Monthly Archives for February 2005.
Through May 2, America West is offering 1000 bonus miles that count towards elite status when using the ‘bill me later’ feature for the first time for ticket purchases on their website. This is in addition to the one bonus mile per dollar spent when using the feature and the 500 mile online booking bonus. Of course, it’s important to pay prompty as the fees can otherwise be significant.
Northwest Airlines, which operates a hub at Detroit, has been cited for bringing in beer from out of state for service on its flights. Michigan law requires that beer must be purchased from state-licensed wholesalers. (Northwest serves out of state beer on planes only, not in its clubs which are supplied by local distributors.) Karen Wilson, chief executive at Central Distributors of Beer in Romulus, said her company notified the Liquor Control Commission after some of her salespeople noticed pallets of beer bearing a Minnesota distributor’s name were delivered to Northwest at Metro Airport. Central Distributors has the exclusive rights to distribute Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch beers across much of western Wayne County, including Metro Airport. A liquor commission investigator determined that the airline was illegally importing alcohol into Michigan and was breaking the law…
Three and a half weeks ago I declared that Independence Air had some financial breathing room and that it was safe to make bookings through February. While they’re running some significant sales to promote their new West Coast service which starts in the next few months, I’m not recommending that folks buy those tickets at this point. I’m taking a wait and see attitude with the carrier, and wouldn’t suggest significant advance bookings at this time. One of Independence Air’s 73 planes was repo’d on Sunday. And one of the conditions of their cash infusion from GE was that they successfully renegotiate their aircraft leases. The repossession is a pretty good indication that they weren’t completely successful, and I worry about the carrier’s ability to meet the covenants of its GE loan. United seems to…
About ten days ago, Travelocity displayed a business class fare from several European cities to Shanghai for US$671 on Alitalia. It was an “I” fare, or so the fare rules suggested — special promotional business class fare. Turns out that for the same exact price there was an “L” fare, the least expensive coach fare available. The price was intended for the coach fare, but it displayed with business class fare rules by mistake. When the fare was purchased, it never said there was a lack of availability in I class or that it was being booked in something other than business. But the tickets were sold in L class, and Alitalia had record of a coach purchase. Travelocity was initially unhelpful. Now, this wasn’t a $0 fare. And it wasn’t a $20 fare, like…
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) covered Amtrak’s abrupt end to transferring Guest Rewards points into United Mileage Plus miles. One of the best deals in the world of frequent-flier programs recently disappeared, a reminder to travelers that the good bargains in the world of loyalty don’t last forever. For several years, in the tight-knit community of frequent travelers, Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program developed a cult-like following. Reason: The program could be used as a clearinghouse for unwanted frequent-flier miles from Continental Airlines, which has developed a reputation for being stingy with the free seats on its airplanes. Using a three-way swap that is rare among loyalty programs, Amtrak members would transfer Continental miles into Amtrak points — then take the points and turn them into United miles. They did this because they believed…
The two best offers I’m currently aware of are 30 Northwest miles per dollar spent at FTD and 30 United miles per dollar spent at FTD. The Northwest offer is new. The United one has been around a long time. Though the latter says it is for United’s top-tier elites, it works for anyone.
Tomorrow is their fifth anniversary and they’re giving away 500 roundtrip tickets to the first one hundred people who show up at each of their five New York City borough locations dressed as one of the destinations they fly to (along with a canned food item for City Harvest).
Refer up to four friends to Mileage Plus. Each one that flies a roundtrip (as long as it isn’t booked as an S, T, or L fare) before June 30 will earn 3000 bonus miles plus 2000 miles for you. Update: This appears to be targeted, though a majority of reports to me so far are from folks who were targeted. Your mileage may vary.
In a move that matches United, American is offering double miles on all flights booked by February 18 for travel through May 25. Registration required.
When India’s Minister for Civil Aviation can say with a straight face that India’s airports are more secure than US airports, I view that as a strong indictment of US security policy. Anyone who has traveled through a major Indian airport must shake their head, though more at the chaos than the security. And it’s true that there haven’t been major recent security incidents there that I’m aware of. But the US should be looking pretty hard at itself when claims like these are made openly. (Comments are open, feel free to flame away.)
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
