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.
Over the summer I wrote about someone bringing 19 people in an airport lounge using the Priority Pass Select card that comes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. You get unlimited airport lounge visits at participating lounges (over 1000 worldwide, here are the U.S. airport lounges). You also get unlimited guests at no additional charge.
It turns out the woman who brought in 19 guests was just a piker.
Over the weekend a Boeing 737 overran the runway and went off on an embankment in Northeastern Turkey.
There’s now video from inside the cabin during the evacuation and more is known about the incident.
Singapore Airlines is introducing fantastic new products for their Airbus A380s. They have 5 new planes replacing 5 that are being returned to their lessor, and those are being delivered over the next year. They’ll be introduced into service with the new first suites and new business class that offers double beds for passengers traveling together.
The plane has flown to Sydney, and now we know its next two destinations.
A week ago Hyatt was pricing several hotels below their normal published cash and points award prices. Most of those deals are no longer available.
However several hotels are again charging less than they are ‘supposed to’ for cash and points.
With American Express getting exclusivity to issue Hilton co-brand credit cards in the U.S., and Citi’s Hilton cards retired, Amex will be launching new cards and improving benefits this week — expected for Thursday the 18th. The base Hilton Honors American Express Card remains the same but eliminates foreign transaction fees. The Hilton Honors Surpass® Card from American Express is going to become the Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card. The annual fee goes up from $75 to $95, but it adds 10 Priority Pass free visits per year and a free weekend night each year after spending $15,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year. And the card looks attractive, too. It’s important to note that if you’ve had the Surpass card, the Ascend card will not be considered a new product.…
At a Crew News update last week a Dallas-based flight attendant asked American Airlines CEO Doug Parker about seat back entertainment. She said she’s noticed that most passengers really appreciate inflight entertainment “with the TV’s” and she wanted to understand why American wouldn’t install seat back tv’s going forward?
She says that passengers “don’t even remember their headphones” yet alone their own entertainment devices. Customers prefer it, flight attendants prefer it, why wouldn’t they offer it? (“Why are we going in that direction if we’re Going for Great?”)
Yesterday’s Pegasus Airlines flight PC 8622 from Ankara to Trabzon on the coast of the Black Sea in northeastern Turkey overran the side of the runway on landing and wound up on an embankment.
The 5 year old Boeing 737-800 had 162 passengers and 6 crew onboard. It landed on runway 11 shortly before midnight Saturday night “but veered left off the runway, went down a slope and came to a stop on soft ground just short of the sea about 60 meters before the runway end and about 60 meters to the left of the left runway edge.”
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.
Bed bug lawsuits against hotels can be lucrative, and of course shocking photos can be persuasive to juries. Perhaps lifting liability limits for airlines would improve airline avoidance procedures.
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 »
