News and Notes from Around the Interweb: A mock-up of the new United website is buried in its new ad campaign. As expected, and despite being royally peeved at Delta, Aeroflot won’t be leaving Skyteam, link is in Russian. (HT: Max in the comments) Two-thirds of Alaska state residents are members of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program and six other facts you may not know. Last month I featured a Munich arport promotional lip sync video that was just awesome. Brussels airport has its own video released six months earlier. The production quality isn’t as good, but in some ways it’s even more bizarre. (HT: Lucky) You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for September 2013.
Get Marriott Status and a Free Ritz-Carlton Night at Zero Net Cost
Via mo26 on Milepoint, there’s an offer for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa that gives you a $200 Ritz-Carlton gift card after first purchase on top of the usual bonuses and benefits. I reviewed the card extensively last year. The Ritz-Carlton Rewards program is essentially the same thing as Marriott Rewards, the key differences being promotions that are offered and the particulars of their co-branded credit cards. With the Ritz card you get enough points for a free Ritz-Carlton night after $2000 spend within 3 months. And the card comes with Gold status (equivalent to Marriott Gold — so the easiest way to achieve 50 night elite status) the first year and then continues to provide that status each year with $10,000 spend. Now, there’s a $395 fee for the card. But the first year that…
Ban on Inflight Electronics Below 10,000 Feet Likely to Be Lifted in 2014
Back in June the committee formed to make a recommendation on use of electronics inflight below 10,000 feet asked for more time. Now that committee is expected to deliver its report this week. They are expected to recommend the restrictions be lifted, which in turn could lead to the FAA removing the requirement to turn off electronic devices for takeoff and landing soemtime in 2014. This will not mean inflight internet below 10,000 feet. That restriction is not under review. Passengers will be able to fire up their e-readers, have their phones on in airplane model, and watch movies or use their laptops though. This will not mean inflight use of cell phones. FCC restriction against that will remain in place. People almost universally hate the idea of passengers gabbing away on their cell phones,…
Mystery Solved: Flights Out of Venezuela Are Full — But Nobody Is Flying
The official exchange rate between Venezuelan Bolivers and American dollars is 6.3 to 1. Legally you can exchange dollars into Bolivars at that rate, but there are tight restrictions on the ability to buy dollars with the local currency. In fact, the black market rate is apparently closer to 44 to 1. However, it’s apparently now possible to buy up to US$3000 with Venezuelan Bolivars at the official exchange rate in conjunction with an international airline ticket. So Venezuelans are making money through arbitrage — buying airline tickets they do not intend to use, for the right to buy US dollars at a massive discount relative to what those dollars can be sold for on the black market. Many don’t take the flights, yet my own searches for space yield many days over the coming…
3000 — or Even 4000 — US Airways Mile Bonus for First Rocketmiles Hotel Booking
Rocketmiles is offering new customers a 3000 US Airways mile first-time booking bonus. When Rocketmiles offered a Virgin America first-time booking bonus it was stackable with the 1000 mile bonus for being referred by an existing customer. Nothing in this promotion’s terms and conditions appear to exclude that — making it effectively a 4000 mile bonus with your first Rocketmiles booking, in addition to the miles you would normally earn for booking a room. To qualify for the 3000 mile US Airways offer, you need to open an account and make a booking by December 14 for a stay consumed by March 31 and choose to collect US Airways miles for the booking. Rocketmiles used to allow my referral link to give you 2000 miles as a first-time booking bonus. Normally signing up through a…
What Ever Became of TopGuest: Points for Social Media Check-ins?
Three years ago a site called TopGuest started offering loyalty points for social media check-ins. They let you earn points with Hilton, Best Western, Choice Hotels, Priority Club plus Virgin America, Wyndham, plus Kimpton, Voila Rewards, and others. Even United was added. You would link a TopGuest account to a social media profile such as Foursquare, and then check in on Foursquare when at a qualifying venue to earn points. The technology wasn’t perfect, and back when I had a Blackberry I could check in on Foursquare at a Doubletree (Hilton points), Holiday Inn (Priority Club), Best Western, and more all from my home. It became a daily ritual of quick points. One can imagine this didn’t actually generate the buzz that TopGuest pitched travel providers on initially, and one by one programs fell away.…
What Today’s Southwest Rapid Rewards Devaluation Means for the Safety of Your Points
Southwest sent out an email blast today to let its members know that it would be reducing the value of its points for their best use, “Wanna Get Away” or discount advance purchase fares. There’s at least some notice given — bookings made March 31 onward will cost 70 points per dollar, rather than the current 60 points per dollar. Southwest is a ‘revenue-based’ program with the number of points earned being derived from the price of your tickets, and the number of points it takes to redeem for a given flight depending on the price of that flight. With this change each point will become worth 1.42 cents apiece. That’s a 15% hit to the value of Southwest points. The Points Guy says “I wouldn’t call this a massive devaluation” — I disagree. Yes,…
Behind the Scenes at Boeing’s New Everett Delivery Center
When I went out to see the delivery of the first Singapore Airlines 777 with its new interior, the event was held at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center which opened in April. The Everett facility is dedicated to widebody delivery, so that’s where they turn over 747-8, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft to their buyers. It’s a 180,000 square foot facility set up to handle up to 4 simultaneous deliveries. There are contract signing rooms, guest offices, and conference rooms for airlines’ use during the delivery process. The FAA comes on-site to do final inspections before turning planes over to their buyers. The facility is able to support various types of events surrounding aircraft delivery. As it was explained to me, some airlines prefer to sign papers and leave with their planes while others want larger…
A First Look At the New Singapore Airlines 777 Economy Seat
Last week I shared a first look at Singapore’s new 777 first class cabin and then I followed up with the new 777 business class cabin as well. I was fortunate to attend the delivery of Singapore’s first 777 with their new interior at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center and to roam around the aircraft taking photos. I didn’t get to take pictures of everything, the lavatories were closed off for instance and since the plane was literally just delivered Singapore hadn’t done the full upload of its entertainment system yet. There are (8) 777 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London.…
Washington National’s American Airlines Celebrates Winning a Customer Cup
Getting off of a flight last week there was a bit of a celebration going on, recognizing the American Airlines Washington National airport team as “Customer Cup Winner” for the 2nd quarter of 2013. (Days away from the end of the third quarter it seemed to me like they took quite awhile to tabulate results.) The recognition was due to survey results for:Aircraft cleanliness Checked baggage delivery Overall experience with American on this flight Likelihood to recommend Flight attendant referred to passenger by name Flight attendant thanks passenger for business on deplaning Received a personal thank you for flying American Airlines Washington National itself is a great, easy airport largely because there’s not a lot of distance from the entrance to the terminal, through security, and to the gates. Rental car pickup and dropoff is…
