Skift Business Traveler: Delta’s SkyMiles Program Goes Incognito

What to Know Now

The slow destruction of Delta’s Skymiles program continued last week when they pulled their award chart off the web. Moving forward, members of their loyalty program wont have a bar against which to measure their award bookings and will be subject to Delta’s whim when trying to cash in miles.

Much goes into this complicated destruction of SkyMiles so I’ve dedicated this week’s business travel column to it. In short, however, it’s safe to say that you SkyMiles are now worth even less.

Social Quote of the Day

Can’t think of a bigger airline screw you to flyers than @Delta removing all award charts, can you @rafat @skift

– @nickmich | Nick Michlewicz, Travel GM @Aboutdotcom

Airlines

Why Smiling Flight Attendants Need to Be Part of Airlines’ Fee Strategies: IdeaWorksCompany.com president Jay Sorensen says poor management of relations between airline executives and employees is a major reason behind many airlines’ struggle to get the most out of ancillary revenue initiatives. Read more at Skift

Airlines See Revenue in Well-Made, In-Flight Cocktails: Flying, at least for non-millionaires, has gotten grimmer in recent years. But things are looking up on the drinks cart. Read more at Skift

Lufthansa Warns Employees That More Cuts are Coming: Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second- biggest airline, said personnel expenses cannot remain above those of its competitors after a round of cost cuts failed to offset the impact of declining ticket prices.

Airports

Southwest gains more Dallas gates; Delta to get booted? Southwest Airlines has solidified its already dominant position at Dallas Love Field, adding two more gates after striking a deal with United Airlines. Read more at USA Today

Taiwan Airline Crash Highlights Safety Challenges in Rapidly Growing Market: The deadly crash of a TransAsia plane into a river in Taiwan is again focusing the world’s attention on the safety challenges facing fast-growing Asian airlines. Read more at Skift

A giant security gap at U.S. airports? Most workers not screened daily: The vast majority of airport employees with direct access to the tarmac and airplanes do not go through any daily security screening, and only two of the country’s major airports have systems in place that require all employees with secure access to pass through metal detectors, a CNN investigation has found. Read more at CNN

Renewed Debate Over Fees Pits Airlines Against Airports Once Again: Airlines and airports are feuding over a political decision that could affect travelers’ wallets and determine the future of airport upgrades. Read more at FlyerTalk

Tech

Did Kayak Get Acquired by the Wrong Company? When you consider the growth numbers that Germany-based hotel metasearch company Trivago is posting and the inroads it is making in markets such as the U.S., you can only imagine the leadership at rival Kayak musing “if only” — if only Expedia Inc. had acquired Kayak instead of its ending up in the Priceline Group. Read more at Skift

Yelp Loses Ground to Competitors and Its Stock Slumps: Yelp Inc. tumbled the most since its initial public offering after active users declined at the online- reviewing service last quarter amid greater competition from the likes of Google Inc. Read more at Skift

Sneak peek: United nears roll-out of anticipated new website: United Airlines is putting the finishing touches on a new website that could roll out to all customers as early as this summer. And don’t be surprised if you start to hear some buzz about it before then. Read more at USA Today

How Uber Keeps Working in China Despite Ban on Hailing Apps: Uber Technologies Inc. said its strategy of working with vehicle-rental companies in China instead of individual car owners has allowed it to continue operations after a government ban on unlicensed private-car hire. Read more at Skift

Hotels

Caesars’ Names Hertz’ Embattled Ex-CEO to Replace Outgoing CEO: Caesars Entertainment Corp. chief executive Gary Loveman announced Wednesday he will hand the reigns of the casino-hotel empire to former Hertz rental car CEO Mark Frissora, effective July 1. Read more at Skift

Have YOU swiped a robe from your room? Hotels using tracking devices to keep tabs on linen… and the guests who steal them: A company has developed tracking devices for towels that alert managers to the whereabouts of their linen at all times. Read more at DailyMail

Your Turn

Southwest Airlines Rolls Out New ‘Loyalty Goes Both Ways’ Campaign over on The Onion.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to [email protected] and @grantkmartin. We publish the Business Newsletter twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday, but sometimes on Friday.

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