Global Hotel Alliance is now a partner in United Mileage Plus and members of Mileage Plus can now earn 500 miles per eligible stay. You’ll get double miles for all qualifying stays until Aug. 31 and triple miles at Omni Hotels …

Priority Club Rewards members can now earn Priority Club points through participating in e-Rewards. Members of e-Rewards earn points for completing online market research surveys …

Graham Atkinson, president of United Airlines Mileage Plus, says that even though Lufthansa, a fellow Star Alliance member, has a stake in JetBlue, there are no plans for JetBlue to join the alliance. He also says that any rumors that US Airways might be leaving the alliance are not true …

Starwood Hotels is suing Hilton Hotels, claiming that two former executives of Starwood who are now working for Hilton stole trade secrets in order to quickly launch Denizen, Hilton’s new boutique brand …

This month, Virgin America will be the first U.S. airline to offer fleet-wide WiFi …

U.S. House members, but not Senate members, can keep the frequent flyer miles they rack up on government business to spend as they see fit according to Kiplinger.com …

Aeroplan members can now accumulate and spend Aeroplan miles for travel with Brazil’s TAM Airlines, bringing Aeroplan’s airline partners to 32. TAM Fidelidade members can also earn and burn with Air Canada. TAM is a future Star Alliance partner …

Airlines are not the only ones feeling the crunch of the economic downturn. The car rental companies have seen profits plummet. Worldwide car rental revenue was down 21.1 percent in the first quarter of the year. But Hertz said that rental demand in the U.S. appears to be stabilizing, indicating a “possible bottoming out of volume declines.” …

Rumor has it that Delta SkyMiles will be adding an official fourth tier to the program’s elite program above Platinum Medallion when the merger with Northwest is complete. The rollout date for the new tier is expected to be in early 2010 …

British Airways is giving away 5,000 roundtrip flights to help small and medium sized businesses in the U.K. to conduct business abroad. The airline says it will announce further plans to benefit British business and business travelers throughout the next six months as part of its campaign “to get Britain moving again.” …

NWA WorldVacations will be integrated into Delta Vacations on July 6, 2009 …

Best Western has opened its first two properties in the Middle East, in Dubai. The hotel group’s plans include 25 hotels in the Persian Gulf region by the end of 2010 …

41st Parameter (Internet fraud intervention specialists) estimates that globally airlines lose some $1.4 billion to e-commerce fraud a year …

Aeroplan has announced that Earth Day Canada is now a charitable partner in Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program. Aeroplan launched the partnership with a donation of 1.25 million Aeroplan miles and the program has promised to offset all carbon emissions from flights taken by Earth Day Canada using donated miles from Aeroplan members. Earth Day Canada will use the donated miles to offset costs related to travel, including training for coordinators throughout Canada as well as education and outreach.