Efficiency arguments aside we need this for accountability. It’s important to separate safety regulation from screening. The TSA shouldn’t be supervising itself. They should be focused on setting standards and monitoring compliance, and shouldn’t be certifying and monitoring themselves. TSA as its own regulator creates conflict and it creates poor performance.
Starwood is reducing the booking window — how far out you can make reservations — on February 11.
You’ll only be able to make reservations 350 days in advance instead of 550 (not all hotels loaded inventory 550 days out previously).
In addition Starwood has announced award category changes for 2018 which will go into effect March 6th.
The Department of Transportation asked what rules should be repealed and airlines responded with their Christmas lists. Most of what they ask for won’t happen, and some of it is actually worth considering.
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.
Alaska Airlines flight AS146 from Anchorage to Seattle took off early this morning but turned around and returned to Anchorage because of a naked passenger.
The plane departed at 1:29 a.m. and returned to Anchorage at 3:47 a.m. The airline explained the delay as “due to a passenger not following flight attendants’ instructions.”
A couple of days ago I wrote about the great mileage offers on flowers that abound around Valentine’s Day. There are 30 miles per dollar offers with United, Delta, American, and Hawaiian.
I noted at the time that you could get a flat 1000 Rapid Rewards points for spending $29.99 or more (plus shipping) at 1-800-Flowers. And that’s pretty good for Southwest. However there’s a new even better offer out of 1750 Rapid Rewards points.
outhwest Airlines filed its 2017 SEC 10-K and shared some details of its frequent flyer program that may not already be common knowledge.
For instance whereas in 2016 American Airlines filled 6.3% of its seats on awards, Southwest fills twice as many of its seats with customers redeeming their points — and that’s increasing, too.
After the Superbowl, the world champion Philadelphia Eagles were flown home on an American Airlines-charted Airbus A330-200.
Naturally they left late, though I’m surprised they were just 47 minutes behind. D0 just doesn’t apply to the Superbowl champions.
As I pointed out with the launch of the blockade against Qatar last June, there’s a huge shift going on in the Mideast.
While conflict with Israel gets the most press in the U.S., the primary conflict is between Saudi Arabia (along with Turkey) seeking Sunni influence in the region and working to counter Shia Iran. The conflict in Syria, for instance, is largely a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudis have fought Iran-backed rebels in Yemen over the past several years.
Comedian Nicole Byer went on Conan last night and told the story about finding poop in a sealed blanket on Delta last March.
She pulled her first class blanket out of sealed plastic and “brown crumble falls on me” then she saw a “brown thing” and the smell hit her. She told a flight attendant… whose first reaction was to get his phone and take pictures.
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 »
