American’s pilots union has been negotiating with its own employees for a year and their employees haven’t seen a raise since 2011. Now they’ve rejected a proposed contract and are even talking about the possibility of a strike. “While our preference is to reach a negotiated agreement that addresses APA’s and APSEA’s respective priorities, it is possible the APSEA-represented employees will choose to exercise their right to withdraw their services. APA likewise reserves the right to engage in legal self-help,” APA added. American’s pilots union says they can’t concede to worker demands because they have to “be responsible stewards of our members’ dues dollars.” Of course, the union’s unionized workers do not work for the airline and do not provide service to customers. So if they strike then it’s the union itself that stops doing…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2014.
Hey United and Delta: The 90s Called. They Want Their Proprietary Data Back
I often call out the negative and probably do not do enough to acknowledge the positive things that travel providers do. Award Wallet is the tool I use to track my frequent flyer account balances and mileage expiration. A couple of years ago they ran into intransigence with some of the airlines whose accounts they track on behalf of members. American shut off their access. So did Delta and United. Southwest has long had a history of hating on third party website access to their systems (dating back to sites that would automatically check in customers in order to obtain better boarding group priority). Award Wallet tried workarounds where there systems do not even ever access the program websites — they used a plugin so it’s only the member’s computer doing the accessing, and the…
Know Which Websites Will Find Award Space For You (And Which Won’t)
It’s important to do your own award availability research, rather than relying on your mileage program’s website or telephone agents. I’ve always thought it was an entirely reasonable expectation that a frequent flyer program member would go online, type in their starting city and arrival city, and get presented with a list of available options for using their miles. But it doesn’t really work that way.
Which Hotel Chain Rewards Frequent Guests the Most for their Nights?
I’ve looked at which hotel programs are the most rewarding with points for your nights at their properties. In doing that, I used the ‘base’ earning rates for each program (how many points a general member earns). But that’s not the situation faced by many readers who have elite status with their favorite program. Programs generally give their elite members more points than general members. And elite bonuses vary widely across programs. Here’s the top-tier elite earning for the six programs I’m looking at. While Starwood is the least generous overall in terms of rewarding in-hotel spend, they have good elite bonuses that partially make up for it. Gold and Platinum members earn a 50% bonus (3 points per dollar instead of 2) and Starwood’s Platinum members who spend 75 nights a year or more…
Managing British Airways Award Bookings to Get All of Your Benefits
As a flyer based in Washington DC, about 15 minutes at most from National airport (really, most of the time 20 minutes door-to-gate with PreCheck) I’m actually benefiting from the US Airways-American Airlines merger quite a bit. First, I’m an American Executive Platinum. But second now that US Airways has entered oneworld I can use British Airways Avios to redeem for all of the short haul flights on US Airways and it’s really cheap. Flights under 650 miles are just 4500 British Airways points each way. And I find availability on these flights is really quite good. Plus US Airways is by far the largest airline at Washington National. So lots of options. That’s why I’m flying so much econoimy recently. It’s too cheap not to. One quirk about US Airways, though — it’s almost…
There’s One HUGE Change Air India May Have to Make As it Joins Star Alliance
Air India was invited to join Star Alliance in 2007. Joining an alliance generally takes about 2 years. Air India couldn’t get their service and IT systems in order to meet base level standards of the alliance, and their invitation was suspended in 2011. Alliances have wide-ranging requirements to ensure that the reputation of its members reflects well across the rest of airlines that are a part of the alliance. There are safety rules, minimum service standards, and a huge need for integrating IT systems. And these are extensively audited as a part of the joining process. There’s huge potential gain, but joining an alliance entails a cost to meet these standards — and though readers will no doubt offer counterexamples it requires building a culture that matches first world expectations (insert United Airlines joke…
My Favorite Flight in the World: Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – New York JFK
Cathay Pacific has such an all-around good first class product, that it’s my favorite. They don’t have the best food, but they have good food and good snack options. They don’t have the best service, but they have good service. I used to like their Shanghai Tang pajamas best, their new ones are still very good though not quite as good. Other amenities are good, and wines are as well (Champagne is Krug). Similarly, I don’t like their new caviar presentation (in a tin) as much as the older version that also included Balik salmon. But it’s still quite a good high-end offering. They don’t have the best lounges — or the best ground service — but their Hong Kong lounges are good, and the Wing’s first class side has the best showers in any…
Hyatt Place Chicago River North Offers a Good Place to Stay at a Reasonable Price for the City
I spent a couple of nights last week at the Hyatt Place Chicago River North and am reminded just how much I like Hyatt Place properties, at least when they’re significantly cheaper than full service alternatives. To date I’ve had pretty good experiences at the only three Hyatt Place hotels I’ve stayed at previously, the lovely Hyatt Place Delray Beach the newest airport hotel at LAX Hyatt Place LAX/El Segundo the almost too-friendly Hyatt Place Austin Downtown. I had booked one night as a cash and points award (which earned credit towards elite status) and the second night as a Hyatt Visa annual free night (the hotel is eligible as it is currently a category 4 hotel).
The Future of Room Service?
The Hilton New York made waves when it announced the elimination of room service. I’m not talking about the old-line Northeastern practice of ending a feature in order to lay off workers, only to hire back the same workers at a lower price (because it’s impossible just to renegotiate the union contracts). I’m talking about an ostensibly full service hotel disappearing the concept of room service. They decided to replace it with a “grab ‘n go” offering, which made it possible to lay off 55 staff. Room service is costly to service (high staffing costs, not to mention the trays and hot boxes and dishware that is out for long periods of time and sometimes doesn’t come back). Room service is especially costly in high wage cities and with a unionized workforce. Use of room…
What Hotel Program is the Most Rewarding for Your Nights? The Answer May Shock You.
It’s been a year and a half since I looked at which hotel programs give you the most bang for your buck. Since that analysis some programs have increased the number of points required for room nights (adjusted their award categories), and others have moved hotels around in a significant way (category creep). And hotel price increases haven’t been uniform, so the results of which programs are most rewarding for your in-hotel spend have changed. For this post, I ran some numbers for the base programs. I wanted to see what kind of return per dollar spent you get in the form of free nights from each of the chains using the earning tables for a general member. What hotel program offers a free night after the least amount of spending? What hotel program will…
