Airlines Pick Your Pockets Again With Third Bailout Of The Pandemic

by Gary Leff

Mar 10 2021

Congress passed the American Rescue Plan which includes $14 billion for commercial airlines, and requires them not to furlough workers through September 30.

Previous bailouts included $50 billion in the CARES Act ($25 billion in payroll support and $25 billion in subsidized loans) plus suspension of the domestic air travel excise tax for 2020 and then an additional $15 billion in December 2020. This brings total commercial airline subsidies to $79 billion, separate from funds for airports, airline contractors, and cargo carriers.

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10,000 Free Hilton Points For Taking One Survey

by Gary Leff

Mar 10 2021

Taking surveys for miles was super lucrative twenty years ago. Now I very often don’t bother. The rewards tend to be much lower, and I’ve wasted too much time on screening questions to even qualify for a survey that don’t pay out at all, only to learn after that effort that I’m not eligible.

Here’s an exception to the rule. There’s a new offer to earn 10,000 Hilton points as a bonus for your first Guest Opinion Rewards survey, increased from just 1250 bonus points.

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14 Things American Airlines Told The SEC About The AAdvantage Frequent Flyer Program

by Gary Leff

british tail plane
Mar 10 2021

American Airlines is refinancing the mortgage it took on its frequent flyer program with the U.S. Treasury by raising $7.5 billion against AAdvantage in private financial markets.

As part of these efforts they had to make a ton of information public about AAdvantage in an SEC 8-K filing. Here are 14 interesting things that they had to share with investors and the SEC.

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Female Passenger Tied Down With Rope After Trying To Remove Her Underwear

by Gary Leff

Mar 10 2021

The 39-year-old woman would remove a piece of clothing and then put it back on, though gradually more and more of her clothes were off. While she wasn’t endangering other passengers by her stripping, she was described as ‘disoriented’ and flight attendants and passengers teamed up to restrain her using a seatbelt, a rope, and tape.

In video taken onboard the flight, the woman is seen tied up in her seat to prevent her from taking off her clothes.

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Pittsburgh Airport Will Use Artificial Intelligence To Know When To Clean The Bathrooms

by Gary Leff

toilet
Mar 09 2021

Airport bathrooms have always been sketchy places, and not just because you might run into former Idaho Senator Larry Craig. Whether it’s a hand poking through a men’s room wall at the Hong Kong airport, someone replacing the soap with a bodily fluid in Detroit, or a collapsing toilet sending a man to the hospital in Hefei, China, these are places you’ve wanted to get in and out of as quickly as possible.

With the Covid-19 pandemic airport bathrooms have taken on a new urgency because of risk of virus spread.

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Don’t Panic: Dynamic Pricing Of Aeroplan Partner Awards Is A Bug, Not A Feature

by Gary Leff

air canada plane tarmac
Mar 09 2021

When Air Canada relaunched the Aeroplan frequent flyer program – an American Express transfer partner, and soon to have a Chase co-brand credit card, so highly relevant to Americans – they committed to an award chart.

Right now though partner award pricing isn’t sticking to the chart. That means some awards are pricing higher than they should, and others are pricing for fewer miles.

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This $99 Per Night Resort Fee Is Marriott Bonvoy’s “Loyalty Tax”

by Gary Leff

bonvoy
Mar 09 2021

Marriott charges resort fees on supposedly free nights. When you use your points you still have a cash co-pay or ‘loyalty tax.’ Neither Hilton nor Hyatt does this. And these resort fees can be $99 per night, plus tax, or even more.

Most Bonvoy members don’t learn there’s a fee to redeem their points until they’ve stayed with the chain, spent time in the program, and accumulated enough points to be ready to redeem. That’s why it’s a loyalty tax.

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