The Worst Travel Writer In America Says Who’s Been Naughty And Nice During Covid

by Gary Leff

Feb 08 2021

Christopher Elliott has naughty and nice list for travel companies during the pandemic. He sees some behaving as though “they think COVID-19 is a hoax.” That seems like an odd position to take considering their billions of dollars of losses. But what he’s saying is that airlines and hotel companies are making travel more comfortable or fun, that encourages travel, and that’s bad. And the self-styled consumer advocate glosses over a company that tried to steal customers’ money because they promise to make employees take vaccines.

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How To Think About Making Travel Plans Now

by Gary Leff

Feb 07 2021

I am making fully refundable bookings using points. However I’ve been avoiding transferring American Express and Chase points when I do not have to, because while awards can be redeposited into an airline frequent flyer account the points cannot usually be moved back from the airline account to Amex or Chase. When you transfer flexible bank points there is a cost in lost flexibility.

Domestic travel should be mostly doable this summer, especially for the vaccinated. We’ll likely be able to travel to hard-hit destinations with vaccination and a negative test, though countries that have quashed the virus will probably stay closed longer.

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It’s Not Just Fake Covid Tests, People Are Faking Essential Worker Letters To Travel

by Gary Leff

Feb 07 2021

The U.S. now requires a negative Covid-19 test in order to enter the country by air – even if you’re a citizen returning home. We’re hardly alone, many countries require a Covid-19 test to enter. Since testing can be an expensive hassle even people without the virus are faking negative tests. On one flight 95% of passengers presented fake negative results. But it’s not just negative Covid-19 test results that are being faked.

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Hertz Really Is A Basket Case

by Gary Leff

Feb 07 2021

Hertz is in bankruptcy yet last year their stock was a favorite of Redditors on the Robinhood app. They’ve been sending customers to jail when they fail to mark rental agreements as extended, or fail to mark a car back into inventory and rent it again.

Now they’ve sent out a message seemingly at least as customer-friendly as everyone else: that they were pausing points expiration through December 31, 2021. But their fingers were crossed.

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20 Years After The Merger, TWA Pilots Lose Lawsuit Against American Airlines (And Their Own Union)

by Gary Leff

Feb 06 2021

American Airlines acquired TWA in 2001. And since then former TWA employees have felt like they’ve gotten the short end of the stick. The most recent case involves ex-TWA pilots suing both American Airlines and its pilots union arguing that they conspired to strip these pilots of their senior in the airline’s 2011 bankruptcy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit threw out the suit.

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Marriott Vacations Buys Lawrence Welk Resorts, Will Rebrand Them As… Hyatts

by Gary Leff

Feb 06 2021

The hotel business can be strange in many ways. But timeshare brands are far, far stranger.

How about Marriott Vacations controlling Hyatt’s timeshare portfolio? That’s something not a lot of people realize but gets a big exclamation point from Marriott Vacations Worldwide spending $430 million to acquire Welk Resorts to turn them into Hyatt Residenes properties. And wait – there are Lawrence Welk hotels?

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