Upgrd.com Podcast: The United-Continental Merger, Upgrades on Award Tickets, and Fortress Hubs

The Upgrd Podcast is back after a several weeks’ hiatus and there’s a full cohort of panelists (including yours truly).

We discuss the Continental – United merger, Continental’s new initiative of upgrades on award tickets for co-branded credit card holders, we debate the merits of the various New York airports and I advance the notion that US Airways is the Star Alliance’s designated consolidator for premium class inventory. (The fact that this got the biggest chorus of laughs in the half hour show suggests just what sort of a group this is…!)

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

  1. I like these podcasts, but man if ever there was a modern version of either Beavis and B..head, or whatever that great white north show was – this is it!

  2. Enjoyed your podcast. I’m very surprised about your aversion to flying Continental out of NYC. The trip to LGA is wholly dependent on the time of day — if it’s anywhere near rush hour that trip is a pain, and mass transit there is really annoying(subway to the M60 bus). The NJ Transit train from Penn Station to EWR is only about 20 minutes and is very reliable, and even if you’re equidistant from JFK, it’s much more pleasant to take the nice NJT train than it is to take the A train to Queens. Add in the ability to use Star Alliance rewards for CO and I figured at least one of you would prefer to head to EWR rather than to fly AA or DL.

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