LifeMiles is selling miles in their Star Alliance program for about 1.2 cents apiece. That’s a great deal, but associated airline Avianca is in bankruptcy. Is it safe to take advantage of the offer?
Former Spirit Airlines CEO is a JetBlue board member and naturally thinks more of that sweet, sweet taxpayer cash ought to flow to airlines. He lays out what he calls misconceptions about government aid to airlines as he makes the case for the second government bailout of the industry this year.
Baldanza’s piece is a breath of fresh air though because it honestly talks about government subsidies as more than just an unemployment program. He takes seriously government support as an airline bailout, ensuring airlines are providing capacity to the economy, and doesn’t offer the fiction that it’s only about supporting the workers.
Now we have serious arguments worth answering.
Ethiopian Airlines ran a repatriation flight this weekend from Houston to Lagos, Nigeria. There were more people who showed up at the airport than seats. The $1500 one-way flight had a waiting list, and numerous people were looking to get on.
After boarding local Nigerian officials identified no shows and empty seats and started to auction those off, reportedly pocketing an extra $250 apiece for themselves. But it took six hours to get the seats sold at the higher price, especially since the delay meant some of the passengers started getting off the plane – more seats for the officials to sell at a markup.
A brawl broke out at the Embassy Suites Atlanta Galleria after a dispute between a guest and a front desk associate. Other guests in the lobby naturally caught it on video… rather than helping to restrain the combatants.
While the argument that precipitated the fight wasn’t recorded, we can see that the hotel front desk agent is wearing a mask at the end– and the guest is not.
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.
The U.S. government has taken the opportunity during the global pandemic, when people aren’t traveling out of the country much, to roll out a new platform for storing information they believe they are entitled to take from people crossing the border. A new filing reveals how the U.S. Border Patrol will store data from traveler devices centrally, keeping it backed up and searchable for up to 75 years.
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.
The Airbus A380 was on the the way out even before the pandemic. Now it’s original purpose no longer exists.
In fact an A380 is now worth so little that the value of the plane may be literally less than the sum of its parts.
Presidential campaigns traditionally have planes. But this year Joe Biden is going without one since he won’t leave his basement won’t be traveling much for in-person events during the pandemic.
Biden will be saying Trump events are “gambling with American lives for his own political gain.” Yet he hasn’t actually ruled out getting a plane and doing events later “if individual states change their guidelines.”
Airlines and their unions have asked for a ‘clean extension’ of the payroll support money, another $25 billion. However if that’s to save 75,000 jobs through March 31, 2021 that amounts to $333,333 per job and come April 1 we’ll see job losses again (when it’s not election season).
Seriously, has anybody actually done the math here?
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 »
