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.
Capital One Business’ new product, Spark Travel Elite, has an up front bonus up to 250,000 miles (!). Think of it as the small business version of Venture X. Right now it’s available only to Capital One customers with Relationship Managers but will become more broadly available.
Alaska Airlines is introducing permanent luggage tags you can affix to your bags that speed up the check-in process. Passengers with these tags won’t have to print bag tags at the airport. Instead they will “activate the devices from anywhere—their home, office or even car—up to 24-hours before their flight through [Alaska’s] mobile app.”
A 43 year old woman writes that she was traveling with her husband and six children from Dublin to Kikenny. The American family on holiday boarded their train and found seats together.
A mid-20s Irish woman then boarded, was “very polite” and let tthem know that their 9 year old daughter was “sitting in her assigned seat.”
There’s apparently a pigeon nest on the jet bridge at Philadelphia’s American Airlines gate A11. Cabin crew say they reported it “a month ago” but nothing was done.
Video shows a couple of pigeons making their way down the aisle of an American Airlines Airbus A321 as flight attendants encouraged them to deplane.
With all the fees that hotels you’d think there’s nothing left to unbundle. However Hyatt’s Destination Residences Mauna Lani Point resort in Waimea has come up with a creative new fee I haven’t seen before.
In a move sure to impress Monsieur Thénardier himself, the hotel actually charges guests for damage they haven’t even done to the room yet through a mandatory $79 damage waiver fee on each booking.
Australian labor law is insane. The government has ordered Virgin Australia to reinstate a flight attendant who was fired for napping on the job; watching a movie inflight; showing up late to work and violating uniform standards; and taking food meant for passengers. According to the government the decision to fire her was “harsh, unjust and unreasonable.”
So what does it actually take to get fired from an airline in Australia?
The numbers of known cases almost certainly are massively understating the number of actual cases at this point, even asymptomatic infection possibilities aside. Nonetheless the number of infections in absolute terms is almost certainly very small, so most people are very unlikely to come into close physical contact with someone that’s infected.
I do not consider myself at risk at this time and I am not taking precautions, although I regularly update my priors based on new information. As the facts change, I can change my mind. However the precautions taken earlier in the pandemic, such as extensive housekeeping, not only appeal to my previously-held preferences they seem better-suited to monkeypox and numerous other pathogens than to Covid-19.
You can now choose the level of protection you’re comfortable with when flying, and in most areas of life, but there’s generally no longer a mandate for how others must protect you. For those at high risk that increases the need for good quality masking.
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 »
