Reports are that American AAdvantage million milers now receive a higher upgrade priority…
About Gary Leff
Delta Adds More Blackout Dates to its Terms and Conditions
Partner award travel on Korean Air using Delta miles has blackout dates, and those are now more transparent – published in the SkyMiles terms and conditions. Here’s what that means.
United’s Throwaway Ticketing Lawsuit Thrown Out of Court — So They’re Threatening Customers Instead
May
02
2015
United’s lawsuit against Skiplagged, the site that helps consumers save money on airfare through ‘throwaway ticketing’, has been dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. But United is warning their customers that they’ll shut down mileage accounts if you try it.
New Boeing 787 Software Glitch, Woman Arrested for Inflight Theft, and More
May
02
2015
A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
What Would it Mean for Starwood to Acquire Another Chain.. Or Be Acquired?
When IHG swallowed Kimpton, I wrote: “I want to be an IHG Rewards Club Platinum” said no Kimpton elite member, ever…
Conventional wisdom is that Starwood is going to do a deal, and the most likely candidate is IHG. Some say Starwood could buy IHG. I could see IHG buying Starwood. IHG is the bigger hotel chain, though Starwood’s market cap is much higher (nearly $15 billion versus ~ $10 billion).
Starwood has struggled to generate growth and Wall Street isn’t happy. Fundamentally that’s why their CEO Frits van Paasschen was out in February…
American Airlines Mileage-Earning Debit Card Devalues June 1
May
02
2015
UFB Direct’s American AAdvantage-earning debit card will reduce earnings effective June 1. Instead of 1 mile per $2 spent on the card, it will offer 1 mile per $3 spent on the card. In addition they will no longer reward miles for “supermarkets, grocery stores, super stores, wholesale stores, discount stores, USPS, and financial or money transfer institutions.” I already found the card and account not to be especially compelling at 1:2. This effectively takes it off the table in my view. That isn’t surprising. Debit cards are no longer financial windfalls for banks. It’s no longer worth incentivizing transactions since the Durbin amendment to Dodd Frank financial reform eliminated the profit for banks from debit transactions. The rewards debit card is almost entirely a thing of the past. Oddly, though the Suntrust Delta debit…
Stack Hyatt’s 40% Bonus on Purchased Points With 20% Rebate on Redemptions
May
02
2015
Hyatt Gold Passport is offering up to a 40% bonus on purchased points through May 31. It doesn’t appear to be one of their usual tiered offers: instead it’s a 40% bonus on purchases of 10,000 points or more. You don’t have to max out the offer to get the highest bonus. With a 40% bonus Hyatt is selling you points at 1.71 cents apiece. I personally value them at about 1.4 cents apiece so this doesn’t make me a buyer (points would have to be priced at less than 1.4 cents for that). You can get more than 2 cents apiece out of your points so if you were going to pay cash for a room anyway buying points can be used to get a room discount. And topping off an account could make…
Starwood Offering Some Members Double Elite Credit
Starwood is targeting certain members for double elite qualifying nights and stays between May 1 and July 31. Interestingly they are clear that if you only earn status through this offer, then the year of status will not count towards lifetime elite qualification. I hadn’t realized that Starwood had the ability to parse their data that finely for their lifetime status benefit, and didn’t realize that they would want to complicate systems and messaging enough to bother. Sadly I wasn’t targeted, but @THEmiketown was. He does not have elite status presently with Starwood.
Turns Out the US Airline White Paper Trashing the Gulf Carriers Did Some Very Naughty Things
May
01
2015
Dr. John Frankie O’Connell of Cranfield University is not happy with the white paper issued by US airlines arguing that Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar receive huge subsidies.
The paper cites his work and, he says, fabricates quotes.
“Trick Routings” Using American Miles to Get to Asia
Reader Adam asks, I’m always using AA miles on CX awards to Hong Kong/ SE Asia. What are other options that may not be obvious? Like, are there possible routes through Europe, or HNL? Using American miles for Cathay Pacific awards is an outstanding use of points. Cathay Pacific has a great product The awards are relatively cheap at 55,000 miles one-way for business class and 67,500 miles one-way for first. In fact, I expect that Asia awards are the most likely to become more expensive when AAdvantage next makes changes to their award chart. Cathay Pacific First Class Seat Cathay Pacific Business Class Seat
