For several years the Marriott Rewards program specifically excluded suites from the upgrade benefit offered to elites. They added the exclusion to avoid confusion, for absence of doubt a suite upgrade was simply not a benefit of the Marriott Rewards program. Some individual hotels might do it from time to time, either because the regular rooms were full and someone had to be upgraded or because of sheer generosity. But no elite was entitled to an upgrade to an empty suite. Then last month they restricted the upgrade benefit even more, specifying that an upgrade was to “the next room category level” only, “[s]uites are excluded.” Marriott’s Gold level requires as many room nights as top tier status with Hyatt, Starwood, and Hilton. Marriott’s Platinum status requires a whopping 75 nights. And per the terms…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2012.
Is Inflight Wireless Internet Better Than a First Class Upgrade?
Earlier today tweeted something that’s probably pretty controversial to frequent flyers: @AmericanAir upgrade didn’t clear — but I’d rather have my exit row aisle with @Gogo internet than a first class seat without connectivity! Most of the time of course this is a false dilemma. As an Executive Platinum on American, I generally clear my upgrades. There are three distinct differences between United’s 100,000 mile flyers and American’s in this regard: United’s 100,000 mile flyers are not top tier elites, United’s Global Services is the top elite level and that’s not earned from straight miles flown. At American, flying 100,000 miles puts you in the top elite tier. United privileges full fare elite passengers over higher-level elites on mid-tier fares. A full fare silver trumps a middle-fare 1K. American is status (with full fare tickets…
It’s Still Possible to Put Award Tickets on ‘Hold’ Using the United Website
Increased change fees, elimination of the ability to put award tickets on hold, telephone booking fees, fuel surcharges, when airlines add fees and reduce the flexibility of reward tickets it’s a common refrain to say, “why should the policies be any different for award tickets than for paid travel?” And if anything, those folks will often say that paid travel should be more flexible, since you’re actually giving up money to the airline for your seat. I take the opposite view. Miles aren’t just a rebate to be used for future travel. Frequent flyer award tickets are a reward for loyalty, a thank you for your ongoing business. And as a thank you, the process should be as simple and as uncomplicated as possible. Airlines sometimes view miles earned as meaning a customer is captive,…
Award Wallet Automates Getting Cash Back for Your Travel Purchases
Never forget to earn rebates on your travel purchases again! At least that’s the potential, and where Award Wallet is going with this. I use Award Wallet to track all of my frequent flyer accounts (well, all except American AAdvantage anyway). One click and I update my account balances, seeing what points have posted. One click logs me into an account. Since Award Wallet also tracks cash back shopping portals, they came up with something ingenious. They will log you into a cash back shopping portal first and then into your frequent flyer account, if you wish, so that you’ll automatically receive any cash back rebates you’re eligible for on purchases you make. So far this is set up only with TopCashBack and for British Airways and Alaska Airlines. We’ve rolled out another feature. It…
The Hordes of Summer
TSA checkpoints have taken me much longer to get through over the past month or so. It’s possible I’m just unlucky, but this is how they’ve looked for me most of the time, a photo of clearing security today mid-afternoon. Nearly every seat was taken in the Admirals Club, I found one a little bit too close to a fellow travel but turned it so we weren’t angled towards each other at least. I wasn’t in shouting distance of a power cord. Fortunately my flight has seat power (thanks American Airlines, and of course GoGo..). Boarding for my flight had not yet begun. No passengers were called. First class wasn’t yet asked to queue, nor Executive Platinum members. The only thing other thing you can rely on with summer travel besides these crowds is evening…
Up To 30% Bonus on Hyatt Points Purchases
Hyatt is offering a bonus of 10% – 30% on points purchases through August 31. The more points you purchase the higher the bonus. 1000 – 9000 points gets a 10% bonus. Buying 9000 points means you receive 9900 points at a cost of 2.18 cents apiece. 10,000 – 29,000 points gets a 20% bonus. Buying 29,000 points means you receive 34,800 points at a cost of 2 cents apiece. 30,000 – 40,000 points gets you a 30% bonus. Buying 40,000 points means you receive 52,000 points at a cost of 1.846 cents apiece. Hyatt Gold Passport allows a maximum purchase of 40,000 points per year. I would not do this on a speculative basis. If you were going to buy some points to top off towards an award, it’s great that there’s a bonus.…
Air France KLM Flying Blue 50% Off Promo Awards for July and August
Throughout the year the Air France KLM (and related airlines) Flying Blue frequent flyer program offers discounted ‘promo awards’ — generally half off the usual redemption price for flights between Europe and various cities around the world. And ‘Europe’ has a pretty broad definition: Europe 1: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom Europe 2: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden Europe 3: Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Western Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine. Here’s how I described promo awards back in May: Air France KLM Flying Blue offers ‘promo awards’ at 50% off with the specific cities varying throughout the year. Several programs transfer to Flying Blue including American…
Why Avianca’s LifeMiles is a Useful Program Addition to the Star Alliance
I haven’t spent a great deal of time parsing through the AviancaTaca Lifemiles program yet, I’ve glanced at it occasionally in the past because they frequently offer 100% bonuses on purchased miles (eg here, here, and here. That deal never quite worked for me with their limited airline partnerships, but now that they’ve joined Star Alliance it’s looking mighty attractive. The award chart is pretty reasonable (across the board, but also some sweet spots like North America to Southern Africa for 100,000 miles roundtrip in business class) One-way awards are available for half the cost of roundtrip. They offer cash and points awards bookings. As long as you have at least 40% of the miles needed for an award in your account, you can buy the difference in miles for US$12.75 per 1000 miles. No…
Bits ‘n Pieces for June 21, 2012
Here’s this morning’s roundup of frequent flyer news you can use, should use, or might merely be passingly interested in knowing: Hertz is waiving under 25 year old driver fees through September 30 with coupon (PC #) 144314. The Hertz website says that the charge may still appear on your reservation but will be deducted at time of rental. Avianca, TACA, and Copa join the Star Alliance today giving Star much better coverage in South America. The best bet with Delta miles is Aeromexico, Star has gotten much better now and clearly makes United and US Airways miles a better choice than Delta miles. But American miles are still king for South America travel given American’s own award availability and that of oneworld partner LAN. Oneworld is expected to be strengthened at the expense of…
British Airways Visa 100,000 Point Signup Bonus Expires July 18
Key link: British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus The most lucrative credit card bonus this year was supposed to expire June 7 but was extended. Word is now out from British Airways representatives in New York that the offer will last until July 18. There was some hope of course that this was the ‘new normal’, that we could get this bonus any time we wished. Now we have the announced end date, four weeks away. The 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. After $30,000, they…
