In January, eight black men were removed from an American Airlines Phoenix – New York flight ostensibly due to their odor. The men did not know each other and were not traveling together.
The airline has now settled a lawsuit filed by three of the men – and changed their rules for kicking passengers off of flights.
Former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker co-hosted this week’s Airlines Confidential podcast and was asked for his best travel tip. He offered don’t ever check a bag. Parker though goes on to offer something much more important.
Parker offered that when he was acquiring US Airways as CEO of America West, David Bonderman no longer had a financial interest in the Arizona-based airline. However he called Parker three or four times, and urged him to name the combined airline America West rather than US Airways. And Parker concedes Bonderman was right.
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.
American Airlines has long partnered with Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian has now been acquired by American’s ‘West Coast Alliance’ and oneworld partner Alaska Airlines. And so a change has been made to using American AAdvantage miles on Hawaiian Airlines: you can now redeem AAdvantage miles to fly to Hawaii!.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a broadside against credit card rewards programs. I spoke with CFPB’s Director, Rohit Chopra about the effort.
The agency warns that several aspects of credit card rewards programs – like devaluations – may violate the law, that retail (store) cards are often poor value, and that consumers can be misled by tools that purport to suggest the best product for them.
According to a passenger on board, the issue began after someone used the lav. No one could stop the water flow. The situation was “chaotic” with passengers lifting their feet and retrieving belongings from the floor to avoid contact with the “disgusting” lav water.
I’ve cleaned out my wallet and I’m not carrying nearly as many credit cards on a daily basis any longer. Still, my wallet is a great window in the spending choices I make every day. What gets a wallet slot, and what cards I have but keep in a drawer, go a long way towards illustrating how I put my mileage and spending strategies into practice. Sharing this also adds a bit to my transparency as I cover credit card rewards.
Here’s a peek into what’s really going on behind the scenes of my daily spending life.
The property will be its own brand for earning Brand Explorer category 1-4 free nights, which is cool. And it’s great to have a much nicer Hyatt option in Las Vegas. Instead of complaining how ghetto Rio is at $42.50 per night, members can complain about how expensive Venetian is.
A Hilton property in Budapest emailed a guest saying that they’ve discovered about $325 still owed from a stay 15 months earlier. Another guest reports receiving a similar note from the property. Despite the hotel giving themselves more than a year to identify the underpayment, they’re demanding that the customer make good within two weeks.
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 »
