Booking Strategy tips

United has decided to delay implementation of its low-frills economy product, according to Skift.

We knew it was coming some time this year, but not exactly when. Now we know.

To the list of hotels that offer discounted rates to members of their loyalty programs—Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, InterContinental, Choice—can now be added the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group (Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inns & Suites).

Washington lawmakers are flyers, too. Frequent flyers in most cases.

To seasoned travelers, the words “program updates” are the ultimate buzzkill, foreshadowing a raft of customer-unfriendly changes to the loyalty programs they’re invested in.

It’s a fact of loyalty-program life: Airline and hotel programs periodically adjust their award prices. Of course, those adjustments amount to price hikes more often than not. And, all things being equal, higher award prices amount to an overall devaluation of the program.

While the Marriott acquisition of Starwood closed in September, the two companies’ integration is far from complete. In particular, Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest continue to operate independently, although members may now link their accounts, transfer points, and have their status matched.

Bad news for the airlines often translates as good news for travel consumers.

If you have a prepaid travel accommodation you find you can’t use, TransferTravel will list it for a possible resale to someone else. Although based in the U.K., TransferTravel is targeting an international market including the U.S. and Canada. The idea sounds great, but the travel industry throws up a lot of roadblocks to any sort of trade.

Southwest is getting out of the overbooking game. Following the recent “incident” involving United Airlines, Southwest will heretofore only sell as many tickets as it has seats.

Hilton’s durable HHonors program has a new name: Honors. The second “H,” which stood for Hilton, was deemed unnecessary and apparently caused confusion when it came to pronouncing the program’s name.

Starwood’s systemwide “Triple Up” bonus-points offer ends on July 31, and to date there’s been no word of a successor campaign for late summer and early fall stays.

When Muslim Advocates and the NAACP issue a joint letter accusing the U.S. airline industry of racism, it’s big news. And when the NAACP, the “nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization,” follows that up with an advisory specifically questioning the racial policies of the nation’s largest airline, American, it’s nothing less than a media firestorm. Indeed, all the major news media covered the story exhaustively. And “American Airlines” has been a trending Twitter topic for several days.

“Hey Siri, I’m going to bed. Turn up the air conditioning, close the blinds, and turn off the lights.”

Since the rideshare service’s beginning, Uber has featured its drivers as a key element in its self-promotion. From the company’s website:

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has a bold idea: Perhaps the future of his airline’s success lies less in low fares and more in steadily improving service, amenities, and reliability. Delta has made inroads with high-paying business travelers through improved business-class service, but the AP’s Scott Mayerowitz reports that Bastian has no plans to hang the main cabin out to dry.

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.

If you want to upgrade your cruise cabin, the best time to do it is when you’re buying. Look at any of the big online cruise agencies, and you’ll see a notice that says “upgrades available” or such on some of the listings. That means you can pay for a certain category but will be assigned a higher-classed cabin immediately, effectively giving you a free cruise cabin upgrade.

Given the choice, which reward would you choose for your next hotel stay: loyalty points or cash back?

There’s a storm brewing in the rarefied air occupied by the priciest of the travel-rewards cards.

A key selling point of rideshare services like Uber and Lyft is their transparency. Users know where their ride is, how soon it will arrive to pick them up, and how much the fare will be to their destination.