Earlier this week I argued that the American Express Black Card was really just a very expensive Platinum card. The Platinum card gives you most of the perks of Centurion for a $450 annual fee versus a $7500 initiation fee and $2500 annual fee for the Black Amex.
However, The Points Guy explains why the card made sense for him.
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.
On United’s first quarter earnings call this morning they re-iterated a plan to roll out basic economy fares in the second half of 2016.
This isn’t about offering you lower fares. United already matches the low fares in the market. Basic economy is a way of moving some passengers who buy those fares today to buy more expensive fares instead.
Through June 3 Hilton is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points. That’s the best bonus and best price I’ve seen.
Hilton usually charges a penny apiece for points, so with this bonus is selling points for half a cent each. They’ve offered this before, for instance last June. Here they’re selling points for around what they’re worth.
Reader Adam P. paid $69 for an extra legroom economy seat. He researched the seat and chose the specific one intentionally. It’s a widebody aircraft, and an aisle seat in the middle section.
Onboard he encountered a family that was separated. He agreed to change seats. She then took $100 from another passenger to give up that seat, and sit farther from her family.
Miles are still an amazing means to get premium cabin travel without spending a lot of money.
Redeemable miles are no longer a reason to choose to fly one airline over another. And if you’re going to earn elite status from your flying anyway, that’s great, and you should try to put yourself over the top of the next-higher tier you’d make naturally anyway.
But the airlines are diving head first into destroying their success using frequent flyer programs to turn a commodity product (a seat that gets you from A to B) into a differentiated one. By offering revenue-based programs for earning and potentially burning, they offer mere discounts to customers who had been the least price sensitive. By limiting benefits they give those customers who would spend more and never consider another airline little reason to do so.
United’s 6am flight from Albanyu to Newark — a 41 minute flight — was delayed two hours when, ten minutes prior to departure, one passenger said the word “bomb” to another passenger.
Donald Trump may want to build a wall, and make Mexico pay for it, but the wall won’t keep illegal aircraft out of U.S. airspace. In fact, Trump’s own Cessna has gone illegal.
An insurance company could refuse to pay out claims in the event of an incident with his plane, and he could be subject to “a civil penalty of up to $27,500, a criminal fine of up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to three years”
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.
At the Andaz Savannah they’re serious about what their most premium suite is for. And they’re not too bashful to tell you.
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 »
