Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program adds some extortionate taxes and fees, not unlike the British Airways program. Expect to pay about $550 from the US to London and back in a premium cabin. Fortunately, All Nippon’s program is often less expensive in terms of miles and for some reason they don’t add fuel surcharges onto awards using their partner Virgin Atlantic. So taxes are a more reasonable ~ $275. I don’t really understand why this is the case. ANA hits redemption bookings on their own metal and on Star Alliance partners with fuel surcharges. Why not Virgin bookings? I really don’t know, but I’ll take it. The ANA website doesn’t show Virgin award availability. It lists Virgin flights as ‘on request.’ You put the request in on the website, then a couple of minutes later…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for October 2010.
US Airways’ Great Value Business Class Awards to South Africa
Early this morning I spent a good bit of time on the phone with US Airways.. four passengers in business class between the US and South Africa. Part of the reason it was a long phone call is that the miles were separately coming out of four different accounts, miles for each passenger from their own accounts. That means separate reservations for each. And the taxes on the award wouldn’t price automatically, which with US Airways means getting the rate desk involved. And the agent has to hold for the rate desk. I love US Airways for international awards. I love their award chart. I love their flexibility. And I don’t think I’ve spoken to an agent outside the US since January. On the whole they’re very helpful. But the calls often take awhile. Calls…
2000 Free Priority Club Points for Identifying a Photograph
I’ve written before about the Priority Club Challenge, each week they present a picture and some clues and guessing the location of the photograph earns points. Each day during the week they release additional clues, you can guess once per day, and you earn 2000 points if you guess correctly on the first day (Tuesday), 1500 on Wednesday, 1000 Thursday. Members of Flyertalk have collaboratively done a great job guessing the answers each week. For this week’s challenge, the consensus developed quickly and sure looks correct to me: Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru Don’t forget to enter for each account you manage (family, friends, etc)…
Only Two Weeks Left for Some of the Best Credit Card Signup Bonuses Ever
Just a friendly reminder that the 75,000 mile and 100,000 mile signup bonus offers for Citibank American Airlines credit cards are set to go away October 31. So you’ve only got a couple of weeks left to sign up. Especially if you haven’t yet had these cards, this is the change of a lifetime. I’ve had many, many myself and am not likely in a position for more. But if you have never had a personal Citibank American Airlines credit card, this one is a no brainer. And even for some folks that have had them in the past and do not currently, there are approvals out there it’s just not guaranteed. And don’t forget that there are small business versions of the card that folks are getting, most with little pushback. Occasionally Citi will…
$25 Off a Frontier Flight
Frontier is running a facebook trivia game and they’ll send you an e-coupon for $25 off a flight for correct answers. According to this Flyertalk thread, the answers to the trivia question are: Richard 7 minutes Red Green Raccoon, Wolf
Hyatt’s New Hypo-Allergenic Rooms
Hyatt is introducing hypo-allergenic rooms at full service properties in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. Now, I don’t expect them to be 100% allergen free. No doubt they’ll still be connected to the same ventilation systems as the rest of the hotels. But I like the move. And the description sounds more intensive than I would have expected: Pure’s technicians first take apart the air-handling system in the room, disinfect the parts, treat them with an agent to ward off moisture and add a tea tree oil cartridge that releases a natural anti-microbial agent. After disinfecting every surface in the room, Pure “shocks” the room for two to three hours with highly concentrated ozone to kill mold, bacteria and other unwanted organisms. They then spray carpets, curtains and surfaces with a bacteriostatic shield, Brault…
Up to 40% Rebate on Alitalia Award Redemptions
Alitalia Millemiglia is offering a 20% – 40% rebate on redemptions (most appear to be 30%, with 40% for premium economy). Tickets must be issued by November 10 for flights on Alitalia or Air One. The bonus will be credited by the end of January. So this isn’t a reduction in the miles needed for an award — they’ll rebate back a portion of your miles redeemed later. I’m not a huge fan of the Millemiglia program, mostly because the program itself expires every few years, and if you don’t have activity within a defined set of time your miles go poof with the program (strictly speaking, they offer to let you earn your old balance credited to the new program). But if you’ve got the miles already, or if you have a need for…
50% (or 100%) Redeemable Miles Bonus on US Airways through December 15
US Airways is offering double (redeemable, not elite qualifying) miles through December 15, 2010 when paying by Mastercard. If you use a US Airways Mastercard you actually get a 100% bonus. Only tickets purchased after registering are eligible for the bonus. The promo code, auto-filled in at the link, is MCQ4.
US Airways Reduces Mileage Prices to Thailand, Philippines
Last week I posted that it appeared US Airways was in the process of adjusting their zone definitions. At the time they had Thailand and Philippines listed both in North Asia and in South Asia (whoops!). Well, commenter steven points out that they’ve cleaned things up. And now Thailand and Philippines are both listed solely in North Asia. Wow. I’m not sure the geography of it makes sense to me, but I’ll take it — business class awards are reduced from 120,000 miles to 90,000 miles and first class awards are reduced from 160,000 miles down to 120,000. Go Dividend Miles, seriously, THANK YOU! And with the current mileage purchase offer (100% bonus on purchased miles through November 15), it means you can buy sufficient miles for a business class award to Thailand for about…
20% Discount on United Saver Awards for Elites with a Mileage Plus Visa
Via Randy Petersen, United is offering (1) Mileage Plus elites who (2) have a United Visa a 20% rebate on roundtrip saver awards booking on United and United Express. One-way awards, open jaws, and stopover awards are excluded from the rebate offer, and partner flights are excluded as well. As with most United offers, I imagine that anyone will be able to register for the offer (and registration is required), but only those eligible (elites with a Mileage Plus Visa) will actually receive the benefit. This is one of my pet peeves about United promotions — if they aren’t going to allow a member to take advantage of an offer, don’t confirm that the member has registered successfully! But then United’s IT has never been close to the best… The offer requires booking by December…
