US Government is Going to Clamp Down on Cuba Travel – Again

by Gary Leff

beach
Apr 17 2019

Under the Obama administration the US relaxed rules on citizens traveling to and spending money in Cuba. They even reached an agreement to put air marshals on planes so air marshals could party in Havana and Americans were allowed to bring back unlimited Cuban cigars from their travels.

The new Trump administration though moved to crack down on the ability of Americans to travel there. These travel restrictions required Americans to go as part of organized tours and forbade spending money anywhere owned by the military. Now get ready for a new round of even tougher restrictions on traveling to Cuba.

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No One Knows Who is in Charge at Hong Kong Airlines as Rival CEOs Claim Power

by Gary Leff

hongkong airlines plane
Apr 17 2019

It’s not clear who is in charge at the airline, as the carrier’s third largest owner claims to have been appointed by the board as CEO while the previous head says no such change has been made.

There aren’t just dueling chief executives but also dueling spokespeople. Over a dozen representatives of the new CEO entered company headquarters yesterday “to enforce the message about the leadership change.”

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India’s Jet Airways is Done

by Gary Leff

jet airways plane
Apr 17 2019

The largest private airline of India, which had a fleet of over 120 aircraft, is being grounded amidst debts to lessors, fuel suppliers, pilots, and banks. There’s talk that this is ‘only temporary’ but once shut down airlines rarely start back up (and it’s pretty much never a good idea for them to). At most branding gets purchased out of the ashes and a new carrier with a new business model might operate under the old name.

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Mastercard Introduces New Benefits With Lyft, Postmates, Cell Phone Protection Across Tons of Cards

by Gary Leff

credit card wallet
Apr 16 2019

I’ve been a proponent for about two decades for the idea of having at least one each of Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Entirely apart from a card’s benefits, payment networks often have their own unique benefits and also run promotions in conjunction with travel providers. I always want to be prepared to take advantage of the best offers that come along.

Mastercard has introduced several new benefits to its cards, largely though not exclusively for its premium ‘World Elite’ cards. Fortunately two of the rewards cards I carry are World Elite Mastercards.

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NO!!! Crowdfunding Site Raising Money to Bring Back Wow Air

by Gary Leff

wow plane
Apr 16 2019

The goal of the crowdfunding effort is to “collect at least 10-20,000 shareholders” which will invest in Wow Air or – if that plan fails – “a new low cost airline.” The likelihood of this effort succeeding seems very low, and that’s a good thing.

Ultimately businesses fail for a reason. That’s a good thing, and just as important as their succeeding. In this case Wow Air’s departure makes room for other carriers to succeed – or at least reduce their bleed.

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