There’s No Minimum Standard For Hotels An Airline Puts You Up In When Cancelling A Flight

by Gary Leff

Jun 17 2023

The Biden administration’s Department of Transportation has spent a lot of time jawboning airlines into committing to put passengers up in hotels when faced with overnight delays that are the airline’s fault, such as mechanical issues or lack of crew.

However there’s no minimum standard for what ‘counts’ as a hotel that the airline must provide, as this Delta Air Lines passenger shows after their flight was cancelled and they were put up in a Motel 6 with dirty bath towels and a peeling ceiling.

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Man Dangled From Jet Bridge After Missing His Flight, Slipped Onto Airport Tarmac

by Gary Leff

Jun 16 2023

One man in Malaga wasn’t going to let his fate be determined by a gate agent. His flight was departing. It was pushing back from the jet bridge. I guess he doesn’t realize that they close the door to the aircraft before doing that? Because he somehow thinks that maybe he’ll be able to jump from the jetway onto the aircraft if he makes it just in time as it pulls back…

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Marriott Isn’t Complying With Resort Fee Settlement When Displaying Award Prices

by Gary Leff

Jun 16 2023

Marriott does not appear to be compliant with its legal settlements, and since they are falsely telling guests who book redemption stays that the resort fee is included in the points price at first instance, prior to disclosing a fee, that price should be honored – guests who are paying resort fees where this disclosure is made should seek a refund.

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American Airlines Flight Attendants Union Proposes Grueling Schedules For New Crewmembers

by Gary Leff

Jun 16 2023

The American Airlines flight attendants union is in contract negotiations and is proposing to make schedules and quality of life worse for all crewmembers hired after the contract is signed.

If adopted, the union’s proposal would require new employees to sit on ‘standby’ to pick up trips for three years, effectively making them work in service of better schedules for all existing flight attendants.

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American Airlines Uses Secret Rule To Ban Passenger From Flight

by Gary Leff

Jun 16 2023

An American Airlines passenger wasn’t allowed to board his flight from Austin to New York JFK because he was filming a gate agent that he thought was rude. The agent didn’t like him filming and called for a supervisor, who refused to allow him to take the flight. They deemed filming employees to violate the airline’s rules – though these are secret rules which do not appear published anywhere that customers can see them.

Police were called, the officer confirmed the passenger wasn’t breaking the law, but they still weren’t allowed to board.

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Exclusive: Marriott Revamping How Suite Upgrades Work

by Gary Leff

Jun 16 2023

When Marriott Bonvoy members stay 50 nights or more in a year, they can select a benefit of their choice, and then again when they reach 75 nights. The most popular choice, by far, is “suite night awards.” 75% of Marriott’s most frequent guests select the ability to request priority for upgrades to suites. They can choose the nights where they want their upgrades to be ahead of other guests checking in. Beginning 5 days prior to arrival, Marriott will search available room inventory to process their upgrades. However actually using these ‘Suite Night Awards’ is a huge pain point for frequent guests. If members spread out their upgrade requests evenly across the year and across all hotels, they would probably all be confirmed! But very few people want to upgrade at a Sheraton in…

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Review: American Airlines First Class, Los Angeles – Sydney

by Gary Leff

Jun 15 2023

I was actually excited to fly American Airlines Flagship first class. It’s been been several years since I’d done so. And with the introduction of new business suites with doors on new Boeing 787-9s, American will be eliminating Flagship First Class retrofitting their Boeing 777-300ERs to offer just business class. I knew this roundtrip might be my last time flying American Airlines long haul first class ever!

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FAA Reauthorization Language Would Ban Frequent Flyer Devaluations Without Notice

by Gary Leff

Jun 15 2023

There’s a tremendous amount of wrangling over what will be in the FAA’s 5-year reauthorization currently being developed in Congress.

One lesser-noticed item that’s been posted by the Senate Commerce Committee includes protections for members of frequent flyer programs stating that frequent flyer programs wouldn’t be able to devalue their miles without first giving members 90 days’ advance notice

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