One of the controversial things I believe is that the economics of credit cards in the US will change drastically in the coming years.
New payment technologies will compete down credit card interchange rates, making it uneconomic for banks to offer frequent flyer miles as incentives for spending on their cards. Basically that competition will do to credit card mileage earning what the Durbin Amendment did to debit cards.
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 AAdvantage has been extremely stingy with international award space on its own flights over the past three to four years; premium award space doubly so.
Especially in the first quarter of 2017, but also late in 2016, American’s flights to and from Paris have opened up across the board for awards and upgrades. In the first quarter of 2017 London is wide open from several cities. And other European destinations are available, too.
Etihad has opened its new first class lounge at their Abu Dhabi airport home. First class passengers no longer need to use the ‘roped off section’ of the business class lounge, that’s no really different than the rest of the lounge except that a staff member will bring you drinks (and your spa treatment is free).
There’s there’s cooked to order food including a tasting menu. There’s a cigar lounge (unclear whether cigars are complimentary or paid) with recommendations on pairing each cigar with whiskey or cognac. There’s both a Six Senses Spa and Style & Shave as well as a fitness room.
Friday’s Emirates flight from Sao Paulo to Dubai diverted to Lagos, Nigeria for a medical emergency.
Goodness knows if I was the passenger with a medical emergency, I’d nope to be nearer someplace other than Lagos for treatment — but indeed the route from Sao Paulo doesn’t really provide better options.
Frequent flyers complain about airlines and even occasionally call to re-regulate them. But those calls fail to recognize that airlines are in fact one of the most highly regulated industries as it is, and what the Airline Deregulation Act did was free up airlines to compete on schedule and price.
The government no longer had to approve new routes, and no longer set prices, with the closing of the Civil Aeronautics Board. The CAB used to protect the airlines, not consumers by limiting what was termed ‘ruinous competition’. They ensured prices were set high enough to earn profits.
Calls to re-regulate the airlines, then, are in some sense anti-consumer. They’re calls to ensure higher profits and less choice.
I’d love some reader advice on what wallet to carry for someone who has a lot of credit cards and doesn’t want to leave them all in a drawer… but without spending a ton of money and still getting something decent-looking that I can take out in a business environment to pay for a meal.
For a few years I had a great wallet. It wasn’t great because it was a $265 Ghurka wallet. In fact, I had never heard of Ghurka when I bought it, I got it for free by stacking multiple deals at Vente-Privee and I only wanted it because it had five credit card slots on each side. And, of course, I could stick more than one card in each slot.
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.
Many things go into whether or not a flight arrives on time. American’s management argues that what they can most control is whether the flight departs on time, and if it does, that’s going to be the single biggest driver of on time arrivals.
So American Airlines management is singularly focused on what they refer to as “D0” — departing exactly the minute that a flight is scheduled to depart (the government considers a flight to be ‘on time’ when it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule).
United’s only flight to the continent of Africa is its Houston – Lagos, Nigeria Boeing 787 service. That route will be terminated June 30, with the aircraft supporting United’s increase in San Francisco – Tel Aviv frequencies to daily this fall.
Rumors that United simply got taken in by a 419 scam are, apparently, unfounded.
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 »
