You’re never as smart as you think you are when times are good, nor as dumb as you look when they’re bad.
If the price of fuel hadn’t dropped United would be on its next CEO by now. Ironically, if the Continental board hadn’t pushed out Larry Kramer prior to the merger it would probably be a different story. He was a great student of Gordon Bethune — who incentivized and inspired the best from his employees and drove everyone to operational excellence.
Alaska Airlines wants to fingerprint you instead of using boarding passes.
And at least one payment processor wants you to always wear a wristband that broadcasts your identity that’s been validated through biometrics.
Since American reports success selling premium tickets Dallas – Hong Kong and since Dallas is getting a first class lounge one might imagine that in addition to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul it could be that Dallas would see another Asia route in the future. One could imagine a third Chinese city.
However in yesterday’s earnings call it was made clear this wasn’t on the table.
A bag containing more than $1 million in Chinese currency was lost at Hong Kong International Airport in a transfer bungle, after being unloaded from a Cathay Pacific flight from Auckland.
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Car rental companies have tried to move to a prepaid model, and there are some prepaid rates out there now even apart from opaque booking sites like Priceline and Hotwire.
But for the industry as a whole, for this to become the norm, it only works if everyone does it.
The current crop of frequent flyer program executives grew up on Star Wars. They remember Alec Guinness utilizing the Jedi Mind trick.
When Ben Kenobi approached Mos Eisley with Luke Skywalker and the droids, he had to confront Imperial Storm Troopers that were searching for them.
I recorded my friend Robert Wuhl‘s podcast, Ipso Facto, at CBS Radio in New York earlier in the week.
Wine Enthusiast rated the top 10 airline wine programs. There are some strange picks, and omissions, but they do highlight some of the better carriers for wine. This seems one of the lesser considerations in choosing an airline, but it unquestionably signals quality and luxury which flows down to overall perceptions of an airline by a portion of a carrier’s premium customer base.
The federal government is now investigating airlines for price gouging after an Amtrak train derailed outside of Philadelphia in May killing 8 people and injuring 200.
The investigation focuses on United, American, Southwest, JetBlue and Delta.
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 »
