The carrier has changed the way they sell tickets, offering fare bundles rather than a la carte and more premium services. Now they’re taking it a step further.
This morning Bilt is out with a new message to program members that reveals a real pivot in strategy. The message is ‘we’re not just a credit card’.
In this message they lay out some of their vision for 2025, walk through their economics, and drop what I view as something of a bombshell.
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.
United does something really unique, and I was genuinely surprised by it five years ago at launch. Instead of picking their own corporate charities, and asking you to support their efforts with your miles, they allow charities to solicit miles directly. You actually decide which causes to support. That way your miles align with your values.
A Southwest Airlines passenger tried to board their flight with a travel pillow. The gate agent had a problem with this – because they already had a carry-on and a personal item, and this was a third “bag.” From the photo though they eventually prevailed. Usually they’re right, personal items aren’t always counted as personal items! But there’s ambiguity.
The airline has gotten very good about merchandising premium seats – and is willing to sell them very cheap, especially as upsells to infrequent flyers. They want to take a few tens of dollars from a once a year customer rather than upgrading a very frequent flyer who spends tens of thousands of dollars. Delta is also most likely to skip processing upgrade lists at the gate of the major airlines.
After a United Airlines flight from Cancun to Los Angeles, a passenger hurled racist insults at an Indian American family while enroute to the terminal from a bus gate. She also insulted Taufiq about… Indian food?
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.
There’s a growing elite consensus that the TSA has been fixed and is no longer a problem. I think that the narrative is misleading. TSA pays screeners more, so it doesn’t have a problem hiring screeners. That’s made a difference in security lines at some airports. But that’s the only dimension along which they’ve seemed to improve. It’s also the one most visible to travelers, so they’re getting too much credit.
After 9/11, the cockpit gets blocked off when the door is opened. A pilot goes to the lavatory, and no one can approach the front of the aircraft. That makes sense, but the flipside is that this should be reserved only for the pilot’s important needs. Here, a Southwest Airlines pilot flying from Dallas Love Field to Los Angeles reportedly spends a part of the flight chatting up a flight attendant, while passengers are forced to wait to use the lavatory. That seems like bad judgment to me – and actually illegal!
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 »
