Delta and United announced that their elite status would be extended through the end of next year. Air Canada followed on Monday. Now Alaska Airlines has announced their own extension of elite status, along with companion certificates, and shared other things to expect for elite members in the weeks ahead. Continue reading Alaska Airlines Extends Elite Status and More...

There are few flights, few passengers. The airlines are applying for government money that limits their ability to furlough workers. So instead of sitting idle they‘re spending their time making masks. Quality, non-scammy masks are hard to source. Delta even had half a million masks stolen. Continue reading The United Airlines Denver Face Mask Factory Is Up And Running...

A New York City private school though hasn‘t been so lucky and is now locked in a battle with Miami Beach‘s Eden Roc hotel over a 2.3 million deposit for an April trip. Even though the hotel is closed, they won‘t refund the deposit and are demanding an additional 1.2 million. In my experience so far with group bookings hotels are being much more hard-nosed than with individual reservations. They have money and they do not want

When current American Airlines management ran US Airways they were notorious for bad labor relations. They never managed to get a single pilot contract for America West and US Airways pilots, so never completed the merger. Instead they sat back and benefited from lower wages as the two pilots groups fought against each other. Now American‘s flight attendants may wind up fighting against each other, as two classes of employees within the un

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 Massive Fire At Florida Airport, Destroys Thousands Of Cars...

Chris Guillebeau‘s books are empowering because they‘re actionable, for instance The 100 Startup talked about finding the things people as you questions about - where others see you as an expert - and turning that into a business. And most importantly, not waiting until sometime in the future, not putting together a business plan and raising money and someday actually doing it but bootstrapping your way to success. This time he&lsquo

Over the past several days multiple airline flight crews have refused to work their flights because they were carrying passengers off of Holland America‘s Zaandam cruise ship. Now the U.S. government will no longer allow returning cruise passengers to take commercial flights. Continue reading U.S. Bans Returning Cruise Passengers From Taking Commercial Flights...

Air Canada has come up with a couple of interesting things to make it worth continuing to earn status and make it even easier to do so even while doing something good during the current crisis. Continue reading Air Canada Extends Elite Status And Makes It Easy To Keep Earning - And Gifting - Status...

While demand is limited, it‘s growing, and United Airlines is considering a once a week return to Shanghai. Apple has historically purchased 50 business class seats a day on San Francisco - Shanghai from United Continue reading United Airlines May Re-Start China Flights...

I had several reports on recent travels started but I‘ve put those aside. I‘m not sure it adds a lot of value to anyone right now to write about award travel to Bora Bora, or why I love to go to Paris over the winter (contrary to popular wisdom December and January are my favorite months). Now though my trips to report on revolve around the grocery store, part of an ongoing series on the world‘s most extreme staycation. Instead

Loyalty programs will need their program members again soon. These are the people who can be incentivized to fill seats and rooms. They‘re the ones who will either be chased away by a program which treats them poorly during this challenging time, or lured away by a program who treats them well. So I think it‘s especially notable which programs are still expiring their members‘ miles. Continue reading Two Programs Failing Members

United is extending everyone‘s current elite status through January 31, 2021 and extending club memberships by 6 months as well as extending PlusPoints upgrades by 6 months that were set to expire through January 31, 2021. They are also dropping requirements to earn status by 50%. Continue reading United Drops Requirements To Earn Elite Status By 50%, And Reducing Next Year‘s Requirements Too...

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 Sad, But Incredible Sight Comes To Us From Europe...

Last week I wrote about asking credit card issuers for extra time to meet minimum spending requirements to earn an initial bonus on a card you‘ve signed up for. American Express appears to be offering 3 additional months to completed minimum spend required for initial bonuses. Continue reading You Now Get An Extra Three Months To Meet Minimum Spend on Amex Cards...

Delta was first out of the gate to extend current member elite status through January 2022. United clearly had a status extension plan in the can, ready to go, and was just waiting to see if another airline forced their hand - because within hours, on a Sunday afternoon, United‘s MileagePlus is also announcing a status extension. Continue reading United Airlines Extends Elite Status A Year, Club Memberships By 6 Months...

While other hotels are closing, with no transient business, Swiss luxury hotel brand Le Bijou is setting up ‘quarantine apartments‘ based on what they‘re learning about guests needs - in-room meals and COVID-19 testing, a private gym, access to medical care. Le Bijou‘s CEO says he noticed a drop off in three night bookings, but green shoots in the form of 14-day stays. He learned these were guests quarantining from the SAR

The U.S. government is requiring airlines to follow the law and refund customers whose flights are cancelled and the International Air Transport Association is complaining. Airlines are on the verge of being partially nationalized it shouldn‘t come as any surprise they‘re already viewing customers like taxpayers. Continue reading Airline Trade Association Blasts Requirement To Refund Customers For Cancelled Flights...

Everyone pauses in place and gets a do-over. That‘s the message from Delta which announced an extension of elite status, club memberships, vouchers and more. There‘s a natural reason why Delta is first among U.S. airlines to do this - and an advantage they have in rollover qualifying miles that better positions them to still take advantage of their elite program when travel comes back. Continue reading Delta Extends Elite Status, Club

For ‘at least‘ the next three weeks United will operate a reduced schedule with only 17 flights from the New York area, including 15 from Newark. Today American Airlines is scheduled to operate more flights from Newark than United. Continue reading American Airlines Is Now A Bigger Than United At Newark...

In a huge about-face, the CDC is recommending that Americans wear masks when out in public. They want to preserve N95 respirator masks for health care workers who have the greatest exposure to COVID-19, but believe that the general public wearing lesser masks can help stop the spread. If you‘re a frequent traveler you probably have face masks. In fact you may have a bunch of them in a closet without even realizing it. Continue reading You

One hundred and thirty five Holland America cruise ship passengers were turned away by United Airlines on Friday night after cabin crew refused to work a flight to Sydney if they were allowed on board. Continue reading United Airlines Refused To Transport 135 Cruise Passengers To Sydney On Friday Night...

One woman had to fly last minute from DC to Boston to see her mother who was close to dying. She was the only passenger on board her American flight. She filmed the flight attendant making her safety announcement, "My name is Jessica and I will be your flight attendant, and we have Sheryl as our passenger today, living it up in first class. Everybody shout out to Sheryl, the only passenger on the plane." The experiences traveling today are some

There‘s a better offer than I‘ve ever seen before for the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard. It‘s a card I picked up myself for the bonus miles, which is useful because there‘s no longer a great way to earn miles through another credit card and transfer those miles to American. And for all of my criticisms, there‘s no mileage currency I wind up spending more often than my AAdvantage miles. Co

Aeroflot was scheduled to operate a flight from Moscow to New York JFK on Friday, where it would carry home Americans and bring Russians back to their own country. Full of U.S. citizens desperate to get home in a time of crisis, the plane pushed back and taxied out to the runway only to be ordered back to the gate, the flight cancelled. Russia closed its borders as the Aeroflot plane prepared to depart. The Russian government then boarded the pla