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. Continue reading A Warning About the Great Iberia Deal and Watch This Late Go Around of a 737...

They‘ve improved the card‘s annual free night and points-earning for ongoing spend. And they‘ve launched the card with an eye-popping bonus: 100,000 points after 5000 spend on purchases in the first 3 months of cardmembership. I wrote that I don‘t know when that 100,000 point offer ends, but it turns out the end date is published. Continue reading End Date Announced for Marriott 100,000 Point Initial Bonus Offer...

The single most important factor in whether or not you have a good flight is having an empty seat next to you. The food or snacks seem better. Flight attendants seem friendlier. It‘s less stressful overall. So regardless of your size, if you feel more comfortable buying extra space, it‘s something to consider especially when the price is right. Airlines don‘t just sell extra legroom seats -- who knew they sell extra width t

First Hawaiian bank, owned by a French banking group, is pulling out of its relationship with domestic banking there due to regulatory risk even though there‘s no indication of money laundering. This makes cashing paychecks from the US military base problematic. Western Union has one branch in the capital, which may leave residents taking a trip hundreds of miles by boat or air to receive funds from the rest of the world. Continue readin

Southwest, Delta and United telephone customer service

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. Continue reading New: Expiring Points After Just 6 Months of Inactivity and Bad Thing to Do To Your Pilot...

I‘m a big fan of creative and even guerrilla marketing efforts, especially when it‘s travel companies getting attention by giving away value to their customers. Last year Barclays and Mastercard promoted the American Airlines card with in-airport cooking and golf demonstrations with giveaways for cardmembers. United is doing something bigger. Continue reading United Handing Out Gift Cards and Miles at the Gate to Promote Credit Card

You can earn 90,000 Avios for under 300. Iberia is giving out 9,000 Avios per trip for up to 10 trips. That‘s amazing considering there‘s no minimum fare involved. Iberia is honoring this deal and in practice you won‘t even need to take the flights. More importantly this deal scales. Have a family of 7 or lots of friends? You could earn 630,000 points for ~ 2000. Continue reading Deal of the Year Through This Weekend Only 90

Underrated doesn‘t mean something is the best, just that it‘s better than commonly appreciated. Overrated doesn‘t mean it‘s not good -- or even great -- just that it isn‘t as good as people in general seem to think. Overrated or underrated is about lowering or raising the status of things. It‘s about whether you think people in general regard it too highly, or not highly enough, relative to its actual worth.

An Air Canada Super Elite who takes over 150 flights a year says his business travel plans change often. Air Canada says he books refundable tickets, uses their lounges, and then cancels his tickets on days he never intends to fly at all. If you‘re near the airport and have lounge access you may think it‘s just a free pub with bar snacks. But Air Canada and this frequent flyer are now locked in a legal battle that would never even e

In the new Marriott program Chase will be the exclusive issuer of the broad based consumer credit card, and they‘ve made several changes to their new product compared to the old one in order to make it more rewarding. Continue reading Four Reasons to Get the New Marriott Credit Card (Hint: It‘s Not Just the 100,000 Points)...

Long-time Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher used to say they were in the customer service business "we just happened to fly airplanes." Jeff Bezos talks about the importance of focusing on your customers, not on your competitors. Those are two principles I think about in the me-too US airline world. And principles I thought of when I saw Mark Ross-Smith share on Facebook how he interacts with customers. Continue reading How One Head of Loyal

Look for a ‘CardMatch Special Offers‘ tab, Amex cards may not be what display but default but look for special offers on the left hand side of the screen. If you aren‘t targeted, you won‘t see it. Definitely worth checking to see if you‘re eligible. This is a fabulous offer for a fantastic card. Continue reading 100,000 Bonus for Amex Platinum Still Going Strong‘ Through CardMatch Tool...

Air Asia flight 5583 from Kolkata to Bagdogra - a 277 mile flight - was 4.5 hours for mechanical reasons. After 90 minutes passengers were asked to get off the aircraft. It was pouring down rain and people didn‘t want to leave. Air conditioning on board aircraft will mist in highly humid conditions. Passengers contend that the captain turned up the air conditioning in order to smoke them out since they didn‘t want to leave. Continue r

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. Continue reading Are Meals More Important than Wifi? and Southwest Systemwide Double Points...

Malaysia‘s recently ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak cannot leave the country while he faces corruption charges. He took his family on holiday to Langkawi and apparently took quite a lot of baggage on the trip. He‘s a Platinum member of the Malaysia Airlines Enrich status. One imagines whether he meets the criteria or not that he‘d have this status. And his Platinum appears to come with a very special perk. His reservation show

American Airlines announced last month that they‘re ending their Chicago - Beijing flight in October. American‘s Vice President - Planning Vasu Raja told employees in Chicago last week at a question and answer session that Chicago flights to Asia are mostly connecting traffic, that they rely on connections from cities with low fares and often their own non-stop flights to the same destinations, and that higher fuel costs make it even

Yesterday a group of teenagers - who had entered the country on their own - were being escorted without parents onboard an American Airlines flight from McAllen, Texas to Dallas and onward to New York LaGuardia. Continue reading How American Airlines Handled One Flight Yesterday With Undocumented Children Onboard...

American Airlines is predicting that British Airways will fly to more mid-sized US cities than they do today, and that American is going to increase the size of the planes they fly to London Heathrow. However despite complaining that there aren‘t enough premium seats flying Chicago - London, American currently plans to reduce the number of premium seats flying Chicago - London (and to reduce the number of premium seats on two major aircraft

When Barclays launched the Arrival Premier World Elite Mastercard as the bank‘s first card with points that transfer to miles back in April I wrote "additional transfer partners are expected to follow." At the time I expected the first new partner to be Air Canada‘s Aeroplan, which is also an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner and which allows most Star Alliance awards to be redeemed online. Continue reading Barclays

Delta listed a job for a sales associate on LinkedIn whose role would be to ‘develop relationships and ties in the Austin market with key community and industry organizations to support Delta‘s Focus City initiative.‘ Continue reading Austin Will Become a Delta Focus City (Mini-Hub)...

Earlier today I wrote about flight attendants expressing concern over transporting kids who were being separated from their families as they‘re split up under immigration laws. Both American Airlines and United have expressed solidarity with their crew, which isn‘t surprising. The Department of Homeland Security has come out swinging against both airlines. Continue reading Department of Homeland Security Blasts American, United for No

AAdvantage President Bridget Blaise-Shamai appeared on the latest American Airlines employee podcast Tell Me Why which is also uploaded on several public podcast hosting sites. She commented on Platinum Pro and ConciergeKey elite status changes, efforts to improve award availability, the future of upgrades into and awards for premium economy, and inflight credit card pitches. Continue reading AAdvantage President Shares Her Take on Award Availabi

There‘s been a lot of chatter and possibly ill-informed speculation amongst Ameircan Airlines flight attendants about the number of unaccompanied minors being up on their US-Mexico flights. There‘s been some disagreement over whether this is the result of the federal government deporting children on American Airlines flights, or parents proactively sending their children out of the country out of fear they might be captured and held