Delta already bonused all travel towards elite status and made award trips count too. Now they’re throwing in the towel, more or less, and calling 2021 another wash as they don’t want to risk losing elite members who may again be valuable customers.
They’ve also figured out how to continue incentivizing elites to travel this year – at the expense of those who do not.
Right now is a fantastic time to book Asia travel a year out, because you can lock in business class awards between the U.S. and Asia for May and June 2022 for four passengers on Cathay Pacific.
This is available from New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles and San Francisco .
The CDC is announcing today that fully vaccinated people should wear masks again in indoor public settings, because of spread of the Delta variant. People aren’t going to comply. However this change makes an extension of the federal transportation mask mandate more likely.
Global Entry lets you skip immigration and customs queues when you return to the U.S. It also gets you TSA PreCheck. It costs $100 and lasts five years. When you renew you may be asked to show up in person. Getting an in-person interview has been nearly impossible.
The government has rolled out Zoom interviews for renewals. Here’s what that’s like – and the one mistake people are making.
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.
Marriott’s top executives have shared that they are considering eliminating alarm clocks from rooms. They’re also looking to ‘simplify’ and reduce the cost of breakfast at brands where that’s included in the room rate for all guests.
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.
Things are getting messy between consumer airfare savings site Skiplagged and Southwest Airlines. After receiving threats from Southwest, Skiplagged filed suit in New York to get a ruling that they were acting legally. Now Southwest has sued Skiplagged, trying to get the case – which claims even companies who do not access their website are bound by its terms and conditions – heard in Texas courts.
American Airlines CEO knows that the federal mask mandate – which he lobbied for – is causing most of the problems on airplanes today. American won’t service alcohol in coach until September 13th when the mask mandate expires. But he’s frustrated. He doesn’t know what else to know. So the airline is trying to stop ‘to go’ sales of alcohol in airports and trying to get more abusive customers prosecuted.
It turns out though that anyone can register for free Hyatt status and a fast track, and the broader offer is even better because instead of free 90 days of status, the free Explorist mid-tier status lasts through end of 2021 whether you stay enough with Hyatt to keep status or not.
What’s more, instead of having just 90 days to stay enough to keep status you’ve got until the end of the year so it’s far more generous.
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 »
