Uh, No: the Marriott-Starwood Merger and American Devaluation Aren’t a Social Lesson on Rich and Poor

by Gary Leff

Nov 21 2015

Changes in the travel industry are often a rorschach test for one’s own priors. Matthew Yglesias says “Marriott/Starwood merger is another case of the rich getting richer” but he gets it exactly backward.

I’m not going to make any points about income inequality in the United States or the world. But I am going to make a point about the particulars of how Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest work, and about his take on American AAdvantage devaluations. Because they simply do not get him where he wants to go in making broader claims about society.

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Buy Star Alliance Miles for Just 1.4 Cents Apiece

by Gary Leff

Nov 20 2015

Star Alliance frequent flyer program LifeMiles is back with a purchase miles promotion. It’s double miles, plus an additional 15% if you purchase between 41,000 and 100,000 miles or an additional 25% if you purchase 101,000 to 150,000 miles. Maxing out the bonus offer means buying miles at less than 1.5 cents apiece which is great.

But there’s an even better offer: InsideFlyer.com has an extra 10% on top of what LifeMiles is offering publicly with this promotion.

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American Airlines Will Serve Perhaps the Best Wine Ever Offered Inflight

by Gary Leff

Nov 20 2015

On their inaugural Los Angeles – Sydney – Los Angeles flights, in first class, American Airlines will be pouring 2010 Penfolds Grange.

Penfolds Grange is a fantastic wine, enough to make me wish that I had tried to get on the inaugural in first class.

The outbound is in fact sold out in First (but quite open for sale in business class). However there are still first class seats available for the inaugural Sydney – Los Angeles leg.

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Hyatt Offering Status Matches to Diamond on Twitter

by Gary Leff

Nov 19 2015

Hyatt used to have a super generous and game-able offer where anyone with even Hilton Gold (through a credit card signup) could get temporary Diamond status complete with confirmable suite upgrades.

They eliminated that last fall, and have been on again, off again at best with select status challenges that do not ‘advance’ top tier elite status.

With many members worried over Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood, Hyatt took to Twitter to look for disaffected elites from other chains and offer them status matches.

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