Lots of folks emailed me last night, and I see that One Mile at a Time has already written about it. (Although availability isn’t looking as good to me as what he was seeing several hours ago.) Here’s a same search using ITA Software’s Matrix to identify dates and itineraries that will price out at this fare. I then get this calendar of available dates and fares: And then this is a sample of an available itinerary: Key elements of the fare: This is valid for travel commending on or after April 1 and must commence by June 12. Travel is permitted Monday through Thursday. 14 day advance purchase required. 2 stopovers are permitted – the first one free and the second for $125 — in Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles It’s a…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2013.
Freddie Awards Voting is Now Open!
The Freddie Awards are in their 25th year of representing the voice of the frequent traveler, honoring the best in airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty programs during the previous year. Now is your chance to vote for your favorite programs, the ones you believe did the best job for their members in 2012. You’ll be among more than 1,000,000 frequent flyers expressing their collective voice. And sponsors of the Freddies also provide opportunities to engaged, high-value customers that are casting their ballots. Check out the special offers when you complete your ballot. I’ve had the great honor of serving as Chair of Nominations for the Freddies, so I’ve been in touch with leadership at scores of frequent flyer programs over the past couple of months preparing for this. And as a co-founder of the…
Don’t Panic! The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the US Airways-American Merger
Here’s what I told Conde’ Nast’s Daily Traveler — that essentially we don’t know enough yet to have any basis for worry. The frequent-flier programs of US Airways and American will also merge, bringing the AAdvantage membership to a whopping 100 million members after it absorbs US Airways’ program. But considering that the airline is going to be bigger too, miles expert Gary Leff (a top travel specialist and a contributor to CondeNastTraveler.com), doesn’t think that number is out of proportion. “It’s only about 10 to 15 percent bigger than United’s program, and probably 30% bigger than Delta’s,” he says. How will the union affect fliers? Leff lays out the pros of each program as it stands now: “US Airways doesn’t seem to have as many elite members as the rest of the legacy airlines,…
Hyatt Gold Passport Promotion Registration Now Live
Hyatt’s spring promotion, details of which I confirmed a week and a half ago is now live for registration. Earn 3000 points every 3 nights, up to a maximum of 45,000 points, between March 1 and May 31. Hyatt Visa cardholders earn an additional 20% bonus points (so 600 more points every 3 nights). This is hardly the most exciting promotion Hyatt has run in recent times, but it’s certainly competitive with and probably better than what other chains are offering. When I wrote about the promo on February 5th I suggested that probably only Marriott’s MegaBonus (a free night up to category 4 after 2 stays) was better. Although with Marriott’s pending devaluation, the usefulness of MegaBonus nights drops markedly (since there are fewer category 4 and below properties, and fewer still that I…
There’s a 35,000 Mile Signup Bonus for the US Airways Mastercard That Some Will Consider Better than the Standard 40,000 Mile Offer
Last night I posted about the old ‘Chairmans’ offer of 40,000 miles after first purchase, no annual fee, and 10,000 miles at renewal no longer being active and that it left the standard 40,000 mile offer (my referral link) as best (no fee waiver, no promise of additional miles at renewal). UPDATE: Commenter ‘A’ shares a link (with no landing page, straight to the application) that appears to still offer 40,000 miles after first purchase, no fee the first year, and 10,000 more miles at card renewal. If the offer works, it’s the best available (similar to the old ‘Chairmans link’). Save the terms and conditions if you decide to use the link. Update 2: this new link doesn’t appear to be working, “We apologize for the inconvenience, but our website is experiencing technical issues.”…
40,000 Bonus Points Before US Airways Becomes American
Key Link: The US Airways Premier World MasterCard® On Monday, in response to a number of reader questions, I wrote Should You Get the US Airways and American Credit Cards Now Before Any Merger? My conclusion was that a merger would take money months to close. These cards aren’t going away right away. But you should still take advantage of the opportunity now. The US Airways Mastercard isn’t going to last, regardless of which bank issues co-branded credit cards after the merger closes — since the US Airways brand is going to go away. Those bonus miles won’t be around forever. Historically it has been possible to get the signup bonus for the US Airways Mastercard more than once. If you get it now, it seems likely there will be time to get it again…
Sometimes I Wish Descriptions Could Be More… Descriptive.. When Miles Post
The US Airways Mastercard provides lots of interesting targeted bonuses, in addition to the signup bonus that many folks have found to be churnable. I know I’ve gotten many signup bonuses for the US Airways co-branded credit card over the years. Having recently reviewed the agreement between the airline and credit card issuer I learned that the bank buys bonus miles at a lower rate than the miles for everyday spend, and also that they’re incentivized to bonus annual retention. The card’s behavior makes a great deal more sene to me now. A couple of months after getting the card last time I was targeted for a 15,000 mile bonus based on minimum spend for 3 consecutive months. And subsequently I’ve been incentivized with quintuple miles in specific spend categories, most recently the bonus was…
Merged American Should Keep American Service Levels and American Reservation System
Some tidbits of interest to me from this morning’s merger announcement conference call. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter. In the meantime the airlines remain separate entities. Single operating certificate expected within 18 months of closing the merger although operational integration will happen earlier on. They claim they’ll adopt American service-levels. I’m skeptical and predict some sort of splitting the difference, at least over time. But as I said earlier, US Airways elites are hungry given no meals on 3 hour flights. They don’t know yet which co-branded credit card partner with remain with the merged carrier. Sounds like they’ll be playing Barclays and Citibank off of each other. Combined loyalty program will have over 100 million members. Doug Parker says he learned a lesson from the integration of reservation systems…
Basic Principles for Earning Free Travel Through Credit Cards
Scott Mayerowitz has a good, basic piece out of the AP on earning travel rewards from credit cards. Lessons boil down to what should be familiar to most readers of this blog: Many credit cards offer big bonuses for signing up that can be used for free or inexpensive trips. I blogged last week the Best Current Credit Card Signup Bonuses. Flexible points which transfer into the currencies of several airlines — like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest points — can be the most valuable. Then you don’t have to know what award you want up from (for choosing the right program for you) and can move the points where you’ll be most likely to secure the award space when it comes time to redeem. Not included in the…
A (Very Brief) Moment of Recognition and Thanks: American and US Airways
As we all start to figure out what a merger of American and US Airways will mean — for travelers generally, for frequent flyers, for investors, for employees — it’s worth noting just how far we’ve come. Of course, in the immediate term I think we have little to worry about, as I told USA Today. “In the short-term, frequent flyers will benefit from more routes and more choices, and a management that will likely want to reassure them that the benefits they’re used to won’t change,” says Gary Leff, co-founder of the frequent flyer community Milepoint.com and author of the ViewFromTheWing.com blog. The actual work to integrate the airlines — culture and IT — will be hard and likely painful. And over time some of the value we’ve come to enjoy in each program…
