At an American Airlines employee meeting last week, a pilot asked CEO Doug Parker why the company needed to interject itself into political issues – like state election law – to please people in media and on twitter. After all, customers fly American to get from point A to point B, not for its position on voting rules, so why upset people on the other side?
Capital One has done more than any other issuer, I think, to improve the benefits across several cards but most especially the Venture card which has a 100,000 mile initial bonus offer right now. On top of other new benefits, Capital One introduced transfer of its miles to several airline programs at the end of 2018.
Now Capital One has introduced new airline transfer partners and improved the rate that mileage transfers to some of those programs, and provided new details on its forthcoming network of airline lounges and new travel booking portal.
There’s a future for international first class, and it’s sooner than many had thought. Singapore Airlines had zeroed out first class from sale through March 2022, but now they’re bringing it back in June.
Singapore Airlines had stopped selling first class last year because it wasn’t clear which routes would see a plane that offers a Suites or First Class cabin again, and when.
Early in the pandemic you might pay $7 or even $10 per N95 mask, and there’s been a tremendous amount of fraud and scammy masks (especially scammy KN95 masks, made in China ostensibly to the Chinese standard) and KF94 South Korean masks that strangely have all Chinese language writing on the packaging.
But the truth is that masks just aren’t that hard to come by anymore.
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.
In the fall the Maldives announced the world’s first frequency program for visiting a country. Given the importance of tourism to their economy, it makes sense to encourage repeat visitors.
They’ve now detailed earning and benefits for their elite tiers.
Thailand has a new outbreak of Covid-19, threatening tourist re-opening. In the Maldives cases are falling dramatically, over 90% of tourism workers have been vaccinated, and nearly all visitor life is outdoors. Yet the CDC categorizes Maldives as the highest possible risk ‘do not travel’ and Thailand the lowest risk.
Last week American converted 5 Boeing 787-8s on order to larger 787-9s and deferred those to 2023 when 25 of those aircraft are slated to begin delivery.
Late in the week CEO Doug Parker gave additional context on the carrier’s thinking on future aircraft orders at an internal employee event, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing. Since American has just retired planes, when they’re ready to grow they’re going to need to buy new planes again since the ones they have on order larger just replace aircraft they’ve gotten rid of.
Indian airline Vistara was banned from flying to Hong Kong for two weeks earlier this month after bringing in passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 on two separate flights.
While four passengers initially tested positive on April 4th’s Delhi – Hong Kong flight, 25 people on that flight have now tested positive.
Early in the pandemic I did a bit of cleanup of my recurring subscriptions. I cancelled my Gogo monthly internet service, saving $49.95 a month. And I asked CLEAR for an extension. They pushed my membership renewal date out three months.
Well, I asked CLEAR for another three month extension and they gave it to me. And now I’ve asked for a THIRD extension.
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 »
