They’re A 10 – But They Spend Too Long In Security Lines. Should You Break Up?

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • 850 free Wyndham points

  • Loyalty programs FTW!

  • Nightmare: American Airlines wouldn’t release unaccompanied minor to mother because they entered parental contact information wrong. Lesson: the paper form carried by the child has the information, too. And your kid is going to recognize you. But it’s pretty scary, most parents aren’t usually pressed to prove guardianship.

  • They’re a 10, but they spend a day a year in airport security lines.

  • More effective than crumpled up tissues on the middle seat?

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  2. My advice to McKenzie is that she should break up with her boyfriend.
    If the relationship is that precarious she would be doing him a favor!

  3. Kid1 has had Global Entry (and thus TSAPre) since they introduced the program. Can’t tell you how many close connections and/or dashes to the gate after insane airport traffic that has rescued them. (Can I tell you about the Uber driver who literally couldn’t find his way from downtown Boston to Logan, even when using a GPS?!?) Loves to travel. But now-ex Plus1 refused to get it. Even when offered for free, because we had an extra CC offer. Which meant when travelling together, Kid1 was essentially stuck in all the lines, despite having GE/TSAPre – they could go through, then had to wait on the other side.

    Wasn’t the reason they broke up, but it was a sign. Travel compatibility is important if you’re a traveler.

    Now that I think about it, they do fingerprint you to get Global Entry. And run you through the system. Hmmmmm. Didn’t seem like the type, but still…

  6. Is there anything funnier than people complaining about other peoples’ comments? It cracks me up every time, although I know I should have compassion for them. Step 1: look at OP’s name. Step 2: move on if OP is someone that you hate to read. Viola! Problem solved.

  7. Mark / @drdoot uses an inaccurate statistic. Somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of airline passengers have some level of tier status that would afford priority security. Gary, please correct me if I’m wrong.

    Mark / @drdoot concludes that loyalty programs are worthless because there are long lines at airports. That’s like blaming the express lane at the grocery store for you having 20 items in your cart. Or saying, because all of you people have more than 12 items in your carts, you are forcing me to be in this line. What messed up logic.

    huey judy, they can’t help themselves. And often they will lack civility. Quite depressing. Look at the number of comments to articles about (say) some credit card bonus. Then look at the number of comments to articles about (say) the homeless being housed in hotels. The kooks come out of the woodwork. Then there will be some sedate topic and, out of the blue, someone brings up Coronavirus masks. And the knives come out.

    As you suggest, I’m likely going to leave this blog.

Comments are closed.