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.
Brand new planes — Boeing 787s and Boeing 737s — are expensive. Ramping up quickly; attracting, hiring, training new crew; setting up new stations and new hubs even; generating consumer awareness are all expensive.
So it’s not surprising to see the Wall Street Journal covering challenges at Norwegian “You Can’t Build a Low Cost Airline Without Low Costs.
Here are the number of each family of planes that Boeing is building each month, their order backlog, and the average retail price of each plane type… and what those retail prices actually mean.
Delta moved Ann Coulter out of the seat she selected and paid for on a Delta flight from New York to Florida. Coulter went on a tweetstorm.
I’ve never been a fan of Ann Coulter. She was disserviced. She was less than charitable in suffering that. Still relative outrage belongs focused on Delta, and it would be if Ann Coulter wasn’t otherwise such a polarizing figure offensive to many.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Doug Parker needs to get the memo that Delta is not his friend and that American’s interests aren’t the same as Delta’s.
In going along with Delta’s interests, copying Delta’s strategies, Parker is being played for the Greater Fool. But not the good kind Olivia Munn talks about.
Last week American Express restored one-to-one transfers from Membership Rewards to British Airways.
Now American Express is running a 40% bonus on transfers to British Airways through September 17. So for a two month period transfers have actually gone from 1 to 0.8 all the way up to 1 to 1.4. That’s 75% better than a week ago!
Last Monday, July 10, a passenger on Delta’s flight DL55 from Lagos, Nigeria to Atlanta was equally thrilled to discover that from his perch in an extra legroom ‘Comfort+’ seat he could see a King of Nigeria board business class.
At around 13 seconds in a member of his entourage performs a ritual shaking rattles around the King.
A year and a half ago United launched a branded paid airport VIP program provided by Global Airport Concierge.
Now Marriott Gold and Platinum members receive complimentary United Signature Service in conjunction with a travel package redemption.
Delta, United, and American all have minimum spending requirements for earning their elite status. Delta requires you to spend a minimum of 12 cents a mile for status (eg $3000 for 25,000 mile Silver, $15,000 for 125,000 mile Diamond) but waives the requirement for customers living outside the U.S. and for U.S. customers spending at least $25,000 on a co-brand American Express card. United requires you to spend a minimum of 12 cents a mile for status (eg $3000 for 25,000 mile Silver, $12,500 for 100,000 mile 1K) but waives the requirement for customers living outside the U.S. and waives the requirement for earning up to the Platinum level – but not 1K – for U.S. customers spending at least $25,000 on a co-brand Chase card. American requires you to spend a minimum of 12…
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 »
