Omicron May Not Be The Last Of Travel’s Woes From Covid-19

by Gary Leff

Jan 18 2022

The view now is that we just need to get through Omicron. Indeed the industry is gearing up for a return to normal after the Omicron wave. There’s hope that more borders will re-open, more employees will return to office, and there’ll be a return to normal travel and then some given intertemporal substitution – that people refrained from travel for a long time, and will make up for it quickly.

Underlying this belief are several assumptions, which are very much the ‘base case’ but are far from assured.

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Former Miss Universe Trolls American Airlines After They Made Her ‘Cover Up’ To Fly

by Gary Leff

Jan 18 2022

Last week former Miss Universe and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Olivia Culpo was asked to cover up in order to be allowed to fly American Airlines to Cabo. Olivia was called up to the counter at the gate and told she needed to “put on a blouse” over her sports bra or she wouldn’t be allowed to fly. Now she’s trolling American Airlines on Instagram.

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Marriott 5-Night Travel Packages (Airline Miles + Hotel Stay) Still Exist – For One Day Only?

by Gary Leff

Jan 17 2022

Marriott snuck a change into their terms and conditions saying that they’re eliminating hotel and airline mile ‘travel packages’ from the program. These haven’t been useful in several years because of price increases and the elimination of 5-night packages. Except those 5 night packages still exist and you may have a short window to claim them.

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How A Basket Case Pension Fund Got A Marriott Renaissance Deflagged In St. Croix

by Gary Leff

Jan 17 2022

The Carambola Beach Resort St. Croix is a sad tale. Marriott has 30 brands, but this hotel is an unbranded Marriott. You see, it used to be a Renaissance. It’s fallen into such disrepair that they don’t show that name any longer.

How this happened is fascinating because it’s a tale of incompetence and, in my opinion, likely corruption on the part of the government employee pension fund of the US Virgin Islands. This story is insane.

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Award Alert: Wide Open Business Class To Israel Just 85,000 Delta Miles

by Gary Leff

virgin upper class seat
Jan 16 2022

Virgin Atlantic award space to Tel Aviv, Israel is outstanding right now. And it can be booked for just 85,000 Delta SkyMiles. On routes like New York JFK – London – Tel Aviv it’s available for at least two passengers nearly every day through mid-December. But it’s also plentiful out of Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orlando.

You’ll find additional availability from other cities, especially those where Virgin flies but also cities where Delta offers connections (it’s the Delta domestic flight that can be hardest to get).

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