With the changes American announced to its frequent flyer program last week many members are wondering what shoe is next to drop. There are going to be many more changes for sure — for the frequent flyer program, and for the airline — simply as a matter of going down the list of differences between American and US Airways. And there are going to be members who don’t like the changes no matter which version of a policy, American’s or US Airways’, they decide to go with in any given instance. But here are some of the changes I expect to see as US Airways and American harmonize their programs and their airline operations. This list is by no means exhaustive, but several readers have asked me for some of the changes I expect and…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for April 2014.
Free Hotel Night Just for Joining a Loyalty Program
MeliáRewards is a hotel loyalty program with most of its properties in Europe, and the largest number in Spain. The next biggest region for them is South America. There are 3 hotels in the U.S. as well, in New York, Atlanta, and Orlando. They have a current joining offer of 12,000 points, enough for a free night with many of their hotels. Here’s the detail: 2000 points is the normal signup bonus, and it’s enough to get a discount on a hotel booking (cash and points). The current promotion gives you an additional 10,000 points — for a total of 12,000 points as a signup bonus. The catch is that the extra 10,000 points expire at the end of April if unused. So you need to book an award night right away (within the next…
US Airways Targeted Buy Miles Bonus is Back for the Rest of April
Now that the US Airways 100% bonus on shared miles (the best offer for purchased miles generally made by any airline loyalty program) is over, they’re apparently back with a version of their usual bonuses for purchased miles (which isn’t nearly as good a deal). (HT: Loyalty Lobby) The buy miles offer page is again asking you to verify your name and account number at the outset, which means it’s checking on what your targeted offer is. The offer runs through the end of the month, not everyone is eligible, and the bonus you’ll be offered will vary. It turns out that none of the accounts I manage were targeted for a purchased miles bonus this go-around. Even if they were, I wouldn’t be a buyer — certainly not at any amount under a 100%…
Free Gold Status, Free American Miles, Girl Arrested for Tweeting American, and Shorter Gary Leff (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 14, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: That was fast: The second set of dates for Frequent Traveler University Advanced has already sold out. Shorter Gary Leff: The LA Airspace blog offers a much more succinct version of my advice on what to do if your frequent flyer account gets audited. All of my posts could probably use a ‘shorter Gary Leff’ version for readers who find me too verbose… Something intended for American Express customers in Europe: You can apparently get free Gold status for new Club Carlson accounts if you register with an address in Europe using a specific offer form. Earn miles for killing time in the airport. The American Airlines Admirals Club in the Dallas Forth Worth C Terminal has an Avis golf game giving out a small handful of miles.…
The US Airways Twitter Team Gives Us the Greatest Gift We Could Ask For
Someone on the US Airways twitter team committed career suicide today by posting a pornographic image of a woman playing with a Boeing aircraft in a manner not intended by the manufacturer. US Airways offers the following explanation, Our investigation has determined that the image was initially posted to our Twitter feed by another user. We captured the tweet to flag it as inappropriate. Unfortunately the image was inadvertently included in a response to a customer. We immediately realized the error and removed our tweet. This seems plausible, at least if by “initally posted to our Twitter feed by another user,” US Airways means that “our twitter team was surfing for airplane porn and cut and paste from the wrong broswer window when replying to a tweet.” If you want to actually see the highly…
Skyteam Transatlantic Business Class Summer Sale Under $2000 From United’s Hubs
This has been reported as a Skyteam sale out of fiercely-competitive Los Angeles to Vienna. (Not looking like a mistake, just a good old fashioned fare war.) It turns out that there are similar fares out of other United hubs as well (at least Denver, Washington Dulles, Newark and Chicago O’Hare), and to other destinations. I see Denver – Frankfurt, for instance, similarly priced. So is Los Angeles – Frankurt and Los Angeles – Munich. These are Star Alliance hub destinations, of course. So it’s worth looking at other cities (United hubs) to cities that aren’t Skyteam hubs (i.e. places other than Paris, Amsterdam, but especially to cities like Vienna, Frankfurt, and Munich that are Star Alliance hubs). Here’s a calendar of July departures showing lowest price, Los Angeles – Vienna. The Delta Mileage Run…
What to Do If Your Frequent Flyer Account Gets Audited
I asked readers to share what’s on their mind and one reader mentioned their American AAdvantage account was being audited, another commenter speculated that this first reader had sold frequent flyer miles. I’ve given advice on how to handle this subject before, but it’s a great idea to be aware of what loyalty programs look for, determine your own risk tolerance, and know how to stay on the right side of their auditing departments. Here’s what airlines look for to crack down on the sale of miles, which while not illegal is against program rules — the account holder can have their account closed and all of their miles forfeit, the travel can have their tickets cancelled and can find themselves stranded. Why Loyalty Programs Restrict You from Selling Awards Most airline and hotel programs…
A Second Shot at Tickets for Frequent Traveler University-Advanced
A week ago Frequent Traveler University-Advanced was launched and it sold out overnight. One of the most requested things we’ve gotten for future Frequent Traveler University events is a different program — while each one has several different topics and speakers, they’ve also had many similar program components, and a large group of people of very mixed experience levels. The goals with FTU Advanced: Smaller, more intimate, for greater in-depth discussion More advanced. FTU events welcome everyone, at all experience levels, and of course everyone is welcome. But the program will feature a more focused conversation geared to people that have spent more time with the activity. A different program. We’ll be able to go more in-depth, and we’ll be able to go more hands-on. There will be internet in the meeting rooms to facilitate…
My Predictions and Fears for American’s Coming New Award Chart
American will be the only North America carrier that doesn’t allow stopovers on its awards of any kind (unless they bring back stopovers later), and the only North America carrier to add fuel surcharges to US-originating itineraries on their primary partners. While American hasn’t devalued its award chart in many years, it is already quite expensive to many regions so that it is more or less on part — for all except first class redemptions — with where the industry already is with last year’s round of devaluations. There are a few regions where they’ve got headroom to increase award prices. And the fact that Delta doesn’t offer international first class awards, and their primary competitor United increased their so much, makes it thinkable that we could see first class increase a good bit. But…
1500 United Miles for New Mypoints Members
Ten years ago I used to spend a lot of time with Mypoints, the online shopping portal. You used to be able to earn a ton of free points easily. I would even click on the email spam they’d send me at 5 points apiece. On top of offers like points for “finding Mypoints Max” on their site (it would move each day but folks would share in online forums where they found him) and game-able offers like fixed bonus points for Amtrak tickets… even $2 tickets.. there was value to be had. But there are more, and richer, shopping portals today so I don’t give Mypoints nearly the attention that I once did. There’s a new member bonus worth flagging, though: Here’s how to pick up 1500 United miles: Sign up and receive 500…
