The ‘Big Front Seat’ on Spirit Airlines is one of the best deals in travel. However their regular seating is miserable.
The ultra low cost carrier is optimizing within the most constrained footprint of any U.S. carrier. That’s a good thing, but it doesn’t mean their coach is comparable to what other carriers offer.
Your frequent flyer accounts are more than rewards for your behavior. They’re also data that’s valuable, too. So is your credit card spending. Banks don’t just give you points, get transaction value, and make money on interchange (merchant swipe fees) and revolve (interest). They generate intelligence about your buying behavior that can be rented out to companies that want to sell more to you.
When data is hacked, we hear about biographical information that’s taken – name, address, e-mail address, and we worry about social security numbers. That’s not even the really valuable stuff.
United and American were $225 for coach, and I wouldn’t be able to leave until 8 p.m. Spirit had a better flight time and was much cheaper. I can’t tell you how excited I am to leave my comfort zone and try Spirit again though honestly things already aren’t starting super well.
The first thing about booking travel with Spirit is that it’s complicated. Seriously, there’s a lot to think about.
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 is out with double points – triple for Hyatt Place properties – starting with your second stay. There are at least 5 different limited-time offers that this new promotion stacks with.
A former Politico editor, Garrett M. Graff, has a new oral history of 9/11 coming out on Tuesday, “The Only Plane in the Sky” and here are a couple of excerpts.
The President was on board Air Force One. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice learned about the incident in real time during her daily briefing. The Vice President was in charge in the White House’s underground bunker built for use during a nuclear attack.
The single nuttiest idea in aviation history was published in the Dallas Morning News, an argument by Matt Andersson, the founder of an airline startup (Indigo Airlines), to merge the nation’s airlines into one and have the government run it. Oh he wants to eliminate frequent flyer points, too.
Passengers need a pilot contract because unhappy pilots mean massive delays and cancellations. But a pilot contract is going to mean the airline can squeeze more seats into regional jets. Either way, passengers lose.
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.
A man reportedly stood in the aisle for a full six hour flight so his wife could sleep in their seats.
Was he being selfless, or was she being selfish? Should they have just contorted themselves so that they could both sleep, her head in his lap and his head.. somewhere? And is it ok to stand in the aisle as long as the seat belt sign is on, common space for everyone, or is it rude to block the aisle?
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 »
