As reported on Milepoint, searching and booking business class award space on Korean Airlines just got easier. Delta Skymiles partners with Korean, it’s always been a bit of a pain because you cannot search for Korean Airlines award space on the Delta website and you cannot use the Korean website either unless you have enough Skypass miles in your Korean account to actually complete the booking. That means you’ve been pretty much at the mercy of Delta Skymiles agents, and with all of the different booking classes and blackout dates and probably more importantly variability in agent quality (Delta agents frequently don’t even know who their partners are, let alone how to book partner award seats, or even that you’re allowed to on a route that Delta also serves) that can be a real challenge.…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2012.
Singapore Airlines Premium Cabin Awards May Get Easier to Obtain
Singapore Airlines premium cabin seats are tough to get on points. One common request I get in my award booking service is for Singapore Airlines flights. There’s a certain allure to flying Singapore. I often feel like the airline is overrated. There’s a mystique to it, their onboard product is good and I very much enjoy the style of service (although others find them to be a bit too fawning). But I also like Cathay Pacific’s first class product quite a bit, and that of several other carriers, at least as much. They just don’t have quite the same branding. The problem is that Singapore Airlines premium cabin awards have been almost impossible to get. It used to be that it was easy to get a single seat in Singapore Airlines First class, they would…
Best Miles for Flowers Offers as Valentine’s Approaches
Here are the offers that jump out at me as being especially worth considering: FTD offering 30 American Airlines miles per dollar, plus 300 additional miles for Citi Advantage credit card holders, for flower purchased. For those with a hankering for United miles, FTD is also promoting 30 Mileage Plus miles per dollar for Valentine’s Day. And FTD’s offer of 30 United miles per dollar plus 150 miles per order appears to still be working as well. Through February 14, Teleflora will give 25 US Airways miles per dollar. 1-800-Flowers has a 40 Delta mile per dollar offer with promo code 52DE.
Common Misconceptions about Starwood Program Changes
The changes are good for almost all elites. Golds are all better off, they just get a new benefit (choice of welcome amenity) with nothing taken away. Free internet is the most valuable choice, but someone who is expensing internet may take a $15 welcome drink or if they don’t drink they might take the points. Platinums who stay 50 nights or more get to choose which nights they want priority for upgrades, and even which rooms they’re willing to use their upgrade priority for. Platinums all now get the choice of Continental breakfast (but they don’t get breakfast and the points amenity or the local amenity, and SPG is working with properties to refresh their local amenities). Platinums who stay 75 nights earn a 100% points bonus instead of 50% for their in-hotel spend,…
Help Make a New Frequent Flyer Documentary Possible
I spoke for awhile with Gabriel Leigh in Los Angeles last weekend. Gabriel produces a short documentary in 2009 about the quest for miles and points. He’s now working on a feature length documentary, and he’s looking for support for the project. Kickstarter allows you to raise funds for a project, people make commitments but the project’s driver only gets the funds if they raise the goal which will allow them to make the project happen. If they fall short they get nothing, everyone keeps their money. Over the weekend I knew that Gabriel was close, but the final deadline is Friday morning. So I planned to post here, hoping that I could make a contribution and that some of my readers might as well, and push him over the top — it would be…
25% Bonus on Transfers from American Express to Air France KLM Flying Blue
Via Deals We Like: During the entire month of February 2012, you will receive a 25% bonus when you transfer your Amex Membership Reward points to the AirFrance-KLM Flying Blue program. Typically, points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, but for this limited time you’ll receive 1,2500 Flying Blue miles for every 1,000 Membership Reward points. Flying Blue adds fuel surcharges to awards which can make them expensive out of pocket, you’re certainly not going to want to redeem coach awards through this program as you’ll still be out of pocket much fo the cost of a paid fare. But they allow one-way awards, their website is pretty good for award booking, their award chart can be favorable in some cases (promo awards can offer transatlantic business class for as low as 50,000 miles roundtrip). Check…
Taxation of Miles Revisited: Nothing Has Yet Changed Though It Certainly Could in the Future
Since the Los Angeles Times covered Citibank’s practice of sending out 1099s to customers who earned points for opening bank accounts, there’s been a lot of interest in the issue. Taxation of frequent flyer miles has always been a hut button issue. Now the LA Times has done a followup story in which they get the IRS on the record saying that Citibank’s position is a reasonable interpretation of law, and much handwringing has ensued — quite a bit of it overwrought. Wandering Aramean, for instance, titles his post on the subject, “The IRS moves to hit frequent flier miles” and says “it is readily apparent that the IRS sees some miles as taxable and not at a particularly favorable rate.” Except that’s not what the IRS has said, and they certainly haven’t commented about…
Hyatt Winter Promo Registration Now Open
Hyatt’s Winter promo which awards progressively more bonus points for incremental nights through April 30th is now open for registration. For every 4 nights between February 1 and April 30, members earn additional points and Hyatt Visa also earn an extra 25% bonus on top. Registration required by March 31. 4 nights earns 4000 points (+1000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders) 8 nights earns an additional 8000 points (+2000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders) 12 nights earns an additional 12,000 points (+3000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders) 16 nights earns an additional 20,000 points (+5000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders) Members staying 16 nights during the three months of the promotion, who also have a Hyatt Visa, will earn 55,000 bonus points in addition to their regular earning. This is my favorite current promotion in the market. Even if…
A Whole Suite of Starwood Preferred Guest Benefit Improvements Rolling Out March 1
Starwood Elite Status Improvements: This morning Starwood is announcing a bunch of new benefits to go into effect March 1, and they’re pretty much across-the-board positive: Checkin amenity for Gold members Free breakfast option for Platinums Upgrade priority 10 nights a year for Platinums who stay 50 nights or more Additional benefits for staying 75 and 100 nights — check-in any time you wish, more bonus points for in hotel spend, and access to a dedicated Starwood team member to handle your hotel needs. For a long time I’ve been saying that Starwood was an innovator, that other chains have caught up, and that they needed to up their game. That I had confidence they would. And I kept waiting. And waiting. They’ve now rolled out a suite of new benefits. Starwood pioneered no capacity…
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