On the same day and at the same airport last year three pilots faked fuel emergencies in order to get priority for landing. But that was Kolkata, India, and the airlines in question were IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet.
You certainly don’t expect anything like that to happen in the U.S., although some pilots have a sense of humor that might lead certain passengers to think something like that is happening.
Iberia is a oneworld airline based in Spain with an underrated fully flat business class product. They’re owned by IAG, the same airline that owns British Airways, and they’re a oneworld partner of American Airlines.
The great thing about Iberia is that when you use Iberia Avios to redeem for Iberia flights they charge fewer miles than British Airways or American does and they do not add usurious fuel surcharges. What’s more they occasionally discount their already reasonable award prices.
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 Marriott hotel in Atlanta is being sued for kicking a woman with a reservation out of the property because she wouldn’t pay extra to stay on a “swinger’s floor.”
She had booked a 3 night New Years Eve stay but was asked for more money “for being on a floor that had been completely booked by Swingers of Atlanta.”
After the Las Vegas shooting massacre there were calls for limits to be placed on hotel ‘do not disturb’ signs even though there was no indication that a do not disturb sign played any role in the shooting.
Now Hilton will no longer honor Do Not Disturb signs for more than 24 hours.
NIKI was driven into insolvency with the collapse of air berlin and withdrawl of support from Etihad. It was expected that the Austrian carrier would go to Lufthansa (specifically their low cost subsidiary Eurowings), but European competition regulators shut down that possibility.
Hyatt is making two changes to their elite program for 2018, and they’re both positive.
Three months ago US diplomatic employees were detained in Turkey with that country claiming there were links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom it says was responsible for the July 2016 coup attempt against Turkish strongman President Erdoğan. The US suspended visa services in the country as a result, and Turkey retaliated.
Today the US announced that it has resumed issuing visas in Turkey. And Turkey is lifting its restrictions as well.
The TSA has posted signs at airports saying that people living in several states will no longer be able to use drivers licenses to clear security effective January 22, 2018.
Now the TSA finally confirms what I wrote two months ago: “U.S. residents in all states can use old driver’s licenses until Oct. 1, 2020.”
Like some other major US airlines, Southwest Airlines will sell you the elite qualifying points needed to earn elite status. Their offer to buy status ends Saturday.
A-List is normally earned after 25 flights or 35,000 points. They’ll sell you up to 15,000 points towards this goal.
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 »
