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.
New redemption pricing for Etihad awards, with ‘around 70% of routes seeing a decrease’. Elite status changes will include elimination of segments as a means of qualifying; a new top tier Diamond level that requires $150,000 in spend on top of qualifying miles; and new choice benefits for all elites.
I’m a big fan of going to any length possible to avoid checking bags, but I think I may have found someone willing to take steps even I have never imagined.
I don’t remember the last time I laughed as hard as I just did watching the host pick out items for their trip and compress everything.
Josh Hawley calls it “destructive corporate consolidation at its starkest” and says it will “create a new juggernaut in the credit card market, with unprecedented powers to extort American consumers.” Unprecedented? American Express operates closed loop payments (card issuer and payments network) today, and Chase issues nearly as many cards as this combined business would.
United Airlines, like all other U.S. airlines, suspended service after the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. In fact, most of the world’s airlines stopped flying to Israel while El Al continued service with little interruption.
Now United has announced its plan to return.
Southwest Airlines reported a single mom traveling with her 4 year old son for human trafficking. She makes the trip frequently to Cincinnati for the boy to visit his father. In fact, she has a Companion Pass and he’s registered to be her free travel companion.
On arrival in Cincinnati on this trip, though, she was met by police and questioned while trying to rent a car at the airport.
American Airlines raised checked bag fees on Tuesday and now charges more for bags than United or Delta. They’re highlighting, though, that they reduced their fees for overweight and oversized bags.
What American didn’t tell everyone about the modest giveback is that you can no longer take bags that are as big or heavy as before – at any price – and that they’ve banned some items they previously used to allow as checked luggage. Aspiring Olympians beware!
A passenger’s power bank exploded on board a flight from Boracay in the Philippines to Shanghai, China. The cabin began filling with smoke. As a result, Royalair Philipines flight 602 made an emergency landing in Hong Kong on Monday.
Sometimes phones and other electronic devices catch fire – and this is actually something that airlines prepare for!
The least that an airline can do is clean the cabin and check that the seats are working before boarding the plane.
A United Airlines pilot who flies Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft kicked a top MileagePlus elite passenger off of a cross country flight from Newark to San Francisco and shared the story to social media.
The captain had gone up to the gate for paperwork and overheard this ‘1K’ customer cursing at the gate agent prior to boarding at Newark airport.
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 »
