While nearly all other airlines have ceased operations that Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s national carrier El Al continues to operate nearly its entire schedule, every day.
Yet there’s video of an aircraft on approach to Tel Aviv while Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system takes out inbound rockets.
Some of the variance is based on how much people spend on airports and save in the Centurion lounge. Others value it as an ideal, a real escape from the terminal and good food and drink and what that might retail for.
The problem is that, as I wrote five and a half years ago, Centurion lounges have gotten so busy nobody goes there anymore. The experience rarely measures up to the ideal where you experience peace, a nice meal, and even a spa treatment.
There’s confirmation from internal leaks that American is indeed looking at a narrowbody order and of the specific aircraft under consideration. The airline needs a plan to replace their oldest Airbus A319s and A320s, as well as their oldest Boeing 737-800s.
The blog post challenges the claim that the U.S. has the best airport security and immigration, highlighting the convenience of paid services like Global Entry, PreCheck, and CLEAR but also emphasizing TSA’s inefficiencies, flawed procedures, and lack of external regulation. It contrasts U.S. practices with more lenient yet effective measures in countries like Australia, the U.K., and Hong Kong, questioning the true efficacy and purpose of the U.S. security system.
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.
Hertz charged a customer $519.80 for driving their rental car through a single $1 toll. Reader Chris had rented from Hertz for four weeks in Stamford, Connecticut. And he went through one toll. That activated Hertz’s ‘PlatePass’ system and charged him for it for every single day of his rental.
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue is the best frequent flyer program in the SkyTeam alliance, far better than Delta SkyMiles. And it just keeps getting better. A decade ago they were following Delta’s lead. Now they’re moving in the opposite direction. Lower award prices for business class.
Find the property. Book direct. The host saves Airbnb fees, you save Airbnb fees. You lose out on Airbnb protections but those may not be worth much to the host or to the guest.
Delta talks publicly about its expectation of generating nearly $7 billion from American Express this year, and that it has a goal to stretch this to $10 billion. And because of this, it’s commonly believed to be the best at extracting revenue from its SkyMiles program. Yet SkyMiles is the least rewarding of the major frequent flyer programs. Its miles are indisputably worth less than competitor currencies. What’s going on here?
Bilt will offer up to a 150% transfer bonus to Emirates Skywards on December 1 for ‘Rent Day’ as well as special dining offers on top of their usual monthly bonuses and free points available.
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 »
