There were reports this week that Virgin Clubhouses were cutting Plaza Premium lounge access, it was natural to expect this would affect both American Express and Capital One customers. However Capital One confirms their cardmembers will still have access.
Foreign visits to the U.S. are down substantially compared to pre-pandemic times. That’s bad for airlines. It’s bad for hotels. But it’s bad for the entire U.S. economy, too. And it’s an own-goal, with the U.S. government slow-walking people who want to visit here from around the world.
What TakeOff15 says is you only get the best value out of your miles if you’re a co-brand cardmember. They’re giving even less value to the median member of the SkyMiles program, who doesn’t have the card. And they don’t seem to be concerned that this will erode brand loyalty.
The food and beverage credit is a ‘choice benefit’ and members have been choosing these since the program launched and guests started reaching the required number of nights.
But they haven’t yet been able to spend them. These are $20 credits which can be applied to a stay folio for spending at hotel restaurants, in-room dining, minibar food and beverage items (and can be used to cover tax and tip where applicable). Fortunately they’re now going live in the first wave of a release.
Now one of those March 2020-retired Boeing 757s – which eventually made it from Tulsa to the desert in Roswell, New Mexico – has been opened, as though it were a time capsule. It’s headed off to China for a cargo retrofit. And while the plane has been painted over to obscure its previous owner, the interior is completely preserved.
Inside the Boeing 757 you see the old Collins Diamond business class seats. They lie flat, but the plane lacked direct aisle access for these seats. There were no seat back entertainment screens, either. There was still material in the seat back pockets!
There’s a new Mastercard coming that won’t give you rewards for your spend. Instead it’ll reward the creator of your choice. And in exchange you’ll get access to exclusive experiences from that creator. In other words, it’s like OnlyFans but where you charge your credit card everywhere you spend money instead of charging your card to pay your favorite creator.
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.
A Delta Air Lines flight attendant told a female passenger she had a “stupid face” before kicking a couple off a plane. The incident began when the passengers were using empty space in a first class overhead bin, after first class had fully boarded. And, according to the passengers, the airline promised compensation – but first they had to remove details of the incident from social media.
The federal government is preparing to sue to block JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines. They’re paying a 40% premium over what Frontier Airlines was offering. And they even have to pay a lot of the money if the deal doesn’t close.
JetBlue is ramping up the P.R. side of the fight releasing a video that tells their story about how growing their airline is good for consumers.
While it’s taken them a long time to get started replacing current cabins with new ones, the first plane – a 25 year old Airbus A319, registration N801UA – is in the shop for the retrofit.
The project will finish in less than 3 weeks, and then a 25 year old Airbus A320 goes in for work. Together these two will serve as prototypes for their respective fleets. And a photo of the retrofit process has leaked.
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 »
