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.
If all you care about is schedule and price then choose your airline based on schedule and price. But fewer people care about just these things than is commonly imagined – it’s just that these are the only pieces of information people have historically been given.
Say you move to Kansas City, and decide to start fresh with a new airline. That’s a competitive market with lots of airlines you can reasonably fly. Southwest is biggest but several airlines are choices you can select from.
For anyone going to Disney World, the relevant question is what would they be doing if they weren’t at Disney? In Florida numerous bars remain open despite restrictions, and gyms are open.
Disney is probably a safer activity than alternatives, which means that Disney being open likely reduces spread of the virus.
As Brazil tops 100,000 reported deaths from Covid-19, its President Bolsonaro urges citizens to “get on with [their] lives and try to find a way of getting away with this problem.” He suggested as well that his country’s governors were inflating fatalities “to panic the population.” So blame the pillows?
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.
Airlines are engaged in hygiene theater, cleaning surfaces and promoting electrostatic spraying. I appreciate the cleanliness and hope it sticks around after the pandemic. But the CDC and other research suggests surfaces aren’t a key vector of Covid-19 spread.
Social distancing guidance was based on the idea that large respiratory droplets are the primary way that the virus spreads, and those droplets fall to the ground quickly, so staying six feet apart from others is a good prophylactic. Masks help with large droplets. However increasingly researchers are concerned with aerosolized spread or airborne transmission.
Last year Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik had a run-in with United Airlines, accusing the airline of slamming the boarding door of a Houston – Los Angeles flight in her face.
Now her co-star Kaley Cuoco is nearly ready to debut her next role in a series called “The Flight Attendant.”
The practice, which dates to April, has mostly ended – but one Hyatt hotel in Seattle was found still asking guests to reach down deep and give extra money to the property’s owners just this week.
After being called out, the hotel is no longer asking guests for donations, but it’s still charging a resort fee without delivering any amenities so that is kind of the same really.
Delta, United, Southwest, and JetBlue no longer expire miles, period. American Airlines does – requiring activity in your account every 18 months, or else you lose the miles you’ve already earned.
During the global pandemic, with program members not traveling, American waited until April to pause mileage expiration – and only did so through June. It appears they’ve had a change of heart.
Singapore Airlines is contributing 30 million miles and raising 70 million more in order to award up to 100 million KrisFlyer miles to first responders and essential workers.
And if you donate 1000 miles you get to pick someone to receive up to 60,000 miles.
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 »
