Danny the Deal Guru: "Southwest also offers paid options for those that want to board as early as possible. There’s EarlyBird Check-In and Upgraded Boarding. Now the maximum price that you might pay for these features has gone up."
View From The Wing: "At the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference this morning, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom declared that the carrier’s plan to eliminate mileage-earning from some travel agency tickets is off. It was too confusing. They still care about moving to NDC (new distribution capability), which mileage-earning on agency tickets was a lever to push agencies to adopt, but it is something that will happen 'over time.'"
One Mile At A Time: "Qatar Airways intends to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi, making this the largest airline in the world to collaborate with SpaceX on Wi-Fi. Not only will Starlink offer speeds of up to 500 megabits per second for gaming, VPN access, sports streaming, and more, but Qatar Airways intends to offer this Wi-Fi on a complimentary basis, with one-click access."
Loyalty Lobby: "The new home for the Conrad New Your Midtown is now confirmed to be affiliated with Marriott, where it will be called The Luxury Collection Manhattan Midtown Hotel."
"The London NYC joined Hilton’s Conrad brand in 2019 but leaves it five years later to become affiliated with Marriott’s Luxury collection."
Thrifty Traveler: "Basic economy has spread like the plague among the major U.S. airlines, luring in consumers with the cheapest price … in exchange for a bunch of restrictions. But now, American Airlines is taking things a step further."
"American Airlines has begun hiding these bare-bones fares under the cover of a regular “Main” cabin ticket in its search results online at AA.com and on its smartphone app. So while you'll initially see a $337 price tag on this roundtrip flight from Phoenix (PHX) to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) explicitly labeled as a main cabin ticket, click through and you'll see that's for an American Airlines basic economy fare – that better main cabin fare actually costs another $60."
View From The Wing: "British Airways and JetBlue have filed with the Department of Transportation to codeshare."
"They’re requesting “a blanket statement of authorization” to place their flight numbers on each others’ flights, and they’re asking for expedited consideration and waiver of the usual advance notice in order to begin marketing these services “i'n the near future.'"
Industry analyst, Enilria, thinks this could a step toward JetBlue joining oneworld.
Thrifty Traveler: "In a first, Southwest fare results began appearing in Google Flights searches on Wednesday morning – on almost any of the Dallas-based airline's routes worldwide. We're not yet seeing Southwest results on other search engines or online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, or Skyscanner. But it may only be a matter of time before Southwest fares expand into those platforms, too."
One Mile At A Time: "Air France has introduced a new concierge service at its Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) hub. This is intended to simplify the airport experience for passengers, at a cost. Think of it as being along the lines of American Five Star Service or Delta VIP Select."
View From The Wing: "A week ago I wrote about a Hertz President Circle member charged $277 for returning a rented Tesla without filling it with gas. That’s the second-most Hertz thing ever, after getting arrested because the rental company reported the car you rented stolen."
"It turns out that Hertz charging Tesla EV customers for gas wasn’t a one-off. They’ve been doing it for ages, and frequently. Sometimes customers get the money refunded because EVs don’t take gas while other times customers bang their head against the Hertz customer service wall, being told that charges cannot be adjusted."
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."
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