This summer American Express Membership Rewards added Iberia as a transfer partner in its US program. For quite some time the oneworld alliance was a real hole in Amex transfer options. Then transfer partner Mexicana aligned itself with American (after falling out of Star Alliance, though some individual partnerships remain), and linked up with oneworld carriers. But their award chart is pretty brutal for many awards. Now Amex has a second oneworld option in Iberia. While many of their awards are pricey, it not makes sense to compare award charts with Mexicana when looking to redeem on oneworld partners and transfer to the more advantageous program. Wandering Aramean outlines some of the pluses and minuses in the Iberia award chart. It’s nothing like having American or Cathay Pacfiic as a transfer partner. And the best…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for August 2008.
10% Off United International Flights
United is offering 10% off international flights in economy originating in the US when paying with Visa. Ticket by September 30, 2008 for travel between September 9, 2008 and November 20, 2008.
A Note on Current Ad Sponsor
Just the other day I noticed that BAnk of America’s Alaska Airlines Visa product was advertising on the site. I haven’t spoken with them, and I didn’t know it was coming, but all I can say is, “cool!” I’m a fan of the Alaska Airlines program, their recent changes notwithstanding (just use the miles for international premium class awards on partners, the partner fee is worth it, and their miles are especially flexible given their partnerships across both oneworld and Skyteam carriers…). And the Bank of America Visa comes with a true gem in the form of its $50 companion ticket, my personal favorite tool for traveling domestic first class cross-country (and to Hawaii even) with my wife. I have no idea if any of that Bank of America cash apparently being spread around the…
Speculation about US Airways and Delta Co-Branded Credit Card Relationships
Randy Petersen offers US Airways a face-saving way to bring back elite bonus miles — something pretty much every other carrier still features: return the bonus miles for those elite members who carry a Barclays bank co-branded Mastercard (and, ahem, provide retro credit of the missing bonuses back to August 6th). Given the importance of the co-branded credit card relationship (funding for the America West – US Airways merger was greased by the new credit card partner), this is certainly a plausible idea… made more so by the fact that no other carrier has followed US Airways’ lead on this one. Certainly a constructive suggestion from the guy who brought you Save Dividend Miles. Meanwhile, I recently suggested getting the Northwest Visa Signature card before the US Bank relationship disappears with the Northwest-Delta merger (the…
Checking Swiss Award Availability Online
Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a big fan of the All Nippon Airways Mileage Club. Not that I fly ANA frequently (though I’ve flown them in first class before, have an upcoming reservation to do so again, and it’s truly lovely). First, because for some specific redemptions such as US East Coast to Europe in business class their award chart is quite favorable, e.g. New York to London in Virgin Upper Class for 63,000 miles or Washington-Dulles to Frankfurt on Lufthansa for 68,000 miles. (And of course you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to ANA, but when actually booking your ticket do be aware that they charge much higher taxes and fees than US-based programs.) Second, and most useful for most, is that their website lets you check award availability across…
8,000 Cathay Pacific Asiamiles Bonus for US-Hong Kong Roundtrip in October and November
Cathay Pacific is offering a bonus of 8,000 Asiamiles (for most coach booking classes; 10,000 miles for business or first) for flying roundtrip San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York to and from Hong Kong. Registration required by November 15 for travel between October 1 and November 30, and the bonus can be earned as many times as you can fly roundtrip during the promotion period.
Hyatt Faster Free Nights is Back with a Bonus Points Kicker
Hyatt is back with Faster Free Nights, among the best hotel bonus promotions ever. And this time they’re topping off with bonus points as well, which is great because Hyatt points are among the harder points to earn (few partners). Earn a free night after every two eligible Hyatt stays at any Hyatt worldwide between September 1 and December 30, 2008. Plus, earn 2,000 bonus points after every two eligible Hyatt stays paid with your MasterCard card. Registration is required. Now, once upon a time a cheap Priceline stay counted as a stay for this promotion, and you could charge something minimal like a phone call to your room on your free stay and have it count as one of your two stays towards your next free stay. Ah, memories. But many Gold Passport members…
Award Price Increases and Ticketing Fees at Frontier
Frontier is increasing the number of miles for an award ticket and imposing ticketing fees, citing rising fuel cost even as oil has fallen substantially from its highs. Cutting frequent flyer program benefits usually doesn’t happen while a carrier is in bankruptcy. In general we’ve seen the opposite — print funny money (miles are a currency) while in bankruptcy and reduce the value of those miles once exited from Chapter 11. So this turns the usual expected practice on its head. The upshot of the changes is that Frontier will charge customers $25 per award ticket, and $75 per award ticket for flights booked within 14 days of travel. Redeemable tickets will jump from 15,000 miles to 20,000 for a domestic round trip ticket. More details in this Flyertalk thread.
Two 1000 Mile Surveys from Flying Blue
Via Free Frequent Flyer miles, two surveys each offer 1000 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles: here and here.
United Onboard Service and Meal Cutbacks
One Mile at a Time points to United service cutbacks. Those changes appear to be as follows: Effective Sept. 2: 2-3 hour flights, killing biscoffs and pretzels in coach and replacing with buy on board. Effective Oct. 1: Increasing Buy on Board Prices Shelf-stable items increase from $5 to $6. Fresh items increase from $7 to $9. Other meal changes: Eliminate free meals in coach, Dulles Departures to Europe (except Kuwait). Will offer Buy on Board. Three-class planes, business class gets free Buy on Board rather than separate meals (!!) Eliminate Second meal service on p.s. flights — replace with beverage service. Other changes: Reduce flight attendant staffing to FAA minimums These will be a real ouch to some, I can live with them (but won’t like it!), as long as the cuts don’t come…
