Now that Americans are traveling to Cuba again and the US embassy in Havana has re-opened, the Obama administration is looking to allow scheduled air service between the US and Cuba (rather than just charter flights) by the end of the year. A key stumbling block is allowing Cuba’s state airline Cubana de Aviación to fly to the US.
There are several reasons to think these flights will be big money losers.
Watch this first. All the way through. The amazing thing isn’t even the opening landing in the video.
Delta’s “basic economy fares” and their upsell offers are coming under heavy criticism.
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
United is running a sale on purchased miles through August 31. The specific offers each member gets are targeted. The one I received is 50% off purchased miles which lets you buy miles at less than 1.9 cents apiece, the lowest price I’ve ever seen United sell miles at.
Singer Jason Derulo (to show you how unhip I am, I had no idea who he was) showed up at the Reno airport on Saturday to fly Southwest to Los Angeles.
Apparently TSA Precheck was closed, and so he demanded that Southwest Airlines provide him with an escort through security. (There are mixed reports that he may not have been in the A boarding group, either.) Derulo became abusive to airline staff after they refused to escort him through security and onto the plane.
Starwood’s Starpoints are already the most valuable loyalty program currency.
They have the most airline transfer partners where points transfer 1:1 and of course when you move Starwood points into 20,000 miles you get 5000 bonus miles. That gets you effectively a 1:1.25 transfer ratio with most airline partners.
Now, Starwood has added a new transfer partner and it’s a really useful one: Korean Air Skypass.
Virgin Australia has launched its 1-2-1 all aisle access reverse herringbone business class seating onboard their Airbus A330 aircraft. The first reconfigured plane has taken flight, and the airline expects to finish A330 conversions by the end of October.
Virgin Australia’s fleet of Boeing 777s (which are the aircraft used on US routes) won’t be reconfigured until winter.
With Sun Country ending service at Lansing, that means the end of non-stop service from Michigan’s capital to Washington National airport and indeed the end of non-stop service to the DC area and even the Northeast.
National airport is slot controlled, but Sun Country had an ‘exemption’ from slots for their flights rather than having their own slots. American Airlines is petitioning the FAA for a slot exemption so it can serve this market in Sun Country’s place, arguing that it’s an important market to preserve service in.
Christopher Elliott argues in the Washington Post that rewards credit cards aren’t worth it because of the ‘headache’.
He doesn’t just think you should avoid loyalty programs and credit card benefits (his usual tact). He thinks the government ought to step in (“it’s time for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to say, “Enough is enough.”).
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 »
