Tear Jerker: Parents Fly Business Class For First Time After Daughter’s Surprise Upgrade

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2023

On September 15 Ishpreet Kaur went to the airport to travel with her parents. They were all flying economy. However she got the three of them upgraded to business class. It was the first time her parents had flown business in their lives, and something they’ve always wished they could experience. Her father appears giddy.

But for her it was something more than just being able to give this experience to her parents. It was the pride in their eyes, seeing their daughter as having made it to the point that she could do this for them.

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LATAM Offering Paid Elite Status Match, No Flying Required

by Gary Leff

plane on tarmac
Sep 25 2023

StatusMatch.com which is currently offering a lucrative status match with Frontier Airlines (up to top tier, open to people that have matched before, and even matching against hotel and cruise programs).

They now also have a a status match offering with LATAM, the South American megacarrier that left oneworld to link up with Delta Air Lines. And they’re even matching up to Black status.

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Delta’s Plan For SkyMiles Is Already Backfiring, But They Won’t Admit It

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2023

Delta is demanding more from customers without giving them any more in return, and rewarding them with a currency that it worth less than what customers can earn elsewhere. And their bet is that a small subset of cardmembers will increase their spend so much as to offset those who cancel and the bulk of cardmembers for whom the changes aren’t designed to incent spend.

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Fallows: Airline Lies About Cancelling Flight To Avoid Passenger Obligations

by Gary Leff

Sep 24 2023

Journalist, former Presidential speechwriter, and private pilot James Fallows complained on twitter about his United flight that was delayed just under 24 hours – and he attributes the decision to delay rather than cancel the flight to an anti-consumer conspiracy.

His followers on twitter are wrongly led to believe that this is so passengers aren’t entitled to a refund. Nothing could be further from the truh.

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American Airlines Gets Permission For Lower Altitude Flying Over Kabul

by Gary Leff

Sep 24 2023

American Airlines launched service between New York JFK and Delhi in November 2021. They ran into diplomatic roadblocks getting permission to fly over Russia, leading to more circuitous routings which meant that the flight would occasionally have to divert and crew would time out.

Then, once Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. airlines weren’t permitted to overfly Russia at all. That’s made service to India tougher for United, too.

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