Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
27.07.2023 - 18:38 / smartertravel.com / Latin America / Tim Winship / April
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
If it was a good deal—or a notably bad deal—from an airline, hotel, or car rental loyalty program, you can read all about it here, and plan your travel accordingly.
Is This the ‘Golden Age of Flying’?
According to Airlines for America, the organization that is paid to represent the interests of U.S. airlines, this is the “golden age of flying.” Agree?
Major Airline Discontinues Phone-Booking Fees. Really!
Effective today: no more fees for Delta bookings made by phone or at a ticket counter. Surprise!
When It Comes to Airports, Smaller Is Better
According to a new study by Phoenix Marketing, airport size and traveler satisfaction are generally inversely related. In other words: Smaller is better.
Airlines Face Antitrust Scrutiny, Again
The Big Three legacy airlines have quietly changed their pricing policy for multi-city trips. And yes, the new policy makes such trips more expensive.
Starbucks Offers Fast Track to Gold in New Program
Starbucks is making it a bit easier to earn rewards in its new spend-based frequent-drinker program. But only for a limited time.
Starwood Points Now Transfer to Virgin America
Points earned in the loyalty program of Starwood hotels can now be converted into points in the loyalty program of Virgin America. Good; but sad, too.
New InterContinental Promotion: ‘At Least’ 65,000 Bonus Points
InterContinental Hotel Group’s new promotion features bonuses for both the member’s own IHG Rewards account and to share with other program members.
InterContinental Discounts Award Stays in Mexico, L. America, the Caribbean
With a 50 percent discount, IHG Rewards members can make their points go farther when redeeming for award stays in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Win a Trip to London with Business-Class Air
Enter the PureWow “2016 London Trip” sweepstakes by May 14 for a chance to win a three-night trip for two to London, including business-class air.
Somebody has to win, right? Might as well be you.
More from SmarterTravel: Alaska-Virgin America Merger Begets Sadness, Skepticism Airline Complaints Highest in 15 Years. Why? Marriott Wins Bidding War, Will Merge with StarwoodAfter 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Is the state of air travel improving? Not according to the DOT, which just released its Air Travel Consumer Report for 2015.
In 2014, at the behest of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), the DOT’s Office of Inspector General began an audit of U.S. frequent flyer programs, and the DOT’s monitoring thereof, with a particular focus on unfair and deceptive practices (summary, with a link to the full .pdf report, here). The audit results were published this month, with the following headline: “Improvements needed in DOT’s process for identifying unfair or deceptive practices in airline frequent flyer programs.”
Bad news for the airlines often translates as good news for travel consumers.
With the high probability of Virgin America’s being folded into Alaska Airlines within the next two years, Virgin loyalists are in the market for an alternative. And JetBlue wants to be that alternative.
In a first for a U.S. airline loyalty program, Alaska Airlines is offering members of its Mileage Plan program the option to redeem miles to pay for TSA PreCheck service.
Today, two storied travel brands that are destined for the scrap heap announced a marketing partnership that only serves to make their imminent demise that much sadder.
Ever since Delta began ramping up operations in Seattle, Alaska Airlines’ hometown and main flight hub, the relationship between the two airlines has been disintegrating. And there was plenty to disintegrate. The carriers were long-time partners in each other’s frequent-flyer programs, and they code-shared on a host of flights. They were, in the industry vernacular, preferred marketing partners.
For U.S. News & World Report, the road from weekly news magazine to publisher of company rankings has been a long and winding one. The key, though, to its shift toward data-driven ratings of companies and institutions was its 1983 publication of “America’s Best Colleges.”
Could you justify spending $35,000 for a year’s worth of unlimited business-class flights between New York and London or Paris? Probably not. But if so, La Compagnie has a deal for you.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.