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It’s been a couple of weeks since our last Saturday Selection, so this week we catch up with some good reads from the last couple of weeks — from Lufthansa’s latest attempt to apologize for their major misstep, the complexity of weighing cash versus points, some good news from Southwest, and more.
Here Is The Apology Letter That Lufthansa’s CEO Is Sending Passengers That Were Denied Boarding To Budapest; Is The 4th Time The Charm?
I realized recently that I neglected to include this story in previous Saturday selection posts, so I wanted to include it here for those who may have missed it. Dan’s Deals has been the authority source on the story of a large number of Jewish passengers being denied boarding for a Lufthansa flight based on being visibly Jewish. I agree with what the airline CEO said in the latest letter — this was an embarrassment but I’d extend that from the incident itself right through the first couple of attempts at apology. I’m not a Lufthansa fanboy, but I was nonetheless incredibly disappointed. This latest apology certainly does seem to be a valid attempt at taking responsibility and it’s good to see that. As someone who is neither Jewish nor a passenger on the flight in question, I’m in no position to decide whether this latest apology is sufficient, but I’m glad that Dan’s Deals has continued to cover the story and keep us all updated.
Avianca Eliminates Business Class On Most Routes
Avianca has hit some challenging times during the pandemic. Still, I’m surprised to see a major airline alliance partner cutting business class as it would seem to cost other alliance partners the chance to sell to those customers who want that premium experience all the way to the destination (especially considering that tips to South America can be quite far). Ben makes no mention of an impact on airline partnerships, so I’m hoping there is no reason to be concerned about that because I’d hate to lose access to some of Avianca’s sweet spots.
Southwest Now Lets You Extend Expiring Funds for Another 6 Months
A day late and a dollar short – story of my life. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it felt that way to see this report from Danny the Deal Guru at Miles to Memories. That’s because I had just recently written about how I got stuck with Southwest credit that will expire and how it’ll end up costing me $100 of the credit and blah blah blah, but then out comes this story about how Southwest is now converting credits to LUV vouchers with no fee. I haven’t written about this yet because I intended to have my wife call and try it, but then I realized that they extend six months from the day you call and having it valid a little further into December probably works better with our intended Christmas travel plans, so we’ll wait a few days more days to call. Still, this is good news overall given the greater flexibility of LUV vouchers and not having to lose a hundred bucks in value.
Is It Always Better to Pay with Points Instead of Cash?
This look at the multi-faceted complexity of determining whether to use cash or points was a fun read at Points the Way. With the major US airlines now awarding miles based on cash cost of tickets rather than distance traveled, this type of calculation is probably applicable to a wide range of people. Sure, you may not want to book through your credit card portal for a number of reasons, but if you’re open to that idea it was interesting to see that paying more points up front leads to a better net result.
Fly From Private Jet Terminals, Earn United Miles With Newest Airline Partner JSX
JSX is the new name for JetSuiteX, which is a company that sells seats on small planes between private terminals (giving you a sort of “private-like” experience based on what I’ve read). They already had a partnership with JetBlue, but now View from the Wing reports that you can earn United MileagePlus miles on JSX flights. Last year, we saw an Amex Offer for JSX. If that comes around again, the mileage earning bonus here might make for a nice stack that makes it worth checking this out.
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