I flew British Airways to Paris in business class with my wife and daughter. Our return trip was on Air France. I booked (3) seats Paris – Houston for 66,500 Air France KLM Flying Blue miles + $383.17 apiece.
These were miles I already had sitting in my account from a cancelled trip Austin – Amsterdam roundtrip at the start of the pandemic.
Bobby Van’s is one of the better airport restaurants in the Priority Pass program. While you’re supposed to have a same day boarding pass to enter, that still lets you eat there both on arrival in New York and on departure as well.
In my experience they don’t actually check boarding passes, just swipe your card. If I were an American Airlines crewmember based in New York I’d definitely get a credit card that offers unlimited Priority Pass visits (not from American Express, which doesn’t cover restaurant visits).
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.
Consider that Airbnb no longer allows positive Covid test refunds, and United Airlines no longer runs APUs during boarding and deplaning. The travel industry is moving on from its pandemic policies. And that means travelers are increasingly on their own – especially if they test positive for the virus during travel and aren’t allowed to fly home.
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.
On the day that the federal mask mandate was vacated by a district court, many employees were understandably excited. There were several inflight announcements that people could remove their masks, as the requirement was lifted by airlines.
Crew were, in many cases, elated. Perhaps too much so.
Citibank has a card-linked rebate program that’s like Amex Offers, but to date it’s only been available on a limited number of their cards. That’s changed. All of a sudden you’ll find it, for instance, on American Airlines cards and Citi Premier.
This is especially useful because Citi issues a number of Mastercards, which are eligible to be used with SimplyMiles, the American Airlines-Mastercard card-linked offers that award both AAdvantage miles and credit towards elite status.
The federal transportation mask mandate was vacated and unruly passenger incidents immediately fell. That’s great news for airline crew safety. It’s great news for passengers trying to get to their destinations on time. And it’s great for airline bottom lines since it means fewer diversions and delayed passengers to reaccommodate.
Pilots are one of the few unionized work groups at Delta. They’re complaining that Delta gave non-union flight attendants a raise by adding pay for boarding time (in addition to their pre-pandemic raise, post-pandemic raise, and special profit-sharing).
However Delta cannot unilaterally change the pay of their pilots. Their pilots literally agreed to – voted on – a contract that paid more for time flying the plane and didn’t calculate pay including boarding time. Not only haven’t pilots made boarding pay a priority, they’ve chosen the current arrangement because it benefits senior union members at the expense of junior ones.
Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Concierge Key members have received premium economy upgrades free when they are available (and when they aren’t being upgraded to business class).
For Alaska and Hawaii routes, these complimentary premium economy upgrades at the gate are now available to all elites. Gold and Platinum members are now eligible for complimentary premium economy upgrades when listed for an upgrade to business and not clearing.
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 »
