A reader asked me how his Virgin America flight history would count towards Alaska Airlines lifetime elite status once the Virgin brand was completely folded in Alaska Airlines.
Alaska Airlines awards lifetime MVP Gold status after 1 million actual miles flown on Alaska (and not counting flights on partner airlines besides, for instance, Horizon).
Stories of inflight sex are hardly newsworthy in and of themselves. They’ve been going on since November 1916, when a pilot took up a woman who wasn’t his wife in a Curtiss Flying Boat C‑2 over Long Island. They put the plane on auto-pilot — which existed back then! — but bumped and disengaged it, causing the plan to fall into the bay. They were rescued… naked. In modern times the idea usually goes like this: one person gets up to go to the lavatory. The other stays at their seat for a few more moments, and then gets up hoping nobody notices that they join in and that the other person hasn’t gone back to their seats. Joining the mile high club happens less frequently than you’d think because: There’s nothing sexy about an…
Effective with travel December 8 onward Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo Club will award more elite status credit for short haul flights in all classes of service, and will award more elite status credit for the cheapest tickets. And they’re doing this without making any offsetting negative changes.
Two years ago Air France said revenue-based changes like Delta’s were coming along with a reduction in benefits for silver elites. Although they said it might not happen until the first quarter of 2018.
Last month changes were leaked on Air France’s website including the rate at which customers would earn miles based on the cost of a ticket.
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.
Hyatt is in a tough spot strategically. They aren’t big enough to compete for a significant share of global corporate business, with only about 1/8th the hotels of Marriott and Hilton. They aren’t big enough to compete for the bulk of wallet share from frequent guests — they just don’t have hotels everywhere customers need to be.
With more and more being taken away from economy on most airlines as premium cabins get the bulk of attention, it’s just nice to see an 18.5 inch wide economy seat and with investment in the little touches that make all the difference in tight quarters over a long flight.
Most of the attention at the unveiling event was on the premium cabins, but a willingness to invest where most people sit is something I think Singapore Airlines ought to be shouting from the rooftops.
Recently American Express stopped processing payments with Plastiq. They suggested this was temporary, I’m surprised by how temporary it was, since they’re back processing American Express cards for payments again. Note though that they don’t take Amex for everything — notably mortgage payments.
Last Wednesday details were announced for the new Uber Visa from Barclaycard. Applications are now live.
The card offers 4% back on restaurants. It has a $100 signup bonus. There’s cell phone protection and a rebate on Netflix or Spotify. It’s an interesting no fee card with no foreign transaction fees but it’s missing premium benefits from Uber.
On Thursday in Singapore the airline unveiled their new business class seat for the Airbus A380, going into their five new aircraft and retrofitting their other 14 remaining A380s through 2020. I attended the unveiling.
The seat reclines flat, meaning it will also be possible to sit in a reclining and relaxing position, so it’s good as a seat and not just for sleeping. And the divider between middle seats goes all the way down to create a double bed and indeed a cocoon for two people traveling together.
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 »
