Etihad has talked up a strategy of linking up with several Star Alliance airlines saying that since they are no longer ‘their own alliance’ this isn’t in conflict with Star rules.
Etihad isn’t the only Gulf carrier pursuing closer ties with the Star Alliance though. Gulf Air says this is their objective as well.
After Chase introduced their Sapphire Reserve Card they immediately took a $200 – $300 million hit to their bottom line. They took another $330 million charge in the just-completed second quarter for rewards expense.
The strategy then for making money on affluent customers moves to cross-selling, which is why they’ve offered points bonuses for new mortgages. Here’s the next stage.
There’s a 30% bonus on transfers from Amex to Virgin Atlantic right now and Virgin offers the cheapest US-Asia first class awards on their partner ANA.
So it seemed worth taking a look at ANA first class availability. And right now the Houston and Chicago routes especially have great availability beginning in 2019 through end of schedule.
China Eastern flies Shanghai – New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (they also serve Honolulu, but with equipment that lacks a first class cabin). Beyond Shanghai of course you can connect to myriad destinations.
Delta of course owns a piece of China Eastern, so I choose to believe this is intentional, making that airline’s best product available for redemption by SkyMiles members.
When the US administration amped up trade rhetoric on China, China began squeezing US companies especially ones with visible brands. Marriott fired a social media employee who ‘liked’ a Friends of Tibet tweet, and even self-reported a banned book in the lobby of one of its hotels. China has insisted travel companies not list Taiwan as a separate country.
Of course, they’ve largely complied. US airlines though haven’t gone so far as to identify Taiwan as explicitly part of China as many world airlines have. Indeed US airlines are trapped between their Chinese regulators and needing to appease the government at home which has publicly rebuked China for attempting to regulate US corporate speech.
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.
Frequently when a hotel bundles services in with your rate your rate you’re going to pay a lot for very little. Those ‘romance packages’ may cost an extra hundred bucks a night and give you a bottle of $4 Andre and overripe strawberries at check-in.
If you want the Andre and strawberries you’re better off arranging them separately with the hotel (or doing it yourself).
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.
American Express tells me that their Membership Rewards program will be adding Aer Lingus as a 1:1 points transfer “at the end of this month.”
Here’s what that will mean for your redemptions
Hilton is running double points through September 9. That alone is probably the best current hotel promotion. Hotels are generally full and at historically high rates, so they haven’t needed to offer generous promotions.
What’s interesting is that there’s a new opportunity to double dip. You can earn Hilton points, more points with Hilton’s double points promotion, and through October 31 you can also earn 2500 Lufthansa Miles & More miles per stay.
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 »
