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 year ago Citibank added Avianca’s LifeMiles as a points transfer partner. Now American Express Membership Rewards has done so as well.
LifeMiles is a fantastic Star Alliance program. I have a few hundred thousand of their miles, and I’ve never used them to travel on Avianca. Instead I use them for premium cabin awards on airlines like Lufthansa, Asiana, and Thai Airways. And I use their cash and points awards to book United’s domestic first class.
If you’re flying American Airlines on a basic economy fare take note: starting December 12 customers with peanut allergies can board early so they have a chance to wipe down their seats. Delta allows this too.
By the way I don’t actually recommend misrepresenting your needs. I do think these loopholes speak to the absurdity of the restrictions themselves.
In yesterday’s earnings call Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson addressed how he thinks they’ve done integrating the Marriott and Starwood loyalty programs.
Just last week he referred to member frustrations as ‘noise around the edges’. He got into much greater detail with financial analysts.
SkyTeam member airline KLM, based in Amsterdam and acquired by Air France in 2004, sees Germany as its most important market but discovered that 46% of Germans don’t know what a KLM is.
The airline created a German ad campaign: We are an airline. But since their research showed that people assumed KLM was either a bank, radio station or restaurant, they opened those things.
Delta debuted a new ad today, and it runs only today. It’s about inclusion and Delta’s bringing people together — through travel — and offers meaningful thoughts to an electorate that says they’re frustrated with anger, division, and partisanship.
And I almost believe it.
I’ve watched flight attendants move customers’ belongings in the overhead. If a passenger speaks up, afraid their computer for instance might disappear to camera equipment could get damaged, the passenger is immediately put on notice: are we going to have a problem? In other words sit down, shut up, or you’re off the flight.
Since the David Dao dragging incident on United last April there’s been more attention paid to the problem of airlines turning customer service problems over to law enforcement.
With half a dozen Chinese airlines flying to the U.S. in addition to three U.S. airlines flying to China — and with China’s carriers growing capacity from secondary cities — fares to China are some of the lowest in the world.
Air China’s Shenzen flight is super interesting because the airport is a mere 24 miles from Hong Kong. You can take a taxi or ferry across to Hong Kong (there’s a border crossing involved) and save about $1000 roundtrip and avoid a connecting flight, or save $3000 roundtrip compared to Hong Kong non-stops.
Starting February 1 business class entrees will be plated in advance in order to reduce flight attendant workload and allow them to reduce flight attendant staffing in the cabin by one position.
Where any of their competitors fly with fewer flight attendants, United will too. The goal, apparently, is to offer the lowest levels of service among peers American and Delta. And that’s not just limited to business class, Boeing 757 international routes lose a flight attendant in coach too.
Chase has launched their new Apple Ultimate Rewards Store today. Sapphire, Ink, and Freedom cardmembers can spend points for Apple products.
If you do want to spend points for Apple products, log into your Ultimate Rewards account and be sure to complete the transaction while points are still worth a penny apiece towards these items. No doubt there are people with more points than opportunity to maximize them, and the holidays are coming.
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 »
