Frequent Traveler University had some really outstanding moments, The Points Guy posted a video of his talk about Delta Skymiles. He was debating me on their merits, I wish someone had filmed my counterpoint. I certainly see value in the program. But I advanced the argument that the program is on the whole less lucrative than United’s, American’s, Delta’s, or Alaska’s, while conceding that it works better for me than Southwest’s or Frontier’s. My basic arguments were as follows: Their pricing engine is broken. A US-Australia award may be 150,000 miles roundtrip in business class, and it may be that the award is supposed to include flights inside the US to the international gateway city when those segments are available at the ‘low’ level, but Delta often prices it additively anyway. You’ll often see 45,000…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for April 2012.
British Airways Status Matching of bmi Elites is Now Live
British Airways has acquired British Midland, and now they’ve made available the website to match bmi Diamond Club elite status to equivalent status in the British Airways Executive Club program. I’m a bmi Gold elite member, and am working through my best strategy here. The primary value for me in BA’s Gold status will be that I’ll receive access to American’s Flagship lounges even on domestic US itineraries, I don’t otherwise have much use for BA Gold as an American Executive Platinum. I do not intend to requalify as a British Airways elite. I’m looking for a non-U.S. Star Alliance program to reach Star Gold status with, preferably one that bonuses premium cabin fares and has a reasonable award chart. I do like that Asiana status can last up to 4 years and that their…
Restoring the Trust that United Lost with its March 3 Continental Merger/Integration Problems
Wandering Aramean offers a nice discussion of this morning’s Frequent Traveler University session with a United executive who came out to face the music of frequent flyers. He caught a red eye to make it to Newark, I think he showered, and then came down for a session which ran from 10am until lunch. To me, it was (hopefully) the beginning of United’s rapprochement with its customers — the March 3rd integration of United and Continental, their reservation systems, and mileage programs has been a disaster. At the Freddie Awards Thursday evening Robert Wuhl said that you could trust United to keep its promises — “when they promised 2 to 4 hour hold times, they key their promise!” And of course it hasn’t been just telephone hold times, which have improved (although hardly to pre-March…
A Newark Airport Hotel That’s Actually Worth Staying At?
My favorite airport hotel in the world is the Intercontinental O’Hare. It’s crazy nice, from the time you’re picked up in a new black party bus instead of the standard beat up van.. to the lobby with an art gallery… beautiful bathrooms… a view of planes lining up to land… plus decent restaurants attached to the property like a Capital Grill. I much like the SkyCity Marriott in Hong Kong as well, on the water with a great staff and great rooms, top notch bath amenities and free internet, right by the airport. Now, the best and most important thing most of the time is convenience and proximity, so it’s hard to beat the Sheratons in Frankfurt and Paris (though I don’t especially like either property as a hotel), the Sheraton Toronto airport, the Kempinski…
Will the value of AAdvantege Stop US Airways from Acquiring American?
Randy Petersen this morning at Frequent Traveler University made a point that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere about a potential American – US Airways merger. American hasn’t been talking up the value of its frequent flyer program, Randy thinks it’s because they don’t want a narrative that they have valuable assets as they approach their labor negotiations. Aeroplan, the stasndalone frequent flyer program associated with Air Canada, has a market cap of over 2 billion dollars. American AAdvantage is both orders of magnitude larger and also more profitable. On the other hand, the US market is more competitive than the Canadian market. Taking a discount for this, Randy thinks AAdvantage is worth 5 to 6 billion dollars. And that US Airways won’t be willing or able to pay anything close to fair value for an…
Bits ‘n Pieces for April 28, 2012
Your email address is worth 2000 Priority Club points A flash drive shaped like a hand grenade? (HT: MrAOK) Who Needs Money? Beautiful People Travel Free! (via Marginal Revolution) The New York Times on social media and US Airways attempts to take over American with lessons from SaveSkyMiles and this blog. There’s apparently been a rash of shoplifting by Pakistan International Airlines crew in the U.K., the airline has been warned that their crews could be detained – and without backup crews available their operations could be severely impacted. Speculation that Qatar will join oneworld, though I’d expect Etihad would have the leg up since it recently inked a partnership with American and acquired a 30% stake in new oneworld entrant Air Berlin.
Frequent Travelers Speak: Which Programs Really are the Best?
The Freddie Awards website did an excellent job chronicling the evening’s blow-by-blow with photos. My own summary is over at Conde Nast Travel. Here’s the USA Today take. You can read about it at Rapid Travel Chai and at Mommy Points. Deals We Like covered the results. So did the Points Guy. And Live and Let’s Fly just Another Points Traveler is giving away her swag bag from the evening. The big winners on the night were: American Airlines in the Americas — Program of the Year, Best Earning Promotion (Double Elite Qualifying Miles), Best Customer Service, and Best Elite Program. I think they do deserve to be the big winner here, their award inventory domestically is head and shoulders above the competition and their elite program is a solid choice, I definitely feel valued…
Hyatt’s Summer Promo – Up to 5x Airlines Miles
Between May 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012, Hyatt Gold Passport is offering up to five times the airline miles — quadruple points on the second and third stays during the promotion period and quintuple points on stays four through eleven. (The promo is capped at 11 stays.) This is a great offer for folks who do a lot of one-night stays, since airline miles even without the bonus are often worth more than the points which are accrued based on that night’s spend in the Gold Passport program. This promotion, since it’s based on stays rather than nights, is especially valuable for those short stays. Registration is required, for your choice of participating airline program; Air China PhoenixMiles Air France KLM Flying Blue American AAdvantage ANA Mileage Club British Airways Executive Club China Eastern…
Former TSA Head Kip Hawley to Chat Live on Milepoint, May 2nd at 9pm Eastern
Kip Hawley, former Director of the TSA, will chat live on Milepoint Wednesday, May 2 at 9pm Eastern. Mark your calendars! A couple of weeks ago he dropped a bombshell editorial in the Wall Street Journal where he basically repudiated just about everything that the TSA did under his watch. He protests effectively “sure I was in charge and spoke up publicly in favor of it all, but it wasn’t really my fault!” I arrived in 2005 with naive notions of wrangling the organization into shape, only to discover the power of the TSA’s bureaucratic momentum and political pressures. He makes some silly suggestions, like improving security by removing checked bag fees so fewer bags get carried on, forgetting that pre-9/11 passengers were allowed two carryons and a personal item through security, so it’s not…
Fourth Wife Flies Free Sale!
Taking a page from (or possibly even one-upping) Spirit Airlines, South Africa’s Kulula has a “Fourth Wife Flies Free” offer on its Facebook page. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was just again married on Sunday, he now has four wives though this was actually his sixth marriage. Inspired by regular VIP travellers with sizeable spousal entourages, the offer is open to all fourth wives when the family travels together on the Jo’burg to Cape Town route. There are of course some peskys Tees and Cees to go with our less than pesky offer: – The offer is valid on Joburg to Cape Town route from Monday 23rd April ‘til April 30th – The family must have already bought a kulula.com ticket for all wives and husband – Simply present ticket and proof of marriage and…
