Southwest Airlines made four announcements about the Rapid Rewards program today. The best change is announcing something that’s been in effect for two years – priority boarding for Companion Pass companions. The worst change is more points required to earn a Companion Pass, but that won’t apply to the airline’s credit card holders. On net these are good updates to know, but not ones to be concerned about.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom is right – the U.S. visitor visa system is embarrassing, and it’s costing our economy. But more than that, it hurts our soft power and importance on the world stage.
On average visa wait times were reported last month to be an average of 247 days – a 14x increase over the 17 day average before the pandemic. It’s expected that visa wait times will cost the U.S. 6.6 million visitors in 2023. This is a huge failure of federal government competence.
Most passengers would have been beyond annoyed at the hassle, even though it was beyond the airline’s control. Yet the passengers on this flight were downright pleasant. And it’s because even though the delay wasn’t something American Airlines could prevent, how they managed the delay was in the very capable hands of the airline’s captain – who organized a pizza party for everyone on the plane.
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.
During the American Airlines third quarter earnings call on Thursday, Cowen and Company’s Helane Becker asked what percentage of customers were actually paying for premium cabin seats.
Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja answered somewhat ambiguously at first, but then gave numbers for their domestic route network.
The airline took delivery of new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with the old seats, even after the start of the Polaris project. Seats can have a long lead time. However now, at the end of 2022, United has stopped operating 787-9s with old seats.
Just as United is preparing to decide on new business class seats, they’ll finish putting Polaris seats in the planes which operate their longest flights, like Sydney and Singapore.
There’s a moment at the start of any Singapore Airlines flight in first or Suites class, after you first board. A flight attendant approaches you and offers you champagne. If you accept they will stop, and with a mix of smugness and pride, ask “would you prefer Dom Perignon or Krug?” That classic question is about to change.
Marriott has acquired the ‘City Express’ hotel brand an “affordable mid-scale” chain with 152 hotels across 75 cities in Mexico.
Best Western, Quality Inn, and Ramada are often considered midscale. But these hotels aren’t just midscale, they are affordable midscale.
Airbnb is taking on the worst features of hotels, without mirroring the things that make hotels attractive. Their cleaning fees are legendary, even while hosts give lists of chores for guests to complete (not just taking out the trash, doing the dishes, and washing the sheets but sometimes even mowing the lawn).
Sometimes Airbnb – and competitors like Vrbo – are the best option like when renting a house with a whole family or in a town without hotels. But it seems like they’re working hard to kill that advantage, as evidenced by this reported listing where the owner even charges you extra for booking with them and then adds on a resort fee.
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.
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 »
