When Air Canada and Chase launched the Aeroplan Credit Card in the fall, Mark Nasr, the Senior Vice President of Air Canada who oversees Aeroplan suggested that the airline would need to take steps to make status easier to earn in 2022. What is at least the first set of these steps is now available.
Airlines are all promoting enhanced cleaning standards but the truth is often that may just mean a weekly spray of the cabin. Airline ‘deep cleans’ used to happen just every year or year and a half which is just gross.
But what about those airline blankets? A blanket in sealed plastic should be clean. However dog poo on a Delta blanket made it onto the Conan show a few years back. And this American Airlines blanket doesn’t look great, either.
Marriott has been looking to reduce costs for hotels providing breakfast and they think they’ve found it for their extended stay brands.
American Airlines has re-opened its Flagship business class lounges at New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles. Flagship First Dining for long haul first class passengers has reopened at JFK and Miami. However the lounges in Dallas and Chicago remain closed.
Fortunately American Airlines is now talking up a target for their re-opening.
There’s a common theme in all of this: taking care of guests, whether they’re infrequent (through use of small points to make stays better) to the most frequent (who have a truly seamless experience, and extending out into their air travel and not just hotels). That’s what I value most in a hotel chain, and something that I think all of them can aspire to. The new Shangri-La Circle, then, makes a nice leap forward.
I’ve argued for a year that the time to expect mask mandates to be lifted for planes would be before the mid term elections. It’s not case counts or hospitalization that will drive an end to pandemic rules, as much as political necessity.
This is what betting markets are predicting, too.
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.
Alaska Airlines says they’re introducing dynamically-priced awards on American Airlines. There are some folks freaking out and I am not sure that they should be.
There’s a note on the Alaska Airlines partner award charts saying that American Airlines award prices are going to start to “vary depending on demand.”
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.
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 »
