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.
American sent out a press release today, “FREE MAIN CABIN MEALS COMING ON SELECT COAST-TO-COAST FLIGHTS” of course ‘select’ is the operative word.
I’ve now heard from readers, seen in my Facebook feed, and read a Flyertalk thread all reporting the same problem with American Airlines Basic Economy: agents are rebooking customers who did not buy Basic Economy tickets into Basic Economy fares when changing their flights as a result of cancellations, such as because of the bad weather going on in the Northeast right now.
Air Canada’s Aeroplan, a Star Alliance member, is offering a bonus of up to 30% for transferring in points from hotel programs through April 17.
And you can leverage it like crazy.
27 year old model Kanchan Thakur was queuing at airport security in Mumbai with friends when she told an employee to check her friend’s bag — because it contained a bomb.
The group was detained, their checked bags offloaded from the aircraft, and their flight to Delhi was delayed an hour.
I hate when airlines run promotions that apply only to tickets purchased after registering. They’re saying that their already loyal customers, who buy tickets from them day in and day out, aren’t as important as new customers or purchases. And they communicate that customers should wait to buy from them in case a promotion gets announced, for fear of losing out on a future bonus that may be announced.
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.
Starwood and Delta launched a major partnership four years ago. Crossover Rewards offered reciprocal points-earning and a modest degree of status recognition.
Delta had been talking with Marriott about a deal, but my recollection from the time is that Marriott balked over price. Delta simply wanted too much to do the deal. However Marriott launched a partnership with United months after Delta and Starwood went public.
Loyalty has two primary components: recognition and reward. That’s your elite program and your earn and burn proposition.
Hotel programs are tough to compare because you earn a different number of points per dollar spent, and redemptions vary wildly as well — the most expensive Hyatt redemption is 30,000 points while the most expensive Hilton redemption costs 95,000.
Last year I wrote about the man who walked through the Nashville airport naked and attempted to buy a ticket.
Then there was a man who stripped naked to protest a flight delay on US Airways. Sadly this is all much more common than you’d think.
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 »
