Over the holidays I saw reports of American Airlines selling upgrades from Los Angeles to Sydney (from coach to business class) for $350 and I thought that this must be a mistake. Lucky passenger!
However there are several data points of American Airlines selling long haul business class upgrades at this price.
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.
An American Airlines passenger in the bulkhead of first class boarded her aircraft, and her carry on bag began making a loud vibrating noise. My razor has done this. I open the bag (it’s generally in my laptop bag) and turn it off. Here she didn’t want the whole cabin to see what she was turning off, so she walked off the aircraft and back onto the jet bridge. There, you can see what it was that was vibrating.
United Airlines was the first airline to create a nonsmoking section back in 1971. Delta was the first to fully ban smoking worldwide in 1994. U.S. airlines were no longer permitted to allow smoking on any flight starting in 2000. Yet planes still have ashtrays! You’ll usually find them in or near the lavatory, because customers may smoke even though it’s illegal to do so. Passengers need to be told when not to smoke. And crewmembers need to be able to turn on that sign. If they can’t turn it on, because it is always on, then an exemption from the rule must be requested. Oops!
TripAdvisor was acquired and became part of the same company as Expedia. It was later spun off as a public company. It earns most of its revenue from Expedia and Booking.com, selling eyeballs of customers searching hotels to those platforms. Even reviews got de-prioritized. It stopped being primarily a tool to help customers figure out where to stay.
Now there’s corporate intrigue over where TripAdvisor itself should find lodging. Can it move from Delaware incorporation to Nevada? And what a judge says there may decide whether Tesla can leave Delaware, too, after a judge struck down Elon Musk’s $55 billion compensation package.
Three years ago United Airlines launched ‘agent on demand’ where customers would reach local agents, rather than a call center, when contacting customer service via their mobile device – scan a QR code at a hub, and chat by voice or video to deal with rebooking and other issues. This is a great feature, especially for the average passenger. It helps get real help faster, and utilizes agents efficiently.
It isn’t great for everyone, though.
Southwest has a government-granted near monopoly at Dallas Love Field airport. The airline, which fought tooth and nail for the right to be allowed to fly there as an upstart, and now uses the machinations of government to keep out competitors. With only two gates at the airport usable by competitors, no one can build a customer base to make flights work.
The Renaissance Newark Airport hotel is informing guests that there is Legionella bacteria in samples collected from its water system, which they learned after two reports of guests contracting Legionnaire’s Disease following stays on property. They continue to take guests, but are telling people not to shower.
When flight attendants first get started, wages are very low, and those assigned to big cities may be eligible for food stamps. Some crew live off stealing food from first class snack baskets.
But since they’re working perhaps just 75 ‘paid’ hours per month, they have the perfect opportunity to build a side hustle.
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 »
