The lead plaintiff has stayed at over 45 Marriott properties and contends resort fees are ‘drip pricing’. He claims not to have realized resort fees applied for some of his stays when he made his booking, because those fees are obscured (under “taxes and fees”).
What we can hope to gain from this and the state investigations of resort fees is a change in industry practice where mandatory charges are included in the room rate so that consumers can compare pricing.
t’s the things that people do for each other when disaster hits that’s most meaningful, and in the moment, long before government programs decamp. It’s people like Satchel Smith, who works at the Homewood Suites in Beaumont, Texas, who make a real difference in people’s lives.
Based on comments by American Airlines top executives at an employee meeting last week, the airline is working on a Tokyo Haneda shuttle schedule at LAX. They’re preparing to send Boeing 787s into the Pacific. And they’re looking forward to new Boeing 787 aircraft deliveries that they intend to fly 7000 miles – to places like India and Africa.
Austin has been one of the fastest growing airports in the country in recent years. This year they increased the number of available gates at the airport by 37%. While the amount of long haul international flying is limited, there’s London service from British Airways and Norwegian and Lufthansa started flying to Frankfurt back in May.
Delta has named Austin a focus city. While the largest airlines at Austin, in order, are Southwest, American, United and then Delta the addition of new gates will allow Delta to grow – and the gap between the three large U.S. legacy airlines isn’t that large to begin with.
United shared this morning that they’re revamping their confirmed regional and global upgrade certificates that Platinum elites and higher are able to take advantage of effective December 4. They’re introducing a new upgrade points system to replace certificates called PlusPoints, and existing banked certificates will convert to PlusPoints at that time.
I received a briefing on the changes from Luc Bondar, United’s Vice President of Loyalty who is in charge of MileagePlus. Here’s how upgrades are changing.
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.
The Airbus A220 has been a popular aircraft. Delta was able to buy a large number of them cheap before Airbus took over sales of the program from Bombardier. It has a low cost of operations and can fly surprisingly long distances. The wide fuselage makes it a passenger favorite for comfort because each seat gets extra width.
American Airlines doesn’t have an interest in the A220. Instead, American plans to pick up more Airbus A319s on the used market super cheap – a cost driven down, in part, by the growing popularity of the A220.
Monday through Friday of this week American Airlines will be testing a new signature cocktail for premium cabins. There are two different beverages they’re trying out and are soliciting customer feedback.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker says that the plane is safe to fly today – with American’s 737 MAX and using American’s pilots – suggesting that the delay in bringing the plane back into service is so that it’ll be safe even when operated by other airlines.
He dishes on how they’re scheduling the plane’s return to service, and whether or not delays have been the result of politics.
Starting “early next year” IHG Rewards Club is introducing a new earn and burn relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Smith hotels. There will also be some form of elite benefits at Mrs. and Mrs. Smith properties, because IHG says that their “most loyal members” (presumably Spire Elites, but also “including InterContinental Ambassadors and Kimpton Inner Circle members”) “can expect free room upgrades whenever available and a free gift, called a Smith Extra, on arrival at each Mr & Mrs Smith hotel.”
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 »
