Santa mistakenly e-mails one of the naughty kids on his list the entire database of naughty children. Armed with this information, the children convene the International Naughty Kids Summit “to tackle the threat of empty stockings.”
United’s CEO Gives Up His First Class Seat to an Elderly Nervous Flyer
The passenger sharing the story, who describes herself as a loyal Delta customer and who was seated behind the woman in what was supposed to be Oscar Munoz’s seat, says this may have converted her into a lifelong United customer. And that, by the way, is how you win business — authentically, one customer at a time.
Massive Marriott Data Breach: 500 Million Bookings, Many With Payment and Passport Data
f you’ve been a legacy Starwood guest, Marriott’s systems likely disclosed much of your personal information to hackers. Marriott announced that the Starwood reservation database was breached. They learned about the ongoing breach in September which they say had been occurring since 2014.
They are reporting access to about 500 million guest records, most including information like email addresses and passport numbers and some including credit card details as well.
Air France Expected to Shut Down Joon, Apologize to Millennials
It’s been a year since Air France started service under the ‘Joon’ brand. There are various reports that Air France is either considering killing Joon, or has already made a decision to do so. Getting rid of it could reduce complexity and serve as a bargaining chip with the carrier’s pilots.
Pretending that it’s really a different brand for millennials was just silly. It was created by consultants who think millennial means “no money, doesn’t care about comfort, and is into marketing buzz.”
Marriott Still Isn’t Getting Its Program Merger Right and Airlines That Will Lose Your Luggage
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.
Chase’s Expanded 5/24 Rules are a Bad Idea, Here’s How They Affect What Card You Should Get
I was the first person to report over the summer that Chase would be expanding their 5/24 rule. Chase doesn’t approve most applicants for their cards who have opened 5 or more new credit card accounts in the previous 24 months. This is too blunt of an instrument.
American Introducing Business and First Class to Los Angeles – Boston
American Airlines is introducing their premium Airbus A321T service to Los Angeles – Boston twice a day starting April 2.
The plane offers a first class cabin with seats similar to their Boeing 777-300ER business class, in a 1-1 configuration meaning that every seat is both a window and an aisle seat. Customers in business class get a flat bed, in a 2-2 configuration.
Hyatt Launches Earning and Redemption at Small Luxury Hotels of the World
Hyatt has launched their partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, offering points-earning, elite stay credit and redemption at some SLH member hotels. Along with that comes a new more expensive redemption category 8.
At this point only 54 hotels are participating — nearly all in Europe — though Hyatt says “we expect for more SLH properties to join the program in the coming months.”
Southwest Apologizes For Gate Agent Making Fun of 5 Year Old Girl’s Name. But Should the Mom Apologize Too?
Calling out a 5 year old for her name just isn’t appropriate. I’m going to take an unpopular position here though. I’m going to say that the mother did her child a disserving naming her Abcde, because it is completely foreseeable that the girl is going to draw unwanted attention for her name throughout her childhood.
We can and should criticize this Southwest agent, but what the kids she’ll go to school with? Or am I completely off base?
This is Awesome: United’s Full Schedule, in Excel
The United Cargo website has historically been the source of all sorts of gems. It used to be that it would list the ‘real reason’ for flight delays. United.com might show you were delayed for weather, but the cargo site would say it was actually lack of crew.
Now there’s another new gem from that website — full, downloadable United Airlines schedules.