In the Airlines Confidential podcast last week, former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza – talking about vaccine requirements and dismissal of employees who don’t get vaccinated – offered that it’s reasonable to exclude pregnant woman. The line he follows about it being inadvisable for pregnant women to be vaccinated is dangerous.
The ‘new Alitalia’ – ITA Airways – doesn’t have elite frequent flyers yet, and they’d like some. So they’re offering a status match to elites in most programs. So if you would like elite status you just need to e-mail them.
The Taliban is getting a harsh lesson in the limits to Islamic economics as it deals with international air service from Kabul, now that they’ve returned from the role of rebel force to that of managing institutions of governance. Price controls lead to scarcity.
Macaulay Culkin was left behind when his family went on vacation, but what if a sequel had been filmed where he’d snuck into the family luggage and wound up checked in the cargo hold instead? That almost happened in real life, but with a chihuahua rather than a child actor.
American Airlines won’t serve alcohol in coach. They’ll serve alcohol to first class passengers, though, and on a recent Charlotte-Miami flight one passenger was spotted with a full bottle on their tray table for the short 650 mile trip – impressive indeed for a two hour flight.
The process of identifying JetBlue elites flying on American Airlines, waiving their checked bag fees, and receiving priority bag tags is not a seamless one. But JetBlue elites do get one benefit flying American that Ameircan’s own elites do not get flying on JetBlue.
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 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.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the number one cause of air travel injuries is turbulence – and there’s a way for planes to avoid turbulence far more often.
This may not be surprising, but the last time the NTSB did a deep dive on the issue was 50 years ago. And they found that current weather reports from pilots are inadequate.
J.P. Morgan Chase warned that the financial performance of its card business was being dragged down by “rising costs on marketing and promotions.” This caused shares of other card issuers to drop on the day of the report, because the issue is industry-wide.
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 »
