Asiana is Suffering Delays and Taking Off Without Meals – Even On 12 Hour Flights

by Gary Leff

flight attendant pushing cart
Jul 03 2018

Star Alliance member Asiana is suffering widespread delays for catering and many flights are leaving without meals at all, even on trips as long as twelve hours.

Reportedly on Sunday “51 flights departed behind schedule and 38 left the airport without meals to feed passengers.” Then on Monday “18 out of 75 international flights operated by the carrier were delayed more than an hour and 16 short-haul flights to Japan and China even departed from the Incheon International Airport without in-flight meals.”

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Iberia Freezing Accounts, Offering Ticket Refunds For Some Who Took Advantage Of 9000 Bonus

by Gary Leff

stock airline bed
Jul 03 2018

I view this as good news. First, don’t panic. The promotion was ill-thought out by Iberia. It was more generous than they would have wanted to be. It was also taken advantage by customers at scale, which is a benefit, it’s easy for a company to stick it to or ignore one customer by Iberia is going to have to deal with this.

We’ll just wait it out and see how it resolves, but in the mean time they’re already seeming to understand that if they don’t honor the offer the absolute minimum they’re going to have to do is refund tickets.

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The Story of the Last Page in Your US Passport — and the Soccer Ball That’s Gone to Space Twice

by Gary Leff

passport
Jul 02 2018

One of the defining moments of my childhood was the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in January 1986. I was 11 years old. The only way for 11 year olds to make sense of it is to detach from it and tell jokes. Crude jokes. Christa McAuliffe jokes.

Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American and the first Hawaiian in space. He coached his daughter’s soccer team, and the team all signed a ball for him to take into space that fateful day.

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Lowest-Ever Price to Buy American Miles Now Through August 1

by Gary Leff

first class cabin
Jul 02 2018

Ever since US Airways management took over at American, AAdvantage sells miles the way that US Airways used to. Regular price only seems to exist to promote discounts against. Miles are usually sold with a bonus, a discount, or both — not regular price.

Frequently they sell miles at around 1.88 cents apiece. Once in awhile they get that down to 1.77. Only twice before that I’ve seen have they sold miles at 1.72 cents each. First in June 2016, then again in 2017, and now the offer is back. It ran in June, now it’s extended through August 1.

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A Lucrative Hotel Rewards Strategy is Hiding in Plain Sight

by Gary Leff

fancy hotel room
Jul 02 2018

A valuable rewards for hotel stays seem to me a function of where you book and how you pay rather than where you stay. That’s surprising to some because we’ve been taught to stay on the hotel loyalty program treadmill. And because hotels are trying so hard to get customers to ‘book direct’ you’d expect their loyalty programs to offer the best rewards for staying at their properties. But that isn’t always the case.

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Hawaii Will Ban Up to 78% of Sunscreens

by Gary Leff

Hawaiian resort
Jul 02 2018

Doctors frequently tell their patients to wear sunscreen every day, and that’s even when they aren’t going to the beach. Vacationers in Hawaii, though, are going to find that over 70% of sunscreens are illegal to buy in Hawaii as the result of a new law the governor there is expected to sign.

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Fuzzy Math: Marriott Raises Redemption Prices in Order to Say They’re Lowering Prices

by Gary Leff

really meme
Jul 02 2018

Marriott increased points prices at a ton of hotels in March, only to lower their prices in August with the new program. This gave them a higher baseline from which to claim they’re lowering more redemption prices than they’re raising.

Even accounting for this, the number of hotels going up in price is roughly equal to the number going down in price. But comparing Marriott redemption prices in February to pricing in August is a more reasonable take than ‘reductions outnumber increases’.

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