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”
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At the Andaz Savannah they’re serious about what their most premium suite is for. And they’re not too bashful to tell you.
I get nervous standing in line for immigration in many countries, even though I’ve never gotten a second look anywhere I’ve gone. I always wonder whether I’ll get denied entry, either for no real reason at all or perhaps for something I’ve written about the country I’m visiting.
And I’ve actually done things … like taking photos on the tarmac in countries where that’s frowned upon, or used my cell phone (in airplane mode) on a Chinese airline. Or because I posted about an immigration form..
Apparently Selena Gomez isn’t quite as lucky as I am.
When Marriott announced they were buying Starwood, the news was met with great consternation among Starwood’s frequent guests. That’s because Marriott – the larger program – isn’t known for treating elites especially well despite having the toughest top tier to earn among the major programs (Platinum requires 75 nights).
So it was pretty exciting when Marriott announced this morning that they were rolling out new benefits similar to Starwood offerings. The biggest new benefit was guaranteed late check-out for Golds and Platinums, but it looks like they’re really just playing marketing games.
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 »
