United Airlines hasn’t just come under criticism for how it treats its human passengers, it’s received recent attention for how it (mis)treats animals as well. The biggest story was that the airline reportedly locked the World’s Biggest Rabbit in a freezer for hours and them cremated it without permission.
In February a dog died while traveling United when an agent’s mistake meant that the dog traveled 20 hours longer than expected.
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.
The new TD Business Solutions Credit Card offers a $200 signup bonus when you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of account opening and offers strong cash rebate earning. (HT: Joe Brancatelli) 3% on phone, Internet and cable services 2% on dining and at gas stations 1% on everything else The card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Now I find this new card interesting for a couple of reasons. It almost exactly mirrors the spending bonus categories of the Chase Ink Cash Card except that Ink Cash gives 5% back on phone, internet and cable rather than 3% and also includes office supplies as a top rebate category. Ink Cash also does 2% on dining and gas. It’s a new issuer that’s getting aggressive in this space. Credit card rewards…
Delta is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and the provide many of their own benefits to elite members of partner frequent flyer programs.
SkyTeam member China Southern is offering U.S. frequent flyers a status match through February 2019 — all you need to be is “an elite member of any other airline” (emphasis mine).
On Thursday night a woman bragging about being rich and flying first class on American Airlines flight AA5771 — a 691 mile flight from Dallas Fort-Worth to Moline operated by Mesa Airlines with a 76 seat Bombardier CRJ-900 — grabbed a “flight attendant by the arm before slapping her in the face.”
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.
There’s no question American has degraded the AAdvantage program in the last couple of years. And there’s no question that AAdvantage was American’s unique selling proposition. They don’t have the airline operation that Delta does, or the route network (and award availability) that United has access to through Star Alliance.
Since I’ve flown American by far the most over the past 6 years I’ve watched the airline change, and mostly (although not exclusively) in ways I haven’t liked.
Instead of giving American Airlines the vast majority of my wallet share, their schedule and price gives them just enough that I’ll still hit that 100,000 mile status but likely just barely. In the past I’d have connected and paid more to stay on American.
That’s not something I’ll do anymore because of five changes they’ve made over the past couple of years — and they’re probably not the changes that matter to most members.
On Thursday evening I attended a Hyatt event for Chase co-brand cardmembers at the Park Hyatt New York. It was a food event featuring dishes from chefs at 3 Hyatts around the world — the Park Hyatt Vendome Paris, Park Hyatt Vienna, and Hyatt Regency Hangzhou.
I had the chance to speak with Hyatt Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Debra Goetz as well as members of the Hyatt and Chase co-brand card products team.
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.
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 »
