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.
Transexual TSA screeners are no longer permitted to perform pat-downs on passengers and are instead being limited to other duties. Individual airport security screeners report receiving a memo about this change, and a TSA spokesperson confirms the shift in policy to me.
When I was first traveling for work, the first class cabin was mostly upgrades. And that meant it was frequent business travelers, who skewed middle aged and male. First class fares have come down a lot, there are plenty of upsells to leisure travelers, and as little as 13% of first class seats may be going to upgrades (Delta, but other airlines are catching up to them). The demographics of who is sitting up front have changed, but there are still remnants of the past.
Once beverage service ended, Luis A. Vaquero of Passaic, New Jersey demanded a cocktail. A flight attendant refused, and the man reportedly said “You better watch out, sh**’s gonna happen to you.”
They’re seeing surging leisure rates, a move to last-minute bookings, and are managing a major tech overhaul for the business. Swelling Bonvoy membership is driving revenue – from both hotel owners and banks. How that will pair with growth from lower-end chains, and in light of still-sluggish business travel, remains unclear.
The plane suddenly veered sharply right before realigning with the centerline. The jolt forced pilots to engage maximum braking, and the aircraft came to a stop just short of the runway’s end. Cockpit audio has the captain declaring, “We aborted the takeoff, we hit a car in the middle of the runway.”
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both offer burgers as one of their domestic first class catering options. American Airlines is joining the burger bandwagon.
Sliders and fries are heated at the same temperature as the rest of American’s entree choices, for a period of 30 minutes. Condiments apparently do not accompany the meal tray but are available on request.
A couple of weeks ago I revealed exclusively that American Airlines CEO Robert Isom had pivoted to begin talking about a premium focus in the airline’s strategy. In employee remarks following the airline’s fourth quarter earnings call, Isom talked about attracting customers willing to pay more for better services.
He said that the airline is going to have a “rededication and a renewal to focus on the customer experience.” And he talked about this as “the next order of business, we’re going to organize around this.” And says “you’re going to hear some things very soon.” The start of this appears to be today’s news.
Airlines used to treat award travel customers better than customers on paid tickets. After all, passengers traveling on points had shown a lot of loyalty to get there. It was their reward, and the trip was something to be celebrated!
That’s not really true anymore, but until now only Delta has been willing to say so explicitly.
When you tip at a hotel, where’s the money actually going? Often, this varies by location. In some places around the world, it’s common for service charges to be considered tips and pooled to be distributed to staff. In other places you can be pretty confident that tips are going to the person intended.
But not everywhere!
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 »
