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.
United seems to have a disproportionate number of incidents of pets dying in their care.
The latest story out of United is just horrible, a flight attendant who forced a passenger to put her dog in the overhead bin. And the dog died. United admits they’re completely at fault.
Yesterday morning a United gate agent in Atlanta ‘sounds like a coach’ giving a pregame speech commends his team passengers for making it to the plane on time. “You’re here, you’re on time. I’m commending you for it. I’m high-fiving you for it,” he says.
But he warns everyone, they may be tempted to go get breakfast at the nearby bagel place. “Goldberg’s have lethargic lines,” he says. “They don’t move as quick as they should this time of the morning.”
United and Marriott offer reciprocal benefits. Chase issues both the United co-brand card and the Marriott card.
So it’s not surprising to see United and Marriott working together through Chase.
Passengers aren’t supposed to be able to board the wrong plane. Boarding passes are scanned at the gate. There’s a manifest — airlines know how many people are supposed to be onboard. When passengers are in the wrong seat, there’s usually another passenger assigned that will say something. But it happens. Occasionally one person, or a couple traveling together, wind up in the same city.
Perhaps for the first time ever a majority of people on the plane were flown to the wrong city.
Southwest Airlines expects new Hawaii service to drive growth in signups for its credit card.
They also diss on competitors’ basic economy fares and reveal some of the economics behind Rapid Rewards.
As the number two-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Georgia State Panthers in the first round, Panthers coach Ron Hunter thinks Cincinnati has an unfair advantage.
Air Peace is a 5 year old carrier based in Lagos, Nigeria. They’ve only been flying internationally for a year (their first service beyond Nigeria was to Accra, Ghana). They fly mostly Boeing 737s.
Their call sign is ‘Peace Bird’ and their two letter IATA designator is ‘P4’. So on that basis alone I’m rooting for them.
Alaska Airlines is selling Newark – Hawaii from $362. You can even choose which Hawaiian airports to fly in and out of, Maui, Honolulu, Kona, or Lihue. (Lihue, Kauai and Honolulu run about $10 more.)
On April 3 American Airlines will start rolling out complimentary made-to-order Avocado Toast in the mornings in Admirals Clubs. This is in addition to the popular afternoon made to order guacamole that’s available in many of their clubs.
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 »
