Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for July 2015.

Revenue-Based Mileage Earning Means Fewer Miles Earned at Delta and United

Jul 29 2015

Delta and United now award miles for flights based on the cost of a ticket instead of distance flown.

Though the airlines would have you believe that ‘on average’ they’re awarding the same amount of miles under the new program as the old, and just redistributing those miles — more miles to big spenders, and fewer miles for less expensive tickets — that’s not really true, as a look a second quarter operational results demonstrates.

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Hyatt’s Diamond Challenge Ends July 31. Register Now if You Want It, Though It’ll Be Back

Jul 29 2015

There’s no more ‘instant Diamond’ status offer, you actually have to stay 12 nights within 60 days for Diamond. But you don’t even need to have status with another chain to sign up, you just need to ask for the challenge.

However, Hyatt let me know this morning that registration for their Elite Tier Offer will close on July 31. If you’re considering the Hyatt Diamond challenge, you need to request it before the end of the business week. It’s going to come back, but they haven’t said when.

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Maybe Delta Will Shut Up About Middle East Subsidies Now That They Own a Stake in the Most Subsidized Chinese Airline

Jul 28 2015

I’ve made the point many times in the past that despite protests about subsidies received by the Middle East airlines Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar, that Delta doesn’t actually care about subsidies. They care about scoring political points as leverage to use the power of government to shut down competition.

Now Delta is buying a $450 million stake in China Eastern — which is the most state-subsidized Chinese airline. So Delta will benefit from a chunk of those subsidies.

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