Monthly Archives for May 2016.
A little over a month ago Alaska Airlines made no-notice changes to their Emirates award charts for business and first class travel, raising prices by as much as 100%.
Alaska Airlines sought to reassure members, that this incident aside, they’d provide advance notice of changes in the future. Except, it seems, that they made no-notice changes again.
There’s currently availability to fly New York – Hong Kong roundtrip for an incredible $354.
Most of the flying is on Air Canada, and it’s an Air Canada fare (fare basis KLXUNV) available for outbound travel August 21 through December 11.
You have to fly the transpacific segment using Air Canada on a Monday through Thursday in each direction. Minimum stay is 3 days from departure of your last flight, and maximum stay is 6 months. Tickets are non-refundable.
American AAdvantage is giving away free miles to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
They’re also selling miles at a discount for their anniversary as well. How good a deal is it, and should you take advantage of it?
PNC Bank has launched the Premier Traveler Visa Signature.
The card earns 2 miles per dollar spent which is effectively a 2% rebate when used for travel. It has a 30,000 point signup bonus after $3000 in spend within 3 billing cycles of account opening, worth $300 towards travel. It’s a no foreign transaction fee card with a $0 fee the first year then $85.
Avis is aggressively going after customers unhappy with Hertz on Twitter. They’ve started offering upgrades, discounts, and status matches to anyone tweeting displeasure at Hertz. That’s something I haven’t seen them do before, and could be useful.
United Airlines sent a memo to airport employees telling them to be on the lookout for ‘hidden city’ tickets. The memo tells agents “[w]hen fraud is suspected, the Customer Service Representatives should send an email to Corporate Security for follow up..”
So what are these tickets, how much can you save, and what are the risks?
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I broke the news yesterday that American Airlines had selected the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond business class seat as their new standard as they introduce the Boeing 787-9 into their fleet this year, as they continue to retrofit Boeing 777-200s with fully flat seats, and as they bring the Airbus A350 online in 2017.
This replaces the custom Zodiac fully flat business class seat that’s been getting installed in American’s 777-200s and Boeing 787-8s as a result of challenges the seat manufacturer had delivering on time.
In May 1981 American AAdvantage and United Mileage Plus launched the modern era of frequent flyer programs. American was first out of the chute by a couple of days.
Now American is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the AAdvantage program with Miles for Milestone.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
