Dec 15 2016

Based on an analysis of 600,000 twitter complaints containing the phrase “on hold with” airlines are the second worst industry for keeping customers on hold, behind your cable company.

A full 20% of the complaints logged were about airlines, and it could be that the issue is even worse than this. Many people don’t complain about being on hold with airlines because they expect to be. For instance, Apple is at the top of the list of complaints. That doesn’t mean Apple’s hold times are the worst, just that customers are shocked enough to be on hold that when they are they complain.

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Dec 15 2016

Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood closed in September and they immediately made it possible to match status across the programs, and to move points back and forth at a ratio of 3 Marriott points to 1 Starpoint.

They’ve begun to align their programs in some subtle ways. One of the first things, even before the merger, was Marriott offering 4pm late checkout to Gold and Platinum elites, introducing experiential redemptions in the vein of SPG Moments and testing a concierge program for top elites similar to Starwood Ambassador.

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Dec 15 2016

Barclaycard used to issue US Airways cards, and those became American AAdvantage cards with the merger. But Citibank had the exclusive right to issue new AAdvantage cards. So once the US Airways Dividend Miles program ended in March 2015, existing cardholders got to keep their cards but no one else could sign up.

Today is the first day that new Barclaycard American Airlines AAdvantage cards are available.

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Dec 14 2016

There are two things you need to do to avoid jet lag. Adjust to the local time of your destination as soon as possible, generally as soon as you board your flight. That means eating on your new local time, and sleeping on your new local time. And stay up until bedtime at your destination the day you arrive. If you go to sleep at noon, you’re going to be off for days. You need to force yourself to power through.

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Dec 14 2016

I couldn’t use the shower, but I used the sink, washing my hands by pouring some water over soap to lather my hands and then pouring bottled water over my hands.

And I was able to use the toilet, I got one flush only so I used it… judiciously.

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Dec 14 2016

Last month I wrote about a unique Starwood Platinum benefit that lets you keep airline miles from expiring. Starwood has a wide array of airline points transfer partners, and Platinum members can transfer as little as one point to most of them.

So where any activity is enough to keep a mileage account active, moving one point over is almost free.

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Dec 13 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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Dec 13 2016

One of the 18 tricks you should know about Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is waitlisting awards. You can waitlist as many flights as you want, and decide once a waitlist clears whether or not to book the flight.

There’s a strategy for how to approach these and there’s a way to improve your chances of waitlisted flights clearing.

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Dec 13 2016

Yesterday morning I wrote that I would be flying Delta domestically for the first time since 2010. While I’ve found SkyMiles to be the least rewarding major frequent flyer program in the US, even now that United and American have largely mirrored the model of moving to revenue-based earning, devalued award charts, and reduced availability, they’ve had the best airline operation of the US majors.

So you choose to fly Delta for flights that aren’t cancelled, and largely operate on time, not for the miles.

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Dec 13 2016

Mahan Air was Iran’s first private airline. It’s owned by the Mol-Al-Movahedin Charity Institute. Except that Mol-Al-Movahedin is controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

They have a loyalty program Mahan & Miles and their Airbus A340-300 aircraft offer three-cabin first class.

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