Happiness from vacation wears off quickly once you get back. The middle part of a trip winds up mostly as a blur, it’s the end that counts. You should probably work while you’re on vacation if you want to break up the trip and create more starts and ends and less middle, and avoid doing too many things that you’ve done before while you’re gone.
An employee at the Hilton Garden Inn El Paso University Hotel in Texas has been charged with 9 counts of ‘invasive visual recording’ after reportedly using his cell phone to record women in one of the hotel’s restrooms.
According to police the man “planted a hidden camera in a public restroom and recorded multiple women using the facilities” on February 21. The man, said to have previously been in prison for “hitting a woman over the head with a hammer,” was held on $45,000 bond.
Last week four American Airlines passengers were downgraded on a flight from Charlotte to Honolulu because they ‘arrived at the gate too late’ even though they were there 25 minutes prior to departure. Their seats were given to employees or relatives or employees to enjoy instead.
The gate agent who did it was wrong, but there’s a confusing rule that should be clarified.
Lending Tree is pitching a report that begins with some anodyne claims about customer behavior towards frequent flyer miles and jumps to the unsupported conclusion that mileage redemptions this year are going to crowd out paying customers, who won’t be able to find seats for sale. This is literally insane.
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.
Delta announced that all new employees will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19, but isn’t saying there will be any requirement for current employees to get a shot.
They suggest this is a great way to protect their already-high level of vaccination within the workforce and to protect customers, but they also make an odd claim about herd immunity in the process.
A Fort Lauderdale woman was heading home from a weekend trip in Houston when she – and her wig – encountered the TSA. She was asked to remove her cap, but the cap was attached to the wing. And she dubbed the ensuing video “When TSA stops you from being fabulous.” Oh, and the cap says “Bad Hair Day” on it.
The federal government just extended its public transportation mask mandate two weeks ago, to run through September 13th. Yet today the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks.
Leisure travel isn’t just vacation, it’s also “visiting friends and relatives” or ‘VFR’ for short. And those passengers tend to check a lot of luggage. What’s more, the mix of passengers traveling has changed. Business travelers don’t tend to check nearly as much luggage. So the same number of passengers as before on a plane comes with more luggage now than it used to.
American Airlines has adjusted some baggage fees in the Mexico, Caribbean, and Latin America market, perhaps most notably increasing third checked bag fees to $200.
A week ago I wrote about why codeshares are great for airlines, not customers, and why you should almost never book one. There are edge cases, but in general they’re a hassle – whether because you need to get rebooked due to a schedule change or even just have a seat assigned.
What prompted me to write about this is that American Airlines, despite its close alliance with JetBlue in the Northeast, is unable to assign seats on JetBlue flights. American’s workaround wasn’t working, so now there’s a new one.
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 »
