Jun 08 2016

Around 11 a.m. Eastern today the MGM M life Rewards from First Bankcard will launch. I spoke with Jordan Salmon, MGM’s Vice President of Loyalty Marketing, on Monday about the product. Here are the basics of this no annual fee card which has no foreign transaction fees: Signup bonus. 10,000 points after $1000 spend within 3 billing cycles Points-earning. Double points at gas stations and supermarkets and triple points at M life Rewards destinations. Elite status. Cardmembers are immediately elevated to M life Rewards ‘Pearl’ status with an additional benefit of VIP check-in (that usually only comes with Gold status and above). In addition, points earned on the card are both redeemable and tier points to help you earn higher elite status levels. An M life Rewards point is worth a penny apiece used either:…

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Jun 07 2016

Back in February we learned that Donald Trump’s employees and family are concerned what his candidacy is doing to the hotel business.

There’s data, too, that suggests bookings are down at Trump-branded properties since his campaign for President took off.

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Jun 07 2016

I do not think that the Luxury Card is a good product for the expensive annual fees charged. These are reasonably good rebate cards but not at their price points.

But I really love the background music in the television ads. That’s not enough to make me want to get one of the cards, but it’s close.

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Jun 07 2016

Qantas Frequent Flyer will top off transfers from Citibank this month with a bonus of up to 30%.

Qantas award seats in premium cabins between the US and Australia are sparse and the program adds fuel surcharges to awards. The program is strategically useful, though, for instance:

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Jun 07 2016

There have been several amazing airfare deals in the past few weeks. Fares are down from a year ago, with fuel prices low and profitable airlines competing more vigorously against each other — at least on specific routes or for specific periods of time.

Now United and American are both offering coach roundtrips between several cities in the US and several cities in Europe for a little over $400. That’s amazing, considering a not insignificant portion of that cost winds up being taxes.

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Jun 07 2016

With changes to the AAdvantage program that make it so much more like United MileagePlus and Delta SkyMiles, elite frequent flyers at American especially are re-considering their loyalty.

Some members will do better with the changes (higher spending; those flying 75,000 – 99,999 miles a year with average or better spend) and many will do worse (especially lifetime elites).

American thinks these changes are going to be good for revenue, but American has been performing better than United financially already and Delta doesn’t think its frequent flyer program changes are a driver of their revenue premium.

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Jun 07 2016

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.

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Jun 06 2016

We’ve known that revenue-based mileage earning has been coming for some time. American announced that they were going to follow Delta’s and United’s model for earning miles from flight activity back in November. Now we know it starts August 1.

On average it’s bad for flyers, you need to spend more to break even mileage earning than you do under mileage-earning based on distance. American conceded to me in November that fewer miles would be earned under the new system than are earned today.

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Jun 06 2016

A passenger tweets his experience in first class on American Airlines yesterday flying from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic to Miami.

It’s a 2-hour, 900 mile flight with meal service up front. The customer didn’t get his first choice of meal, didn’t understand why, and apparently took it personally.

Then the flight attendant melts down, telling the customer to ‘shut up’, putting his finger in the customer’s face, and threatening the customer with arrest.

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Jun 06 2016

American is announcing several changes to their elite program today that go into effect next year. And they’ve announced the date on which American will start awarding miles based on the cost of a ticket rather than distance flown.

There will be minimum spend required for elite status, a new 75,000 mile elite tier, a new upgrade priority order, and upgrades on domestic award tickets for Executive Platinums. I spoke with AAdvantage’s Bridget Blaise-Shamai this morning about the changes they’re making.

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