Airlines have tried to crack down on the money-saving practice of ‘throwaway ticketing’ for years. You buy a flight to somewhere that connects beyond your final destination because it’s cheaper, and just don’t take the flight.
A reader was recently approached by American Airlines customer service staff at the airport and warned against throwaway ticketing. He did it anyway. Here’s what happened.
How have hotel stocks basically recovered to pre-pandemic levels, when U.S. revenue per available room is down over 50% year-to-year and business travelers aren’t on the verge of coming back any time soon even if there’s pandemic light at the end of the tunnel?
Marriott has a status challenge program where they’ll give anyone with at least mid-tier status in one of the major hotel loyalty programs and just one night of stay credit in the past year up to Platinum status in their program for 90 days, and a quick path to keep that status.
The Netherlands has banned passenger flights from the U.K. in response to reports of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 that spreads more easily. Planes can bring passengers to the U.K. but must return without passengers. The virus mutation has been detected in Denmark and Australia, but has not been discovered in the U.S. (yet).
What we know so far is that U.K. scientists believe it is far more transmissible, but doesn’t seem to be more dangerous, and shouldn’t mitigate the effectiveness of vaccines.
Google is a great source for finding flights and hotels as well as activities at your destination. Eight years ago Google was on the cusp of becoming your new travel agent and the online travel agencies (like Expedia) were trying to get the federal government to stop them.
Until now Google has largely sent travelers to other sites to make bookings.
A televangelist bought a private jet two weeks after receiving PPP funds. The preacher says they got a good deal on the 14 passenger Gulfstream, and that they had their own money so didn’t need to use PPP funds for it.
The preacher’s wife posted to social media that they took the non-profit church’s jet on vacation.
The TSA took to social media to congratulate themselves for stopping a bad actor. Box cutters raise huge alarms because they were used to take control of aircraft on 9/11. Someone bringing those through a security checkpoint – concealed – raises huge flags. And TSA stopped the plot!
The TSA was forced to clarify that these weren’t box cutters after all, it was marijuana, and nobody tried to take it through a checkpoint since it was, in fact, found in a checked bag.
An internal American Airlines memo from Jim Moses to Philadelphia staff reveals routes that the airline is cutting from their primary transatlantic gateway. American will eliminate operations to Iceland, Manchester U.K. and Prague and won’t fly to Venice in 2021 though they hope to return in 2022.
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.
There’s no federal mask mandate. All U.S. airlines require passengers to wear masks. So most people assume that the only penalties for non-compliance are imposed by airlines. That’s not true.
Airlines only impose penalties, other than asking a passenger not to fly, when enforcing mask rules leads to an altercation. But when an altercation occurs, the FAA can impose penalties too. In other words, you don’t need a federal mask mandate to punish passengers for bad behavior.
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 »
