Mar 11 2016

Marriott members are going to make out like bandits in the acquisition of Starwood. And there are more Marriott customers than Starwood ones. Marriott members get a whole slate of high end properties at which to use their points that they didn’t have before. And their elite benefits may get better but certainly won’t get worse. Starwood customers on the whole have been less enthusiastic.

I had a chance to sit down with Marriott folks at the beginning of the week. I met with Marriott’s CEO Arne Sorenson and also with Marriott’s Vice President of Loyalty Thom Kozik in Marriott’s Bethesda, Maryland corporate offices.

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Mar 11 2016

Citibank is offering a 25% bonus transfers from ThankYou Rewards to Virgin Atlantic through April 6.

Virgin Atlantic charges 40,000 miles each way between the East Coast of the US and London. So that’s not a lot of points, with this offer 32,000 ThankYou points is enough for a one-way business class ticket across the Pond.

However the program adds fuel surcharges to awards. So while Virgin Atlantic itself has a decent business class product across the Pond, many prefer to book their awards through Delta SkyMiles (at a higher mileage cost) to avoid the fuel surcharges.

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Mar 10 2016

This review of a Yellowstone National Park lodge is simply priceless.

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Mar 10 2016

At the end of last year American finally opened pretty good award space on their new Sydney flight.

And they opened up space to Auckland, too.

I’m mostly interested in these saver awards. But US airlines used to offer ‘double miles awards’. For about twice the miles as a regular award ticket you could have any seat on the plane.

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Mar 10 2016

It seems though that Hillary Clinton spoke at the American Society of Travel Agents’ Global Convention a couple of years ago. She’s long had a direct hand in choosing her travel agent so certainly had much to say.

Both her supporters and detractors point to the volume of travel she undertook while Secretary of State as underscoring either her accomplishment or lack thereof in the role having traveled “to 112 countries.. 956,733 miles” (falling just short of lifetime State Department elite status).

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Mar 10 2016

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.

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Mar 10 2016

Representative Steven Cohen (D-TN) wanted to regulate seat width and legroom. That went nowhere in the House Transportation Committee, but Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) decided it would make a good issue. His office even pitched me on the story after I had already explained why this would be bad for consumers. The Points Guy gave him more sympathetic coverage.

Now Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) want to limit airline fees

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Mar 09 2016

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.

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Mar 09 2016

A year ago I wrote about a plan for United to move from 9 seats across in coach to 10 seats across on their Boeing 777s.

Now we know what they’re doing. They’re going to move forward with 10-abreast economy on their 777s that fly domestically.

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Mar 09 2016

Just as American will be introducing ‘Basic Economy’ fares – fares that exclude many of the benefits we’ve come to expect with a ticket, like an advance seat assignment — United will be as well.

It’s interesting to see the way they’re presenting their thinking.

They see (3) customer types and three benefit types, and it seems illogical to them that all three customers get the same ‘stuff’.

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