The TSA is an easy target. Most of what passes for airport security is really security theater, designed either to make us feel safe or to appear that the government is doing something. All of this is reinforced by manufacturers selling expensive equipment. So it’s easy to point to stories like the screener arrested for stealing from a passenger who had a conviction for theft before even being hired by the TSA. Foreseeable, much? (Not the first questionable pre-employment screening, who can forget the Catholic priest dismissed over child sex abuse who became a TSA groperscreener?) Which is why each of these stories, taken together, sure looks like a pattern rather than a one off (a few bad apples who in no way undermine the hard work that thousands of men and women at the…
Hyatt To Get New Options in Mexico and the Caribbean
Fresh off their strategic partnership with MGM Resorts in Las Vegas to partner up with the 12 participating M Life hotel properties there, and also a deal to grow in Paris and the South of France, Hyatt has entered into a deal to invest in Playa Hotels and Resorts. Hyatt will spend $100 million for a 20% ownership stake and $225 million for convertible preferred stock in Playa, a privately held hotel-investment company. …Playa’s hotel portfolio will include 13 resorts totaling about 5,800 rooms across the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica. Playa will sign franchise agreements with Hyatt for six of the 13 resorts, which will operate under Hyatt brands after renovations are completed. Under the agreement with Hyatt, Playa will have certain rights to operate Hyatt-branded all-inclusive resorts in five Latin American and Caribbean…
When You Achieve Status With an Airline or Hotel — Should You Stick With Them, or Go for Status Somewhere Else too?
Reader TonySCV asked, Once you achieve top tier status with A[merican Airlines] (for example), would (or should) you try for a different status (such as [Alaska, United, Delta], etc. or just continue to credit to A[merican]? This is a common problem for loyalty programs, and it’s why several seek to reward customers for going beyond ‘just’ top tier. A perfect example is this year’s “Elite Rewards” from American which get really rewarding for folks meeting thresholds beyond just 100,000 miles flown. Loyalty Programs See This as a Real Conundrum So while it may seem like an obscure problem to many readers, something that doesn’t affect a ton of people — making top tier status is hard enough, who makes top tier and then could keep going and earn status somewhere else? But it’s a real…
One-way Tickets to New Zealand as Low as $380
@realandylutern tweets, Dirt cheap one-ways to AKL in late August, as cheap as $339 from SFO/LAX, book on ua dot com And in fact, the deal isn’t as limited as just being from San Francisco as Los Angeles, though the cheapest fares are from there, and though it does appear to be limited to August travel. It’s bookable at United.com. The Flight Deal is now covering this as well. These are one-way fares, and not roundtrip, so book paid tickets to New Zealand and award flights one-way back. TFD finds prices for these one-way as: Sample Prices: Newark – $458 Dallas – $458 DC – $523 Los Angeles – $389 San Francisco – $389 Note also that while domestic segments will earn miles, the fare on Air New Zealand will not earn miles when crediting…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 19, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: A coffee pot at the Johannesburg airport that dispenses free coffee when you yawn 5% off Priceline bookings Inside the Mansion at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Impressive place. And a write-up of the Hyatt-MGM partnership launch party which was held there last night. United.com is displaying award space on EVA Airways again. Qantas is introducing car service on departure in arrival for Los Angeles and Dallas – Australia flights. Other international destinations over 12 hours will be rolled out next year. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. Don’t miss out!
Good News: American’s Suzanne Rubin to Remain at the Helm of AAdvantage After US Airways Merger
Per Traveling Better, Suzanne Rubin will remain the President of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program after the airline’s merger with US Airways. The combined American-US Airways loyalty program will remain on the AAdvantage platform, and it’s a much bigger program than US Airways Dividend Miles — a true multi-billion dollar business in its own right — so it certainly makes sense to keep leadership in place. It’s also been profitable even as American itself struggled over the past few years. Former AAdvantage head Maya Leibman (Senior Vice President, Technology and Chief Information Officer) was already announced to be staying on — logical as they’ll be using the American IT plaform. Former AAdvantage head Derek DeCross remains VP of sales. American’s Vice President of Marketing, Rob Friedman (another former head of AAdvantage!) will be leaving however.…
The End of Airline Alliances: Is Skyteam Crumbling, and Will it Just Be the First to Fall?
Several readers pointed me to an Economist piece on Skyteam’s crackup and the future of airline alliances. SUMMER has not been kind to SkyTeam, one of the three big airline alliances, which has suffered two very public snubs by incumbent and prospective members. In late June Craig Kreeger, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said that his carrier’s much-mooted membership of SkyTeam was unlikely to materialise any time soon. “For now, Virgin Atlantic remains very happy with the partners we have,” he said, in reference to Virgin’s recent transatlantic tie-up with US-based Delta Air Lines. Less than a week later Reuters quoted a “source close to [Aeroflot’s] board” as saying that the Russian carrier would leave SkyTeam if its management could do so without political interference. In fact, Skyteam has even more issues than that. Flying…
Frequent Traveler University (Tampa, September 27-29) Agenda Now Live
The program for Frequent Traveler University in Tampa is now available. Tickets are available here, and includes the Friday evening cocktail reception and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. This event will be held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. A hotel booking link is now available. The group room rate is $119 per night (and we’ve arranged double Hyatt Gold Passsport points as well). Summer and Ed offering an introductory session on miles and points You can find Milepoint.com discussion of the event here. Speakers include: Summer Hull, Mommy Points Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time Steve Belkin, aka beaubo, famous for going big on frequent flyer schemes to turn 100,000 mile opportunities into 40 million mile opportunities Daraius Dubash, Million Mile Secrets Hans Mast, of shopping portal fame, travel photographer and expert on generating miles at…
35% Discount on Starwood Award Redemptions at 7 Top Resorts
Starwood is offering a 35% discount on award nights booked at 7 resorts which otherwise (and still!) cost a ton of points. Bookings must be made by March 1, 2014 and can be made for stays as far out as inventory is loaded (you have to book but not travel by that date). Pine Cliffs Residence, Portugal costs 26,000 points per night instead of 40,000 W Retreat Koh Samui, Thailand costs 26,000 points per night instead of 40,000 W Retreat and Spa Maldives costs 58,500 points per night instead of 90,000 Le Meridien Bora Bora costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Mystique, Santorini costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Vana Belle, Koh Samui, Thailand costs 26,000…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 18, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Singapore Airlines introduces the option to spend their Krisflyer miles as cash towards a ticket. But at meaningfully less than a penny a point in value, the only reason ever to do this is if the miles are going to expire. While in some sense ‘more options are better,’ it represents a poor value, and underscores why I dislike “revenue-based” redemptions so much. From the ‘I wish they’d planned to remain a standalone airline’ file: American Airlines made money during the 2nd quarter of 2013 — $220 million even including bankruptcy expenses – the first second quarter profit for the airline since 2007. Chapter 11 cost cutting made a big difference for the airline. NBC covers United’s new Mercedes tarmac transfer test. The piece included a photo of…
