The leaks coming out of American recently largely seem to be about making positive investments for customers and improving the travel experience. That’s certainly a departure from what we’ve seen over the past few years.
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 US ambassador has arranged for diplomatic assistance meals at each McEmbassy. And while you can no longer add pages to an existing US passport a McPassport comes in your choices of sizes and you can request a 52 page book when ordering a new one. Going forward, in Austria, this will be known as Supersizing It.
Taco Bell is opening a resort hotel in Palm Springs August 9th. It’s “meant for 18+ superfans” and will have “exclusive Taco Bell menu items and plenty of surprises” and the resort will only last a short time.
Reservations will open in June. The fast food chain claims this “isn’t a stunt, but instead part of Taco Bell’s wider strategy of moving the brand beyond the traditional fast-food experience.”
Delta saver award availability to Asia, especially for two or more passengers, can be challenging. Right now though availability for late fall and winter is outstanding on a variety of routes, for the whole family — in some cases 9 or more saver awards.
Specifically flights out of Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle, Atlanta and Los Angeles are bookable to Tokyo and to China (from Shanghai connecting options on China Eastern are good as well) for November through March.. Notably availability on the Detroit – Beijing, LA – Shanghai, and LA – Tokyo Haneda routes means flying Delta’s business class suites.
Based on a new agreement between the US and Japan, the US Department of Transportation gets to allocate 12 day time slot pairs for service between the US and Tokyo’s close-in Haneda airport starting with the 2020 summer travel season.
The DOT has issued its preliminary ruling, and here’s what they’ve granted.
When Marriott acquired Starwood hotels they beat out Hyatt, which may have offered a more financially attractive package but whose complicated stock structure (the Pritzker family has outsized voting rights) created complications, and Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance.
Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott, says he was surprised that they won the bidding and were able to make the deal.
Good availability in business class to Asia from 75,000 miles one way without significant add-on fees is worth paying attention to. There are worthwhile Star Alliance (Europe and Mideast especially) and round-the-world awards, too.
Business class fares are available from several US cities – including New York, DC, and Los Angeles – to Moscow from $1650 roundtrip.
Maybe you weren’t satisfied with the Mueller report and want to conduct your own on-the-ground investigation. Or you’ve always wanted to trace your family’s roots back to the Tsar. Either way this is one of the best sale fares I’ve seen to Russia.
Recently Delta started adding surcharges to Virgin Atlantic awards in premium economy. Delta has acknowledged this was a mistake. They’ve fixed it — stopped charging miscellaneous surcharges on Virgin Atlantic premium economy awards departing the U.S. — and they’re refunding SkyMiles members that already paid it.
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 »
