On Friday I wrote about a report that Hyatt would be gutting cash and points awards November 1 as well as introducing new premium suite redemption options.
The claim about cash and points was that instead of redeeming points and a fixed cash price, you would redeem points for half off a hotel’s paid rate. That report now has been verified by a hotel which has received information about the change.
Two years ago American and Barclays introduced card spend as a way to earn credit towards American’s new ticket spend requirement for elite status. That will change substantially for most customers in 2019, and for some in 2020.
American Airlines is dropping both their Chicago – Beijing and Chicago – Shanghai flights and shifting Chicago – Tokyo flying to joint venture partner Japan Airlines. Hawaiian Airlines is giving up on Honolulu – Beijing as well.
American would like to keep their route authority from Chicago to China even while not using it. They’ve made some rather incredible claims to the Department of Transportation in support of that request.
On Sunday night a man frustrated by the delay of JetBlue flight 801 from Orlando to Salt Lake City ‘went crazy’ and was pepper sprayed by police. He appeared to “take a swing” at the JetBlue agent and passengers in the gate area sought to restrain him.
Then police arrived.
A British Airways business class passenger found his seat similarly soaked and BA offered 40,000 Avios as compensation.
Compensation ought to be the full cost of the ticket at a minimum. British Airways may believe that 40,000 points is generous, that all they promise is transportation from point A and point B (never mind that this was business class). However I believe that they promise transportation from point A to point B free of urine and they failed to deliver what the customer paid for.
While British Airways has increased the surcharges on award tickets Alaska Airlines is not (yet?) passing along those higher fees. Alaska Airlines is requiring about $380 less than American for the same British Airways itinerary.
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.
When Scott Kirby departed American Airlines as its President he walked away with $13 million and lifetime travel privileges. He immediately became United’s President.
Kirby probably thought the role would be even bigger. And it may still happen in 2020.
British Airways offers reasonably good award availability, and it’s no secret why. You don’t just pay miles for awards on their flights, you pay a huge cash co-pay, a practice .that a former American Airlines pricing executive called unethical.
There are several ways to reduce those surcharges, such as booking one way awards for less than a roundtrip. However there’s another trick or glitch that allows you to reduce fuel surcharges on premium cabin tickets.
When checking in with bags, airlines used to ask two questions: Did you pack these bags yourself? Have they been outside of your possession?
The questions were routinely mocked. They never caught a terrorist. Little did I know they were actually important to uncover rogue mothers packing bags on behalf of their adults sons.
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 »
