When airlines gave the government a stake in their businesses, effectively partial nationalization, they created an incentive for the government to continue bailing them out to protect and grow that very stake.
Pumping in another $25 billion makes Secretary Mnuchin’s stock warrants, obtained for bailouts, look better – like he negotiated a ‘win’ for taxpayers.
American Airlines closed on a $5.5 billion government-subsidized loan last week. It can be increased to $7.5 billion. Six more airlines though have closed on loans under these conditions: United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Hawaiian Airlines, and SkyWest. Treasury didn’t immediately release the amounts borrowed by each airline, or the collateral used.
Both Democrats and Republicans are calling for $25 billion in additional subsidies, under the guise of protecting workers (although that portion costs less than 10% of the total).
The principles of loyalty marketing can be applied across industries, and the basics are very much the same: recognition (elite benefits) and reward (redemption). While the most successful programs have been in travel – airlines have turned their marketing programs from a cost center into a profit engine – loyalty marketing is important to anywhere consumers make repeated choices.
The Maldives is trying something new with a destination rewards program with three elite levels. Here’s hoping they offer status matches!
American Airlines has added partners that make their frequent flyer program more relevant to people in some of the largest cities in the country this year. American Airlines AAdvantage® miles with your savings account is an even better deal with low interest rates. And there’s the opportunity to earn an extra 25,000 referring friends for new accounts – that gets them a better offer than is publicly available, too – but that ends next month.
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.
Following announcements by United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, offering airport testing for passengers on flights to Hawaii, American Airlines today announced they, too, will offer airport testing for Dallas Fort Worth – Honolulu and Maui, and also for Miami – Jamaica. They ‘expect’ to launch testing for Bahamas flights next month, and then expand the program for flights across the Caribbean.
It was only Thursday that United Airlines announced they would offer rapid coronavirus testing at the airport in San Francisco for passengers taking its Hawaii flights. Testing would be available by appointment, with results available in 15 minutes, and the airline hoped the $250 price point would come down in the near future.
Since then Hawaiian Airlines also announced same day airport testing coming for its passengers for $150. The State of Hawaii plans to allow people to enter the state without 14 day quarantine starting October 15, provided they present a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of arrival. United says the state will accept their Abbott rapid tests.
Now Oakland airport is announcing that its Hawaii passengers can get rapid tests for free starting October 15.
This is an early sign that even the airline retrenching the most during the pandemic is looking towards its competitive future, and that we’re likely to see more competition as airlines have to work hard to attract limited passengers as air travel begins to resume in a meaningful way after Covid-19.
And Newark isn’t New York — New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia once refused to get off a plane at Newark Airport, because his ticket promised he’d travel to New York.
Barclays has introduced a refreshed suite of Wyndham credit cards and they’ve done as good a job as possible considering the limitation that they’re working with Wyndham, a motley collection of brands and a loyalty program that last year doubled the redemption cost of its best hotels.
In Thailand writing a bad review of a hotel can land you in jail. Defamation can be a criminal charge, and include opinions deemed to be unfair.
British Airways can’t get away with putting its critics in prison under U.K. law but they’ve updated their terms and conditions to say that they can close the mileage accounts of members who “statements..reflects unfavourably on the reputation of British Airways or any aspect of its business, brands, products or services.”
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 »
