Usually the complaint is that seats aren’t large enough, that people who don’t fit in them have to buy bigger seats in order to fly.
“Big Curvy Olivia” points to a different issue entirely: she says it is discrimination that aircraft aisles are so narrow, and posts video of herself struggling to get through a United Airlines Polaris business class cabin.
I don’t write about a lot of mileage purchase offers, because they usually aren’t a good deal. Even with a bonus of 85% or 100% the points still frequently cost more than they’re worth.
One exception to the rule on why I don’t cover too many airline mileage sales is this one from Air Canada Aeroplan: up to 110% bonus on purchased miles, no tax for U.S. residents, and a favorable exchange rate. That brings the mileage cost down to $0.0124 per point. I value Aeroplan miles at 1.4 cents apiece.
A mom who offers travel advice on Instagram stirred up controversy by showing an upgrade she got with her husband – while she said her 10 year old son sat in coach for their 13 hour flight.
American Airlines has a new rating system for gate agents, ranking each one on a five star scale. Based on details from multiple agents, this rating system includes everything related to the flight – including things they have no control over whatsoever. If they touch a flight that delays, that’s on them, even when it’s a maintenance delay.
The Association of Flight Attendants has told its members to prepare for a strike vote. This riles up the members, and makes it sound like the union is militant, when in fact they’re continuing to negotiate with the company and if all continues to proceed apace they won’t end up in a strike.
This is the union playing politics with its own members, not against the company.
Between homeless and refugees an increasing number of low-end properties are being used to house people by the city – and even relatively better hotels are being converted for this purpose. The 50% number may not be right, but the magnitude of the challenge – financial, and opportunity cost – is real.
Delta lays out how United’s response is self-serving. And of course it is! Just like Delta’s request is self-serving. The question isn’t the motives of each airline, it’s how should DOT handle it when an airline no longer wants to serve the route that was awarded to them?
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.
What becomes an even worse practice is charging a 5% add-on service fee for workers and not actually giving the money to those workers which is what the Los Angeles City Attorney suggests seems to be happening at Hyatt’s Thompson and tommie Hollywood hotels.
United MileagePlus has increased the cost of transatlantic awards on its own flights by one-third, and on partners by 39% – 46%. We’ll see what the effects are on other regions.
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 »
