Are You Being Spied on in Your Hotel Room? Here’s How to Check

by Gary Leff

temple
May 01 2018

The number one thing that gives me security when I travel is obscurity, there’s no one who wants to spy on me. I’m simply not important or valuable enough to be worth the effort.

At the same time I assume any device I carry with me to China is compromised. And in many countries the room I’m staying in may be set up for monitoring because of other people who might stay there either before or after me. Business espionage is at least as common as national security espionage.

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Is Priority Pass Destroying the Benefit of Airport Lounge Access?

by Gary Leff

airport shop
May 01 2018

There’s an axiom on the internet that the answer to any question in an article title is always “no.”
And that’s just the case here. The Wall Street Journal thinks otherwise but fails to make the case, though there’s certainly more crowding in some lounges that’s difficult to manage.

The case the Journal makes is that the rise of Priority Pass cards distributed with credit cards, especially Chase, have led to a decline in quality of airport lounges. That’s false. The other major claim is they’ve made lounges more crowded, and that’s true with some lounges.

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Marriott’s Timeshare Business Buys Hyatt Timeshares and the Starwood Timeshares Marriott Didn’t Want

by Gary Leff

aerial beach ocean shot
Apr 30 2018

Shortly before Starwood announced a deal to be acquired by Marriott it agreed to spin off its timeshare business into a separate company, Vistana, which it sold to Interactive Leisure Group or ILG. ILG now holds the vacation ownership businesses of Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin.

Marriott Vacations is now buying Interactive Leisure Group for $4.7 billion. So an affiliate of Marriott will wind up owning the Starwood timeshare business Marriott itself was believed not to want two and a half years ago as well as Hyatt’s timeshare business.

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American Airlines Flight Attendants Rent Out Their Seniority for $200

by Gary Leff

old picture of american flight attendant
Apr 30 2018

Unionized flight attendants — and flight attendants at airlines whose procedures mirror union work rules — get to work the most desirable trips based on seniority. Senior flight attendants at large international airlines can jet away to Sydney, to Buenos Aires, to Paris while more junior flight attendants overnight in Des Moines.

American Airlines flight attendants have created a secondary market renting out their seniority. They sell prime trip assignments to junior flight attendants, reportedly on average for $200 per trip.

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Here are Details of the Design and Timing of the United Polaris Lounges Still to Open

by Gary Leff

hotel lobby
Apr 30 2018

Newark is going to open in a few weeks’ time and Houston will open over the summer. The Los Angeles Polaris lounge is supposed to open later this year. So if they stick to that schedule United should have 5 Polaris lounges open by the end of 2018.

However we’re not going to see any more in 2019. The next batch won’t open until 2020, which considering these were announced nearly two years ago seems insane.

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