My post on the new Marriott program includes a lot of detail you don’t find anywhere else, and that I haven’t seen picked up anywhere else.
The new program offers a way to ensure hotels comply with the new elite benefits Marriott promises.
Hyatt is offering a 20% bonus on Las Vegas stays May 7 through July 31. Registration required.
This doesn’t just apply to Hyatt’s one property there, but also to MGM hotels as well, which partner with Hyatt.
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.
On Thursday an Air India Boeing 787-8, a six year old plane, was flying Amritsar to Delhi with 236 passengers onboard. When it was climbing out above 8000 feet flight toward 15,000 feet AI462 encountered significant turbulence. The flight reportedly “experienced vertical accelerations up to 3G.”
ConciergeKey is American’s revenue-based top level, given to very high revenue customers and those who influence significant business for the airline.
They got priority for upgrades and other waitlists and have myriad other benefits including use of the airline’s business class Flagship lounges when flying domestically and now are being given tokens to visit American’s exclusive Flagship First Dining, too.
Just as they said to expect in January Alaska Airlines announced on their earnings call this morning that they will introduce Basic Economy fares in late fall.
In the new Marriott loyalty program they’ve largely taken the better Starwood elite program and the better Marriott earn and burn proposition — however Starwood members won’t see exactly what they’ve come to expect on the Marriott side and and Marriott members have seemed likely to experience some devaluation of points.
Marriott’s CEO says they’re making the program less expensive for hotels. That’s created a pretty strong starting point to assume that earning and redeeming points couldn’t offer quite as good a value as before.
American Airlines and Citibank announced that their co-brand credit card will be increasing earning and also that a bigger signup bonus is coming next month.
While American Airlines flight AA2446 from Miami to Chicago O’Hare was still at the gate last night the instigator of a ‘disagreement’ between two passengers was asked to get off the plane. He refused. And in a post-David Dao world airlines now deplane everyone when that happens, rather than starting off dragging the passenger down the aisle.
Now, disagreement is a great euphamism here.
A 12 year old boy got into a fight with his mother. He didn’t just storm off into his room, or run away to a friend’s house. He “borrowed the family credit cards, tricked his nan into giving him his passport and booked himself a flight to Denpasar, Bali.”
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 »
