When Hilton eliminated award charts they promised hotels wouldn’t get more expensive. At the time the most expensive property was 95,000 points per night. In February they introduced a new 120,000 point level.
At the time it was only for one new property.
Since I earned the full year’s status through last year’s challenge, during the back half of 2018, I assumed I would have the status for all of 2019 and I’d be able to spend all of 2019 requalifying in order to keep the status for 2020. However, oddly, that’s not how this works.
Over the summer the carrier cancelled more flights than anyone, faced not just with a mechanics’ job action but also too much deferred maintenance and management failure to deploy parts where they were needed.
However the month of September was American’s best in two years based on the most important metric of on-time arrivals.
As far as I can tell only American schedules LaGuardia departures before 6 a.m. While it’s desirable to get out ahead of other airlines to be first in the departure queue at the crowded airport, those flights push back and… wait. It’s unclear to me the benefit of pushing back more than 5 and 10 minutes early.
The economics of co-brand credit cards used to favor banks much more than airlines, though they’ve been lucrative for the airlines for years. By the time of United Airlines’ bankruptcy in 2002 the airline in some sense continued flying to support the underlying credit card business.
With banks spending more on their co-brand partnerships and more to reward consumers they’ve gone looking for ways to trim costs.
The number one thing that determines if you have a great flight is the seat next to you being empty. Having that extra space makes everything better, from the friendliness of flight attendants to the tastiness of the snacks.
It turns out you can ensure this happens every time that you fly. And Kate Middleton knows the trick.
Hyatt made a big bet on ‘well being’, this soft idea that Hyatt makes you a better and more fulfilled person and you’ll pay them a revenue premium for it. As part of that bet they purchased Exhale spas, and a year ago introduced points earning, redemption and elite benefits there including free classes for Globalists in conjunction with a stay.
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.
As if it’s not hard enough to get through on the phone when bad weather hits as it is, American Airlines is closing their Reno reservations office, and eliminating home-based reservations agents.
When a President expresses ‘full confidence’ in a member of their cabinet, the cabinet secretary’s days are numbered. There aren’t even leaks out of the American Airlines Board of Directors right now expressing ‘full confidence’ in CEO Doug Parker.
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 »
