I was supposed to fly home from Washington National to Charlotte to Austin yesterday afternoon. It looked to me like I would misconnect in Charlotte, and the later Charlotte – Austin flight was sold out. I started looking for alternatives.
This is a story of making bets, playing the odds, and leaning on the help from one of the best club agents in the system — whose tools to work with customers haven’t been taken away… yet.
Christopher Elliott takes on his role as the world’s worst travel advisor and tells his audience in USA Today that they have his permission to take any empty seat in coach since flight attendants “can’t police every seat.”
By the way that’s one of his “tips for getting an upgrade.” So presumably we’re not even talking about moving between regular coach seats. Just sit in the premium seat and if questioned tell your cabin crew (and anyone they call in for reinforcements that you had Christopher Elliott’s permission.
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 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.
American Airlines has seemed to focus more on trying to government to shut down competitors than on improving its own business. They haven’t gotten their operation working well. They’ve been making their domestic product worse – in all cabins.
Unsurprisingly while other airlines make money flying American loses money flying and earns profits only by selling frequent flyer miles.
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.
Star Alliance member EVA Air has one of the best business class products in the world but has been in the news lately for how a single passenger behaved inflight and whether the airline does enough to protect its flight attendants.
Now there’s further criticism over the way the carrier approaches rumor and innuendo surrounding members of its cabin crew, based on an incident that occurred the very same day.
The FAA did work for Southwest Airlines during the government shutdown and some other airlines are furious about it.
Currently both Star Alliance and SkyTeam run their own lounges at some major airports.. This is a different management model rather than a new customer benefit, although it may lead to there being a single larger lounge in a major airport where alliance member airlines co-locate in the same terminal, versus multiple smaller lounges operated by individual carriers.
oneworld hasn’t done this to date but that’s changing.
New variable Air France KLM Flying Blue points pricing is live and often makes no sense. Some awards are more expensive, some less expensive. Instead of a hidden award chart they have a calculator.
But they still offer various routes at 25% or 50% off each month and new ones are up for booking in February and travel in March and April.
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 »
