News and notes from around the interweb:
- Tidbits about United MileagePlus they believe they were too focused on elite customers on insufficiently focused on engaging the broader membership base. Perhaps in tension with that idea, they’re proud of having been the first major carrier to go straight revenue-based for elite qualification. They recently had a single month where they signed up 800,000 new members.
- Tidbits about Avios there are 40 million members, with 3000 Avios collected and 2000 Avios used every second. 60% of Avios are collected outside of flying.
- Check out this Norse Atlantic 787:
Largest aircraft ever to land on #TrollAirfield!
"This demonstrates our capability of performing more effective flight operations to #Antarctica by carrying a larger scientific/logistics crew, more cargo with a smaller environmental footprint", says NPI-director, Camilla Brekke, pic.twitter.com/7vjsSw0gPI— Norsk Polarinstitutt // Norwegian Polar Institute (@NorskPolar) November 16, 2023
- Hilton in Japan apologizes for ‘disrespectful’ ad disparaging traditional Japanese inns
- California Supreme Court: Westin St. Francis and other hotels owed millions in refunds from tax overcharges
“Breakfast is from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., with the last chance to order at 9:30. At around 8 o’clock, the dining room gets very crowded.”
There are several thousand Hamptons, mid-tier DoubleTrees, and Embassy Suites that fit this exact criteria.
The link on the MileagePlus tidbits does not seem to work. But it sounds like they are following AA’s lead a bit. AA’s approach to points from spending has definitely got me to spend more on that card, along with the availability of BA award flights for fewer miles than on BA.com. In fact, a lot of the spending I used to do on my UA card I now direct to AA, and have become AA plat. I used to be UA 1K for years, then dropped to Plat in the pandemic and will now drop to Silver for 2024. If I could just get to UA (and *A) gold with UA spending, and stay AA plat (and OneWorld Sapphire), I think I’d be in good shape with the most useful benefits of status given that I usually fly in paid domestic or paid or award international business class anyway.
Go direct to https://letstalkloyalty.com/
Bodnar sites Marriott’s Bonvoy program as the one he most admires. Not good for Mileage Plus elites.
San Francisco illegally overtaxing hotels. Who would have thought that? Since the same tax model is widely followed, other jurisdictions will also have to refund money.
Some interesting insights.
Your miles will never expire. But they won’t be worth a “s” in a few years
For the benefit of the traveler we shifted to a revenue based system.
Developed strategic partnerships (i.e. Marriott and credit cards. Credit cards are mission critical)
Interesting recap about the COVID period, how close they came to running out of cash, and how they generated cash flow from MP, $7 billion. Followed later by government assistance.
They get a lot of customer data (travel and spending insight) from MP
I’m still old school, do a lot of flying (work and personal) and get my status that way. I don’t use a UA or other airline credit card. Insufficient value. While I’ve not had an issue making 1K, the return value for that loyalty has shrunk significantly. It seems like current trends will lead to a point in the near future to decide whether maintaining that loyalty is worth it.
The host really needs to mute her mic or break the habit of constantly say yeah..yeah..OK..OK-lovely. Just let the guy talk.
@ Gary — The first things said by Luc Bondar say it all. He admires Marriott Bonvoy. This guy admires backstabbing. I guess he must love Delta, too.
Ironically Delta is going the opposite direction. They were too focused on general members so now they gutted the program for everyone except high elites flying with OPM. We will see how that works for both of them.
We should stop calling these loyalty programs. They don’t reward loyalty, they only reward wealth. You can be a 1K with just two first class international trips, and you can barely make silver with two dozen economy flights.
Besides, as it has pointed many times here, miles and points are becoming worthless. Let’s call these what they are, marketing tricks to fool customers.