News and Notes from Around the Interweb:
- Fast, fast, fast: The 100,000 mile British Airways Visa signup bonus that I wrote about yesterday seems to be unavailable. It’s still on the British Airways website, but the application won’t come up when you click through. Possibly dead, possibly a temporary glitch. If the former, that was quick! (HT: Miles in the comments)
- Cheaper than you think: Yankees pitcher charters a 787. It cost $200,000 from Japan to New York, even with the plane flying back empty.
- Robert Palmer Was Right: (Might as well face it, you’re addicted to miles.) I was asked to contribute a piece on extreme miles behavior for an addiction and recovery website. A little bit tongue-in-cheek, and surprisingly (?) controversial.
- Bad Weather Plan B: Using airline 24 hour cancel rules to buy yourself backup flights during bad weather.
- Frank Fukuyama Was Right: (“The End of Miles and the Last Man”) Henry Harteveldt sees the total elimination of reward travel within 5 years. People forget that frequent flyer programs are profitable, and while they give heartburn not just to members but to program leadership as well, they’re actually profitable on a standalone basis. There’s no reason why carriers would give up the cashflow.
- Full disclosure: The 5000 Starpoints that I declined appear to have posted to my account anyway.
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5k Starpoint reader giveaway?
Data pt – approved for this card 11/30/13 and yesterday requested a match via SM. 12 hrs later approved.
@Thomas – I don’t think I have a way to do that, happy to take suggestions
My adviser taught me in grad school that the best way to get noticed was to make controversial predictions: if they turn out right, you’re considered a visionary — if they’re wrong, nobody remembers.
Fukuyama is doing exactly that.
These guys have demonstrated that they don’t understand the economics of running an airline. Marginal cost != unit cost.
Remember this game changes quickly, so if you snooze you lose. The 100K will be back again, time to cancel my BA card..
In the article on the end of frequent flyer miles it states…”United is also raising the number of miles required for first-class reward travel on Star Alliance partner airlines by 18.5 percent to Europe”
I thought United Star Alliance partners are now 65% more expensive to Europe or did they change something?
I agree, with the profits they make on these programs, why would they discontinue them.
maybe I’m missing something on the bad weather plan B, but wouldn’t the backup flight be just as subjected to the weather that is affecting the original?
@italdesign, sometimes weather effects inbound aircraft based on where it originated, or you’d have a backup through a different city. And weather doesn’t necessarily cancel all flights, it may just reduce the ability of an airport to handle as many movements as regularly scheduled (eg for de-icing) and so some but not all flights will get out.
$200K can’t be right.
A good quote I got recently to go from Scottsdale to Reus (Spain) Round trip (charged for 2 round trip as I was staying for 2 weeks) on a FALCON 20 (mid size jet) was $160K…
I say BS
That’s why I wrote “Cheaper than you think” — I know what it cost to charter a 787 for the Star Mega DO 4. We certainly couldn’t have done Japan – US…
I’ve been reading these blogs for a year now and I still haven’t picked up on all the acronyms and insider terminology
I will spend $100 gift card for souvenirs in Canada for friends back home.
I will spend $100 gift card for souvenirs to be purchased in Canada for friends back home.
I will use $100 towards my next trip.