Virgin America is set to lose is Singapore Airlines partnership on September 30 as part of the Alaska Airlines merger. The Virgin America Elevate frequent flyer program is winding down as it prepares to be integrated into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
However news is out this morning that Alaska and Singapore have inked a partnership. Reciprocal mileage-earning starts September 27, with redemption to follow.
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.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been on an American Airlines flight where the first class snack basket was empty. Flight attendants on non-meal flights may not make a second pass with the snack basket, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone denied a second snack either if they asked.
On a recent American Airlines flight, though, the flight attendant working first class told passengers that they had run out of snacks.
American AAdvantage has two bags issuing credit cards to members in the U.S.: Citibank and Barclaycard. Citibank advertises online, through direct mail, and in American’s club lounges. Barclaycard advertises in the airport and on flights.
And that Barclaycard product’s offer has gone from 40,000 to 50,000 and now 60,000 miles in a matter of months.
Chase has shared new rules for its Sapphire cards with their branch bankers.
There are (3) different Sapphire cards — the no annual fee Sapphire, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. Presently it’s been possible to have more than one of those. Going forward you won’t be able to apply for one of these cards if you already have one of the others.
Two years ago Air India discovered rats on a plane midway through a Mumbai – London flight. Rats usually come onboard via catering trucks, and rats were found after breakfast had been served on departure. And the airline went ahead and served lunch once the flight turned back to Mumbai.
Now we have another Air India flight with a rat. This one was discovered prior to takeoff of flight AI173 Delhi – San Francisco on Sunday.
oneworld member air berlin filed for bankruptcy two weeks ago after Etihad withdrew its support. The German government extended a loan guarantee (subsidy) to keep the airline flying while a sale of assets was arranged. The airline has cumulatively lost several billion dollars.
The airline’s topbonus frequent flyer program has filed for bankruptcy as well. They’re no longer offering earning or redemption. They no longer had the possibility of being repaid debt owed by the airline, or collecting funds from airline mileage accrual.
Passengers want to accompany friends and family to the gate. Airports want more people shopping and dining, they earn a percentage of the revenue at all the merchants at the airport. And by the way airlines usually share in this revenue, too.
The TSA wants to limit the number of people going through security. They also want to limit the bags they have to screen at the checkpoint. The TSA is the government, so until now they’ve gotten to decide.
Recently the head of one hotel loyalty program described the rollout of World of Hyatt as ‘a cautionary tale.’ It hasn’t been super popular with elite members. Now there’s a new reason to think Hyatt’s elite numbers aren’t what they’d hoped.
Last month I wrote about United rebooking a passenger for the wrong year. They landed in Frankfurt and were denied boarding for the flight they thought they were supposed to take, because United had put them on that same flight in June 2018 instead of July 2017.
In that case United’s computers were down. The agent hand wrote the changed itinerary, and didn’t note the new (wrong) month.
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 »
