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.
Yesterday I wrote about the first rumors of a new combined Marriott-Starwood loyalty program coming soon. There would be 5 elite tiers and finally free elite breakfast extended to resort properties and 25 of 30 hotel brands.
It seems like we’re going to know soon enough, in fact there appears to be an announcement coming on Monday. In the meantime we’re hearing plenty about what could be included in that announcement.
Using American miles to fly between the US and Asia can be a challenge for two passengers. Those based at the DFW hub have an even greater challenge — tremendous competition for award seats from other frequent flyers, and that most of the oneworld Asia service is on American which isn’t great about releasing premium cabin award space to begin with.
Last month when my grandmother passed a different airline did waive part of my change fee (about $80 out of $200) in order to do an ‘even exchange’ when I rebooked to attend the funeral. And I was seated in the back of coach that’s all that was left. Even that little gesture was something.
So it’s really nice when an airline is there for you when the most important people in your life aren’t. That’s what loyalty is all about. Kudos to United.
Unlike One Mile at a Time I don’t buy that the reason is many Alaska Airlines customers connect to other airlines with tougher carryon baggage allowances — that they are reducing how much customers can bring on board in order to “help” customers and make travel “easier.”
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.
Crew left a note for the flight attendants who would be working the ongoing segment. At the end of the note they wrote, “Great group of passengers, we did our best with the limited resources we had.“
A mother and child were seated towards the back of economy in window seat 35L of American Airlines flight AA126 from Hong Kong to Dallas Fort Worth yesterday.
After touchdown 53 minutes early “an entire ceiling panel, including a tank full of oxygen, fell” on the one year old sitting on his mother’s lap. It hit him in the head.
The CEO of Red Lion hotels slammed loyalty programs pretty hard but I’m not sure the actual lessons come through in his thinking.
Red Lion acquired Knights Inn from Wyndham, blocking Wyndham’s attempt to own every bad hotel in America. And Red Lion CEO Greg Mount threw some shade at Wyndham Rewards, suggesting that ‘only Hilton and Marriott’ get traction from their loyalty programs.
Along with American’s decision to order new Boeing 787s to replacing aging 767s, 777-200s, and A330s, they’ve deferred delivery of 40 out of the 100 Boeing 737 MAXs they’ve ordered. These now aren’t scheduled to be delivered until 2025 – 2026.
One employee commented on American’s internal message board that “Maybe AA is really listening to the customers and decided the MAX isn’t all too popular!” Unfortunately that’s not how this will work.
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 »
