Here’s What Happens To You When You Don’t “Book Direct”

by Gary Leff

May 14 2016

Hotel’s promote booking through their websites instead of online travel agencies in a variety of ways. One is the new model of the ‘member discount for booking direct’ to convince you that they have the lowest prices on their own websites. Nonetheless, that often still isn’t true and I find lower prices through online travel agency websites all the time.

There’s another way hotels encourage you to book direct. And that’s that in a sell out condition, what kind of room do you think they’re going to assign to a cheap OTA booking? “Stop clicking around” … or else.

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Would You Have Changed Seats With This Passenger?

by Gary Leff

May 14 2016

Last month I wrote about a reader who changed seats on a flight so a family could sit together — and they proceeded to sell his seat to another passenger for $100. Extra legroom seats come at a premium!

Last week I was waiting to board my flight from Dallas to DC and I was called up to the podium. I had an aisle seat in the third row of first class. Would I mind switching to the bulkhead? A husband and wife wanted to sit together.

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Airlines Are Killing Their Golden Goose: Words of Wisdom About Frequent Flyer Programs

by Gary Leff

May 13 2016

As US airlines move towards revenue-based frequent flyer programs, they’re taking the most successful marketing innovation in history that managed to turn a commodity product (a seat that takes you from A to B) into something consumers had a strong brand preference for and they’re re-commodifying it.

I’ve remained genuinely surprised at the rush to do this given that the programs as they’re currently constituted are wildly financially successful. They’re billion dollar standalone businesses. It’s rather amazing, because for almost every other industry marketing is an expense line not a profit center. And they’re very much risking that.

Peter Sheahan, author of Matter (and a United Global Services member), thinks companies are missing the boat on loyalty program design.

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Giveaway: 67 Free Upgrades to Award Wallet Premium

by Gary Leff

May 13 2016

Regular readers of the blog know that I use Award Wallet to track my miles and points.

The free version of the service suffices for most. You enter your frequent flyer account numbers and passwords. Then you can update most of your account balances with a single click and see them on one page. You can log into your accounts with a single click.

When I first signed up I realized quickly I was happy to pay the minimum required for their premium membership that included expiration date tracking for many of my accounts.

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One Program Will Still Let You Use American’s Old Award Pricing, or Book Business Class Roundtrip to Europe for Under 40,000 Miles

by Gary Leff

May 13 2016

American Express is running a 30% bonus on transfers to Etihad Guest through June 15. This is more valuable than you may realize. Etihad’s points aren’t just useful for booking premium cabin award tickets on Etihad itself.

There are some unique features of Etihad Guest. I’ve had success with award holds, there are strong value partner awards some of which are absurdly cheap, and you can even get infant fares for just 10% of the miles (not of the ticket price).

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Alaska Airlines Passenger Demanded Hugs from Flight Attendants Who Wouldn’t Serve Him Beer

by Gary Leff

May 13 2016

A passenger pleaded not guilty after becoming belligerent and demanding hugs when flight attendants refused to serve him beer.

It’s not even the first time this year this has happened. It’s not even the first time this year it’s happened on Alaska Airlines. In February an Alaska Airlines passenger screamed ‘We’re all Gonna Die!’ when refused alcohol. In that case the airline treated it as a simple ‘customer service issue’.

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Checked Bag Screening Melted Down With Thousands of Bags Piling Up in Cell Phone Lot Today

by Gary Leff

May 12 2016

More than 3000 checked bags today weren’t put on their passenger’s flights today at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport when the TSA checked baggage screening system melted down.

The ‘backup system’ that was in place? The cell phone lot was turned into checked baggage storage, where bags were to be checked manually (TSA says, “the alternative process is more time consuming than our automated system.”)

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