I’ve always found US government travel warnings to be overly cautious. I have no problem transiting the Istanbul airport, booking an award on Turkish Airlines (just hope your seat opponent doesn’t whisper to a flight attendant that you’re a Gulenist).
Since I’m willing to go places like this, it seems worth highlighting a counterpoint. The government doesn’t say ‘don’t go to Mexico’ just that there are some Bad Hombres™ there.
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 European Parliament voted to call on the EU’s executive branch to force Americans to apply for visas in order to visit Europe.
European lawmakers set a May deadline, so that this would affect American summer vacations — they want to be punitive .
I was in Las Vegas Thursday morning taping something for a television network. We wrapped earlier than expected and I headed to the airport with the show’s producer. And since I didn’t want to spend 3 hours in the Centurion lounge if I didn’t have to, I worked to get rebooked onto an earlier flight.
Five weeks ago the President signed an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by individuals from seven countries.
The order was enjoined by judges in a number of different lawsuits, for a variety of reasons such as that is covered green card holders and impermissibly sought to determine who could enter the U.S. on the basis of their religion. And other than mere assertions, the administration failed to provide any rational security-based justification for the order.
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.
Oscar Munoz, like Jeff Smisek before him, let the CEOs of Delta and United stick their foots in their mouths while not directly leading the charge for government protectionism against Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar.
Munoz has now >changed that declaring, “Those airlines aren’t airlines.”
The new ‘World of Hyatt’ reboot of Hyatt’s loyalty program launched March 1. All new branding means new membership cards, and my top tier Globalist kit arrived in the mail yesterday.
The only real disappointment is the packaging.
American Airlines announced details of its Basic Economy fares about six weeks ago and started selling them a week and a half ago.
It’s harder to reach top tier elite status — no more qualifying on stays, no more credit towards top status via credit card spend, and 60 nights instead of 50 to qualify — for those who reach “Globalist” status it’s the most generous top tier in the industry among major programs.
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 »
