Hainan Airlines has previously ordered a number of Airbus A330 but not they are in hot water as the manufacturer refuses delivery to the Chinese carrier since they apparently can’t pay for aircraft.
Hainan Airlines parent company HNA is in turmoil due to a shortage of capital and the recent sudden departure of their chairman who fell to his death while vacationing in France.
A LoyaltyLobby reader forwarded me an email that he had just today received from SPG welcoming him to lifetime Platinum status. The email lists number of Platinum benefits with an asterisk that these benefits are valid until August 2018!
SPG introduced lifetime status with the program in the early 2010’s and I qualified for the Platinum one last year (read more here). SPG program ceases to exist in all but name in early next month when it is merged to Marriott Rewards. Next year new name is introduced and Marriott Rewards, SPG and Ritz-Carlton Rewards are retired.
Japan Airlines (JAL) will update its Mileage Bank Oneworld and partner award ticket mileage requirements effective November 20, 2018.
The airline is also more drastically revamping the number of miles required for awards on its own flights sometime in December.
A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question by email about how the Marriott Gold status acquired through RewardsPlus partnership with United will map in the new program introduced in August.
Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover Reader Questions & Comments here several times a week.
Hilton Honors has bonus or discount promotions with variable percentages for buying points every month but seems that they have “secret” on-going promotion that is valid through the end of the year.
The offer that can be accessed through the special link that Hilton Honors has emailed to select members comes with 60% bonus. The highest bonus that comes and goes every few months is 100% and max discount is 50% (same point purchase price).
Le Club AccorHotels has launched new promotion that is valid for one stay in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between July 11 – October 11, 2018.
Membership can earn double points if the stay is one or two nights and triple points if the stay is three nights or longer. Member will receive additional 500 points if the reservation is made using app.
After abandoning the route a couple years ago Singapore Airlines has now brought back both ultra long haul flights to the United States: Newark & Los Angeles, both which will start in the late fall.
As we reported previously the New York-Newark flights will begin on October 11th and now the Los Angeles date has been set for November 9th 2018.
Etihad Airways, that has been bleeding for years (read more here) and lost billions investing in Airberlin and Alitalia, is in search for incidental revenue and has decided that it is now the right time to start charging for “Standard Seats” in economy.
For a “small fee”, travelers can choose their seats in advance. These are available for free of charge within 24 hours of departure. Etihad nowhere discloses what these fees for various seating charges are.
Le Club AccorHotels runs Private Sales in Europe, Australasia, Middle East, South America and Asia weekly unless there is a global Super or Private Sale going on.
Le Club AccorHotels revamped these Private Sale pages few months back and seems that content is gone from some while still available on others.
Air China had an incident yesterday where a flight from Hong Kong to Dalian suddenly lost cabin pressure which prompted the pilot to descent down to 10,000 ft and deploy the oxygen masks.
The aircraft was a four year old Boeing 737 with 159 passengers plus crew, yet unbelievably the pilot continued to fly 3+ hours to Dalian with deployed oxygen masks instead of landing at the nearest airport.
