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.
American has a new play in Chinese distribution. China’s Alibaba Group has an online travel service called Fliggy. American Airlines is launching an online travel store on Fliggy, and extending elite benefits to Fliggy’s elite customers.
I was e-mailing with Stephen M. about his son’s credit card strategy, credit score, and options. He observed that he’s been focused on getting the most from rewards ‘for at least 8 years’ but “it is kind of funny, I tell people who travel a lot about it, but very few do it seriously.”
When frequent flyer programs began in the U.S. programs would give you 5000 miles if you spent all your points. That’s because they were afraid you would no longer be locked into an airline if you spent all your miles, you’d get off the treadmill and become a free agent. They stopped doing that. And the reason why is telling.
Marriott had to take down their website and mobile app after Shanghai authorities were notified the hotel company listed Tibet and Taiwan as separate countries on a survey.
Then after a Marriott employee working the Marriott Rewards twitter account ‘liked’ a tweet by Friends of Tibet the company was letting everyone know that employee was being fired rather than the usual corporate response of not commenting on personnel matters.
Cathay Pacific launched its new US credit card back in February. It’s issued by Synchrony Bank.
Initially the signup bonus on the card was 25,000 points after $2500 spend within 90 days for this $95 annual fee card. In late summer they ran a 50,000 point signup offer.
Today they launched a new offer for the card which bonuses all foreign transaction spend: 35,000 miles after $2500 spend within 90 days and a $0 annual fee the first year.
Aeroflot cancelled flight SU102 from Moscow to New York JFK on January 7. They offer 3 flights a day on the route, this is the second one, but they reported to passengers that flights were full.
Transit without visa through the Moscow airport is only permitted for 24 hours….
Star Alliance member Avianca’s LifeMiles program is useful for frequently reasonable redemptions, no fuel surcharges, and regularly selling miles on the cheap.
Miles have expired after 24 months of account inactivity, and until now any activity has been enough to reset the clock. Starting April 15th they’re revising the rules to say miles expire after 12 months and only earning more miles resets the clock, not redeeming miles.
American Express is opening a Centurion lounge at New York JFK’s terminal 4 in early 2019. It will be the largest Centurion lounge yet and they promise “new amenities” on top of standard Centurion lounge offerings.
We’ve seen cases of passengers being kicked off flights for showing too much cleavage, one woman even got a Playboy spread after being kicked off of Southwest Airlines.
I’m not sure I can recall anyone ever being kicked off a flight for wearing too much clothing, unless of course it was Naked Air.
It was only just Saturday when I wrote about a British Airways business class passenger discovering bed bugs on his London – Cape Town flight. I wrote about bed bugs on a BA flight back in October too.
Now there’s a new story out about British Airways having to cancel a flight from London Heathrow to Accra, Ghana because cabin crew refused to work the aircraft due to the presence of bed bugs.
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 »
