Those who were on the bubble for ConciergeKey renewal got a one-month extension so that their status would last through the end of May, and were told they’d receive a special offer to keep the status. Now they are being contacted with those offers.
Earlier this month there were reports that Rio Las Vegas had started limiting Globalists to a choice of 4 out of their breakfast menu’s 22 entrée selections.
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.
Australia’s Bonza collapsed and Canada’s Flair Airlines has seemed on the verge of collapse while their ostensible parent company has been called a giant fraud moving money around and siphoning cash.
Flight attendants have significantly reduced their bargaining demands in tense negotiations with the American Airlines. The parties have been working this week in Washington, D.C. with federal mediators, and will continue to do so all next week, in front of a leaked deadline to wrap up a deal under threat that the government will release cabin crew to strike.
The CEO of Frontier Airlines has condemned Jetbridge Jesus flights. Passengers board the aircraft needing wheelchair assistance, but the end of the flight they’ve been healed and can walk off the plane just fine on their own.
This is the phenomenon of passengers requesting wheelchair assistance to get airport priority – skipping lines, and boarding first.
A year ago Bilt Rewards added a card-linked dining program that let you earn points at participating restaurants whenever paying with a card linked to your Bilt account (it didn’t have to be Bilt’s own co-brand credit card). They were only in larger cities, but the curated lists of restaurants was outstanding.
Now they’ve done a couple of deals to hugely expand their presence to around 20,000 more restaurants in what they call their Neighborhood Dining program.
American Airlines has started hiding the ball on basic economy restrictions when you book travel on their website. They’re showing lower prices than what passengers can expect to pay, and find there’s a bait and switch when they click through only to learn that they were seeing basic economy fares and American hadn’t told them when they first displayed schedule and price.
I genuinely don’t understand what American Airlines is thinking here.
A decade ago Hyatt’s growth was almost entirely in select service. Sure, Hyatt Gold Passport was a great program but how many hotels had suites to upgrade into? And how many had club lounges? Their footprint was small and they were adding Hyatt Places where benefits are sparse to non-existent.
The recent FAA Reauthorization Bill contains 5 new roundtrips that DOT can assign ‘beyond the perimeter’ and airlines are jockeying for those. What’s odd, though is that Spirit Airlines is asking for National Airport to San Jose, the new slots are limited to incumbent airlines at the airport, and Spirit doesn’t serve National airport.
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 »
