American is temporarily re-branding their existing Flagship lounges as International First Class lounges as it prepares to introduce brand new business and first class Flagship Lounges in the coming months.
That’s because these new Flagship Lounges are going to be a new concept, rolled out as renovations to existing lounges and new builds are completed starting this spring. We’re going to see New York JFK opening first in a few months, followed by LAX by mid-year.
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.
Up until now if you wanted to redeem GarudaMiles for travel on their own flights you had to endure “award redemption in six easy steps.” Roughly speaking Garuda Indonesia’s frequent flyer program thought it was Korean. North Korean.
For all intents and purposes the introduction of online redemption makes Garuda Indonesia an actual partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, not merely a theoretical one.
US airlines haven’t offered premium economy products on their own flights. American’s new premium economy, launched on the Boeing 787-9, is the first.
US airline frequent flyer programs haven’t offered the option for redeeming miles for premium economy.
Interestingly Delta SkyMiles is the first of the major US frequent flyer programs to offer premium economy redemption.
Elaine Chao, former Labor Secretary and former Deputy Secretary of Transportation, will apparently be nominated to become Secretary of Transportation.
She’s also former President of the United Way and a former board member of Northwest Airlines. Prior service at DOT includes a stint as deputy administrator of Maritime Administration.
United’s new business class Polaris soft product goes live December 1 and I spoke with Maria Walter, Managing Director of Product and Brand Strategy, about the roll out.
She emphasized how they’re viewing Polaris as more than just the seat. It’s the onboard service, food and amenities as well as lounges on the ground as well.
Yesterday a passenger on United’s flight UA1892 from New Orleans to Houston pulled the emergency exit door over the wing of the Boeing 737 on arrival and jumped out.
Apparently the flight’s early arrival meant it didn’t have a gate open.
When Marriott acquired Starwood, plenty of commentators started to wonder about the future of several of Starwood’s brands. After all, many of them are small — Starwood wasn’t growing as quickly as investors would have liked, hence the selloff in the first place.
And clearly many of the brands are duplicative with Marriott’s brands. Not all of the brands perform well in their niche for instance Four Points. Even with Starwood’s Sheraton revival plan the Sheraton brand remains a bit of a mess.
Despite donating big to Democrats this cycle, Delta’s CEO was on the Trump train. The hope: that a Donald Trump presidency could revive protectionism, shut out Gulf carriers from US markets, reducing consumer choice and increasing fares.
The “Trump is good for Delta” mantra likely didn’t trickle down to Delta’s front line. However, an offensive inflight rant was allowed to proceed and go viral. Delta apologized for not taking swifter action.
This past Friday IHG Rewards Club hosted a ‘loyalty summit’ in New York at the Kimpton Eventi that I attended.
It was a small group, in an intimate space, although super cool — directly outside the window they control a bright screen where their program logo was displayed.
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 »
