Myrna Herzog flew Rio to Tel Aviv via Rome on Alitalia on January second, arriving on the third. She checked a 17th century Lewis viola da gamba reportedly worth $200,000.
That strikes me as a dumb move, however she says Alitalia had “promise[d] that the instrument would be only handled BY HAND.” Of course it arrived in Tel Aviv looking, in her words, like “it was savagely vandalized, ..it seems that a car ran over it.”
I don’t rent cars nearly as often as I used to given the ubiquity of Uber and Lyft. However I really like Silvercar and wish they were in more cities, and really like Silvercar discounts even more.
Scott, the low cost carrier subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, just managed to rip the left from door off a Boeing 787-8 as it was being readied for maintenance on Sunday.
Have a look at what happened to this two month old plane.
Delta is running a sale on coach awards between the U.S. 48 Continental states and the Caribbean and Central America. They say prices start at 16,000 miles but awards are available for less.
China is always ‘the next big thing.’ That was true 10 years ago and it seems like it will be true 10 years from now.
Airlines are betting big on China, since the U.S. and China don’t have Open Skies airlines have to fight for the best routes and then squat on them hoping they’ll be more valuable in the future. In a sense it’s like Havana service but with bigger stakes.
Last year there was a report that Emirates and Etihad were considering merging. Then in the fall Emirates CEO Tim Clark said he was open to working with Etihad, and offered a non-denial denial about a likely merger.
Now there’s a new modest agreement the two airlines have entered into — signed by their CEOs.
“Enhancements” are the bane of every frequent flyer’s existence. For years that word has been mocked because every devaluation, every cut, every dimunition in service is described as an enhancement. It may also be described as the result of “listening to customers.”
Hilton wants guests to stay with the program and have spent a lot of time making small points balances useful. And this month they’re introducing a suite of new American Express credit cards with really strong benefits.
However today they’re announcing improvements for elite members — how they earn points, earn status, and gift status as well.
Etihad has been selling access to their business class lounge in Melbourne, Australia for AU$99. However they’ve dropped the price for economy passengers to use the lounge down to AU$75.
And anyone inside the lounge can now reserve the private Residence lounge for just AU$40 additional.
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 »
