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.
VietJet’s CEO became Southeast Asia’s first self-made female billionaire. The airline is a discount carrier flying narrowbody aircraft mostly domestically although with several routes now into Asia.
Five years ago the airline was fined 20 million Dong over unapproved inflight entertainment. It wasn’t a problem with the installation of a seatback video system. Instead, 5 bikini-clad candidates in a local beauty contest performed a dance onboard the airline’s inaugural flight to Nha Trang.
Last Tuesday Delta CEO Ed Bastian responded to an employee question in an ‘Ask Ed Anything’ video about whether the airline would ever acquire used Boeing 777s.
Delta created a lot of controversy 3 years ago when then-CEO Richard Anderson claimed the airline would buy a used Boeing 777 for $7.7 million. He claimed there was a ‘huge bubble’ in used widebodies and that a 10 year old Boeing 777-200 was worth about $10 million.
A year ago American Express ran a targeted 20% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to Aeroplan. It was the first time I could recall seeing a bonus on transfers to this Star Alliance loyalty program.
There is currently a 10% transfer bonus available. It does not appear in my account so may be targeted.
Two years ago a black female doctor responded to a medical emergency on a flight and Delta flight attendants rejected the help, not believing she could be a doctor.
Delta said it ‘didn’t reflect their culture’. Delta apologized and assured that they had changed their policies to prevent this from happening again. Except…
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.
Singapore Airlines has announced a fourth US city with non-stop Singapore service: Seattle. That will mean they’ll fly non-stop from Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle — in addition to flying Houston – Manchester, UK – Singapore and New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore.
American Airlines has launched its‘elite buy up’ offers. Each year American offers to sell customers status renewal or a higher elite tier for the coming year. The prices are usually outrageous.
The cost to buy back or buy up status has been steadily increasing, while the value of status has been decreasing.
Delta has reportedly submitted a binding offer for Alitalia. They are likely vying against Italy’s state-owned railroad and possibly easyJet.
A drunk baggage handler fell asleep inside the cargo hold of an American Airlines Boeing 737 — and wound up flying on board American’s flight AA363, the 6 a.m. departure from Kansas City to Chicago O’Hare on Saturday.
He “wasn’t discovered until the plane landed at O’Hare International Airport and parked at the gate just before 7:30 a.m. local time.”
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 »
