Lucky writes this morning about Cathay Pacific’s AsiaMiles being added as a transfer partner in the U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program. He does a big ‘meh’ arguing that since you can claim the same flights through Amex transfer partner British Airways Avios as you can through AsiaMiles, there’s not much to get excited about. As it stands you can redeem British Airways Avios points for travel on Cathay Pacific (or any other OneWorld partner), and while their award chart isn’t especially lucrative for longhaul flights, Membership Rewards is offering a 50% transfer bonus for British Airways through May 31. Still, even without the bonus their award chart is still more lucrative than Asia Miles’ in most instances. I think he’s missing the boat here, AsiaMiles is a great addition to the Membership Rewards program.…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for May 2012.
Weekend at the Falls: American Business Class, Gol Domestic, and the Sheraton Iguazú Resort: The Wonder of the Falls
Iguazu Falls: American to Miami in First, then Business Class to Sao Paulo Gol Smiles VIP Lounge and Domestic Service to Foz de Iguassu Sheraton Iguazú Falls Resort & Spa The Wonder of the Falls Gol Domestic Back to Sao Paulo and the Admiral’s Club Sao Paulo American’s Business Class to Miami and on to DC The really stunning thing about the Sheraton isn’t the views per se, it’s that you’re already inside the park. You can arrive in the afternoon, drop off your stuff in your room, and pop over to the Falls. You’re literally 15 – 20 minutes’ walking from your hotel room door to some of the most impressive sights you’re likely to come upon, anywhere. From the hotel there’s easy access to an upper trail that will take less than an…
Lawsuit Filed Against United for Changes to Million Miler Program
Via Seth, a frequent flyer has filed a lawsuit (.pdf) against United for changes to its Million Miler program, and is seeking class action status. Here’s a thread on Milepoint running to hundreds of comments on changes to the MileagePlus lifetime status program, which has plenty of detail. United’s Million Milers have been an unhappy bunch for some reasons that I find persuasive and others that I do not. In general, the complaints are: 1 Million Mile status earns the equivalent of that earned at 50,000 miles of flying. That was true before, and it is still true. But United has since added a 75,000-mile status level. Which means Million Milers are lower in the status pecking order than before — they’re only one up from the bottom as before, but also further from the…
Only Two Weeks Left for British Airways 100,000 Point Credit Card Signup Bonus
British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus The most lucrative current credit card signup bonus is scheduled to be pulled June 7. The public offer is: 50,000 points after first purchase 25,000 points after spending $10,000 on the card within a year 25,000 additional points after spending the next $10,000 on the card within that year There’s a $95 annual fee, spending earns 1.25 points per dollar, and the card has no foreign currency transaction fees. The unique selling proposition for putting high amounts of spend on the card is that after $30,000, they award a free companion award ticket – the second passenger travels on an award booked on British Airways flights for no additional points (though both passengers are charged taxes and fuel surcharges). (Some folks have luck making a mock booking on…
Bits ‘n Pieces for May 24, 2012
News and comment from elsewhere: Over at Conde’ Nast Daily Traveler I review the best credit cards that offer benefits for having the card as opposed to putting spending on that card. The Wall Street Journal today runs a piece on the challenges of the United-Continental integration. Everyone has their pet peeves (and I’ve found few fans). But we often conflate technical challenges or glitches and changes in policy. On the award redemption side, I love relaxed routing rules and the end of Starnet blocking, and hate no more free holds on awards when your miles are already in your account at time of reservation. I abhor the new policy where full fare tickets trump elite status level. And I hate that when you change a ticket you can’t pay the fee out of the…
United’s 787 Seatmap Updated
In yesterday’s post on United’s new 787 serving Denver – Tokyo, I noted that the schedule was live and thus a 787 seatmap was online that you could access when making a (dummy) booking. But the seatmap looked odd, since it had more seats available than the announced configuration of the aircraft was supposed to hold, and the seatmap didn’t specifically flag economy plus. Seth notes in the comments on that post that overnight United has updated the seatmap, and these problems appear fixed. Here’s the new seatmap: (Click on the seatmap above to enlarge) It’s interesting that there’s no center section of seats in row 16, but that the center section of row 23 is economy plus (while the right and left sides are not), and that the row 27 exit seats are considered…
Feecation.com: Get Up to $1250/year in Reimbursements for $14.97/month Membership
One of the banks I do business with gives away as a premium for opening a checking account a benefit where they’ll rebate you $10 per quarter in exchange for submitting grocery or gas receipts. People usually think this is a way for a marketing company to understand your buying habits. The bank does nothing to dissuade that belief. But that’s not the idea at all. You have to remember to request rebate forms, they don’t automatically send you more. You have to save your original receipts and mail them in. And then you have to hope they actually process it and mail you the check. In other words, they get a top line benefit to market that they’re giving you $40. But most people never get anything, or if they do they get $10…
Up to 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Transferring in Points from Other Programs
Via Notiflyer, between May 21 and June 18 Aeroplan is offering up to 40,000 bonus miles for transferring points in from other programs (excluding the U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program). The bonus isn’t per transaction or per partner, it’s cumulative — the more points you transfer in from various sources, the more total bonus points you earn. Eligible partners are: Credit card programs: CIBC Aventura World MasterCard Card, CIBC Aventura Gold Visa, CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite, CIBC Aventura MasterCard Card, American Express Membership Rewards – Canada, BankAmericard Power Rewards credit card, Diners Club Club Rewards Hotel programs: Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, Wyndham Rewards, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Coast Rewards, Club Carlson, Le Club Accorhotels, Shangri-La Golden Circle Award Car rental: Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Other: Points.com The highest yield points…
American’s Initial Schedule for Their New Boeing 777-300s Announced
The initial schedule for American’s incoming Boeing 777-300 aircraft, featuring their new first class and new business class products, has been announced. Beginning December 13 they’ll run it Dallas – Sao Paulo, and in February it’ll start on Dallas and New York – London. Time to start looking at airfares and flights with confirmable upgrade space, I’d love to be among the first to fly in the new business class seats. According to Expertflyer there appears to be reasonably good confirmable upgrade space on the 777-300 for Dallas – Sao Paulo service. Executive Platinum eVIP upgrades are valid from any fare and book into C inventory. I just got back from Sao Paulo on Sunday but this is tempting… (HT: AAdvantageGeek)
New Online Shopping Portal with the Biggest Cash Rebates
Whenever I’m doing any sort of online shopping, I search EV Reward to find the best deal. Most online shopping sites offer some sort of rebates, for instance if I’m going to buy something at Target.com I search Target.com at EV Reward and find that I can get 3% cash back through Ebates (which offers a $5 bonus after your first purchase), 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar, 3 American miles per dollar, or several other options. Given this information, I’d probably choose 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar at Target.com. EV Reward is a useful tool, but it isn’t updated in real time and offers from the various cash back and mileage sites change all the time. So what they list as currently-available offers may vary from the offer you see when…
