Live And Let's Fly: "Let me add to the chorus calling on Delta Air Lines to accept more responsibility for its meltdown over the last five days. Paying for out-of-pocket expenses, including tickets on other carriers, is a good start, but not enough. Today’s letter from Delta CEO Ed Bastian is insulting and tone-deaf. It’s time for Delta to take accountability for its meltdown, not brush it under the rug."
View From The Wing: "Rise has opened the waitlist for a new credit card designed to reward tuition payments – whether K-12 private school, university or graduate school. The idea is to reward payments that don’t usually make sense by credit card, since most schools tack on a fee to pay by card. "
"Points appear to be worth a penny apiece towards cash back at 42 merchants."
Merchants in the travel space include:
Upgraded Points: "Among the benefits JetBlue offers to its Mosaic elite members is Move to Mint, a benefit you can use to upgrade yourself to the airline’s famed business class product. And we’ve got good news: Using these is now easier than ever."
"The number of certificates needed for an upgrade varies by flight, and you can now find this information before booking. Better yet: It’s all online."
One Mile At A Time flags nine new first class products that are currently in the works and what we know about each. Here' s quick rundown on the airlines launching a new first class and the aircraft on which you'll find them:
ANA Mileage Club will be increasing award flights on flights within Japan as of October 14, 2024. The new award rates are 5-20% higher than the current rates. ANA Mileage Club continues to have low, regular, and high season award rates, so the date you travel will determine the rate.
If you have stays at select IHG brands in the next month, this Chase Offer could be great for you. You can get 5-10% back when you spend at least $100 at an eligible property - up to $570 spent. The offer expires August 14, 2024 so you need to have paid by then. The offer is only valid on one purchase.
Participating Brands
Please note that Chase Offers are generally targeted.
Frequent Miler: "Virgin Atlantic is currently running a promotion that’s awarding double points on flights to the UK through the end of the year, but you only have until July 25 to book your flight."
Thrifty Traveler: "The U.S. Department of Transportation is launching an investigation into Delta Air Lines, Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Tuesday, the fifth day of the airline's ongoing meltdown that has canceled more than 5,000 flights and counting since Friday."
"What started with a worldwide software outage late last week that affected many major airlines has snowballed into an operational disaster for Delta – and Delta alone. As other airlines resumed flying smoothly this week, Delta scrapped more than 1,000 flights on Sunday and again Monday. By sunrise, the Atlanta-based airline had already canceled more than 400 flights scheduled for Tuesday."
Qatar Airways wasn't the only airline to announce a new business class product at the Farnborough International Airshow this week. Turkish Airlines revealed its new Crystal business class product as well.
The cabin will be arranged in a staggered 1-2-1 layout and each seat will have a privacy door. Apparently, they'll be using marble at the seats - seems unnecessarily heavy to me. Each seat will also have wireless charging.
It looks a lot like the new business class product on Japan Airlines.
Turkish plans to retrofit its Boeing 777-300s with the new product and install it on new Airbus A350-1000s.
One Mile At A Time: "The Winston Hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg, will be joining Hyatt’s portfolio. The hotel is in the process of undergoing an extensive renovation, and once that’s completed, it will be branded as the Park Hyatt Johannesburg. While the renovation is taking longer than planned, the hotel is now accepting reservations for stays as of October 15, 2024."
Points Wire Note:
The Park Hyatt Johannesburg is not part of Hyatt Privé yet. I would expect it to be added soon i if you want to book with perks such as an upgraded, daily breakfast for two, and a $100 property credit. When it's available, you can book the Privé rate here.
If booking with points, this is a Category 5 property. The off-peak, standard, and peak award rates are 17,000 points, 20,000 points, and 23,000 points, respectively.
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