Search Results for "united baggage".
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.
Many rewards credit cards come not just with travel protections like delayed flight and delayed baggage coverage, but also with protections for the things you buy.
Cyberkit resells items that have been returned. That’s interesting because it reduces the cost of honoring return protection. And if you’re so inclined you can buy returned items online at a discount.
Airlines don’t like it when you check a bag to a connecting city rather than to your final destination. It turns out though that you can short check bags, it’s just tough. Generally speaking airlines will let you do it on connections of 6-12 hours, and will require you to do it on 12+ hour connections (they don’t want to hold the bag that long).
I was interested to learn the official American Airlines policy for short-checking bags, and unsurprisingly it’s very much linked to hidden city ticketing. The policy was just updated last month,
When you check your bags with an airline you expect that it will arrive at its destination. While the TSA has carte blanche to open your bags, the airline isn’t supposed to. When it happens it’s a huge breach of trust.
However acrimonious labor negotiations at American Airlines seem to now be affecting passengers, as a customer reports finding a union flyer in a checked bag after picking it up last Thursday at baggage claim.
I gave a talk recently where I promised that 90% of the people in the audience would walk away with a minimum of $500 in value right away, that some people would get as much as $20,000 in value, and that they’d be able to use the information over and over too.
That’s actually pretty easy to do.
The city you’re flying from (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York), your clothing (a hoodie), and even eagerness to get your bags at baggage claim are suspicious and can get you stopped. So can looking like someone with those characteristics that the police notice while following someone else. You’d be surprised how often you’re being watched at the airport, and that the government can stop you — and take your stuff.
Last year it was revealed that the TSA was assigning agents to follow ordinary Americans and record their behavior. That behavior was exposed and shamed, both because it was creepy and for no legitimate purpose. But creepy violations of civil liberties don’t just stem from the war on terror, they’re still a feature of the war on drugs as well.
There are special boarding passes and baggage stickers, Hello Kitty crew uniforms, and the seats are transformed into Hello Kitty with headrest covers and pillows. Meal service features utensilves, cups, and napkins that are Hello Kitty. The lavatories are stocked with themed toilet paper.
United proudly is the only major airline that has kept the ban on carry on bags for basic economy customers. In fact they’re more punitive than that, even. A basic economy customer who isn’t checking a bag isn’t allowed to check-in online or via app. They have to show up at the airport early in order to stand in line to check in, so an agent can personally verify they don’t have a carry on.
Airlines have rolled out basic economy fares between the US and Europe but the carry on bag restriction didn’t take hold for transatlantic travel. Now it seems like it might not be able to even if airlines tried.
Two British Airways flights were cancelled at the same time on St. Lucia. Crew were sent to hotels. Some passengers were sent to what could technically be called hotels, while others were left overnight at the airport without information or assistance. British Airways apparently even sent several passengers to a brothel for the night.
The passengers sent to the brothel were presumably offered additional premium services for an upcharge. The increasingly ancillary fee-minded British Airways may get new ideas to bring home to London Heathrow, already one of the most commercialized airports in the world.
For a long time American AAdvantage has offered status ‘challenges’ that do not require you to already have status with another airline and that you pay for. These allow you to earn elite status more quickly with travel over a compressed period of time.
American started requiring minimum spend as part of these challenges, and is expected to increase the spend required — so if you’re interested in a status challenge you may want to request it sooner than later.
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 »
