A program might charter a flight or four, but not enough capacity to really give members choice. Still, it’s a great stunt to highlight the efforts a program is going to for members. And with limited capacity these flights can prove popular.
What’s more, the economics can even work. These flights can be profitable.
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.
The World Health Organization recommends those over 60 or with comorbidities postpone travel due to the Omicron variant of the virus. Many people are reconsidering travel, though United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says he expects bookings won’t fall as much as they did from the Delta variant.
It goes almost without saying that the advice is different for someone who is immunocompromised and may be less protected by vaccines and less able to mount an immune response to the virus. However for most of us the right answer isn’t postponing travel, it’s boosters.
The second U.S. case of the Omicron variant has been identified and it tells us something we all should have already known: It’s spreading in the U.S. It was here early than we thought. It’s not just something to keep out of the country.
The Biden administration was considering severe air travel restrictions out of concern for the Omicron variant of the virus, but they couldn’t make the logistics of legality of some of them work. New restrictions were expected to be announced on Thursday, and now we know what they’re actually doing.
Oman Air is now a partner of Air Canada Aeroplan. You can include Oman Air flights in Aeroplan awards, alongside other partner flights – even Star Alliance flights, or with partners like Etihad. That’s cool and even a little bit surprising since Oman Air announced their interest in joining oneworld two months ago.
The most common complaints on airline twitter seem to be about delays – flight delays, long lines, long hold times to get through especially when there’s a flight change or cancellation. The most common things we see photos of are damaged bags, dirty planes, and other passengers not wearing masks. Positives on twitter are fewer and farther between but usually focused on the trip itself, the happy people, with the airline being how they got there.
While there are certainly complaints in the Southwest Airlines feed there’s something unique there that I don’t see very often on other airline feeds: people having fun, both passengers and crew. While the tenor of most flights reported in social media resembles something out of a black-and-white rendition of George Orwell’s 1984, Southwest seems to offer a bit more technicolor.
Austin is cheaper and administratively easier than heavily taxed and regulated California, and cheaper and warmer than New York. And it’s still a place that Californians and New Yorkers are willing to call home.
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.
GHA Discovery is probably the biggest hotel loyalty program you may never have heard of. They cover 37 brands which is more than Marriott and they’ll soon hit 20 million members.
GHA – the Global Hotel Alliance – covers numerous smaller chains that skew towards luxury. The Discovery program is relaunching to become much more rewarding. Against the trend in the industry, the new program actually costs hotel owners more in order to give customers more. Elite status is becoming easier to earn, and benefits will become more consistent. And word is they’re even an easy status match.
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 »
