Lufthansa now a part of PreCheck (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
While we were away in August (see post), the biggest travel news story seemed to be Delta’s computer outage, which wreaked havoc on summer travel plans, cost Delta $100 million, and exposed how airlines have wiggled out of previous arrangements to honor each other’s tickets in such cases. What a mess!
Nearly every major hotel chain rolled out new fall promos last month, all of which require registration. We’ve included links to them below.
After plowing through emails and notifications, here are the stories that caught our eye (in no particular order). I’m sure we probably missed a few, so please help us catch up by adding your two cents in the comments! (Next up in our catch-up is a big airline routes update, so stay tuned…)
Lufthansa is first European carrier to join PreCheck: Up til now the only international carriers with PreCheck were Air Canada, WestJet, Aeromexico & Etihad
Easiest 500 Virgin America Elevate points ever: An easy no-brainer- just sign up for an email alert
FTC warns that rental cars might be able to steal data from your phone: Yikes! Connecting your phone to car via USB or Bluetooth could set you up for a breach
Alaska Airlines produces a hip new mood-lit video designed to woo Bay Area travelers: Conservative Alaska Air’s first foray into hipness. But no real news about fate of Virgin brand. Thoughts?
United changes Mileage Plus award rules for multi-leg trips: Screws continue to tighten on frequent flyers
Rendering of Delta’s new business class suite with a door on its A350s (Photo: Delta Air Lines)
Delta’s new business class suites with privacy doors for A350: But it’s going to be a while until you can get cozy in one of them
Some airport Starbucks to serve booze
British Airways axes half its JFK-London City all-biz-class flights: Looks like Brexit is taking a toll on the high end of the market
American’s new ad campaign suggests that you need so bone up on your Travel Skills! 😉 See it yet? Thoughts?
American now offers free Main Cabin in-flight entertainment on domestic flights– following in the footsteps of Delta
If you apply for more than five credit cards every two years, you should read this: New “5/24” rule stymies credit card points hobbyists
The new (ish) Marriott Residence Inn in Portland, OR (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Most major hotel brands rolled out fall bonus promos- go ahead and sign up for all of them, because you never know where you might be staying!
Marriott’s popular MegaBonus is back and it’s choosy (registration required)
Double (or triple) your Starwood SPG points this fall (registration required starting Sept 12)
Double points for every stay at all Hilton portfolio hotels (registration required)
Stay five nights, get 5,000 points (plus plus) from Hyatt (registration required)
New high-end Chase Sapphire RESERVE card offers 100K sign up bonus: Did Chase make this bonus too good? Rumors swirl about delays/changes due to high demand. When shopping for a new card, please be sure to use our new card resources pages! It helps us help you.
Priceline dumps “name your own price” for airlines; keeps it for hotels and rental cars
On-airport parking rates at SFO soar (Photo: Monte Deignan)
SFO Parking rates hit new high- some up up 40%: Apparently the airport is trying to encourage use of public transport options by jacking up prices for individual cars
Fly Virgin America by Sept 30, earn 999 Elevate points (Registration required): Another easy no-brainer if you fly Virgin a lot
Virgin America to lay off 225 management workers as Alaska Air merger approaches: I guess we all saw this coming. We still wonder if a JetBlue merger is in the works…
Amtrak’s new Acela trains in the northeast will hit top speeds of 220 mph: Currently, trains run at 135-150 mph. See the video of the sleek new trains
Turkish Airlines outstanding “Heroes of Democracy lounge” (new name) at Istanbul (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Check out the slick new Turkish Airlines lounge at Washington-Dulles: Not as grand as its Istanbul counterpart (pictured) but a nice addition at IAD
Korean Airlines introduces no-show fees on long-haul flights: Joining Emirates, Singapore and JAL in this unusual practice. If you can’t make your flight, just call ahead and let them know– or you’ll pay.
U.S., Mexico agree to open up air routes, frequencies: Could lead to cheaper flights for spring break- and more nonstops
KLM plans to retrofit its A330s with new business class: Its B777s, 747s and 787s already have it
FAA clears Indonesian carriers to fly to the U.S: Garuda could come back, but would you?
Delta starts deploying RFID baggage tracking technology systemwide: Good news for the few TravelSkills readers who frequently check bags
Delta quietly boosts prices of SkyMiles business class awards: Yet another unannounced sneaky move
Google teams with Waze to challenge Uber, Lyft in San Francisco: Getting paid to carpool. Would you?
Marriott upgrades the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card
Watching the sunset from Hanalei, Kauai (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Chris’s summer vacation in Hawaii… don’t miss his pics and tips from the trip!
Hilton expands, upgrades Digital Key and other features of HHonors app
New 787 crisis? ANA will replace engines on all 50 of its Dreamliners
Virgin Atlantic will offer free live TV on its 787-9 fleet
We have a big new airline routes update coming next. But what did we miss? Please share what you think are the biggest travel news stories over the last month in the comments below!
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Whew…I was worried Jeff might have something choice to say about Delta after the August meltdown…but Chris’s sabbatical allowed that part of Hell to avoid any snowflakes…
The Alaska Airlines marketing video doesn’t do much to to keep VX fliers in the fold. I’ve yet to see any airline merger be good for consumers and there’s no reason to expect this to be any different. Expect years of disorganization while they toss out all that made Virgin.
In flight Back of the seat entertainment. I see this going the way of the dinosaur. If I’m an airline I’m ditching seat back screens and investing in higher power streaming so to hear AA talk about it being a big deal with seat investment on entertainment (free or not) is well behind the curve.
There is a lot going on in this post. Of note, the DL disaster. I had sworn off Monday morning departures 20 years ago. This one time I had to go to Pasco, WA from ATL. (I live in ATL) for a Tuesday job and it required Monday departing. At 2:30 a.m. Monday morning I was woken up by an incredible thunderstorm and remember thinking this “Whew I’m glad it is now and not when my flight departs at 9:00 this morning” and went back to sleep. Arrived in PASCO 2:00 a.m. PT Tuesday morning. It was a circus. Other than the scheduling issues, my crews timed out. I will say Delta was extremely accommodating as well as they could. Passengers (in the gates I rotated around too) seemed to take it in stride.