Airline Vouchers: A Primer

Unless you’re really lucky, sometime during your travels you will find yourself in a situation where an airline owes you something. Maybe it’s because of a delay, lost baggage, a rescheduled flight, whatever. When that day comes, the airline will almost surely try to settle by issuing you airline vouchers for future travel rather than…

Hotels: The Cost of Loyalty Schemes

Hotel loyalty schemes are a crucial element of the branded chains’ strategies, but they can come at a cost. This time next summer Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson will be hoping that a crucial element of last autumn’s $13 billion acquisition of rival Starwood Hotels – creating the world’s biggest hotelier in the process –…

Delta Now Selling Single Leg Upgrades

Airlines haven’t been offering great news about upgrades recently—at least not free ones. Having lowered upfront fares, carriers are now selling more seats for actual money, thus offering fewer upgrades for points. That makes airlines more money, but doesn’t make travelers with status happy. The silver lining here, of course, has been surprisingly low-cost business…