This week a many started handing out $100 bills on his flight, working his way down the aisle of the aircraft. He tells everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with a wad of cash.
One passenger appears reluctant to take the money. Touching things others have handled – even a $100 bill – causes some reluctance during the Covid era. The man responds, “I don’t care if you want to take it or not, you can throw it out.”
Hilton has announced its promotion for the first part of 2021. Registration required and you should register now just in case you have a Hilton stay between January 1 and May 2, 2021 because you won’t remember to do so later.
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.
American Airlines is bringing back its furloughed employees, but no flight attendant will actually return to work until March 2. Only one-third will return in March. And the government only requires employment through March 31, in exchange for the roughly $3.5 billion they should receive.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American’s cabin crew, plans to push for a third bailout.
World Of Hyatt Credit Card cardmembers normally receive 5 elite nights every year (and earn 2 more elite nights for every $5000 they spend on the card). However Hyatt tells me that new cardmembers who are approved by December 31, 2020 will receive (10) elite nights both for 2020 and for 2021. That’s double the number of elite nights, twice.
And there’s a new card offer that gives you a choice of initial bonus.
While other airlines minimize their spending to conserve cash during the pandemic, American has been accelerating their capital spending to convert planes more quickly to this new standard. This is the wrong product at the wrong time: exactly the moment where there are fewer customers (so planes with more seats are less needed) and customers value space between them most (so reducing space between customers makes no sense).
American is nearly done. They have now sent 200 Boeing 737-800s in for densification. That’s two-thirds of the 737-800 fleet. But it’s far more of the active fleet.
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.
A correspondent shares his recent experience with an overwater bungalow at the Hilton Moorea. He found “the grounds are lovely, the staff was very nice, the breakfast excellent” (though service not proactive). However this was overshadowed by problems with his room and with the hotel’s service, truly creating a ‘stay from hell’.
Several lawsuits were filed over airlines’ resistance to providing customers with refunds when either cancelling or substantially changing itineraries early in the Covid-19 pandemic, as required by U.S. law. A class action lawsuit against American Airlines has been resolved in a draw.
In my experience American Airlines was one of the few ‘good guys’ with refunds. The places to focus on are the airlines and online travel agencies which really did act badly against their customers – like United, JetBlue, Air Canada, and online travel agency sites.
Costa Rica has been one of a handful of places to welcome Americans in recent months. They’ve been dealing with significant spread of Covid-19 since August. So far over 160,000 Costa Ricans have been confirmed to have the virus, and around 2000 have died.
The country has new restrictions going into effect December 31.
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 »
