Chris Guillebeau has just completed his frequent flyer guide. It’s $49, and not going to be useful to everyone, but I’ve given it a read and for the right audience it’s really quite good. If you’ve been a Flyertalk member for years, or have over 2000 posts there, this product isn’t for you. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you understand and follow the tips and take advantage of the offers I post, this product isn’t for you. But if you’ve just stumbled upon this blog for the first time, or bookmarked it with the intention to “figure all this stuff out” at some point, this document/guide may be the ticket. I rarely write comprehensive, ground-up, basics posts. Chris, on the other hand, has done a pretty good job at starting with…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for November 2009.
Lufthansa to Introduce the Airbus A380 on JFK-Frankfurt
Another news item from the Star Alliance MegaDO, Lufthansa will introduce the A380 to New York-JFK / Frankfurt service for its summer schedule. Currently Lufthansa operates 3 Boeing 747 aircraft on the route. The A380 will replace one of those 747s. If you have tons of miles and are a top tier elite in a position to cancel an award without penalty, consider booking first class awards for late summer or early fall 2010. Book a variety of JFK-Frankfurt flights so that when one of them switches to an A380, you have a first class award. I fully expect first class awards on the A380 to be very difficult to get. The cabin will have fewer seats than the current 747 offering, and they’ll be in much higher demand. The best way to get one…
An Eventual End to United’s Starnet Blocking?
At the Star Alliance MegaDO it was revealed that the Star Alliance website will be offering an award search tool to display award seat availability across the alliance. If Star makes member award seats transparent, it will be very hard for United to remain the only Star member blocking awards. The alliance itself will be marketing that you can find award seats on its website and call your member program, and then Mileage Plus members would call to be told “that flight doesn’t exist” and “awards aren’t being offered.” That can’t last. Already Continental is building excellent IT capability for partner award search into its website. And this will shine the light, somewhat, on United’s blocking efforts. It’s not just users of the All Nippon Airways website, anymore, that know the difference between awards not…
The Link is Live! British Airways Visa 100,000 Mile Signup Bonus!
Here it is. As expected: 50,000 miles with first purchase 50,000 miles after spending $2000 on the card within 3 months 1.25 miles per dollar spent (2.5 miles per dollar on British Airways spend) After spending $30,000 on the card in a year, you’ll receive a certificate for a free companion award ticket when you redeem an awardBritish Airways allows ‘households’ to pool their miles for an award. So two people each sign up for the card. One puts $2000 in spend to earn the full bonus, the other puts $30,000 in spend to earn a companion certificate. 240,000 miles will be earned, plus a companion certificate. This would allow two people to redeem first class tickets between, say, Los Angeles and Dubai. In other words, 480,000 miles of awards for nothing but $32,000 in…
Hotel Check-in Cleanliness Regimens
Through the Lens, a flight attendant with some err.. habits.. when checking in a hotel room, shares her regimen. None of this is new to me, but I like to pretend that staying in nicer places I don’t have to have the same concerns. She’s not especially graphic in describing most of the things she’s avoiding, and her tips are probably good ones. It’s worth reading her post, but you may wish you hadn’t! She says her routine isn’t particularly extreme compared to that of some of her flight attendant colleagues, I am almost afraid to know what they do… Do you worry about your hotel’s cleanliness? What steps do you take to protect yourself, or do you just not worry about it? Share in the comments.
American Express Permits Re-allocating Credit Lines Again
Up until a year or so ago, if you had more than one American Express credit card you could move around your credit lines online. If you had $20,000 total in credit you could move it between various cards as needed. Then all of a shutdown they shut this down, and they wouldn’t re-allocate credit lines over the phone either. I get caught with this, actually. I moved all my credit over to my Starwood American Express card leaving my Hilton Amex with a whopping $1000 credit line. So when American Express sent me a generous promotion for spending beyond a certain low threshold each month, I had a hard time taking good advantage of it. Well, I can confirm that American Express is once again willing to let customers re-allocate credit lines. I spoke…
Randy Petersen Blogs the Star Alliance MegaDO
It’s a rough time of year at work, and my days are filled either with late nights at the office or with long days spent on regional jets and long drives in a rental car. What that means is that I’m missing the Star Alliance MegaDO. Randy Petersen is blogging it, though, a must read. Randy’s initial post describes the event as The most infamous mileage run ever conceived is ready for flight with nearly 250 frequent flyers from around the globe gathering in Chicago, New York, Frankfurt and Oslo to partake in a series of flights that serve no purpose other than to boost one’s mileage balance and to be able to talk about frequent flyer miles non- stop for four whole days … might as well include the nights as well. But it’s…
Amazing New British Airways Visa Will Still Carry Same $75 Annual Fee
I’ve gotten several questions about the new British Airways Visa offered by Chase that I wrote about yesterday. The most common one is about the annual fee. I speculated that it would remain $75, as the card is currently priced. But it’s a good question. Jennifer Saranow Schultz has confirmed (in the comments to her post) at the New York Times’ Bucks Blog that the card will in fact still have the same $75 annual fee. I’ve put a question out to Chase’s reps on this whether someone who has had a British Airwaays Visa in the past, but is not a current cardholder, might be eligible for the signup bonus? Chase cards generally restrict signup bonuses to first-time cardholders, once for each card product. So whether a former BA Visa cardholder can receive the…
Analysis of Singapore’s December 1 Award Chart Changes
The Global Traveller offers his analysis of the changes in the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer award chart that I recently mentioned. He reiterates my point about the value in 50% mileage cost for one-way awards. That’s a big improvement. The reduction in the number of zones on the award chart means some awards become more expensive. The Delta chart has more zones, however, and generally higher prices for premium cabin awards. The nice benefit for Virgin awards is that multiple flights can be combined for a through ticket, Kiwi gives the example of North America to Africa which used to require two awards but can now be done as one. At the same time, however, award prices go up. Meanwhile, Air India awards don’t change. Thanks for the recap, Kiwi Flyer!
10% Bonus on Marriott Gift Cards
Through December 31, Marriott is offering a 10% bonus on gift cards with promo code MMF. They’ll add 10% to the amount you purchase. Now, this isn’t enough of a bonus to send me off on a spending spree. But for those who would consider Marriott gift cards anything, it’s worthwhile. It’s marketed to Marriott “associates, franchisees, owners and their friends and family” but will work for anyone.
