In 2021 Marriott entered into a settlement with Pennsylvania over resort fees, promising to reform its practices. Despite the legally-binding commitment they didn’t actually do it. They received extensions, but still didn’t come into compliance. Now they’re being fined $225,000 and a court order requires them to comply by May 15.
There’s a certain genre of travel article that gives advice on how to upgrade your flight, with advice that’s nearly always wrong or at least highly misleading.
Here’s the latest piece on how to “blag” a free upgrade to first class “because you deserve to travel like Beyonce’.” And they’ve consulted “travel insiders and airline experts” to show you how to do it. You’ll know what your fellow passengers are reading when they look like an idiot at the airport.
Restrooms are often the most important place in an airport for passengers. They’re the first place many people visit when they’re departing on a trip, and even more often the last place they stop before departing the airport when they land. But they’re often run down and dirty. Nowhere has that been more the case than airports managed by the Port Authority of New York New Jersey. Yet LaGuardia has had a massive facelift.
And in a real turnaround, prior to the pandemic a restroom in New York LaGuardia’s terminal B was called the best public restroom in America. Now that Delta’s terminal C is open, it has the advantage of being both a little bit newer – and of employing this man who takes pride in his work keeping it clean and sharing his confidence in cleanliness with passengers.
ITA Airways, the ‘new’ Alitalia, is running a fare sale between New York and London via Rome. Business class tickets are available as low as $1585 roundtrip when purchasing for travel in August and beyond. That’s roughly half the price you’d expect to pay for a non-stop, and more than $1,000 less per passenger compared to connecting itineraries on Aer Lingus and Austrian.
Airline check-in kiosks were supposed to be a money-saving investment – a classic example of automation replacing workers. But Alaska is moving to the next stage of evolution in cost-savings in the Portland airport where they’re now eliminating even kiosk jobs.
British Airways is launching ‘Avios Only’ flights – flights they aren’t selling for cash, just making available for redemption.
More airlines should offer more availability once they properly understand the value in delivering to members over the long-term. Programs should be willing to spend more with their airline on seats, to avoid killing their golden goose – in the U.S. the biggest airline loyalty programs are worth 11 figures, and generate $5 billion-plus annually in revenue. Frustrated members reduce that long-term value proposition
Fort Lauderdale airport received roughly double its previous record of rain in a single day, set in 1979 when 14.59 inches fell. (Some parts of the city received ‘only’ 15-20 inches.) While on average Fort Lauderdale receives 3 inches of rain in April, the airport surpassed its rainfall record for an entire month of April yesterday.
Before the pandemic, when Norwegian was operating the route, Delta planned to fly to Gatwick using a Boeing 757 without Delta Suites. It was totally obvious what they were doing, with a product well-matched to Norwegian’s.
This was supposed to start in May 2020, but didn’t happen because of the pandemic – and because Norwegian ceased its transatlantic flying. Now that JetBlue offers a real business class on the route, Delta has upgraded to a Boeing 767.
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.
This is my rough guide to thinking about airlines and hotels. This can be useful, because it helps to understand announcements and changes that each one makes and also for transparency as you read my own writing. Specifically, these are my rough biases or frames as I think about each of the major U.S. airlines and hotel chains. I love some things about each one, but each also has its flaws.
Overall I fly American Airlines most, but I do fly everyone, and I stay at Hyatt most and recommend Marriott as a primary ‘backup’ chain since Hyatt isn’t everywhere you might travel.
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 »
