With American Express becoming the sole issuer of Hilton co-brand credit cards in the U.S. starting January 1, 2018, I was curious what would happen to existing Citibank Hilton cardholders.
A month ago Hilton’s CEO announced that they would have a new co-brand credit card agreement before the end of the second quarter. That agreement has now been finalized and it’s exclusive with American Express starting January 1, 2018.
A man apparently lost it on Delta flight DL2646 from Tampa to New York LaGuardia this evening when someone else had their bags in the overhead bin above his seat and there wasn’t room for his belongings. He wound up forcibly removed from the aircraft.
Yesterday’s JetBlue flight 915 from New York JFK to San Francisco departed on time but made it to San Francisco more than 3 hours late because the aircraft had to divert to Grand Rapids because lithium ion batteries in a laptop “stowed away in backpack in an overhead bin” caught fire.
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.
Competition for airline credit card signups has heated up. American Airlines told the SEC they were behind projections with new card signups and that was materially affecting their revenue outlook.
So Citi came out with a new offer. Now Barclaycard has, too. And you can get them both.
While claiming that the decision isn’t driven by a floundering Alitalia, Norwegian announced Rome as a Boeing 787 base today.
No doubt Alitalia’s bankruptcy filing a month ago makes Rome even more appealing, but the carrier was bleeding even before that. Their costs are high and their operations inefficient. And their ability to expand across the Atlantic in an advantageous way is, they say, hamstrung by a revenue-sharing joint venture agreement with Air France and Delta that’s a legacy from when Air France was a major investor in the airline.
United just announced several improvements to their premium transcon flights this morning. Traditionally New York – San Francisco and New York – Los Angeles were lucrative enough markets that airlines competed to offer a much higher quality product than on other routes.
In the aftermath of the British Airways IT debacle that snarled the carrier’s flights for days, the airline collected hundreds of suitcases in a pile where they’d be “out of sight”.
One suitcase, though, was “blown by an engine draft for nearly 600 feet before it was stopped by panicking ground crew.”
Southwest Airlines flight WN3630 was delayed Monday night when a passenger “locked himself in the restroom and refused to get out.”
The passenger, whom Southwest said appeared to be drunk, was eventually kicked out of the lavatory and off the aircraft but he “ran back onto the plane” which is when a member of the crew “tackled him and pinned him down.”
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 »
