Thai Airways Wants to Crowdsource Cost Cutting Ideas From Passengers and Other Hair-brained Schemes

Aug 16 2019

Star Alliance member Thai Airways, whose President says there’s “never a day without a problem,” has a six point plan to return to profitability.

It involves getting passengers to e-mail in ideas for cost-cutting, sell more services through its mobile app, add a new route to Japan, and partner with a Thai cafe chain that’s found inside of gas stations.

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The “Thank You For Flying Southwest” Song Greets Arriving Passengers in Phoenix

Southwest Airlines Scott
Aug 16 2019

Scott is a Southwest Airlines agent in Phoenix. The day after a United Airlines passenger was dragged off a flight in Chicago, he came up with a song to let passengers know they were valued – and wouldn’t be dragged off on Southwest.

Now he greets arriving flights with his song, to the tune of the theme to The Golden Girls, it’s “Thank You for Flying Southwest”

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Reading Between the Lines: China Forces Out Cathay Pacific’s CEO

cathay pacific
Aug 16 2019

Cathay Pacific’s CEO Rupert Hogg, and the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, have resigned. Hogg has been well-regarded in the role, driving a turnaround in the airline’s finances.

Ultimately the move is harmful to China’s ability to maintain Hong Kong as a business center, showing how the state will meddle in corporate affairs rather than adhering to “one country two systems.”

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Marriott Travel Packages Finally Have a Use Case With Peak Season Awards

outside marriott hotel
Aug 15 2019

Marriott travel packages used to be the best value in the program, combining hotel stays with airline miles transfers. The new program gutted the value of Marriott travel packages. It seems though that this may have been in anticipation of peak season award pricing which is another step towards Marriott’s cost containment efforts, and driving the program towards delivering consistent average value on each stay rather than having peaks and valleys (which create opportunity for exceptional value). Bonvoy confirms to me that Marriott travel packages do not have restrictions on use during peak nights. Marriott reward night certificates can be used for their permitted category whether the standard room redemption is for off season, standard or peak season. As a result you get the most value during peak season. There’s a whole lot more value…

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Amazing: Business Class From Several US Cities to Italy $1344+

coliseum
Aug 15 2019

SkyTeam airlines including Delta and Alitalia have business class roundtrips to Italy on sale from $1344. You can depart from several US cities — such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, and Miami – and travel to places including Rome, Milan or Venice.

There may be more cities bookable using this deal, but act fast because this is an amazing fare for travel over holidays that won’t last.

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Incredible Video: Airbus A321 With 226 Passengers Lands in a Field, No Serious Injuries

plane in corn field
Aug 15 2019

It was like US Airways flight 1549 – the Miracle on the Hudson – but in a field. A Ural Airlines Airbus A321 suffered a serious bird strike on takeoff from Moscow Zhukovsky airport. The flight was headed to Simferopol in the Ukraine and had 226 passengers and 7 crew on board.

The crew of the Ural Airlines aircraft did a truly heroic job landing their aircraft, wheels up in a field, keeping the fuselage intact. And fortunately there did not appear to be fuel leaking from the engines. Walking away from this is really special.

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Marriott Rolls Out High/Low Season Award Pricing Next Month Along With Other Changes

outside marriott hotel
Aug 15 2019

When Marriott first announced their new program they told us they’d be adding a new highest redemption category 8 and also adding peak and off peak pricing for 2019. They put off category 8 until March but postponed peak and off peak pricing even further.

They’ve been silent on when to expect it until now, giving us a month’s notice before the new top redemption price could go as high as 100,000 points per night. Effective September 14th they’re making some other changes to the program as well.

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