Great business class fares on Star Alliance member and United partner TAP Air Portugal are back — and an even better fare on future oneworld member Royal Air Maroc. There’s a key to how you can get these.
Hilton’s basic program is the least rewarding for spending at hotels and elite benefits are weak. They do not promise Diamonds upgrades to suites even if they’re empty, and they do not promise late check-out requests will be honored. Where Hilton Honors is useful is for the occasional guest who can get status just by having a credit card. There’s some chance this could change since they’re testing a confirmed suite upgrade benefit with some Diamonds, my hunch is if they launch it that holding a credit card alone won’t be enough to have this benefit. One of the most irritating things about Hilton Honors is its lack of transparency. They eliminated their award charts. Here’s what they published just a couple of years ago: Five years ago they effectively killed charts when they introduced…
United has been moving towards a premium-heavy strategy. The offer more international business class seats than peers using similar aircraft, and they’ve invested in really nice international business class lounges. Their Polaris business class seat allows them to do this because it gives them a fully flat product with direct aisle access without taking up more space in the cabin than their old six-abreast seats. It’s a “good enough” seat that isn’t quite as nice as American’s B/E Aerospace Super Diamond or Delta’s new Suites, but that doesn’t require actively avoiding flying business class on United. United has announced a doubling down on the premium heavy approach adding even more business class seats to a subfleet of 767-300s, as well as adding first class seats to Airbus A319 and A320s where they’ve had fewer seats…
It’s incredible that Qatar was able to play, beat their geopolitical rivals Saudi Arabia and UAE, and that they had an actual fan in the stadium who dared to support them along the way. That man was punished.
I have to think that this will be enough of an international embarrassment that the UAE will have to back down (though they can’t un-beat the man). Nonetheless it’s a good reminder that when you travel the world you’re subject to the laws of wherever you’ve gone – even if you aren’t aware of what they are.
So which is it? Should passengers shut up and show compassion for a parent traveling with their child, or shouldn’t a child that’s crying be on the plane in the first place? Or should we all just do the best we can to get through it?
A passenger on American Airlines flight AA5896 on February 2 from Long Beach to Phoenix shared his experience with the first class flight attendant.
The flight was on a CRJ-900 regional jet operated by Mesa Airlines. I’ve had plenty of flights on Mesa and usually find their flight attendants to be excellent. However this story illustrates several problems facing commercial aviation in the U.S.
There are currently roundtrip tickets available to Australia starting at just $446.
Last month there were $462 tickets — it’s truly a great time to travel the world! — but this time the deal is available even more broadly, from more cities.
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.
Rihanna reportedly turned down performing at the Superbowl for its half time show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protests during the national anthem.
You don’t need to take sides in that discussion, or have an opinion on Rihanna, to find it noteworthy that not only wasn’t she at the Superbowl she was flying during the Superbowl — and from the looks of things, on board an American Airlines Airbus A321T in first class.
Some members are really motivated by points (redemption) and others are motivated by better treatment (status). If a program offers members more than usual for taking certain actions during a specific period of time, they’re going to get more of those actions.
And you can test customer behavior, how much do you need to offer? which customers respond best to which kinds of offers? Here are four that Marriott is reportedly sending out.
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 »
