MTM Travel - The Fun Side of Points & Travel!

Phone Calls on Planes, Hotel Points = DEBT and a Wild United-American Merger Idea

April 14
23 mins

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Episode Description

This week on MTM Travel, Shawn and Mark get into one of the most annoying travel debates imaginable: phone calls on airplanes. They also dig into American Airlines' bus route oddities, what hotel loyalty liabilities really mean, and whether a United-American merger would solve anything or just make the mess bigger.

In This Episode:

  • Why phone calls on planes feel like a terrible idea
  • The strange case of American Airlines bus routes
  • A quick detour into the Spruce $100 offer and Condor trip planning
  • Why hotel loyalty programs are carrying giant IOUs
  • Whether a United-American merger is smart or a complete circus

Episode Guide:

  • 0:00 Welcome to MTM Travel
  • 0:17 Phone calls on airplanes and why this could get ugly
  • 4:14 American Airlines' bus route confusion
  • 6:30 Spruce $100 offer ending April 15
  • 7:29 Shawn's Condor booking and Europe trip planning
  • 12:15 Hotel loyalty programs and their giant IOUs
  • 15:29 Why hotel loyalty is now the real hotel business
  • 17:18 The United-American merger idea
  • 20:24 Why JetBlue or Alaska makes more sense

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