In yesterday’s announcement about airport lounges, JetBlue’s benefit cuts got short shrift in coverage. The airline’s elite members will no longer receive seating benefits or flight changes on basic economy fares, and they’re dropping the BLADE helicopter transfer partnership.
Italy is hot. It was a focus of limit summer 2025 Europe additions by American Airlines. And it’s a focus of Delta’s latest route network changes as well.
A roundup of 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.
Delta’s President views SkyMiles as a ‘giveaway program’ rather than something his customers invest in and can expect a return from. So it’s no surprise that Delta can charge more than 4 times as many miles for the same Delta seat that their partners will charge to their own customers. The Vice President running SkyMiles even admits they’re not trying to compete over offering value to customers.
Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has banned passengers departing from Beirut from traveling with walkie talkies and pagers – either with them into the cabin, or in checked luggage. I fully expect calls to broaden the ban put in place by Lebanon – to electronics broadly, and even wifi, out of fear that a connected device could be ordered to detonate.
A confrontation took place between an American Airlines passenger and gate agent in Miami, with the passenger walking down the jetbridge without being given permission to board and – it seems – the employee grabbing at the woman’s phone (she was filming the interaction) and grabbing her.
Six months ago I wrote that JetBlue would open lounges at New York JFK and Boston Logan airports. The carrier pushed back on this – in June the airline said that lounges were too expensive and not profitable – but today they’ve announced it.
A roundup of 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.
With the deal for Alaska Airlines to buy Hawaiian Airlines ,now done, they’re beginning to move forward on integrating the two carriers.
Consumer group Travelers United has sued Avis Budget Group under the Washington, D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act for egregious junk fees charged on top of advertised rental car prices, characterizing the practice as “bait and switch” and “drip pricing.”
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 »
