American Airlines is eliminating service entirely to Long Beach, California; Columbus, Georgia; and Del Rio, Texas. American Airlines is the only carrier serving Del Rio. This is the result of losing Mesa Airlines as a regional partner.
They aren’t requiring mRNA vaccines, and they aren’t requiring boosters. Showing proof of a Chinese vaccine whose effectiveness against the original Wuhan strain was questionable at best is considered enough. Fear of an onslaught of infected people from China demands that politicians do something. And this is something.
Connecting space within 2-3 days of travel can now be booked in Swiss first using United miles.
The explanation of technology for Southwest’s woes, while true, also exposes a gap in people. They didn’t have enough people to rebuild their schedules by hand and were taking volunteers from within the company. There’s also a knowledge deficit.
There’s going to be a lot of IT spending ahead, and also a lot of work on culture ahead, for Southwest. Passengers will forgive them. But capital spending and culture are harder. And around a fifth of employees don’t have a long-term experience with the company against which to judge recent unpleasantness, including being stranded away from home for some time.
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 young child was “running riot and jumping on a moving baggage carousel while throwing luggage on the ground” at Melbourne airport. After a long flight he probably had excess energy, and what better playground than baggage claim?
United occasionally runs short-term award sales, and doesn’t always tell everyone. For Cyber Monday they ran up to 50% off coach awards to Europe and Asia Pacific.
Today they’re doing up to 47% off of Hawaii awards, with the best deals for elite members who also have a co-brand credit card.
Many limited service hotels offer free breakfast, from Hampton Inn to Residence Inn to Best Western and Holiday Inn Express. It’s very rare that I’ve ever seen a hotel actually verify that you’re a guest before giving you access.
I’m surprised that so few people show up at these hotels and have breakfast! Then again, maybe people do?
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.
Southwest Airlines likes to remind customers about their friendly features. They don’t sell basic economy tickets. All of their tickets have been fully changeable. Their flight credits don’t expire. They offer two free checked bags.
But in the aftermath of their historic operational meltdown over the holidays, we have a reminder of one of the ways that Southwest Airlines goes to war with any tools that help customers compare prices and get the best deals.
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 »
