News and notes from around the interweb:
- United has been asking for triple your shortfall in ticket spending to earn the status. so if you were $4,500 short, they want you to pay $13,500 to buy up to the status. So you can buy a used car or 1K, the choice is yours?
- Aloft Dublin: it costs to much to comply with Marriott elite breakfast, so we decided to stop doing that
Breakfast at an Aloft - New Zealand’s new tourism slogan invites toilet comparisons (HT: @crucker)
Reminds me of "Australian Tourism Slogan Ruled Obscene" about the Northern Territories…https://t.co/Dbg38BMRcW pic.twitter.com/KIaLrz3WVM
— gary leff (@garyleff) February 18, 2025
- Cabin crew busted posing for photos on plane wing while waiting for takeoff
- A long way to go to get to premium.
My last flight on American. Paid for an upgrade and got a broken seat. @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/Vvd5gZL7Da
— Bill Scott (@BillMiami) February 18, 2025
Nah they are making a fat joke
Food with no utensils
You will hear from lawyers American Airlines pic.twitter.com/GHbgxcP4m8
— LegendOfWinning (@LegendOfWinning) February 17, 2025
- Bribery at Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia
Seefeldt along with others provided the employee with gifts and other things totaling $323,686 in exchange for the employee to use his position to influence to benefit the Contractor during the project.
The employee was gifted paid vacations, jewelry, cash, dinners, entertainment, and transportation from Seefeldt. The employee also used his position to access internal agency information available only to Amtrak employees and share it with Seefeldt.
According to the release, the employee would also approve additional and more expensive changes to the project along with others that they inflated from the true cost. He also billed $52 million of additional payments from Amtrak to the Contractor. These additional expenses caused Amtrak to be overbilled by $2,000,000.
- Just mean.
fake outlet at the airport
byu/MaryHighFrequency inmildlyinfuriating
Perhaps United is charging $13,500 to maintain status precisely because they don’t want people to purchase status?
Noone.
99% of people who have high airline status dont pay (or pay very little) to actually earn it.
Its all on OPM.
People with money dont bother with status. Status is a marketing gimmick for airlines to drain as much as possible out of people who do not make rational buying decisions because they are not spending their own money.
Per reports, the wing walking was officially required of the crew. The reports tell of taking confirmation photos but the photos taken from a distance are not clear enough to confirm that.
The breakfast with no utensils makes me wonder why the recipient didn’t press the button for the call light and ask for some from a flight attendant. If no attendant came, still not a total loss. Clear out the smallest plate and use it as a spoon. Or always carry chopsticks or a spork with you.
The same people that paid $446 for first class on a CR7 PHX/PSP-a 35 minute flight. Or in other words people for which $10K is chump change. Now why said person would not be flying private?
-@ Bob — Don’t generalize so much. Some people travel because they enjoy it.
Having been all levels of United premier status at some point over the last decade, I have found the difference between Platinum and 1K to be almost meaningless comparably, mainly due to pluspoint upgrades rarely clearing when I wanted to use them. I am usually not at the gate early enough to board early, do not drink, and would rather sleep than eat a snack box. Platinum feels like actually getting something when you can get free economy plus and checked bags for a large family.
Alaska Air did similar.- but MVP Gold qualifying miles at 13/cents each. However, this year I needed over 11K to get to next level. Last year I was within 1K.of MBP Gold, and there was no offer. I just ran out of time for a mileage run.
Pay $13,500 to maintain United status? The only reason I could see paying this is for the “outstanding” in-flight catering. (This comment is full-on sarcasm, please don’t try United’s food)
These are commonly referred to as “masochists.”
@JS – Well said about United Elite. I cannot agree with you more.
More proof, not that any was truly needed, that UA is nuts!
@Mark, @Gary ->- In the FWIW Dept., I’m Alaska MVP Gold. Just flew SFO-JFK r/t with my wife…got upgraded to (domestic) First in both directions. I was also upgraded to F on my SFO-AUS o/w trip (flew AA from DFW back). I’m 3 for 3 in 2025. (It can’t last, of course, but it’s fun while it lasts…)
‘Never chase status’—Let it happen.
@Bob @Gene — I’m with you both, but namely because you’re describing different types of travel, business vs. personal.
I agree with Bob that when it’s a business expense, most of us do ‘milk’ it, and the airlines likely know that, but the ‘good ole days’ are sorta over on that as corporate travel policies have ‘tightened’ dramatically for many of us. For most flights, we’re getting Economy, then paying out of pocket if we ‘must’ be up-front (or ‘dying on the waitlist’ then complaining about it at VFTW ad-nauseam).
I also agree with Gene on personal travel—if you can afford luxury or find the ‘deals’ to make it happen, status might help a little (better seats, priority boarding, lounge access, etc.)—but, as with most things, you still gotta pay the ‘big bucks’ for the really nice stuff.
@JS @T — So true. PlusPoints are a joke. The only benefit of 1K is snack box in Economy, you know, for all the times you ‘die on the waitlist’ when your PPs don’t clear (oof, that sounds like a problem between us and our urologists, now doesn’t it?).
@Denver Refugee — Bah! You need to ‘live a little’ try some of the finer things. Travel doesn’t have to be a chore. Then again, when things go wrong it doesn’t matter what status or class of service you have. As those poor folks in Toronto just learned, First Class is just as ‘upside-down’ as Economy sometimes.