Star Alliance member and United Airlines partner South African Airways is promising to check the licenses of all of its pilots — and obtain copies from a government regulator instead of pilots just bringing in copies themselves — after discovering that one of their veteran long haul pilots had been using a forged license for 25 years.
The passenger sharing the experience asked a flight attendant for help, but there were no empty seats on the flight. At this point the larger passenger is embarrassed, apologizing that he can’t just take a later flight. And the flight attendant “tells him that unless someone on the flight agrees to let him take up part of their seat, he’ll need to book another flight.”
That’s when our anti-hero proposes a Coasian bargain.
Here’s what I think if the most challenging thing with each of the largest airlines and hotel chains, a simple statement influenced by my idiosyncratic preferences — but I think they stand up:
It’s only been three years since Starbucks devalued their rewards program by moving towards revenue-based points earning. Gone was the ability to get outsized value from the program, for instance, by ringing up each item you’re purchasing separately.
Now we know that Starbucks is going to devalue the program again by moving closer to revenue-based redemption. Word is that redemptions will work as follows:
Airlines will frequently give you elite status if you have status with a competitor in order to make it easier to move your business.
Alaska Airlines in particular is quite aggressive, they will even match to their top tier MVP Gold 75K level when you email with proof of your existing status.
They also have a new offer out that does not require you to be a current elite flyer, just someone that has plans to fly cross country a few times.
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.
Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson famously dismissed customer frustrations with his chain’s IT failures and problems delivering promised benefits as ‘noise around the edges.’
During Marriott’s earnings call the CEO addressed the new name for the loyalty program, how he sees it as part of the chain’s strategy, and whether hotels are frustrated.
In late 2017 American Airlines rolled out a new coach product. It featured less space than ever between seats (not just in coach, but less space for extra legroom coach and even for first class). There was less recline, too, and no seat back video. They found space for more seats by squeezing inches out of the lavatories. And they found space by taking padding out of the seats.
Not only was this new interior what’s going into their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, but they’ve been taking more comfortable Boeing 737-800s and ripping out those interiors to match what I’ve sometimes called “Torquemada configuration.”
The US government maintains a “No Fly List” and airlines are required to check passengers against it before allowing them to fly. They maintain other lists that trigger increased security screening and potentially harassment.
The lists are pre-crime profiling. Not even based on science. And it’s also done very very poorly. People get on the list by mistake, because they’re related to someone who is on it, or because they visited the wrong country in the wrong year. .
These are secret lists that people haven’t been entitled to know they are on, how they got on, or to confront the evidence relied upon to put them on it. Legally there is very little recourse, and when challenged the government claims ‘state secrets.’
I’ve continued pressing Marriott for a timeline, how long it will take customers who have submitted even more information to them to find out if their data was part of the breach? They’ve finally shared Thirty. Days. And that’s a ‘goal’. They want you to know they are not breaking the law (‘consistent with regulatory expectations’) which is apparently their standard for customer service.
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 »
