Monthly Archives for December 2019.
The Southwest Airlines elite status challenge, which gives you 3 months of status and an expedited path to keep it for a year, has several quirks. One is that the status lasts literally a year, not the full next year. Another is that once the year is up you can sign up for another challenge.
I discovered a third quirk and that’s that you may want to time just when you complete your challenge. Here’s why.
American Airlines says very little about ConciergeKey status. There’s no published criteria for earning it. Most of the benefits are secret. But ConciergeKey members are taken care of by the airline, even when things go wrong. And that status has just been awarded for next year.
Oscar Munoz is leaving United as CEO and Scott Kirby will take on that job May 20, 2020. Munoz will become Executive Chairman for one year. United’s current chair, former FAA administrator Jane Garvey, will retire from the board at that point. This mirrors predictions I have offered here for some time.
Though there’s been some growth – and will need to be more as Kirby steps into the CEO role – Kirby’s history is one that suggests management from the spreadsheets. He’s taken things too far in the past, such as elimination of elite bonus miles and a plan to charge for water on board at US Airways, moves where he’s had to reverse course. It remains to be seen whether he can moderate those tendencies as he formally takes the reins at United.
American started flying from Dallas to Iceland when Wow Air and Icelandair started service there. When those two airlines pulled out, American shifted their flight to Philadelphia. Now they’ve filed to make their Philadelphia – Reykjavik flight year-round.
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.
As part of Air New Zealand’s commitment to reduce single use items they are trialing a new coffee cup.
When you finish drinking your coffee – and you really do need to drink it down to the last drop – you can eat the cup, because it’s made out of biscotti.
Hyatt free night certificates remain valid whenever award rooms are available even on nights where peak pricing applies.
A category 4 hotel is 12000 points off-peak, 15000 points standard, and 18000 points at peak. You’ll want to redeem these certificates during peak nights, and use points during standard and off-peak nights (while paying attention to certificate expiration).
Air France KLM is offering great award space between the U.S. and Europe for this coming summer. There are plenty of routes and dates where you can book business class awards for at least four passengers.
Often Air France and KLM awards can be booked using their own Flying Blue miles – easy to get, they’re a transfer partner of American Express, Chase, Citibank, and Capital One – however in this case most flights appear even to be bookable using Delta SkyMiles as well (Delta is an American Express transfer).
In a change that mirrors what other larger hotel chains have done, Hyatt appears to be moving closer to revenue-based redemptions and delivering average rather than outsized value for points.
Starting in March there will be new off-peak and peak pricing levels for each free night award and In late January they’ll improve the value of points for in-hotel redemptions, getting at least a penny per point in value.
French Polynesia is one of the toughest awards in the world to book. In part that’s because there are only four flights between the U.S. mainland and Tahiti, and because three of those aren’t even operated more than 3 times a week.
It’s a desirable destination, perhaps one of the most naturally beautiful in the world. And right now you can book 2 business class award seats on about half the dates between now and end of the airline schedules.
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 »
