Airline Points: Are They Here to Stay?

Tours.com & Travel-Intel Looks at New Revenue-Based Plans for Airline Frequent Flyer Miles and Asks the Tough Questions


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - June 08, 2016) - Airline passengers may know what's in their wallets but may not know what is in their frequent flyer accounts. New revenue-based algorithms are taking over what were once generous mileage calculations, and points earned may be evaporating in the clouds. As Delta Airlines and United Airlines have already made the change, American is getting ready to do the same and frequent fliers may be losing points and sway with the legacy carriers in the process.

Tours.com's Travel-Intel looks at these new formulas and asks where airline loyalty is heading in the latest issue of Travel-Intel. Surprisingly, not all fliers are complaining.

Meanwhile, as summer gets underway Travel-Intel reviews some affordable and not so affordable packages to consider, including a 12-day trip to New York, France and Korea for $300,000 -- hosted by none other than Baccarat Crystal.

In a quick review of what travel agents are booking for the season, Travel-Intel highlights top picks by agents from the ProTravel agency network. The United Kingdom and France are, as ever, in vogue for wanderlusting Americans. A rougher and more considered trip might be one offered by Micato Safaris in Africa, where game drives and touring come with a conscience. The family-owned, Kenya-based company is a member of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers collection of luxury hotels, resorts and destination specialists and offers travelers plenty of ways to give back in order to preserve disappearing species and cultures on the African plains

As Europe is so popular with travelers this summer, Travel-Intel looks at new developments and specials to be considered with Eurail. The article reviews where and why Eurail has been enjoying robust growth over the past two years and what new value packages passengers can purchase to make the traveling that much easier. Travel-Intel also looks at visiting the classic city of Vienna on the Danube. Focus here is on what one can do with only a few days and where to stay to get the most value out of a visit to Vienna.

Finally, closer to home, Los Angeles is ever popular with people who want to see stars as well as those who want to live like one -- if only for a night. Travel-Intel offers up star-powered stays in a two part series that includes where to eat, where to shop, and best scenes for being seen in Los Angeles.

These stories and others are featured in the latest issue of Travel-Intel, a weekly publication sent to 103,000 travel agents in North America and posted on Tours.com.

Travel-Intel is written by travel industry journalists and focuses on changing trends in travel. Stories come from a variety of places and positions, whether travel industry conferences and expos, or onsite at popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and ports, and destinations near and far. Current issues and archives can be viewed at www.travel-intel.com.

"The beautiful thing about travel is that it is always changing and you will never have the same experience twice," says Lark Gould, content editor for Travel-Intel. "So we try to help travel advisors curate travel for their clients and we try to help travelers get an edge on their plans."

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 30 years, Lark Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also "packages" issues that present great travel deals to be found at hotels and resort locations worldwide. Travel-Intel can be viewed as a stand-alone publication on Tours.com. Gould publishes travel columns and stories for Barclay's Travel Community, the Washington Times, Business Travel Executive, GoBankingrate.com and Business Traveler USA, as well as eTravel.news and Larkslist.

About Tours.com -- the parent company of two well-established tourism websites and three trade newsletters. Tours.com, The only Worldwide Directory of Tours and Vacations, provides a deep and searchable database of tour and vacation operators. Sightseeing.com is the resource for local sightseeing and attractions worldwide.

Trade newsletters include Travel-Intel a weekly compendium of research and packages for North American retail agents and Sightseeing News & Views -- highlighting the most interesting developments in sightseeing, attractions and travel brands and VR Tourism News -- the first VR newsletter for the travel industry. Tours.com celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015.

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Contact Information:

Press Contact:
Maria Polk
maria@tours.com
Phone 415-786-9108

http://www.tours.com/travel-intel