Hertz Goes After Another Reader Claiming They Stole A Car

by Gary Leff

Apr 30 2022

Hertz’s CEO admits mistakes and promises false arrests of customers won’t happen again yet it does seem to keep happening. It always seems, though, like ‘something that happens to other people’ rather than something we’d worry about. And Hertz often shows up being the cheapest!

Except it doesn’t just happen to other people, it seems, it happens to readers of this blog. And keeps happening to readers of this blog. At least one commenter on a post this week shares tht it just happened to them.

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Marriott Makes Free Night Certificates More Useful, But It’s Not For Your Benefit

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Apr 30 2022

As part of Marriott’s move to dynamic pricing of free reward nights which raises award pricing, but will be worse next year, Bonvoy now allows you to add up to 15,000 points when redeeming a free night certificate.

This makes certificates fare more useful, but was done more for Marriott’s Chase and American Express relationships than for you.

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Spirit, Possibly Being Acquired By JetBlue, Showcases New Lie Flat Seat

by Gary Leff

Apr 29 2022

With JetBlue looking to acquire Spirit Airlines, trumping Frontier’s offer, many observers have pointed out how different their business model, product, and cultures are – wondering if his acquisition could make any sense. Others disagree, suggesting that JetBlue buying Spirit ‘for parts’ – planes, gates, pilots, – will allow for more rapid expansion.

But are the products really that different? JetBlue has Mint business class, but in the premium category Spirit has more than just the Big Front Seat.

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With A Shortage Of Pilots, Should We Revisit The 1500 Hour Rule That’s Choking Off Supply?

by Gary Leff

Apr 29 2022

We want pilots who know what they’re doing, but the 1500 hour rule itself doesn’t weed out those who don’t. European regulators and Canadian regulators don’t see a need for 1500 flight hours on top of licensing and type-rating. We want to focus on measures that actually improve safety, and so pilot flight hour requirements can probably be greatly improved. Instead we’ve got rules that primarily make it tough to become a pilot, increasing the bargaining strength of those already in the profession.

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