This Starwood Platinum member asked for an upgrade and was surprised as check-out to find a $300 per night ‘upgrade fee’ on their bill.
When you’re given an upgrade, with no money discussed, do you assume it’s free? Should you proactively have to ask, or is it the hotel’s responsibility to mention a price if they do want to charge more for an upgrade?
The band The Revivalists are best known for their song Wish I Knew You. The 7 piece band formed in 2007 and was named by Rolling Stone in March 2016 as one of “10 Bands You Need to Know.”
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When a TAP Air Portugal flight from Accra to Sao Tome (the second leg of a continuing flight from Lisbon) was overbooked by three, the airline didn’t seek volunteers but instead selected 3 passengers at the gate to bump.
Usually passengers without seat assignments are at greatest risk of a bump, but two of the women had had their seats assigned for three months. Often the last passengers to check in might be at risk of being bumped, but they checked in early for the flight.
Apparently a passenger onboard a Russian domestic flight took off his shoes and then his socks and his feet smelled pretty bad.
A fellow passenger, offended by the smell, started an argument with the man on their flight from Moscow to Kaliningrad and that argument continued even as the plane landed and everyone disembarked.
Customers used to sneak a look at their phones during taxi, takeoff and landing. They tried to be as surreptitious about it as possible, to avoid being scolded by flight attendants. Once the ban on small electronics was lifted, and even though those are supposed to be in airplane mode, customers continue to text, browse, and e-mail until they lose their signal in the sky — and re-commence when their aircraft enters final approach.
I don’t remember the last time I saw a flight attendant say something, or ask a customer whether their typing was to queue a message for later or if they were actually connected despite being told to use airplane mode.
Border Field State Park is the southermost point in California, adjacent to Tijuana. The US-Mexican border survey which took place following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American war in 1848, began at Border Field.
A US citizen convicted of smuggling “43 pounds of heroin, 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 43 pounds of cocaine” got married there to a woman from Mexico despite being cleared by a border patrol background check.
Americans “skipped as many as 32 million air trips in the year 2016.” Factors cited by consumers about the hassle that makes travel not worth it including ‘unbundling’ (myriad fees) as well as airport hassles, long lines, and other inconveniences they attribute to the airlines.
When you make travel less comfortable you are leaving money on the table from those customers who choose to take fewer trips.
The 282 mile flight is blocked at 1 hour and 25 minutes, but as much of that is on the ground in Newark as in the air. Harassing one woman for every 15 minutes in the air surely must compete for some kind of record of awfulness.
Sheila Jackson Lee is the Congresswoman from Houston, where Continental Airlines was based and where United maintains an important hub. She’s clearly important to the airline.
A 63 year old attorney she says she was involuntarily downgraded to coach (and received a $500 voucher) and that Congresswoman Jackson Lee was in her seat.
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 »
