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.
Milepoint was launched in 2011 as a frequent flyer community where members could talk about their travels and loyalty programs in a friendly way on a new platform. I’ve enjoyed the many interactions with folks I’ve had there, and have been privileged to be a part of the community I helped to found. Although I don’t think it reached its potential, and we certainly didn’t do everything with and for it that we’d always talked about.
That’s changing.
Delta doesn’t run many promotions these days, except matching other airline transatlantic bonuses (sometimes). They’ve tightened up elite status rules. And they’ve gotten pretty close to Starwood hotels.
Yet they continue to run a year-end promotion with Hilton that can help you earn your Delta status faster.
It’s amazing how much airports spend and often go over budget. I’ve written about massive cost overruns in Denver and how even their budget for monitoring costs went massively over budget.
It’s striking to me that yesterday Dallas Fort-Worth airport rolled out a new logo. DFW is ditching their blue and white logo for orange and adding the tagline “Travel Transformed.” Of course, “I’d fly out of DFW but I don’t like their logo” is something said by no passenger ever. But I was interested to see what this project cost the airport.
Long haul airlines often have the best reputations. We slog through hundreds of short domestic segments on US carriers, and don’t think much of them. Then we board airlines whose specialty is flying great distances and they do tend to do well on those sectors.
Last month I wrote that big changes will come to American AAdvantage… but not yet.
The focus through October 17 (and ultimately beyond) is integration with US Airways. They’re running out the clock to make big changes for 2016. Now as we enter the fourth quarter of 2015 it really would be unprecedented to upend the mileage and elite status earning features of AAdvantage for 2016.
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.
There’s now an opportunity to spend miles for a BMW. You shouldn’t do it, but the reason why is informative.
The ANA website is currently showing award space on Star Alliance partner Lufthansa that isn’t available to United or other Star Alliance airlines. The previously-most reliable website for searching award space when you’re using United miles may no longer be the go-to. I tell you how to find reliable information instead.
Back in September I wrote about Kuwait Airways denying boarding to an Israeli passport holder. They weren’t flying to Kuwait. They were flying New York – London.
Kuwait’s policy has been challenged, though. Eldad Gatt, a citizen and resident of Israel…filed a DOT complaint under 49 U.S.C. § 40127, which prohibits discrimination “on
the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry” — but the DOT refused to take action arguing that Kuwait Airways was acting legally. The DOT has reconsidered.
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 »
