Finnair will adopt Avios as its frequent flyer currency next year. That’s the same currency as IAG airlines British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling, and also that Qatar Airways adopted last year. This will occur “in 2024” and no additional details are provided. That’s great, since some of you bought a whole lot of Finnair points.
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.
You no longer need to spend any money on this card to earn its Loyalty Point bonuses, and the potential to earn these bonuses has doubled. What’s more, it appears that new cardmembers receive the bonuses right away if they’ve already hit the 50,000 and 90,000 Loyalty Point thresholds this year.
Lauren Phillips shared that she was flying Delta Air Lines first class and “threaten[ed] by a employee that she won’t let me on the plane bc of the way I’m dressed.”
French-based Idemia makes the machines TSA uses to verify ID and signs people up for PreCheck. They don’t want people skipping TSA ID checks, and CLEAR recently won a contract to onboard as a provider of PreCheck signups. So they’re in a “power struggle” against CLEAR, with both sides signing up high powered lobbyists.
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.
In airports food preparation and food delivery all needs to be done quickly, because people are under a time crunch, at the mercy of airline schedules – often with short connections that airlines engineer in order to maximize the time their planes are in the air and to minimize total travel time on connecting itineraries which drives up ticket sales relative to competitor schedules. Self-service is a part of that, but so driving down costs and pushing sales is as well.
Here’s a video making the rounds, that I’ve seen on several twitter accounts and also on LinkedIn, purporting to show a young child kicking the seat back of the man in front of them. The child is a bundle of energy, bouncing a bit up and down in their seat. And the man in the row ahead speaks to the mom about it.
The man’s wife counsels some grace, “he’ll stop in a sec, he’s a kid.” But the man turns around and asks the mother to “get your kid under control.” And they begin to talk about whether she’s a good parent or not.
Several readers have complained recently that Qatar Airways simply has not been releasing business class award seats to and from the United States. My refrain has been that this is typical, not something new. Qatar releases business class awards in batches. It’s feast or famine.
Dozens of flights were delayed at the Sydney airport, as Malaysia Airlines flight 122 made an emergency landing after a self-proclaimed “slave of Allah” made a bomb threat and – at least metaphorically – is said to have taken the flight “hostage.”
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 »
