When the new Marriott program launched their terms and conditions said that Platinums would get an upgrade if available at check-in to an ‘enhanced room’. That’s not what we were promised.
The terms now say that a Platinum is to receive an upgrade to the best room available up to and including suites. Of course there are some limitations.
This morning an Emirates flight was quarantined on arrival at New York JFK with sick passengers on board.
Some initial reports suggested that 100 were ill. Emirates said it was 10. The most recent information we have is that 19 passengers were deemed to have medical issues. Ten were transported to the hospital, while nine declined medical treatment and were released.
What do we know at this point? That Vanilla Ice says he was on board.
Delta’s Executive Vice President and CFO Paul Jacobson spoke this morning at the Cowen and Company Global Transportation Conference. He put up a standard Delta chart showing that customers like the airline more than their competitors, and so customers are willing to spend more to fly Delta.
Jacobson offered this startling statistic. Delta had 5000 cancellations due to maintenance in 2010 and this year there will be “fewer than 100.” He says that’s “down 99% since 2010.”
Now that the new Marriott program has launched they’ve re-opened status challenges.
Normally Gold status requires 25 nights in a year and Platinum status requires 50 nights. However you can call to sign up and a Gold challenge requires 8 nights in 3 months, and a Platinum challenge requires 16 nights in 90 days.mo
Emirates flight EK203 from Dubai to New York JFK landed this morning and was been placed under quarantine awaiting a response from the Centers for Disease Control.
Immediately reaction on twitter suggested possible terror, or pandemic, however such speculation is premature at best. So far there are no reports of other flights with similar issues, or of similar illnesses being reported at the Dubai airport or in Dubai more generally.
American Airlines Basic Economy fares are highly restrictive. The purpose of these fares is to make the travel experience worse, in hopes that you will spend more money to avoid them. However they need to balance that with the risk that you will just give up on them and choose to fly someone else instead.
American Airlines President Robert Isom, speaking at the Cowen and Company Global Transportation Conference, admits that “the premise of basic economy, it wasn’t a price cut…[but] an upsell.”
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.
IT is hard. No IT project ever has come in early or under budget. Things take longer than you think they will even accounting fro the fact that you know they’ll take longer than you think they will. However Marriott chose the date. August 18th. It was self-imposed.
It’s now been two and a half weeks. It’s past Labor Day. People are back at work, business travelers are about to start getting back on the road. The reasonable amount of patience that members have given has pretty well been exhausted.
There are premium airport departure, connection and arrival services that you can buy all over the world. Some are offered by airlines, others by airports, and some by third party services. In fact it isn’t even always clear which is which.
I’m a fan of these offerings, but I like to see them affordable. I think that a meet and greet buggy service at under $50 for 2 people in Bangkok, including assistance from plane through immigration and with baggage claim (with handover to your transportation into the city) is a real value that more travelers would take advantage of if they were aware of the service.
At first world prices though it’s strategically useful to be aware of the option but not something most readers will take advantage of. Still it’s nice to see this option at a lower price than many vendors offer in Europe, and for less than the airlines are offering in the U.S. as well.
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.
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 »
