A truly disgusting story, and I feel for this family, who found vomit at their seat. I’ve had similar things happen, and the airline handled things in real-time. United didn’t, they offered only that the family could travel the next day. United handled things badly, I think, but was the family really ‘forced’ into anything?
It may not be EVA Airways’ Hello Kitty, but it’s still awesome — the new Star Wars R2D2 livery for Japanese Star Alliance carrier ANA!
They sure know how to keep it cozy with industry over the office of the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Alaska Airlines will e-mail new members who register for the MileagePlan program with a California address a $50 e-certificate discount code valid on flights between California and Hawaii or Mexico. The person who signs up for the account must be the traveler, so if you have several make sure each passenger signs up for their own account to get an emailed discount code. The certificate is valid for a discount on paid travel departing California to any Alaska Airlines city in Hawaii or Mexico. Travel is permitted between April 1 and June 30 and between September 8 through November 19. Ticket must be issued by August 24. *Offer Terms: The $50 Discount Code offer is valid for new Mileage Plan™ member sign-ups only. Must be a resident of California to qualify. Offer is valid for…
American, British Airways, and BA’s ‘OpenSkies’ are matching cheap business class prices to Paris. The fares are even cheaper when 2 passengers travel together. BA offers discounts to AARP members (anyone can join) and to British Airways Visa co-brand cardholders. These discounts stack.
I’ve never seen non-mistake fare business class tickets to Europe cheaper for just one passenger. But when two passengers travel together and stack these discounts, the price is $984 apiece. Wow.
Starwood launched a new brand – or more of an ‘un’brand – that will bring in independent hotels and fill geographic gaps in the SPG program.
Airbus is introducing a new standard coach configuration for their A380 — eleven seats across. Meanwhile JetBlue may turn the old TWA terminal at JFK into a hotel, gogo outfits a test plane with their fastest internet ever, United feeds the masses and Air New Zealand strikes oil, y’all!
I ignored the new hotel loyalty satisfaction survey from JD Power & Associates when it came out last week, but it seems to be getting a lot of play now, so let’s go over why it does not tell you anything useful. This isn’t simply one of those “these things are subjective” or “it depends on whom you ask” kinds of criticisms. The survey is just fundamentally silly. That begins with the factors that go into their ranking: account maintenance/management (23%) ease of redeeming points/miles (22%) ease of earning points/miles (18%) reward program terms (16%) variety of benefits (16%) customer service (5%) The most heavily-weighted factor in the rankings — nearly a quarter of it — was ‘account maintenance’. That just doesn’t strike me as the single biggest factor in how valuable a hotel loyalty…
Google Wallet changes its credit card policy, baggage thieves caught on tape, the value of passports, and more..!
With airline profits up, competition heats up on more than just schedule and price. Airlines are focusing more, or at least promoting more, their investment in soft product areas including wine.
It’s an expensive game, and one which US airlines are likely to lose — not just against foreign rivals, but also when judged against their own goals. Here’s why I believe the reality won’t match the rhetoric, and that there are far more fruitful areas for their to focus on.
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 »
