Parents of 13 Year Old Groped on Flight to Portland Suing American Airlines. And They Should Lose.

by Gary Leff

Jul 12 2016

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the man who was charged with “abusive sexual contact” after inappropriate touching of an unaccompanied minor on an American Airlines Dallas – Portland flight. Apparently the flight wasn’t full but he chose the middle seat next to the young girl rather than the empty aisle in his own row. Creepy.

I concluded that there are awful passengers in the sky, because there are awful people in the world. Flying is increasingly democratic. A broad cross section of people travel side-by-side across the country every day, and that includes — and necessarily will include — a small minority of awful people, and a small minority of people who do awful things.

That’s not satisfying, but the truth is incidents are rare on planes just as they’re relatively rare in society (though when they happen they make news).

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10% Rebate on Hyatt Redemptions Through October 31 for Co-Brand Cardmembers

by Gary Leff

sydney opera house
Jul 11 2016

Hyatt Gold Passport announced a promotion for their co-brand credit card holders. Register and receive a 10% rebate on points redeemed through October 31.

In 2015 Hyatt and Chase offered co-brand credit card holders a 20% rebate during a five month period at the beginning of the year. That was the first time they made such an offer. While a 10% rebate is nice, it’s hard not to compare it to last year’s 20%.

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Just How Good Can a 200 Mile Flight Be? You’re About to Find Out

by Gary Leff

Jul 11 2016

The flight attendants handled some difficult passengers with grace and a friendly, helpful manner. Everyone in the cabin who was being difficult was satisfied and reassured they’d be well cared for.

We got a hot meal with choice of entree, a dessert from French bakery Ladurée, multiple passes for drinks and lie flat seats. And the flight came with access to Qatar’s Al Safwa first class lounge.

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Will United’s Flight Attendants Finally Get a Contract and Finish the Airline’s Merger? Not Everyone is Happy.

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2016

United and Continental merged in 2010, with Continental management eventually taking over, but six years later that merger is still not complete.

Legacy United and Continental flight attendants still do not operate under a single contract, and as a result United flight attendants work United planes and Continental flight attendants work Continental planes — and new aircraft get split between them.

A couple of weeks ago – finally – United and its flight attendants came to terms on a joint contract. Here’s a union summary of the deal (.pdf) showing that wages go up substantially.

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127,500 Miles from One Credit Card Signup and Meeting Minimum Spend

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2016

It’s a Bank of America offer of up to 90,000 bonus miles for a card that earns 1.5 miles per dollar on all of your spend. I’d stop at earning 75,000 bonus miles, but if you go all the way you’ll earn 127,500 miles including the miles from your spending.

Virgin Atlantic miles aren’t the best miles, but this is a great bonus from a bank you may not already have any rewards cards from.

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Delta Award Sale: Flights as Low as 5000 Miles

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2016

Delta is running a domestic economy (and extra legroom seating) award sale. At least they tell us it’s a sale, which means there are regular prices, even though Delta hides what those regular prices are (“an ignorant customer is their best customer”).

At the upper end of value, Chicago Midway – Atlanta is on sale for 5000 miles (and tax of $5.60). That’s better than paying 12,500 miles of course for the same flight. And its actually a good deal. Normally when we see these sales 5000 mile awards correspond to flights less than $90. This time 5000 miles can save you nearly $200.

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