Singapore Airlines Brings Back New York-Frankfurt And San Francisco-Hong Kong

by Gary Leff

flight attendants posing
Sep 27 2021

Singapore Airlines will re-start it’s ‘fifth-freedom’ routes between New York and Frankfurt, and between San Francisco and Hong Kong, which each flight continuing on to Singapore.  These flights will return beginning November 2.  This will mean bringing the airline up to about two-thirds of its pre-Covid U.S. flying, and the airline has re-iterated its plan to restart other U.S. services including Seattle – Singapore non-stop and Houston – Manchester – Singapore as well.

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Hilton Doesn’t Want To Provide Housekeeping Anymore. Here’s What That Looks Like.

by Gary Leff

Sep 26 2021

Hilton’s CEO was first out of the gate publicly declaring that guests should no longer receive daily housekeeping at full service hotels in the U.S. as a cost-cutting measure he believed people would accept after the pandemic. The goal is to charge people more, deliver them less, and improve margins.

A guest at the Hilton Brentwood/Nashville Suites shares what that looks like in practice.

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Rumors Swirling About New Hyatt Credit Card

by Gary Leff

hotel exit
Sep 26 2021

There have been several rumors about a new Hyatt card finally launching. We don’t know what that card would look like. The Points Guy just dropped a piece on why Chase needs a Hyatt small business card which I took as one hint, though Danny Deal Guru reports on a rumor from Chase customer service about a new Hyatt premium card (think $400+ annual fee).

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American Airlines Pilots Lobbying Against Biden Vaccine Mandate

by Gary Leff

Sep 26 2021

Pilots are already treated differently by government mandates during the pandemic. Pilots aren’t allowed to fly within 48 hours of taking a vaccine shot due to potential side effects. And pilots are not required to wear face masks while in the cockpit.

The Biden administration executive order directing OSHA to introduce a vaccine mandate on companies with 100+ employees includes an expected alternative means of compliance in the form of regular Covid-19 testing. While United Airlines is not permitting this, a fear of losing pilots would seem to be enough reason why American Airlines would embrace this alternative.

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American Airlines Updates Its Contract Of Carriage Again To Further Limit Passenger Rights

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2021

At the start of the month American Airlines updated its rules to make clear that they would not reimburse hotel stays you book yourself when your flights are severely delayed or cancelled (you have to wait for them to give you a hotel room if you want them to cover it) and to say they don’t have any obligation to get you to your destination – they can just refund your ticket if they prefer.

Now they’re updating their rules again to further limit your right to a refund in the event of delays of over 4 hours.

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Loyalty Programs Need To Do More For People Who Qualify “The Real Way”

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2021

Customers who earned their status the hard way for next year, rather than just having it extended, have something of a legitimate beef with their brand. They’ve chosen their travel provider, trying to earn their status. They’ve selected less convenient flights, sometimes connections rather than non-stops. They’ve chosen less convenient hotels. They may have paid more than what competitors were pricing their products at. And they’ve done all of that all while accepting lower levels of service (fewer meals in airline cabins, limited housekeeping or breakfast benefits and closed club lounges at hotels).

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