Spirit outlined their new program in the fall but now there’s greater detail since the program has launched, specifically around the co-brand credit card and the value of points. And the program is enough of an improvement that it’s prompted me to join.
Thailand is technically open to visitors, but even with a negative Covid test there’s a 14 day quarantine requirement and the idea of being stuck inside a hotel room that long hasn’t been popular. It’s attracted only a few hundred tourists per month to the country.
However people will go to greater lengths to visit friends and relatives than they will for just a vacation long enough to justify the quarantine period. I saw on social media that the owner of my favorite Thai restaurant was back in Bangkok, in the middle of his quarantine period at a hotel with his wife. He was gracious enough to share his story and some photos.
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.
Cathay Pacific first revealed their plans for a new first class product to be offered on board Boeing 777-9 aircraft when they’re delivered in 2017. A year later they still didn’t know whether they would offer enclosed suites and hadn’t settled on a seat supplier.
Instead they said they’d look at the current creative offerings of seat suppliers to decide who they wanted to go with, and “co-create” a new concept. With all of the delays to the Boeing 777-9 there’s been no hurry. But now there’s talk of putting new seats in their Boeing 777-300ERs, too.
Last week American Airlines shared with its pilots that they’re testing what they call ‘tapas’ in domestic first class.
This test of new meals is happening on about 40 flights a day departing from Charlotte. It becan January 13 and runs through March 9, 2021. And, a spokesperson for American shares with me that there are two versions of this new meal, a “fresh new protein box and vegetarian box meal concepts.” Here’s what the ‘protein box’ looks like
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.
Since 2014 this site has sold ‘fresh stolen credit card data’ with ‘a promise of card validity’ and earned an estimated billion dollars. However the FBI and Interpol closed in this year, taking over blockchain domains they had been using as proxy servers for their Tor service. And they had seen a drop in activity when their administrator came down with Covid-19 and reported being hospitalized.
Moreover, the quality of the stolen cards they had been selling declined as well, because there have been fewer in-person card transactions during the pandemic and they’ve relied on hacked online card transactions.
The Seychelles is dropping its 10 day quarantine requirement for people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
As bad as the next couple of months are going to be there’s a strong likelihood we’re approaching the end of the pandemic, but most governments will be slow to react to improving conditions. Travel restrictions will likely persist longer than necessary.
A report suggests that American Express will be building out a new Centurion lounge at Washington’s National airport. It also notes significant planned expansion at both San Francisco and Seattle, which matches what I already know.
After the events of January 6th at the U.S. Capitol, Joe Biden nixed plans to take a chartered Amtrak train down to D.C. and flew instead. Only he wasn’t flown by the Air Force. He and his team and accompanying media took private charters from Wilmington, Delaware to Joint Base Andrews.
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 »
