After Just 3 Days, Delta Ups The Mortgage On The SkyMiles Program By 38%

by Gary Leff

delta program
Sep 17 2020

On Monday Delta announced that they were mortgaging the SkyMiles program, taking out a $6.5 billion loan secured by their frequent flyer program and its revenue stream As part of the deal they had to disclose a great deal of the inner workings of the program including where members are located and how much they’re spending on Delta American Express credit cards, along with how much they’re generating in revenue selling miles to members.

Just three days after announcing this deal they’ve announced an upsizing. Instead of borrowing $6.5 billion, they’re going to borrow $9 billion.

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Earn 100,000 Avios Plus A Rebate Up To $600 a Year, Too

by Gary Leff

airplane cabin
Sep 17 2020

I like the British Airways Visa Signature® Card a lot more than I did before Chase updated the card with new benefits. This is the first card that ever had a six figure initial bonus offer in the U.S., it has a companion award ticket you can earn make it worth considering, but it’s the rebate up to $600 a year when you book award tickets that’s most enthralling.

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Hawaii Will Allow Visitors Without Quarantine Starting October 15

by Gary Leff

hawaii
Sep 17 2020

In mid-March Hawaii’s governor asked tourists not to come to the islands and then on March 26 imposed a 14 day quarantine on all arriving visitors. They couldn’t legally ban people from coming, but they could impose public health restrictions.

We’ve seen re-opening dates of August 1, and September 1, and now Hawaii is saying that visitors will be able to travel to Hawaii without 14 day quarantine starting October 15. In liqu of quarantine passengers will have to present a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of arriving.

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10,000 Mile Bonus For One-Way Star Alliance Award Booked With TAP Air Portugal Miles

by Gary Leff

Sep 17 2020

There are a significant number of readers with Star Alliance Gold status and a lot of miles in the TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go program since they were selling miles for $0.0087 apiece as part of their mileage subscription program and matching status earlier this year.

TAP’s Miles & Go is running a mileage bonus (rather than a discount) on all Star Alliance partner flights. They will award “Club TAP” mileage subscription members with a 10,000 mile bonus for booking a one-way award on Star Alliance and other airline partners.

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American Express Will Begin Re-Opening Lounges October 5, On Track For 5 New And Expanded Clubs

by Gary Leff

Sep 16 2020

A couple of weeks ago I called on Centurion lounges to open or at least for American Express to speak to its plans for re-opening. They’ve now done so. American Express tells me that on October 5 they will re-open their Philadelphia and Seattle lounges “with more locations to follow.” They’ve also detailed plans for 5 new and expanded lounges.

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Desperate For Cash, Thai Airways Will Sell You Time In Their Flight Simulators

by Gary Leff

Sep 16 2020

Thai Airways is currently in bankruptcy restructuring and suffering from the pandemic’s reduced demand and borders that are closed to tourism. The airline is looking for revenue anywhere it can find some. They’ve opened a restaurant so you can eat plane food on the ground. And they’re promoting deals for use of their flight simulators with an instructor, too.

According to Thai’s executive vice president of operations, Squadron Leader Soradech Namruangsri, the revenue-generating opportunity comes because the airline hasn’t resumed normal operations.

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FAA Will Continue To Protect Incumbent Airline Slots At The Most Congested Airports

by Gary Leff

Sep 16 2020

At many congested airports a ‘slot’, or limited number of permissions, is required to take off and land. Generally airlines have slots granted in perpetuity by government and these become properties rights that they can buy, sell, and trade.

However if they don’t use the slots they have at least 80% of the time, they can lose them. These rules have been waived during the pandemic, and the FAA plans to continue extending them.

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