I couldn’t log into my British Airways Executive Club account today. And I received an email from British Airways: British Airways has become aware of some unauthorised activity in relation to your Executive Club account. This appears to have been the result of a third party using information obtained elsewhere on the internet, via an automated process, to try to gain access to your Executive Club account. We understand this was login information relating to a different online service which you may have also used to access your Executive Club account. Several fascinating things here: This issue is widespread, reported on blogs and multiple frequent flyer forums. I had people tweet me asking whether my account was involved in the shutdown. They appear to be implyig the hack was of Award Wallet (the only service…
About Gary Leff
Here’s How the US Airlines Can Compete And Win Against the Big Gulf Airlines (Instead of Lobbying the Government for Protectionist Policies)
Mar
27
2015
I’ve written extensively about the protectionism that US airlines are seeking from the government in bashing Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar — and about the hypocrisy as US airlines lobby for and take huge subsidies while attacking only those competitors they’re worried about for doing the same thing while ignoring the even greater subsidies offered to state airlines that they partner with (Think for instance Delta and Saudia, United and Air India). Gulf Carriers Receive Subsidies and So Do US Airlines There are certainly subsidies that have at various times helped to prop up the various major Gulf airlines, as we’ve seen with airlines around the world. Sometimes those subsidies have seemed larger than life, though it’s easy to forget the privileged position over time of British Airways at Heathrow and the gifting of Concorde. And…
Getting Your Visa for International Travel the Easy Way
The New York Times has a piece on visa services. I contribute, Gary Leff, a co-founder of Milepoint.com, a website for veteran and would-be frequent fliers, and the blogger behind the miles and points site View From the Wing, has directed his readers to Allied Passport and Visa, which has given them discounts. He said the feedback from readers who have used the visa service has always been positive, though he has yet to try it himself because he’s one of those frequent fliers who have not been able to part with their passport. I never used them because I lived in DC where countries all have embassies. Now that I’m only in DC about a week a month I will use them. For the record I’ve not taken any special consideration from them, I…
Hilton Changing Award Categories of Several Hotels — And Why It Doesn’t Matter
After Hilton’s dramatic award chart gutting of nearly two years ago, there weren’t huge changes again this year. And Hilton decided to change the way they made changes to how they re-assign hotels to award categories. Instead of an annual change to tons of hotels (a schedule they really weren’t wedded to in the past anyway) they decided they would make rolling changes throughout the year. And instead of informing all members proactively of these changes, they would just post them on a web page in the name of ‘transparency’. At least they are announcing the changes. And savvy members could create a change detection for the page. Hilton HHonors is making category adjustments to several hotels effective April 8 That said, this time they seem to have posted upcoming changes on Flyertalk but it…
My Perfect Travel Day. Here’s What it Looks Like.
No, it’s not showering onboard an Emirates Airbus A380. I’m not really a destination blogger per se but it really can be all about the destination. Earlier this week I took a helicopter…. …through a rainforest… and landed on a rock. Next to a waterfall… .. where I sat and drank champagne. Business class airfare thanks to Delta SkyMiles and hotel covered by Starwood Starpoints. Brunch where only a handful of people have ever gone? Well, I suppose I could have charged it to my room and convinced the hotel to claim an Instant Award against it. But, well, those aren’t an especially good value use of Starpoints. I feel like I can take the occasional splurge when the air and hotel are covered by points. And wandering around the forest, dipping in the water,…
IHG Rewards Club Unannounced Update to Terms and Conditions
IHG Rewards Club has again updated its terms and conditions without notifying members. This isn’t the big change to points-earning they snuck in just before the clock struck midnight on the New Year. Instead it’s a change to how they reward meeting planners and corporate bookers. Roughly speaking it appears they’re aping what Starwood has done with SPG Pro but they’ve updated their terms and conditions without telling members.
Starwood Suite Night Award Upgrade Strategy: Here’s How to Get Your Upgrades.
There’s a reason Starwood has introduced new benefit choices for Platinums who stay 50 nights in a year. Instead of giving 10 ‘Suite Night Awards’, 50 night Platinums can choose from a variety of benefits. Suite Night Awards are really ‘upgrade priority’ managed centrally by Starwood out of a hotel’s room inventory. They aren’t confirmed upgrades the way Hyatt offers them, at booking, but on availability beginning 5 nights prior to check-in. Platinums who prefer something else can choose from a variety of items worth at most ~ $100 at retail. For instance, 5 free Uber rides worth $20 maximum each. Use 5 short $6 rides and the benefit won’t be nearly maximized (and you do not get to choose when to use free rides if they’re in your account, those are used on the…
Need to Book an Award With US Airways Miles, But They Haven’t Been Moved Over to American Yet? It Can Be Done!
I previously reported that US Airways accounts are ‘frozen’ with awards no longer able to be booked until miles have been transferred over to American AAdvantage. It’s true that Dividend Miles awards are no longer available. However, American apparently has a procedure in place for members with immediate travel needs who wish to book awards with their legacy US Airways miles but that haven’t had their miles show up on the American side of the ledger yet. This is for travel March 26 – 28. It’s for award travel only and not for mileage upgrades. (Upgrades are not considered emergency. Some may beg to differ!) This is for legacy US Airways members with enough miles in their US Airways account for an award, not for members of both programs who will only have enough miles…
Now that American-US Airways Has Consolidated into a Single Frequent Flyer Program It’s Time for AAdvantage to Update Its Award Rules
US Airways Dividend Miles was pretty much ‘anything goes’ as far as award routings go — the combination of flights you were allowed to use when booking an award to get from your origin to destination. There was no auto-validation of routings and no auto-pricing. Whatever region an agent thought you were traveling to determined the price they would enter. So you could ‘guide them’ (“I’d like to book a North Asia award, we’ll connect in Hong Kong in North Asia on the way to Bangkok. And now to wrap up this North Asia award let’s connect back through Tokyo and…”) I really do think American needs to liberalize their routing rules. American requires that:
The Best Awards to Australia Will Return on Saturday
Contra lots of concerns, Delta said yesterday that they’d be bringing Virgin Australia awards back online. When I wrote about the 80% bonus for purchased Virgin America miles, several readers noted they thought it was no longer possible to book Virgin Australia flights using Delta miles — and that there was speculation (fueled by Delta agents, and reported on Flyertalk) that the Delta-Virgin Australia partnership had ended. Virgin Australia business class awards are both frequently available and one of the only ways to get non-stop between North America and Australia in a premium cabin on points. They’re one of the best uses of Virgin America points, and they’re one of the best uses of Delta awards. Both Virgin America and Delta offer one-way award redemption, making it possible to pull together different sets of points…
