in they were told they couldn’t stay a the property.

The Hampton Inn Bourbonnais Kankakee in Illinois had a policy against staycations by Kankakee residents. The property owner decided not to welcome anyone with a Kankakee address, though after publicity from a recent incident they’ve backed off of the rule.

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American Airlines Tests Effectively Killing Basic Economy

by Gary Leff

Nov 21 2019

American is testing what happens when they eliminate the biggest remaining restriction on Basic Economy fares, the inability to select seats at time of booking.

If American does this they’ll pick up more seat selection revenue, fewer customers will be chased away, but much of the encouragement to buy a more expensive coach fare will be lost. Presumably this test allows American to see which factors are greatest – to see whether Basic Economy is really costing them money as currently conceived.

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LATAM Leaving oneworld October 1, 2020

by Gary Leff

plane on tarmac
Nov 21 2019

One of the most frequent questions I’ve gotten over the past couple of months is from American AAdvantage members with tickets for travel on LATAM, wondering whether they’ll be able to credit the flights to their AAdvantage accounts and earn miles. It looks like the ability to do so will continue through September 2020, based on new information about when LATAM will leave the oneworld alliance.

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Does the New Tokyo Centurion Pop Up Signal A Second Asian American Express Lounge?

by Gary Leff

Nov 20 2019

American Express is running a pop up Centurion lounge in Manhattan next weekend. They want to be where their customers are, and they want to be where their customers are shopping.

Other pop ups have foretold where they wanted to offer a permanent lounge. For instance they had a pop up at LAX before getting a deal done to build a lounge there. They did a London pop up and then announced a London Heathrow Centurion lounge.

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Two Passengers Caught Insanely Fighting Over the Window Shade, Which One Was Right?

by Gary Leff

Nov 20 2019

The person in the window seat usually has control over whether the window shade is open or closed. However courtesy plays a role too. On overnight flights across time zones window shades should be closed whenever possible – many passengers are trying to sleep, but it may be light out early. The outside light might also interfere with an aisle seat passenger seeing their laptop screen and getting work done.

Reasonable requests should be accommodated, though it’s up to the passenger in the window to make the trade-off decision. One key to peace on board is good communication.

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