… In some cases. And that mattters. Delta says their new program rewards their highest spending customers, but they cap mileage earning at 75,000 miles per ticket. This cap is inclusive of elite and class of service bonuses. For revenue-based earning that means Delta’s 125,000 mile a year Diamond members will not earn a single additional mile for business class tickets over $6818.18 (in base fare plus fuel surcharges). So let’s look at the most expensive tickets that different airlines offer, and see which ones will earn more miles (leaving aside for now that American miles are themselves worth more than Delta miles). If a Delta Diamond 125,000 mile flyer buys a business class ticket (Delta’s top cabin) from New York to Australia for $9280 in fare and fuel surcharges plus taxes, they’re not going…
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Gaming IHG’s New Big Hotel Promotion
Yesterday I wrote about the new IHG Rewards Club Set Your Sights promotion set to go live today. The bonus is now up. The IHG Rewards Club Set Your Sights promotion is structured similarly to 2013’s The Big Win and the copycat ‘Into the Nights’ from fall 2014. IHG Rewards Club clearly finds
American’s New 2015 Mileage Bonus and the Big Strategic Move it Represents
American is introducing new bonus miles earning on top of the current program for purchasing premium cabin tickets. Already the AAdvantage program awards: Miles based on distance flown Bonus miles for elite frequent flyers Bonus miles for more expensive tickets In 2015 they will layer on more bonus miles for premium cabin tickets — more bonus miles for longer flights, and bigger bonuses for higher tier elites… up to 12,000 miles per segment, built into the program for the coming year. No registration is required, and these bonuses can be earned on American or US Airways flights or on codeshares operated by British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qantas. Instead of going revenue-based like United and Delta are doing, Alaska Airlines is awarding elites and premium cabin fares with more bonus miles. Alaska sees…
New American Express Business Platinum Benefit: Free Inflight Internet
I just signed up for another American Express Platinum card, — a Business Platinum card — and it’s going to be coming with a benefit I didn’t even know about. Here’s what American Express is saying about the benefit that will come online soon: Business Platinum Card Members will soon be able to access 10 complimentary Gogo inflight internet passes each calendar year. Card Members will be able to use each pass for inflight Wi-Fi internet access on any Gogo equipped flight segment. Accounts will get a fee credit for the first 10 Gogo internet passes charged each calendar year. That’s unfortunate for me since 10 uses a year won’t be enough to let me give up my Gogo unlimited monthly subscription. And as a statement credit, rather than single use codes, it will be…
A New Upgrade Benefit for US Airways Top Elites Flying American
There’s a new improvement that rolled out last week for US Airways top tier elites traveling on American Airlines, per JonNYC at TravelingBetter.com. American and US Airways Reciprocal Upgrade Benefits are Limited American and US Airways started offering reciprocal upgrades to each others’ elite members back in June. These were upgrades available at check-in only. Since US Airways upgrades are complimentary, American elites would get them free too — provided there were seats left when the check-in window opened. Elites could also be added to the airport standby list. How to Maximize Chances of a US Airways Upgrade You don’t ever want to check in for a US Airways flights when there aren’t first class seats for sale if you’re an elite. Instead, just keep checking for a first class seat to open up. If…
Sheraton LAX Ups Its Game in the Most Important Way an Airport Hotel Can
Over the summer I wrote about the Sheraton LAX, a property I’ve written about before and stayed at many many times. Before my summer stay, I described the way to choose an airport hotel as: Book the one attached to the terminal, if one exists and price allows. If no property attached to the terminal, then whichever has been most recently renovated. After that Sheraton LAX stay I realized the number one thing is that an airport hotel needs to be able to reliably get you to the airport. (An attached hotel generally fits the bill most easily, but renovations don’t replace facilitated access.) The whole point of an airport hotel is that it’s easy to and from the airport. Once airport transportation becomes unreliable, you have to wait longer to get there and you…
IHG Rewards New 50,000 Point Bonus Promotion Goes Live Tomorrow
IHG Rewards has a new promotion going live tomorrow, and not all details are available yet, but you’ll be able to earn up to 50,000 bonus points. The ‘Set Your Sights’ promotion is available to all IHG Rewards Club members worldwide and is a great opportunity to kick start the new year with bonus offers for activity across IHG’s nine hotel brands. The more offers members complete, the more rewards they can earn. Registration for the promotion begins on Dec. 15 2014 >here. The campaign book- and-stay period starts on Jan. 1, 2015. Once registered, >IHG Rewards Club members can begin earning their rewards through April 30, 2015. 50,000 points is enough for as many as 3 free nights, worth 2 free nights at most hotels, and covers a free night at the chain’s most expensive properties. I value IHG Rewards Club points at $0.006…
Are Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Programs, and Bonusing Premium Fares, Really the Same Thing?
It’s tempting to say that ‘going revenue-based’ and ‘rewarding premium cabin tickets more’ are two sides of the same coin. That’s actually wrong, for one simple reason. Both United and Delta next year will be rewarding miles for flights based on the cost of a ticket, rather than the distance flown. To paraphrase comedian Steven Wright, one mile no longer equals one mile. While Delta in particular talks about ‘rewarding hte right customers’ my contention is that this is really about planes are full, they don’t need (or in United’s case, don’t think they need) to spend much more to put butts into empty seats. They’re printing fewer miles. The break-even point in both United’s and Delta’s program, where you earn as many miles in 2015 that you earned in 2014, is spending 20 cents…
This Rap Star Didn’t Want to Miss His Flight, So His Entourage Opened the Jetway Door And…
Rapper Jeremih didn’t board his US Airways flight from Newark on time. The Chicago-born rapper, whose real name is Jeremy Felton, 27, and his pals pulled the pea-brained stunt about 1:45 p.m. at gate 37 in terminal A, as a US Air flight to Phoenix was just seconds from takeoff, the sources said. …So one of his friends who had already passed through the jetway – the movable ramp linking the terminal to the plane – opened the jetway door so the tardy trio could sneak on, the sources said. Plenty of people have referred to economy passengers as ‘self-loading cargo’. But even when I’ve been late to the gate (and flying economy) I’ve never actually tried to load myself. Surely though there has to be more to this story. The boarding door was closed,…
Have Elite Status? Get Free Access to American and United Clubs!
Airlines are interested in poaching the best customers of their competitors. Frequent flyers sometimes want to switch airlines, but it’s tough — you’ve flown enough to earn perks, you don’t want to give up those perks and start from scratch with another carrier. So many airlines will offer a status match: show that you have elite status on a competitor airline, and they’re willing to give you similar status to make it easier to move your business over. To avoid getting ‘gamed’ the airlines may: Make you prove your status with another carrier first Possibly give you status for only a limited time, while you have to fly a certain amount to keep that status Honor the offer only once per person. In general airlines have gotten more restrictive in making these offers over time.…
