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.
Twelve years ago the most you could spend to stay at a Hyatt was 15,000 points. There was nothing higher than category 4. Yesterday the category drop down on Hyatt’s website began displaying a greyed-out category 8, 40,000 points per night.
I don’t know about you but on a flight less than four hours I may not use the lavatory, especially if I’m in a window seat. I’ll just make a stop in the restroom on the way out of the terminal.
That doesn’t always work if you’re flying into New York JFK, though. This morning in terminal 5 a water main break caused the airports to lose pressure and close down the bathrooms.
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.
Yesterday’s 7:05 p.m. American Airlines flight AA257 from Miami to Mexico City was delayed multiple times and then cancelled due to a security threat that was ultimately deemed ‘non-credible’.
When customers were back in the terminal they were guarded by armed officers. Police searched passengers’ phones and swabbed them for explosives residue.
American’s stock hit new lows yesterday in advance of today’s earnings call. That left the airline in a tough position, needing to explain how they’d cut costs which are rising at a faster rate than revenues.
I listen to the earnings call with a different perspective than most people covering them. I’m interested in news about the loyalty program, about the product, and about how changes to the business are likely to impact the way customers interact with the airline — as well as what we can expect from the overall direction in the industry.
As a result some of the six things that stuck out for me are likely to be different than key takeaways elsewhere, and are things you may otherwise miss.
This week we learned that American Airlines is gutting the ability to earn elite qualifying dollars from credit card spend for next year.
Barclays representatives are saying that they are unable to upgrade customers from Red to Silver at this time and that this is a requirement of American Airlines because of a loophole created by this change.
During European low cost carrier Ryanair’s investor call their CEO Michael O’Leary declared that “more airlines [will] suffer casualties” (go bust).
Here’s his argument. He’s been right and wrong on this topic before.
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.
Basic economy is an attempt by the major airlines to raise revenue by offering a worse product.
The notion here is that the cheapest fares get called basic economy, and you have to spend more to avoid those restrictions. It’s a price increase that applies to customers that are willing to pay more to avoid the least comfortable travel an airline offers.
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 »
