You can earn elite status by traveling with an airline and spending nights in hotel beds. You can get some of the benefits from status with the right credit card. And once you have status with one, many programs will match your status because you look like a valuable customer.
There are shadier ways to get status, too. Sometimes you’ll find status for sale. There are usually two ways that this works.
For the upcoming member year (March 2024 – February 2025) there is no change to the number of Loyalty Points required to earn status, and no change to the number of Loyalty Points required to earn choice benefits.
There are, however, changes to the choice benefits.
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.
The top Hertz public status tier that you can earn as a frequent renter is their Presidents Circle status.
Normally the status requires at least 15 rentals or spending $3,000 with the company, and it comes with upgrades, faster points-earning (so you have more points when they devalue without notice) and better car choices in self-service lanes.
American Airlines has announced upcoming changes to the AAdvantage program, and they are (1) most importantly, not big changes and (2) generally positive. That’s not something we’ve come to expect!
JetBlue announced on Monday that CEO Robin Hayes would step down effective February 12, 2024, and will also leave the board at that time. If this were a voluntary transition it would likely be longer. However if misconduct were involved it would likely be immediate.
Hayes, clearly, was a failed CEO – having failed both shareholders and customers.
During inspections following the Alaska Airlines loss of a a decommissioned exit door during flight, United Airlines has found at least 5 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft with “loose bolts and other parts.”
American Airlines flight 697 from Kauai to Phoenix faced significant delays due to overbooking and operational challenges, leading to a chaotic situation where passengers were involuntarily denied boarding, and the flight risked cancellation due to crew duty hour limitations. The incident, reminiscent of past airline controversies, highlights ongoing issues with handling overbooked flights and passenger management.
The Global Loyalty Organization hosted loyalty leader predictions for 2024. A lot of it was milquetoast, and not really actionable, as so much corporate speak is wont to be. But there were a few real insights here. Four things especially stood out.
A kid had their shirt pulled out the missing piece of fuselage, while his mother held onto him. There were lap infants on the plane being held by their parents, while flight attendants assisted with oxygen masks. Luckily there wasn’t anyone seated in the seat beside the inactivated exit door the came off of the plane.
There were two cell phones that flew out of the plane. Here’s one, an iPhone that dropped from more than 16,000 feet and was found on the side of a road. It was in airplane mode and had details of the owner’s checked baggage up on the screen. It had apparently been plugged in to charge, and was yanked off of the charger and out the side of the aircraft.
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 »
