American’s plan was for more extra legroom coach seats while a few seats would have just 29 inches of pitch which is the distance from seat back to seat back. Word leaked about these changes and employees were up in arms (and thoroughly embarrassed). The airline backed down, and didn’t ultimately go to 29 inch pitch.
There’s a brilliant video about that plan. I keep watching it and completely losing it, this is hilarious.
Hyatt introduced a pretty revolutionary partnership with MGM 5 years ago with reciprocal points earning, redemption, and status matching. Hyatt didn’t have a significant presence in the Las Vegas market, while this became an opportunity for MGM to reach affluent customers whose choices in Vegas might otherwise be brand-independent. This was a tighter relationship with more value than we had seen from other chains, something almost akin to the kind of codesharing airlines do with each other. Since then the status match has been made less generous for Hyatt members, but there’s still valuable recognition. And the Hyatt-MGM M life deal isn’t ‘either-or’ you receive MGM recongition while still earning Hyatt points also. Through the end of the year there’s a promotion to earn double Hyatt points (an extra 5 points per dollar) at MGM…
Earlier in the month I wrote about $63 fares to Europe. That’s not a sustainable business model, it works for a few seats and for a short period of time. But what happens when you’re not even filling your planes at low low prices?
For many Chase cards you can only get approved if you’ve had fewer than 5 new credit card accounts in the last 24 months.
If you’ve had 5 or more new cards in the last 24 months, and you take a break from any new cards and fall back under 5/24, here’s the first card you should get.
The Star Alliance member airline faces a challenge selling flights to Americans, he says, because we all think New Zealand is 40 hours away by air. According to Luxon “geography’s not the strong suit for the average American.”
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.
In 2012 I wrote that once bandwidth increases substantially for inflight internet, it would eventually become free (included in ticket price). I predicted that would happen within 10 years.
Now JetBlue offers it for free. Aer Lingus announced they’ll be offering it for free. Southwest, Delta, and Alaska offer free messaging. And the trend is going to spread because it is a profit maximizing strategy once bandwidth no longer needs to be rationed.
This is an option for linked customers, not for everyone. The corporate rate box does not show up without being logged in, and it does not show up for me when I log in.
The TSA doesn’t keep us safe. TSA detection rates are likely worse than before the federalization of security. And the only travel experience worse than going through TSA is actually working for TSA.
That’s because the misconduct of senior officials goes unpunished, too. In fact frontline staff who speak out suffer from retaliation, according to a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report.
George Clooney was loyal to Hilton in Up in the Air and really underscored the benefits of the Honors program.
Hilton has now enlisted Clooney’s co-star Anna Kendrick to do the convincing going forward. Will she convince you to book direct?
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 »
