Hyatt launches a vacation rental program, a harrowing tale of actually using Frontier’s all-you-can-fly pass and at least one frequent flyer thinks JetBlue might be as much of a premium airline as Delta. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection, our weekly round-up of interesting tidbits from around the interwebs (links to each article are embedded in the titles).
Is Frontier’s all-you-fly pass as bad good as it sounds?
It’s Fall and Halloween’s right around the corner, so it’s once again time for some good horror stories. Along those lines, as the saying goes, there’s only one thing scarier than flying Frontier: flying Frontier a lot. Everyone’s least favorite airline decided to shake up the industry last year by introducing the GoWild! all-you-can-fly-pass. Originally priced at $599 for a year (then $799, then $499), the GoWild! pass allows spontaneous frequent flyers unlimited access to the magic of the Frontier route map for only 1 cent per flight. Now, there are even multiple permutations that go as low as $49 for one month GoWilding. Restrictions? You bet there are. You still have to pay for taxes, fees, seat selection, changes, food, beverages, luggage, smiles and advanced booking. Wait, advanced booking, you ask? That’s because, with the pass, you can only book domestic flights one day before departure (international flights can be booked up to ten days beforehand for advance planners). While most folks in the blogosphere have held their nose, Andrea Sachs from the Washington Post decided to buy a pass and try it out. Her harrowing tale will probably have most people internally swearing to never even think about buying a pass after about five paragraphs. That said, one of the best parts of reading her article was discovering that there is a facebook page dedicated to loving and hating the GoWild! pass. There’s some hilarious stuff there, including some tips on traveling light that I had never even considered possible. Our own light packer, Caroline Yoder, has just started GoingWild! on her own Frontier adventure. She’ll be writing up her experience when she’s done, but you can also follow her journey in real time over on Instagram.
Hyatt launching vacation rental platform
I’ve talked with a lot of Hyatt fans over the years, from the 200 night per year Globalist to the casual family traveler. One thing that I’ve never heard any of them say is, “I wish I could rent vacation homes through Hyatt!” Nevertheless, soon we will be able to, as the company is launching itself into the world of home shares and pirate hangouts with “Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt.” The initial press release said it would be live within a few weeks in targeted domestic markets like Colorado, Hawaii, etc. The nice thing is that, by renting through the program, we’ll be able to earn World of Hyatt points and elite nights with vacation rentals. Hyatt also says that redemptions will be possible soon, which could be “yeah” or “meh,” depending on the award costs. Marriott has their own similar (we think) program, Marriott Homes and Villas. Because the inventory is from other platforms (as Gary mentions in the linked post), they tend to be fairly uncompetitive from a cash perspective…but that can change when Marriott runs its regular promotions incentivizing folks to use the service. Hopefully Hyatt’s version will be a little less Homes and Villas and more Wyndham Vacasa.
Chicago Midway Airport might finally have a lounge
Southwest flyers, rejoice! There’s a voice in the desert for all those poor souls who for years have been having to pay full price for a diet coke and Gardetto’s at the Chicago Midway Hudson News. After almost 100 years of existing in the drab netherworld of loungelessness, Midway is finally going to have an airport lounge all its own. Brought to you by the same folks who pioneered “The Club at LAS,” “The Club at DFW” and “The Club at SEA;” “The Club at MDW” is slated to open in late-fall of 2024. Not only that, but the lounge will be in the Priority Pass network, meaning all those thousands and thousands of ultra-premium credit cardholders will get to wrap themselves in 3,300 square feet of complimentary snack mix bliss.
Is Delta no longer a premium Air Line?
Hello, hot take! Delta SkyMiles have long been the among the least-valuable of the major US airline reward currencies, thus their nickname: “SkyPennies.” Delta has also awarded those SkyPennies at a slower pace than many of their competitors and, with the announced changes in earning elite status, its top-tier Diamond Medallion status will be the most expensive to attain in the industry. But, Delta has balanced those loyalty shortcomings by contending that it’s the only true “premium” airline in the US, with higher-quality product, better service and dependable operations. Lucky over at One Mile at a Time disagrees. He thinks that Delta is backsliding into a sea of aging, cramped aircraft, packed lounges with ridiculous waits and indifferent, AA-like service personnel. He even contends that, “JetBlue has been offering free Wi-Fi to all passengers for over a decade, has way more legroom in economy, and also offers TVs. So if that’s what makes an airline premium, then perhaps we should consider JetBlue to be the more premium US airline?” Is he being overly-sensitive? Or does the Air Line have no clothes?
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I am just disappointed in delta airlines. I just purchased two first class tickets to Sidney Australia on another airline. I was loyal for 25 years and refused to fly
anyone but DELTA! They started it, not me. Plus it save me thousands of dollars
Should board last and watch the boarding process to get the full Frontier experience. Or go with a personal item that barely fits the sizer.
As someone who works at delta, I do agree that right now, we are not a premium airline, but before the pandemic we definitely were and I see us starting to move back to that. The only way to speed up that process i can see would be a lowering of our numbers. We fly too many people and are just better enough that we have too many people who will pay extra to fly us over the other airlines. We don’t have too much pressure to improve our in-flight and there are too many medallion members to improve their benefits too much. I would give it another couple years before we truly figure it all out, but we are on the road to recovering our premium status
Thanks in
no small part to the taxpayers handing your company over 4 billion dollars of taxpayer money.
Exactly. Cry me a river. I flew SkyTeam all through the pandemic, including transatlantic with only a dozen passengers, and ghost town airports with closed shops, restaurants, and lounges. Then they got 4,000,000,000.00+USD from the taxpayers. And Delta has the audacity to call me ripping off a Band-Aid. I’m just a lowly Platinum only 500,000 lifetime miles, nonetheless, goodbye. From now on, I’m flying AA and its OW no.1 in the world QR.
I fly almost weekly on Delta (will have 121 segments at the end of this week, over 130k MQMs as of now). Having more people fly you is no excuse on how much your service has deteriorated since the start of the pandemic. Canned wine?! A small cheese plate on a 3:45 slotted flight because it’s on a E175?! Premium select meals are the same as main cabin. None of the rollovers in 2021 and 2022 helped me…I earned my DM status by flying…A LOT.
Agreed, JetBlue is an undervalued asset. I much prefer it to Delta and their cramped seats
Lucky lol
SkyPennies? I thought it was SkyPesos.
Regional variation 🙂
No, just incorrect. It’s skypesos.
Gary at VFTW coined Skypesos. Rene at DeltaPoints (now Eye of the flyer) coined Skypennies much later when even he couldn’t stomach Delta’s perpetual devaluations.
Skypesos sounds a little derogatory