British Tourist Arrested and Beaten for Wearing a Qatar Shirt to a Soccer Match in Abu Dhabi

by Gary Leff

picture with stairs around it in a hotel
Feb 05 2019

It’s incredible that Qatar was able to play, beat their geopolitical rivals Saudi Arabia and UAE, and that they had an actual fan in the stadium who dared to support them along the way. That man was punished.

I have to think that this will be enough of an international embarrassment that the UAE will have to back down (though they can’t un-beat the man). Nonetheless it’s a good reminder that when you travel the world you’re subject to the laws of wherever you’ve gone – even if you aren’t aware of what they are.

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A Passenger Wanted Coffee as a Predeparture Beverage and That Nearly Got Him Kicked Off the Flight

by Gary Leff

american eagle plane
Feb 05 2019

A passenger on American Airlines flight AA5896 on February 2 from Long Beach to Phoenix shared his experience with the first class flight attendant.

The flight was on a CRJ-900 regional jet operated by Mesa Airlines. I’ve had plenty of flights on Mesa and usually find their flight attendants to be excellent. However this story illustrates several problems facing commercial aviation in the U.S.

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Rihanna Slams American Airlines First Class Passenger For Watching the Superbowl

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Feb 04 2019

Rihanna reportedly turned down performing at the Superbowl for its half time show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protests during the national anthem.

You don’t need to take sides in that discussion, or have an opinion on Rihanna, to find it noteworthy that not only wasn’t she at the Superbowl she was flying during the Superbowl — and from the looks of things, on board an American Airlines Airbus A321T in first class.

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Marriott Sending Out Promotions for More Points and Faster Elite Status

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Feb 04 2019

Some members are really motivated by points (redemption) and others are motivated by better treatment (status). If a program offers members more than usual for taking certain actions during a specific period of time, they’re going to get more of those actions.

And you can test customer behavior, how much do you need to offer? which customers respond best to which kinds of offers? Here are four that Marriott is reportedly sending out.

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How to Make an Airline Customers Want to Fly

by Gary Leff

Feb 04 2019

The major US airlines mostly follow the same business model, and there’s little disruption today in the industry. However while schedule and price were once the primary drivers of consumer behavior, even proponents of ‘schedule and price über alles like United President Scott Kirby learned years ago at US Airways that it was no longer the only thing that mattered to win business.

Since much of air travel is heavily regulated, the space in which airlines can differentiate themselves becomes more crucial than ever to attract customers.

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Huge Personal Milestone for Marriott Sorting Out the Mess Of Their New Program

by Gary Leff

Feb 04 2019

When Marriott launched their new program on August 18th they encouraged members to combine their accounts. They told you that you were keeping either a Starwood account or a Marriott account, but that wasn’t really true — all accounts were moved onto Marriott’s IT system.

If you were a Starwood member and a Marriott member previously you now had two Marriott accounts but for legal reasons they still displayed Starwood graphics for one of them.

I combined my accounts and somehow showed only three years at the Platinum level towards lifetime status.

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