The first Standard Hotel property – The Standard Hollywood – was opened on Sunset in 1999 and closed during the pandemic. The original investors included Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, and Benicio del Toro.
Current hotels include New York in the Meatpacking District and the East Village; Miami Beach; London; Maldives; Ibiza; and Hua Hin.
Former American Airlines Chairman Doug Parker shared how he championed his airline’s cause using the federal government to try to take out a small competitor. In March he went on the Airlines Confidential podcast and shared that a year earlier he and Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson button-holed David Pekoske, asking him to stop allowing JSX from operating out of private terminals without TSA screeners.
JetBlue is selling summer non-stop business class from New York and Boston to Paris for less than $2,000 roundtrip.
What does your airport routine say about your personality?
Whether you show up super early ‘just in case’ or cut it close says something about how they ‘manage anxiety’. But I’m not sure it says what the experts think it says.
The Big Mac is so ubiquitous The Economist developed a price index for the burger as a way to measure purchasing power parity across economies.
McDonald’s changes its offerings to meet local demand. For instance there’s no beef in Mumbai McDonald’s but they do offer several different fry dips. However my reason for going there has nothing to do with the food.
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.
After a crazy lobbying process, Delta Air Lines achieved a partial success is getting the federal government to approve new ‘beyond perimeter’ slots at Washington’s National Airport.
Now there’s jockeying over which airlines will get the slots, and Delta is pushing to keep one out of the hands of American Airlines.
American Airlines let go Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja, architect of their strategy of chasing award managed business travel. His thesis had been that they were going to fill their planes, and didn’t need to offer companies discounts. They’d make more money, and do so at a lower cost – without the sales teams and special customer service to service those accounts.
Now they’re backtracking on this strategy.
Now that American Airlines is huddling with its flight attendants union in Phoenix this week to wrap up a new contract, without even the help of federal mediators, United Airlines flight attendants are ready to turn up the heat in their own negotiations.
An American Airlines first class passenger had no class, sitting in the bulkhead row feet propped up on the wall. It’s bad enough with shoes, but hers were off for the whole cabin to see (and for their seat opponent to smell).
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 »
