Over the weekend I wrote about why I love the Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives enough that I’ve returned to the resort (on points) three times in three years. One thing that’s changed since I first stay there is that breakfast is no longer complimentary for all guests redeeming points. There’s been confusion over what this means, and questions since my trip report. So here’s clarification.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2014.
Why Skymiles and MileagePlus are Getting Out of the Airline Business and Why Partner Earning Matters More in 2015
One way to read the move towards revenue-based mileage earnings, as announced by United and Delta, is as a move away from frequent flyer programs as having anything to do with rewarding flying. It’s a move away from programs’ roots, rather than a return to them. MileagePlus and Skymiles are getting out of the airline business, even if they don’t admit it. Here’s why.
Cash Back on eBay Purchases Returns to BigCrumbs
I first wrote about BigCrumbs four years ago. It’s one of the cash back shopping portals (where you receive a rebate for shopping you’ll do anyway by starting off at their site and clicking the link on their page to get to the retailer you want to buy from), and in particular one that often has useful payouts for purchasing American Express gift cards. BigCrumbs rebates are now back for eBay. It’s only a 0.5% rebate, but it’s great to have this back. Ebay used to be an earning partner common to cash back sites but that was discontinued back in 2011. One of the only sites I’d rather have is Amazon and sadly that’s been gone from the Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal for awhile. (Amazon has its own program and hasn’t been broadly participating…
A Frequent Flyer Program You Should Learn About With Some of the Cheapest Premium Awards Out There
As US frequent flyer programs devalue, I’ve consistently written that we should consider looking abroad. There are tons of programs in the world, and not only do many of them provide great value some of them are getting even better rather than worse. Many of those are viable options, although usually not perfect substitutes, for US programs. Yesterday I wrote about several options for crediting United flights to continue to earn full miles (for people not chasing United’s status) even after they make mileage-earning for flights credited to MileagePlus revenue-based. Today I’m going to take a closer look at Turkish Miles&Smiles, which: Gives you 100% of miles flown on United on all paid fares when crediting to their program, regardless of fare class. Offers status matches, even to United elites. So showing your Turkish Gold…
Amex Transfer Bonus, a New Terminal for DCA, and Don’t Eat that Inflight Meal!
News and notes from around the interweb: Field report from an American AAdvantage elite member successfully getting his elite upgrade at check-in on US Airways. The new reciprocal upgrades began yesterday. I hope these folks aren’t catering my next airline meal. Washington National airport is studying expansion in a way that would allow it to put all of US Airways and American under a single roof in a new terminal. Currently the airlines are on two separate piers, and also bus passengers out to regional jets. American Express Membership Rewards is running a 20% transfer bonus to Hawaiian Airlines through June 23. I don’t see a reason to do this, although they do have a decent offering to Hawaii if you live in one of their gateway cities. Their best award is US – London…
Should We Care That Hilton Says They Can Increase the Price of Points at Any Time?
I view Hilton HHonors points as being worth about $0.004 apiece. That’s only a little less than the half cent apiece I valued them at before last year’s March massacre which increased the price of the best awards by nearly 50%. Paradoxical perhaps but I value points at the price where I’m indifferent to holding points or cash, and I can always get 2/5th of a cent in value out of Hilton points when I redeem. I just no longer occasionally get outsized value, orders of magnitude better than that. Nonetheless, I do not consider it anywhere close to a good deal when Hilton sells points for a bit more than a penny apiece. They limit you to 40,000 points at that price (I like to think of that as being for your own protection!).…
Here’s the New Game Plan for Non-Elite Flyers That Travel on United
With United’s big announcement that they’re going to revenue-based mileage accrual effective March 2015, there will be some customers who benefit: Short haul flyers who pay high fares. These folks might average more than the 20 cents a mile that’s break-even for year-over-year earning. International premium cabin flyers. Buying very expensive business and first class tickets you can come out ahead — just be sure your ticket isn’t too expensive because mileage-earning is capped at 75,000 miles per ticket (buy two one ways if you’re a full fare long haul business passenger, instead of a roundtrip). But for folks that aren’t elite frequent flyers with United, who don’t need to credit their miles to United but will still fly the occasional revenue ticket with them, here’s what you might consider. Other than – of course…
New Business Class, Cheaper Coach Travel, and More Bonus Miles
News and notes from around the interweb: Inside JetBlue’s new ‘Mint’ business class cabin which debuts on Sunday. Pilots unions and US airlines are still trying to shut down low cost Norwegian Air. Here’s their argument. Finnair is offering 2000 bonus points for hotel bookings and 500 points for (European) taxi bookings. That sounds much more lucrative than 2 American Express points per dollar spent on Uber! Could there be anything more ridiculous we could blame an airline for? You can apparently no longer convert American AAdvantage 500 mile upgrade certificates to frequent flyer miles. About a decade ago the rate was one 500 mile certificate to 2500 miles, then it became just 500 miles, and in recent years I didn’t even realize it was still possible to do (or I would have done it,…
Businesses Shouldn’t Stand for Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Earning!
United’s current program is designed to reward high spenders. They award mileage bonuses for buying full fare and premium cabin tickets. Elite status requires a minimum spend on airfare ($2500 for Silver, $5000 for Gold, $7500 for Platinum, $10,000 for 1K) or driving value to the airline for other activity like credit card spend ($25,000). Ancillary revenue and partner activity is much less expensive for United than air travel. Global services. Their top tier of status is based on revenue, not miles flown. Now they want to make redeemable mileage earning based on ticket price, too. And while there’s a case to be made for focusing your greatest investment in your best customers (although in my view a better case to be made for focusing your greatest investment where you can generate additional business at…
United MileagePlus Has No Strategy, So Where Do We Go From Here?
Chris McGinnis won the internet yesterday by featuring a graphic by Charles M. Kunz aka CMK10 showing what United has done to their frequent flyer program. United’s decision to make its points-earning through flying a nearly carbon copy of Delta’s 2015 program was yesterday’s story that rocked the frequent flyer world. Miles can do more than they ever did in the past. Alliance awards – using your miles on several partners on the same award itinerary – didn’t exist 15 years ago. With the price of air travel is way up, miles are getting us something that airlines are charging more and more for. But we’re seeing a lot of change in how miles are earned and how awards are priced. Delta has been a real destroyer leader in this. United had already gutted its…
