Tag Archives for delta.
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.
When your miles are expiring there are plenty of ways to extend them, depending on the program. In general programs let you extend your miles by earning miles in an account or by redeeming miles.
I frequently use Magazines for Miles to keep family member accounts alive without spending any money. I had forgotten there’s a newspaper redemption option, too. And there are some options I’m finding useful on their own merits, not just to deal with expiring miles.
Qatar Airways owns a 49% stake in Air Italy and is attempting to revive what was once Meridiana into the dominant airline in Italy. With Delta partner Alitalia struggling, that seems possible. Although given Alitalia’s challenges, draining subsidies from Air France and then Etihad and the government of Italy the Italian aviation market isn’t a place that’s likely to produce profits. Delta sniffed around looking to invest in Alitalia, but no deal has been done.
US airlines don’t want to compete with Air Italy, though. They don’t want to compete with anyone, and there’s always a chance to go to the administration and complain about foreigners.
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.
Delta plans to cut recline by 2 inches in both first class and economy on their Airbus A320 aircraft. They say this is a move to increase passenger comfort, and I actually agree with this.
We shouldn’t celebrate the need for less recline, because it goes along with less comfortable seating overall. Nonetheless Delta essentially failed to make this change earlier and is coming back and doing something necessary to correct that failure.
Delta’s CEO seemingly told employees that their 767s would get new suites in business class with doors. Unfortunately this is not what’s happening. There’s going to be a new seat, better than the current 767 seat, but uncompetitive compared to what other airlines will be flying on some similar routes.
I view Delta cards as strong, of course for their initial bonus and for the benefits they convey to passengers (especially those without elite status) flying the airline semi-regularly. I do not view them as a strong tool for spending, independent of weakness in the SkyMiles program itself.
That’s because even if you want to earn SkyMiles through credit card spend, American Express offers cards that earn Membership Rewards points faster than Delta miles, and Membership Rewards points will continue to transfer to Delta as well as having the option of being moved to other programs as-needed.
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.
Buffett got back into airline investing two years ago, not quite convinced that major carriers had become ‘high quality industrials’ as Delta likes to argue just that the business is better than it used to be. Berkshire Hathaway promptly lost over a billion dollars on these investments.
Nonetheless a month ago there were rumors he was going to buy Southwest Airlines in its entirety and that drove up the airline’s share price.
In January American Airlines made a move to reduce tensions in its lounges instructing staff to avoid national news channels on the televisions unless specifically requested.
Now reportedly Delta SkyClubs are making a similar move.
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 »
