Visa and Mastercard have entered into a $30 billion anti-trust settlement with retailers over card interchange fees. Readers are asking, as one put it, “Is this the end of credit card rewards?”
Just six weeks ago there were rumors that Canadian ultra low cost carrier Flair would be acquiring local rival Lynx. Lynx ceased operations a month ago. Soon Flair may not be around at all either?
On average, cabin crew at Southwest will receive nearly $20,000 when the contract is ratified, representing pro-rated raises they would have gotten had the deal gone into effect in 2019.
Sean John Combs a.k.a Puff Daddy a.k.a P. Diddy, et al may have fled the country on his private jet. The Grammy Award-winning rap artist, who was estimated to have a net worth of $1 billion in 2022, has been sued multiple times for sexual assault. Now the government is after him for sex trafficking. The details of the government investigation haven’t been announced yet. However, Puff’s jet has gone poof out of the U.S.
Delta Air Lines was reportedly forced to pay out $1,500 per passenger when their Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda flight was overbooked by 42 passengers. That’s $63,000.
This is a pretty good offer for Southwest and for customers. They’ll give you a free companion to travel with you for about two months if you book just two one way flights right away (and use them for travel in the next couple of months).
If you already have travel booked through May 22, consider cancelling and rebooking (if the price of the ticket hasn’t gone up too much) to qualify for this offer.
I flew American Airlines on Saturday and was reminded how much of a difference a great crewmember makes to the flight experience – even on a very short flight.
Reportedly Marriott’s Aloft Playa Del Carmen is running a foreign currency conversion scam on guests. They charge all room rates in local currency, and make up an inflated rate to charge that amounts to increasing everyone’s room rate by 15% over what they booked.
A Marriott Bonvoy lifetime Platinum member’s reservation for a stay during the solar eclipse was cancelled by the Residence Inn in Akron, Ohio without offering the compensation guaranteed by Marriott’s “Ultimate Reservation Guarantee,” highlighting a broader issue of hotel chains not enforcing standards, especially during high-demand events.
United doesn’t have as robust an operation in my home city of Austin as Southwest, American or even Delta. And my most frequent destination for work is Washington, DC and I don’t love schlepping to Dulles. Their network rarely makes sense for me. But I had three great flights, much better than expected, enough to bump them up for future consideration compared to where they’ve been in my personal calculus.
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 »
