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.
Pakistan International Airlines, the worst airline in the world, stopped flying to the US in October 2017 after 55 years of service.
Their flight used to operate Lahore, Pakistan – Manchester, UK – New York JFK. They weren’t allowed to fly non-stop to the U.S. for security reasons. The US government wasn’t comfortable with a plane load of passengers getting screened in Pakistan and flying to the States.
American Airlines is the sole remaining US carrier serving Venezuela and there are few other airlines flying in and out of the country as well. As the nation has fallen apart, with mass shortages, rampant crime, and inflation over 5000%, American Airlines had found their Venezuela routes extremely profitable — because there was so little air service left.
With flight crews getting robbed by bandits airlines fly crews out of the country rather than overnighting, and try to refuel elsewhere as well.
Th egregious award cancellation rules at the St. Regis Aspen — $1000 per night plus tax if your flight cancels and you show up late — deserves as much attention and ridicule as possible.
12kg of gold was found behind the mirror in the lavatory of a Biman Bangladesh flight from Dubai on arrival in Dhaka on Monday. You might even say that lavatory was a pot of gold.
Smuggling gold into Bangladesh is incredibly common. Spot prices are high and it’s a common destination for illicit funds being taken out of the Gulf region and also parts of Asia as we learned when a North Korean diplomat was discovered trying to bring $1.4 million in gold into Dhaka.
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.
Hyatt has started offering different benefits or state levels every 10 nights stayed instead of attaching benefits to qualifying for elite status.
Club lounge access awards are given after 20 and 30 nights stayed to all members. That means top tier Globalists earn them even though club lounge access is a benefit of Globalist status.
Imagine my shock that Thomas Cook Airlines claims to have an (unpublished) policy against ‘inappropriate’ dress and that it was enforced against Emily O’Connor as she boarded her flight to Tenerife, a holiday destination in the Canary Islands.
Southwest Airlines of course famously kicked 23 year old Kyla Ebbert off a flight over her short skirt, which struck me as ironic considering the original Southwest Airlines uniform.
American Airlines hosts a ‘state of the airline’ event for employees after its earnings calls. There senior management shares their vision for the company and employees can ask questions. In addition to those questions that are asked live, there are followup questions that get asked – and answered – in writing.
The airline has shared written responses to several employee questions, and some of those were interesting (to me).
North Island, one of the world’s top private island resorts in the Seychelles, announced it was joining Marriott’s The Luxury Collection. There are only 11 rooms (starting at 5000 square feet) and rates can hover above $7000 a night.
I’ve just learned that the property will participate in Marriott Bonvoy.
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 »
