News and notes from around the interweb:
- How Loyalty Programs Are Saving Airlines
- LAX Terminal 2 Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse becomes a Delta Sky Club in May
- You can now redeem IHG Rewards Club points for some Six Senses properties, they look fantastic and in some cases the value is decent – but the effect of elimination of award charts is clear when points cost can run 237,500 points against a $580 room! And elite benefits are weaker at this brand than elsewhere.
- Odd, Virgin Australia is doing additional status extensions for those who have booked flights with them versus those who haven’t.
Because you booked your first flight back with us, we wanted to show our gratitude by providing you with an extended Platinum membership of 18 months from today, 1 April 2021. That’s a further 6 months than we promised.
Your extension will be provided in two parts. Initially, your extension will be until 31 March 2022 and you can see this now in your My Velocity account and Velocity App. Later this year, we’ll apply the remaining six month extension to your account so that your new review date will be 30 September 2022. We’ll let you know once this has been done.
- Some concerns with vaccine passports you may not have considered and how they can be addressed.
Say a venue (a meeting hall, a hotel, a university) starts using a passport that’s supplied by some tech company, and that tech company then decides—whether because of its managers’ or employees’ ideological views, or because of pressure from other customers or suppliers—that it will stop serving venues that host “extremist” or “hateful” or “pro-insurrectionist” or anti-“anti-racist” events. Or say that the company decides to stop serving passport-holders who have attended such nefarious events; they reject such evil ideas, the company would say, and they don’t want their technology to be used to spread such ideas.
What started out as just a health and safety decision by the venue, or by the government if it is requiring certain venues to check the vaccine passports, will have turned into extra private company control over what people can say and hear.
- State Department ban on international travel needs to end especially since the CDC is finally following the science in its recommendations.
- When the fire alarm goes off at an Australian quarantine hotel for arriving passengers, you’re not allowed to leave your room (HT: Paul H.)
@ Gary — As much I think IHG points are overvalued, I don’t think singling out one property is fair. Some points redemption rates during COVID have been fantastic, even after reflecting the lower cash rates.
@ Gary — Now that I’ve read more, I see it is a widespread devaluation. Great.
Vaccine passports are an all around bad idea. If you want to protect yourself, get vaccinated (I did). If you want additional protection, wear an N95 mask. Others who are willing to take an increased risk because they are young/healthy or already had Covid or are simply dumb should be able to take that risk. It’s why we let people rent jet skis or smoke cigarettes. Freedom is what makes America what it is.
What’s the news on a status extension challenge? I don’t see anything in the article.