The TSA has had employees roaming the airports watching passengers, using their spidey senses to figure out who might be a terrorist.
Four years ago the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General concluded that the TSA’s behavior detection efforts didn’t work and racially profiled. I’ve argued that TSA literally has no science in its files to support its efforts. Now the government agrees.
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 Trump administration is expected to announce a ban on citizens traveling to North Korea next week. The ban would go into effect 30 days later.
Feeding the old meme that on Delta Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive (or ‘Diverts Errant Luggage to Atlanta’), a man whose luggage was lost enroute to his dream destination wedding in Iceland is letting the world know he doesn’t believe Delta can be relied on when it counts.
And he created a special wedding photo to get the message out.
Delta has found a new way to price dynamically. Already they’ve practiced journey control. You might find saver award space on multiple flights, but they won’t allow you to combine those flights into a saver award. Two connecting flights on an otherwise legal routing might price out as more miles.
Now though non-stop saver awards may price out more expensively depending on route.
One of my cousins booked a United MileagePlus award to Warsaw. She was meeting her brother there — he booked an award, too, in business class. She doesn’t have as many miles, she was in coach.
She was booked on a double connection via Newark and Zurich. Weather was slowing down air traffic in the Northeast.
The most crucial thing to know about this lounge is that it’s much less crowded than it used to be —
precisely because the Flagship Lounge is open and so many more people now have access there. Everyone flying international business class, American’s mid-tier elites flying international economy, and oneworld partner mid-tier elites used to all crowd into the Admirals Club. Now they’re granted access to the Flagship Lounge and the Admirals Club is used for a narrower passenger base.
IdeaWorks has put out a new study on airline ancillary fees (.pdf). They rank the airlines earning the most in ancillary fees, and explain where the money comes from.
I’m not going to focus on the ultra low cost carriers around the world although the data there is interesting. Instead my interest is piqued looking at the major US airlines and the contribution of their frequent flyer programs to ‘other income’ at each.
All the major hotel chains are working hard to get you to ‘book direct’ with them. It’s not really working overall, since they don’t appear to be eating into the share of reservations of Expedia, Priceline, etc.
These efforts aren’t new. But Hyatt’s new reward for finding a lower price on a competing site is.
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 »
