United is clearly the global carrier among U.S. airlines, and among airlines with the widest reaches in the world, willing to take big swings even to destinations where they lack partners or connecting traffic and that haven’t demonstrated passenger demand yet.
The U.S. economy appears to be slowing. And airlines are especially vulnerable. Businesses cut back on travel spending. Consumers see most leisure travel as discretionary. There’s been some pullback in airline schedules, and some lower fares in the market.
A topless female passenger in white underpants at the Fort Lauderdale airport pranced around gate G12. She had removed her clothing – though not her black shoes – and she appears to be in an argument with a male travel companion who tries to give her back her outfit. A police officer gives her back her top, and she puts it on. G12 is a Spirit Airlines gate.
We’ve known this was coming for some time, and the price of seat assignments in business class on Lufthansa was even published back in December, but it’s officially here: ‘Allegri$$ Day’.
My morning routine is simple. It starts with coffee, and eases into work. That’s true whether I’m at home or on the road. I’m drinking a little less coffee than I used to. For years I joked that you could run my blood through a still once a week to filter out caffeine byproducts, and use that to run a local taxi fleet’s alternative fuels experiment.
Coffee plays an important role in travel – from the airport to the plane, and from the hotel to the city around it.
You earn 2 miles per dollar on purchases. That’s the rate I like for all of my spending that doesn’t earn a bigger bonus with other cards, which means the bulk of my spending. I use Capital One for spending because they reward me more. The Venture card has the same primary earn rate and redemption options as the premium Venture X card.
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.
With today’s announcement dubbed “If It’s Yellow Let It Mellow, If It’s Brown Flush It Down” the global hotel giant will encourage guests to flush in-room toilets less frequently.
Confiscating carry-ons unnecessarily is one of the things that outrages passengers most. Their bag has been taken and it didn’t even need to be! There was plenty of overhead space left! Stop the madness. And stop it, especially, at United Airlines where you have to pay a higher fare to bring on the carry-on bag in the first place.
As one passenger onboard the aircraft put it, “Thinking something burst.” Since it was near a lavatory they’re lucky because the thing that burst could have been worse! The passenger nearest the flood appears remarkably unbothered.
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 »
