United Airlines probably does the best job of making additional award space available to elite members (even Silver) along with cobrand credit card customers. That extra inventory is real.
What a lot of American AAdvantage members don’t realize is that Executive Platinum (and Concierge Key) members also have extra award availability.
Newer The Club lounges are so much nicer than what you used to expect from the brand. The airport lounges from Airport Dimensions, which is owned by the same parent company as Priority Pass, has been offering better-designed spaces and even more food and drink options. And in the Covid era they’ve had table service replace buffets and it’s a nice experience.
The Club at MSY is a gorgeous space, and Charleston, South Carolina’s The Club is excellent as well.
It seems to me that it is one thing to save a seat or even a row, and other thing entirely to save multiple rows. Still it is not against Southwest’s rules. I’m not sure how a passenger trying to save a row behind them would block a passenger from sitting there, but social custom seems to make it a plausible strategy.
Is saving multiple rows of seats going overboard? Would you honor someone’s claim that they’re saving seats in a row they aren’t physically in?
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There are some very cool packages but whether they make sense comes down to pricing. A limited quantity offer for a limited period promoted as a monthly event could certainly be good.
I spent an April long weekend in Charleston. Hyatt has a partnership with SLH Hotels that allow you to redeem points and earn elite nights and points for stays, which made it possible for me to stay at Wentworth Mansion. The hotel is charming. The service was impeccable. And it represented good value on points.
Perhaps the room just isn’t used very much and doesn’t get a lot of attention. Or perhaps they only assign it as an upgrade on one night stays, and it’s rarely paid for (or hasn’t been in a long time), and so on one night stays no one bothers to complain – they’re leaving anyway. So without guests letting the hotel know about maintenance issues, those issues don’t get addressed.
I fell victim to this myself – I didn’t stop at the desk on the way out, so didn’t complain about the condition of the room.
American Airlines says their corporate purpose is “caring for people on life’s journey.” Now, that sounds like the mission statement for an assisted living facility. But it is a reminder that each of the 2.3 million passengers carried on that airline over Memorial weekend alone isn’t just a ticket number or a seat assignment.
Hotel Indigo blames the Thompson Hotel for needing to replace carpet and furniture, says that odors in the hotel can’t even be eliminated, and that they’re out over a million bucks as a result.
One way that travel changed during the pandemic which will mean more business travel and not less is that companies doing more work from home will need to bring employees together for team building, culture sessions, and just to get everyone on the same page. Employees that formerly worked entirely in-office become business travelers quarterly, semi-annually or at least once a year.
Walmart has a new hotel opening. And the Walmart hotel is going to be an AC by Marriott, opening summer 2024.
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 »
