News and notes from around the interweb: Do you remember paying international departure taxes at the airport, when you’d go through immigration on the way out of a country? For the most part all taxes are now collected with tickets, and airlines remit them to the relevant governments. This makes things much easier. Yet the US government has been studying setting up kiosks and websites to collect airport fees separate from tickets. They needed a study to understand this is a bad idea, as if in-airport and ticket-buying experience isn’t cumbersome enough for the median traveler. Flyers on Skyteam member China Eastern opened the emergency exits when frustrated by a delay. Again. This is apparently becoming ‘a thing’ in China. 20% off United economy awards to Hong Kong booked by February 1 for travel between…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for January 2015.
Starting Tomorrow United Will Offer Corporate Status Matches — Up to 1K — for 22 Months!
On January 1 I noted that United was waiving their minimum revenue requirement for elite status for some members who had flown enough but not spent enough in 2014. There was some speculation that United was losing too many elites. It’s not that they want low spending elites, per se, but a program certain manages the total number of elites at each tier relative to the total member population and available seats at the airline. Too many elites and they can’t deliver benefits consistently and they’ll turn off valuable customers. Too few, and they aren’t effectively utilizing the marketing muscle at their disposal. It’s why in tough times you’ll see airlines offer double elite qualifying miles. It’s not the total value or mileage or revenue flown that makes a customer valuable in some cases, it’s…
The Most Annoying People on the Plane, as Acted By Patrick Stewart
What passenger types annoy you the most? Regular readers can probably guess my pet peeves… (HT: Johnny Jet) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
25,000 United Miles for Buying a Used Mercedes, and Someone Read Their Own Terms and Conditions Please!
Just as Delta has with Porsche and American with Cadillac, United has a relationship with Mercedes. Sales site TrueCar is back offering lots of United miles again for Mercedes car purchases. Last year there was an offer for elite members only to receive miles for new cars. This time the offer is open to all MileagePlus members, and is for used Mercedes vehicles. In order to be eligible for the offer you either need to have been a MileagePlus member for six months or have credited a flight to your account. They seem to be afraid of people gaming them, perhaps who were going to buy a Mercedes anyway and weren’t even MileagePlus members before walking into the dealership. Perhaps the concern is that Mercedes’ own sales staff will be the ones gaming the system…
Schedule Change Causes Fantastic American Airlines Premium Cabin Award Space to South America
The schedule for American Airlines’ Miami – Santiago flight AA957 switches on April 14: From a 10:15pm departure to an 11:55pm departure. From a reconfigured Boeing 777-200 (new business class and no first) to an older 777-200 (
Easy Giveaway: $1000 and National Car Rental Top Tier Elite Status!
National Car Rental has what I believe is the strongest promotion in the market each year, “One Two Free.” You earn a free rental day for every two qualifying rentals (mid-size or larger for 2 days or longer). And when they run the promotion, they do so for long periods of time. The most current offer is for a five month stretch which concludes at the end of January. I’ve been renting regularly from National for the past couple of years. The unique selling proposition to me isn’t the rewards, though I’ve earned plenty of free rental days. It’s the ‘Emerald Aisle’ where being a member of their Emerald Club program means you walk out to the lot, take your choice of cars from the designated row(s), and just get in and drive to the…
Paris for the Holidays, Saying Goodbye to American’s Old Business Class, and a Suite at the Park Hyatt Vendome
Some months ago there were decent transatlantic fares on American, and while I’m not a huge fan of Western European capitals I do think there’s something completely charming about Paris around the holidays. Paris Over the Holidays The weather isn’t fantastic, a jacket is a good idea, but the City of Light is extra bright around Christmas and the New Year. And unlike summer time, you’ll find actual Parisians there rather than American teenagers. Two years ago as well I spent the period between Christmas and New Years in Paris and it was a blast, ending with New Years eve, the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, and and endless stream of people running down the Champs Elysee with bottles of champagne.
Donald Trump Files $100 Million Lawsuit Over Aircraft Noise
I’ve never been especially sympathetic to noise complaints from homeowners and businesses in areas surrounding airports. Except in some very unique circumstances (there aren’t a whole lot of new airports these days, especially close-in to residential areas), People objecting to noise knew the airport was there when they bought property The price of the property reflected the location of the airport They also get the convenience of the airport, and indeed proximity to the airport enhances the value of commercial property in many cases. If you own property near an airport it’s going to be noisy. And planes are much quieter than they used to be. I’m even less sympathetic when the person who is complaining is Donald Trump. He has his own 757. So he contributes to noise. And he’s a guy that’s attempted…
$99 Fares to Europe from DC and Boston!
WOW Air is really their name, they’re a low cost carrier across the Atlantic and they made a splash back in October with introductory fares of $99-125 one-way. Their flights from ‘Washington DC’ (Baltimore) and Boston to Reykjavik really are as low as $99, with the return flight less than $175. They offer connecting service on to London and Copenhagen well. Their sale is back it seems. There really are flights available at these prices. I plugged in a random date for Boston – Reykjavik. And this really is the all-in, tax-inclusive pricing. If you want to go to London rather than Iceland, be prepared to pay a little more.. but less than if you were flying another carrier. There are roundtrips available for under $450. Note that the flights do not start until March…
50,000 Point Offer Found for American Express Business Gold Rewards Card!
Via The Military Frequent Flyer, FedEx is promoting American Express cards when you open a new account with them. The offer they have for the Business Gold Rewards Card is better than what I’ve seen as the best publicly available offer for that card. It’s offering 50,000 points after $5000 in eligible purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership. “Terms and limitations apply,” as they say but this is a pretty strong offer because: It’s double the number of points that my link to the card currently provides. Frequently in the past the spend requirement has been $10,000 for bonuses this high. Here’s the link to that card offer. It also appears to come with a FedEx discount of 25% (up to $200) on qualifying services with FedEx Ground and…
