A few days ago several blogs wrote about an American Express offer of a $100 statement credit when spending $500 with Ritz-Carlton. That’s great, but the offer was targeted. It wasn’t available in my account.
And I don’t usually write about targeted offers unless they’re noteworthy for some other reason such as indicating testing that a program is doing that may paint the program’s future direction.
Is it: a bad idea to mention 9/11 on a plane if you’re Muslim? a bad idea to talk about airport security on a plane, period? that we’ve taken our fears too far?
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.
Europeans want to fly to Toronto and want to fly to New York. Buffalo simply is neither a business nor leisure market for them. Carriers would be relying largely on the local Buffalo market. And the striking thing about the airport’s case for transatlantic service is that they seem to mention everything other than the number of people in Buffalo flying to Europe.
You can earn up to 25,000 Delta miles renting out your place on Airbnb. And there’s a limited time offer that triples ongoing Delta earn for Airbnb spend, and that earning is stackable with United mileage earning as well.
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.
Yesterday Delta suggested that a US News survey named SkyMiles the best frequent flyer program. It didn’t. US News named Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan as best frequent flyer program.
That’s ok – their fingers were crossed.
American Airlines usually offers terrible — meaning absolutely no — premium cabin saver award space on its own planes.
Their pattern though is to occasionally dump award space that remains open for a day or two. So you need to pounce when it’s there.
Back in 2008 Venezuela’s currency controls were considered an airfare arbitrage opportunity.
But it was risky even then to holding Venezuelan assets, something underscored when the country nationalized a Hilton. (Not even a first in Venezuela for that brand.) Apparently Hugo Chavez didn’t like the hotel meeting contract, so he decided to take the hotel.
The news, and the stories I cover, can seem negative — and they often are. Tales of airline employees can paint them in a bad light, but the truth is that even where interactions go badly most employees are just following the rules given to them and using the limited tools they’re allowed to work with. There are people who lose their cool as well.
To the ones who don’t, who go the extra mile, like the Southwest ramp agent who saved Christmas for a little girl in Detroit, thank you.
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 »
