Singapore Automates Immigration For All Visitors

One Mile At A Time: "Clearing immigration at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) has just become significantly easier. Effective immediately, all foreigners in Singapore can use the automated immigration lanes upon arrival, regardless of their nationality, without needing to enroll."

"To my knowledge, Singapore is the first country in the world that has automated immigration for all foreigners, with no restrictions on nationality, and no enrollment required. It will still be required to submit the SG Arrival Card with Electronic Heath Declaration online, or via the MyICA Mobile app, before arriving in Singapore."

Frontier Airlines Introduces Upgrades And No Change Fees

View From The Wing: "Ultra-low cost carrier Frontier Airlines has been struggling. Their bread and butter leisure routes have seen increased competition from major airlines, who learned to pivot away from relying on business travel. Consumers, flush with a demand for experiences and souped up balance sheets from pandemic payments, traded up for legacy airlines. They don’t have the sort of loyalty revenue that bigger airlines do. And their costs have been rising to attract and retain scarce employees."

"Now the airline says it is eliminating change fees on most fares, and that is… sort of true? They’re introducing more “fare bundles” that consumers can buy. And when consumers spend more than the traditional deep discount Frontier Airlines fare, they get waived change fees bundled in with their fare. In some sense this is not even new."

United Gives Up On Two LAX Routes To Oceania

Live And Let's Fly: "United has struggled to fill planes to the South Pacific, with flights to Auckland, New Zealand averaging a load factor of 68% and flights to Brisbane only 58%. While United will not pull out of either city, it will attempt to stop the bleeding by suspending both routes from Los Angeles and consolidating service from its other hub in California, San Francisco."

Alaska Airlines Pushing First Class Upgrades

One Mile At A Time: "Historically, Alaska hasn’t put much effort into selling first class upgrades in advance, prior to check-in. However, that appears to have changed, as Alaska is now consistently encouraging passengers to pay to upgrade to first class."

"This was only recently implemented, and as of now there are more questions than answers. It would appear that for the most part, the upgrade cost is simply the fare difference between economy class and first class. This is good news for those looking for a complimentary elite upgrade, and bad news for those looking to pay to upgrade."

Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Expected To Open Late 2024

One Mile At A Time: "The Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur is currently expected to open in late 2024, though isn’t yet accepting reservations. The hotel will be located in Kuala Lumpur’s new Merdeka 118 building, which isn’t only the tallest skyscraper in the city, but the tallest building in all of Asia-Pacific."

Points Wire Note:

Traditionally, luxury properties in Kuala Lumpur have some great rates. I'll be curious to see how the Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur compares. It certainly has the potential to be a great Hyatt Privé option for cash stays!

Hyatt Expanding Footprint in Latin American And Caribbean

Market Watch: "Hyatt Hotels plans to open more than 30 new hotels in the Caribbean and Latin America through 2027 as it seeks to grow its presence in holiday destinations across the region."

"With openings planned in the beach town of Miches, Dominican Republic, and on the island of St. Lucia, the company said Friday it's tapping into strong travel demand across all customer segments"

Could IHG One Rewards Changes Lead To A Devaluation?

View From The Wing: "IHG’s One Rewards loyalty program isn’t nearly as profitable as Hilton’s and Marriott’s. They’re working to change that."

"However IHG has negotiated changes to it’s “System Fund” that allow it to keep part of the revenue from points sales while owners will pay less into the program."

"At the end of the day, hotels spending less on the program and IHG taking more money out of the program, probably shouldn’t be encouraging from a member perspective."

JetBlue Adds Mint To New Routes, Removes From Others

One Mile At A Time: "In the coming months, JetBlue intends to introduce its Mint business class on six additional routes, covering three all-new Mint destinations."

New Mint Routes

• New York (JFK) to Phoenix (PHX) - winter
• New York (JFK) to San Juan (SJU) - daily
  
• New York (JFK) to Vancouver (YVR) - daily
• Boston (BOS) to Phoenix (PHX) - winter
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Las Vegas (LAS) - winter
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Phoenix (PHX) - winter

Enilria has shared that the aircraft will come from London Gatwick (LGW) and Paris (CDG) routes as well as the Los Angeles (LAX) to Newark (EWR) route.

Park Hyatt Tokyo Now Closed Through October 2025

Loyalty Lobby: "The iconic Park Hyatt Tokyo has closed its doors today and will remain closed for a period of roughly one year (~ October 2025) to complete a scheduled renovation project that will give the property a new face for the future."

Points Wire Note:

Hyatt fans will be sad to lose this popular option. If you plan to visit Tokyo during cherry blossom season next year and want to use points for your stay, start planning now. Award space can be tough to find, especially as we get closer to March/April 2025.

Will Airbnb Finally Launch A Loyalty Program?

View From The Wing: "There was talk of an Airbnb loyalty program over 8 years ago, with some bank executives angling to do a co-brand credit card deal. Members would earn rebates in the form of points to use at Airbnb, banks would make money and Airbnb would make money. But it never happened."

"Finally they’re getting serious about loyalty with co-founder Brian Chesky saying they’ll 'eventually have something.' However be ‘doesn’t like’ points programs, so they won’t do one."