Alaska Airlines Re-affirms Commitment to Generous Frequent Flyer Program and First Class Upgrades

by Gary Leff

alaska airlines plane
Apr 27 2017

Delta adopted a revenue-based frequent flyer program for frequent flyer earning two years ago, and removed their award charts to reduce transparency with members. (They intended to do full revenue-based redemptions but were surprised by member pushback in focus groups.)

Naturally United and then American followed because they blindly copy Delta the way fast food restaurants locate stores near McDonalds on the belief that McDonalds is smart and knows what they’re doing.

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How Airlines Started Overbooking — and Why They Do It So Much Less Now

by Gary Leff

Apr 27 2017

Over the history of the airline industry in the United States, carriers have been subsidized and then protected by government. Prices even used to be set by government, and no shows were a lot higher than they are today.

The story of how airlines started overbooking and why they do it much less than they used to is a fascinating one. It actually begins with the Post Office.

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Etihad is Now Selling Miles – and Regular Price is Just 2 Cents Each

by Gary Leff

Apr 27 2017

Etihad is now selling miles, the price is reasonable, so this could be useful to top off an Etihad account, take the place of transfers from American Express or Citibank, saving those points for something else, or work in conjunction with transfers, you may not have enough Amex or Citi points on their own for the award you want but this option leverages your transferrable points.

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IHG’s New Gamified Promotion is Out — What’s Your Offer?

by Gary Leff

outside hotel
Apr 27 2017

The next IHG Rewards Club promotion is in the process of going live. It came right up for me, though if I use Google Chrome’s incognito mode I get the ‘promotion ended’ page from their last offer.

They’re coming out with ‘Accelerate’ again for stays between May 15 and August 31 you earn even more points. And in some ways it’s my favorite hotel promotion — not as much for its richness as much because it is sort of fun. It’s tough to get a thrill over double points for stays you’re going to make anyway.

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United Unveiled Its Response to the Passenger Dragging Incident and Plan to End Involuntary Denied Boardings

by Gary Leff

Apr 26 2017

United has announced the results of reviewing its procedures in the aftermatch of Dr. David Dao’s bloody removal from a flight earlier this month. There are several policy changes and they tell me their goal is to reduce involuntary denied boardings to zero.

When a man was dragged off a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville and bloodied after refusing to give up the seat he was sitting in so that employees could travel on the flight and operate a flight back to O’Hare, it was a cultural moment of sorts.

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Etihad’s Airbus A380 First Apartment Really Is the Best In the Sky, Its Critics are All Wrong

by Gary Leff

Apr 26 2017

Etihad offers my favorite first class in the world onboard their Airbus A380 — the “First Apartment.” There are two apartments across the cabin with a single aisle between them upstairs on the A380, in contrast on the same plane Emirates — known as one of the world’s best airlines for first class — has four suites across.


Etihad First Apartment — Single Aisle

There’s an onboard shower, an onboard chef (generally a flight attendant with real restaurant kitchen experience who can customize your meals as you wish), solid internet and good amenities.

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