It’s hard to fathom how banks can make money rebating 2% on purchases — they may not make that much from each transaction. So how are these products possible? And will they last? Which are the best ones? And do you want cash back or airline miles?
Too often frequent flyer programs think they can Jedi mind trick their customers. But that’s so ten years ago.
What matters more than anything now is authenticity.
Or,as I wrote in 2009 customers will work with whatever game is offered as long as the programs shoot straight and play fair. …
The DOT has unilaterally decided to ignore its published rules, and has provided guidance that it will no longer make airlines honor mistake fares — as long as airlines make consumers whole for costs they incur in reliance on those fares.
That’s a bad approach, ripe for potentially even more abuse than the requirement that airlines honor their fares. Here’s how consumers will take advantage of the rule, and other problems with the DOT guidance. And here’s why the DOT may change its mind again any day now…
As part of Cathay Pacific’s revamp of its frequent flyer program, there’s discussion of limiting partner airlines from accessing award space on their flights. This would be a huge deal for AAdvantage members. But how likely is it?
A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
I’ve argued that the New York LaGuardia Central Terminal replacement won’t happen anywhere close to on schedule. There’s little question in my mind that the project will be a boondoggle.
Indeed, a week ago the project suffered another delay.
But that doesn’t mean, as an op ed in today’s New York Times suggests, that LaGuardia ought to be shuttered and air traffic sent farther outside the metropolitan area.
Most people flying American’s new Boeing 787 aren’t going to be enjoying the flat bed business class seats with all aisle access.
Most passengers are going to be flying in American Airlines 787 economy. In fact, for the inaugural Dallas – Chicago flight on the aircraft I flew in coach myself. I flew up front for the return, Chicago – Dallas. That way, I could experience both and compare.
Readers naturally are wary of fuel surcharges, and I absolutely hate them. But you should be educated about how much they are for different destinations before dismissing them out of hand — some programs that add fuel surcharges also charge much fewer miles. It’s worth learning the sweet spots where fuel surcharges can be well worth the savings in miles.
We blame the airlines for long tarmac delays, when most of the time the drivers are bad weather and airport constraints or government constraints like security or immigration. Entourage’s Jeremy Piven flew British Airways from London, headed for New York JFK, but his flight was diverted due to weather to Philadelphia. He was on BA183, the 8:05pm departure from London, scheduled into New York at 10:45pm. They wouldn’t let passengers off the plane when it landed in Philadelphia because immigration facilities were closed. He shared the ordeal on Twitter. Surely forcing passengers to wait until the next morning for immigration to arrive is the wrong answer. And surely that’s not BA’s fault, either. The government will fine airlines for long tarmac delays, but airports need to be part of the solution and immigration and customs…
The American 787 business class is a gorgeous new product. They offer a fully flat bed, four seats across and all aisle access. Contrast that, for instance, with United which has six seats across rather than four so passengers in the window have someone to climb over. Having shared my story of the American Airlines inaugural Boeing 787 flights, I am circling back to talk about the seats and cabin. How is the seat? And more importantly which seat should you choose? I flew economy on the outbound from Dallas to Chicago, and then I flew in business class Chicago back to Dallas. Here I’m going to focus on the business class product, and will write a separate post on economy seating. Forward Versus Backward Facing Seats In my opinion the best seats are in…
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 »
