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.
$33 Transatlantic Fare, Limited Dates in June
Meridian Air has $33 one-way fares between Havana and Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Berlin in June. Only very limited limited dates are available, and it’s not even an error.
Sadly very few Cubans have the ability to leave the country, and relatively few have access to the (state censored) internet to learn of the deal.
Economist Removed from American Airlines Flight for Doing Math
Guido Menzio, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania, was pulled off of an American Airlines regional jet from Philadelphia to Syracuse because he was doing math.
As Alex Tabarrok observes, Algebra has “Arabic origins plus math is used to make bombs.”
The Most Ridiculous Requests Ever Made to a Hotel
This is the story of a hotel guest who comes up with the most ridiculous requests possible from the hotel he stays at frequently. And the results of those requests.
Alaska Airlines Fixes Their Award Chart After Lack of Trust Meant a Major Scare
This morning I wrote that Alaska Airlines award charts were showing higher prices for Cathay Pacific awards intra-Asia — with business class up over 120% and first class up over 150%.
Intra-Asia awards appeared to be the same price as US-Asia awards. As I wrote, when readers first reported this several days ago I assumed it “was a mistake related to Alaska updating the way they displayed award charts.” Indeed, one-way premium economy awards at 15,000 one way and 70,000 roundtrip made no sense. However Alaska was confirming the new pricing as correct.
Airline Lobbyists Want to Shame — But Not Fix — The TSA
Denver airport is known for unmatched security wait times. One thousand American Airlines passengers missed flights at just one airport – Chicago O’Hare – in just one month (March) due to long security wait times.
Atlanta airport was so frustrated that they threatened to privatize. Now Atlanta is closing down the South security checkpoint for renovations and the TSA plans to turn over some of the process to Delta there.
When Will American AAdvantage Go Revenue-Based?
American announced in the Fall that they’ll start awarding miles for flights based on price of ticket rather than distance flown in “late 2016.”
There have also been references to “the second half of 2016” which is the language American used in its most recent SEC form 10-K filing. That’s got members worried.
One of the most frequent questions I get is when this change will happen, with customers even booking away from American now on the fear that it could happen July 1 (which is, of course, in “the second half” of the year).
Delta’s New Approach to Taking More of Your Money and United Express Spectacular Computer Failure
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.
New Free and Easy Star Alliance Award Search Tool
Star Alliance frequent flyer program Copa Airlines ConnectMiles has introduced online award booking across the Star Alliance.
You can use their search tool without logging in (or even having a Copa account). There’s the ability to search all Star Alliance airlines, or just a single specified airline.
TODAY ONLY: United Discounting Hawaii Awards for Program’s 35th Anniversary
United tweeted that they have Hawaii awards on sale to celebrate MileagePlus’ 35th anniversary.
It appears that economy awards are pricing at 17,500 each way instead of 22,500 miles but only when searching for roundtrips. Premium cabin awards aren’t discounting.