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.
United has entered into a partnership with CLEAR for expedited security screening. This is surprising because CLEAR is owned, in part, by Delta however United will be taking an equity stake as well. This will mean (1) expansion for CLEAR and (2) discounts for United elites and credit card customers.
Last August Delta announced they had seat back video installed in 600 aircraft. That’s significant because American has been looking to ultimately remove seat back screens from domestic planes and United, led by American’s former President, has a similar vision.
Now Delta has announced they’ve hit 700 planes with seat back video.
One of the great mysteries of life — along with why, if 7-11s are open 24 hours a day, they still have locks on their doors — is why some airlines keep their cabins so warm. Asian airlines, in particular, are known for keeping the cabins like sweat boxes during flight.
Fortunately one of the most brilliant ideas may be about to come to fruition.
While there’s certainly been consolidation in the airline industry as America West acquired US Airways and then American; Delta acquired Northwest; Continental acquired United; Southwest acquired AirTran and Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America this hasn’t led to higher prices for consumers. Government should remove barriers to competition, but it’s a stretch to suggest that the several large airlines in today’s industry constitute anything close to monopoly.
As hotels look to cut costs, some cut back on daily housekeeping while others eschew room service carts and trays for brown paper sacks.
It turns out though that room service for dogs and cats is on the upswing.
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 video going viral on social media shows a family caught by their hotel in Bali with items in their luggage stolen from the hotel. The family got into an argument with hotel staff, and the property demanded they open their bags for inspection. They were caught with stolen items from their room. One stolen piece after another gets revealed.
A former Starwood GM reports the theft of a grand piano from his lobby. Some guests walk out with the TV from their room. Another GM reports a guest unscrewing the room number off their door for a souvenir.
American Airlines produced a report for employees on the carrier’s progress towards its 2019 goals. One item that stood out – apart from the airline’s operational problems this year – is that customer “likelihood to recommend” scores have fallen.
The airline attributes this to its reliability challenges, although it’s equally notable that American compares themselves to just before they began retrofitting domestic aircraft to a new less comfortable standard.
When Oscar Munoz took over from disgraced United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek the airline rolled out modest customer experience improvements as part of an overall attempt to change the narrative of the airline.
Illy coffee and Stroopwafels turned out to be a perfect match, made better together. And for the Stroopwafel it changed their entire business trajectory.
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 »
