American Airlines Now Lets You Volunteer for Bump Compensation Electronically

by Gary Leff

switch flights flyer
May 01 2019

Airlines are going to new great lengths to avoid involuntarily denying boarding to passengers — selling more tickets than there are seats and then not having enough volunteers to take a later flight for compensation when more passengers than expected show up. Some airlines are overbooking less. Others are paying out more compensation to get more passengers to volunteer to give up their seats.

We’ve seen stories about Delta giving a passenger $4000 in travel vouchers for agreeing to take a later flight and United giving out $10,000. American’s Day of Departure Desk will also authorize substantially more compensation than before.

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Hyatt Brings Back “G-Bonuses” for New Hotels and Introduces 50% Rebate on Miraval Redemptions

by Gary Leff

hawaii
May 01 2019

Hyatt used to offer lucrative property-specific bonuses of 500 to 2000 points per night. These were colloquially referred to as ‘G bonuses’ because of the bonus codes attached to them. Combined with whatever promotion Hyatt was running (Faster Free Nights) and the fact that Hyatt used to give 2500 bonus points per night at properties whose club lounges were closed on the weekend meant that the old Gold Passport program was super lucrative, indeed.

We haven’t seen much in the way of property-specific bonuses in the past 8 years, but those are back for hotels that are brand new to Hyatt. And there’s a new 50% rebate on Hyatt’s most expensive redemptions.

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Delta Will Fly New York – Mumbai This Year! (and Tells Some Fibs, Too)

by Gary Leff

arch like building
Apr 30 2019

Over 11 months ago Delta announced that they would fly to India. They did not say when it would happen, or the route they’d fly. And then.. crickets.

Now, finally, Delta has announced that they will fly New York JFK – Mumbai starting December 22, over a year and a half after they announced they would fly to India again. The service will be operated by Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

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Man Hits Up Priority Pass Restaurants for $200 in Free Food – and Gets it To Go!

by Gary Leff

cheap restaurant food
Apr 29 2019

Some people have made truly gluttonous use of Priority Pass lounge access like bringing 19 guests into a lounge in Quito, Ecuador and bringing 35 guests into a single lounge with just one Priority Pass card in Kigali, Rwanda.

Now that you can use Priority Pass cards to get $28 credits at a variety of airport restaurants around the world you can do a lot of eating for free.

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British Airways is Changing Partner Award Prices May 30 – But Won’t Tell Us How Much They Go Up

by Gary Leff

alaska airlines plane
Apr 29 2019

British Airways has a history of making changes to its award pricing without notice, and also of giving a few months’ notice. When they moved from an award region chart to distance-based pricing in 2011 they told us they were changing pricing but not what prices would be. When that happens you know they won’t be ‘changes you’re going to like’.

Now we’re once again learning of impending changes but not what the details of those changes will be.

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