A month ago I wrote that I’ll be speaking at the frequent flyer and casino loyalty event, ZorkFest, this October. But I’ve been remiss in sharing more details of the event.
Saudi Arabia announced a new airline last year, Riyadh Air. They placed an order for up to Boeing 787-9 jets for it back in March. They won’t be flying until 2025. There’s no way for a customer to buy a ticket, or even join a frequent flyer program. But they’re already sponsoring European football, inking a partnership with Spain’s Atlético de Madrid.
Kine-Chan, an OnlyFans model, was denied boarding while leaving Navegantes in southern Brazil. She was wearing a costume resembling Rebecca from Netflix’s “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,” which is apparently a thing.
The town of Lahaina on Maui is being absolutely pummeled by fire, spurred by wind from a hurricane that passed by. Hundreds of people evacuated. Power and cell service have been down for many. A Presidential Disaster Declaration is expected. Maui lacks ICU beds and burn victims are being flown to Oahu.
Six months ago I wrote about BeOnd which plans to launch as an all-business class airline with a hub in the Maldives.
This seemed a stretch to me. But there are people with real airline experience involved in the project. Their CEO is a former Gulf Air and airBaltic executive. And they’ve just announced they’ve received funding and have plans to launch just a few months from now.
There’s been a lot of hype and handwringing over reports that U.S. credit card debt has reached a record $1 trillion. That’s framed either as an alarm for the economy or a cautionary tale about consumer behavior. But neither of those things seem to be true.
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.
Philadelphia rapper Gillie Da King, formerly Gillie Da Kid, was denied check-in by American Airlines in Madrid. His party of four passengers, flying business class, missed the check-in time and they get into an argument – they were at the airport before the cutoff, but weren’t checked in.
The staffer tells the rapper, an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member, “I don’t want to talk to you” and threatens to call the police.
In both cases, an employee didn’t follow protocol. And in both cases, the employees and their managers were fired, and all employees went through re-training. You’d never get that kind of response from TSA!
These fares will not last. And I would wait a bit on booking non-refundable arrangements based on these tickets. The deals are good enough that I could see the airlines getting sellers’ remorse and arguing that they should be cancelled. (Although under DOT rules, doing so would require them to cover non-refundable losses you incur in reliance on the tickets.)
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 »
