The young girl has been battling a rare soft tissue cancer for a year. She and her family flew Delta to Orlando. It was her first-ever flight. She got to visit the cockpit, had a celebration at her seat. And she was crowned at the gate. Now that she’s in remission she’ll probably be a loyal Delta customer for years to come.
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.
In the fictional book Up in the Air Great West Airlines counted all miles towards lifetime status and Ryan Bingham was on a quest for 1 million miles. He was being tracked by the airline along his quest and they celebrated his achievement when he reached it.
In the film version, George Clooney’s Bingham was an American Airlines flyer and on a quest for 10 million miles. Here he describes that when you hit 10 million “lifetime executive status, you get to meet the chief pilot Maynard Finch, and they put your name on the side of a plane.” Sadly none of that is true, but celebration moments do happen.
The U.K. has recognized that a travel testing requirement didn’t provide benefit during the pandemic. It makes little sense in the U.S. where the virus is spreading widely already, and where vaccine boosters are widely available. The specific testing rules in place make even less sense since they don’t universally catch infections. But rules tend to outlive their usefulness even as political narrative. When will U.S. rules change, then?
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.
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.
When I spoke with IHG’s Senior Vice President of Loyalty last week about the chain’s revamp of its elite program that is now in progress, she told me that they would be offering an award discount this week for top tier elites.
In fact they’re out now with an offer of 20% off redemptions and it is available to co-brand credit card customers.
When I covered cuts in inflight service at the behest of its flight attendants union I pointed out all of the elements of hypocrisy and how this makes the American Airlines product worse.
In some sense American had no choice as a result of broader cultural issues we’re grappling with as we transition from the pandemic to endemic phase of dealing with Covid-19.
The federal government’s ‘free Covid-19 tests’ are now arriving. None of these tests work for travel to enter the U.S. on their own. However it’s possible to make some of them – including the ones that I received – work if you know what to look for.
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 »
