What is the value of miles and points by airline, hotel and credit card program? Miles used to be thought to be worth 2 cents. I think that conventional wisdom developed out of the idea that a cross country flight cost about $500… or 25,000 miles. 20 years ago that was generally true, and award availability wasn’t really a problem either. That was long before: Airline alliances opened up huge possibilities for miles. Mileage programs increased the cost of many awards. Awards became tougher to get with flights full. Plus the 2 cent number probably wasn’t ever true to begin with. Many different folks have taken a stab at how much miles are worth. For this post I’m not going to give you a single number. I’m going to share my own rough and ready…
About Gary Leff
Lifetime Elite Status Matches?
Reader Jered asks, “Will any airline do million miler status matches?” In other words, if you’ve flown enough or otherwise earned lifetime status with an airline, will another carrier give you that same lifetime status? In general the answer is no. However, it’s a little bit more complicated than that, so I can’t make the ‘no’ claim quite so definitively. Lifetime status is status, so it’s frequently possible to use the lifetime status you have earned to get temporary comped status with another airline. It’s not correct to say that no airline has ever offered lifetime status based on a match. First, Aegean’s terms and conditions used to make their status lifetime and while they don’t generally status match they did offer that match for bmi Diamond Club gold members when British Airways acquired bmi.…
Delta Eliminates Free Drinks for Elites in Coach, Effective Immediately
Four and a half years ago Delta introduced Sky Priority. This big marketing initiative consisted of a whole bunch of signage, existing elite benefits, and the introduction of a free drink coupon for Gold elites and higher that don’t get upgraded and check-in online. They’d be able to print a ‘Have One On Us’ coupon along with their boarding pass. Now — effective December 6 — the Have One on Us coupons have been eliminated and thus the only actual new benefit that came with the introduction of Sky Priority in April 2010 is now gone. Already-printed coupons will be valid through their expiration date. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to…
When “Home” is Just a Pit Stop
I’m in the middle of over a month with just 5 nights at home. Then I’ll be home for 5 nights, which I’m really looking forward to, before leaving the country again. For me that means key priorities are: Dry cleaning Laundry Haircut I should probably do these more efficiently on the road. For one thing, I’d pack less. But I have my preferences for how each gets done, so I reserve those for home time. Unfortunately I came home and found no food in the refrigerator. That’s good — I wouldn’t have wanted to eat anything that was still there. And it’s good that I had a meal on my last flight, too. Consultants usually get Fridays back at home. But mix business travel with personal travel and it makes for a busier schedule…
Airbnb for Dogs: An Alternative to Boarding Your Pup While You’re on the Road
DogVacay has a network of ~ 20,000 people in the U.S. and Canada that will take in your dog while you’re out of town. They’re new to me, although they’ve apparently booked a million nights of boarding in the past two years. The average price is about $30 a night. Each person sets their own price, you search folks in your neighborhood and pick one that’s a good fit just like searching Airbnb for a home you might stay in yourself. They aren’t just for dogs, although that’s the primary market. Apparently they’ve had other animals including cats, guinea pigs, ferrets and chickens. I have a 12 year old yorkshire terrier named Eddie. Knowing that he’s well taken care of while I’m gone is probably the hardest part of travel for me. He loves the…
The Sneaky Way Airlines Can Still Hit You With Fuel Surcharges Even When the Price of Fuel Falls
One thing that readers keep asking is, with the price of fuel dropping, will airlines reduce or eliminate fuel surcharges? And my answer is that few things would shock me more. What are fuel surcharges and how do they work? Why are airfares rising when fuel prices are going down? Fuel surcharges aren’t about fuel. They are a convenient, easy way to raise or lower all fares in a market. Since they are a surcharge rather than part of the fare, they aren’t subject to percentage discounts that may attach to certain contracts. They conveniently are an excuse to charge more for award passengers (in some programs and for travel on some airlines), whose mileage currency can’t be used anywhere a member wants the way cash can. Nonetheless, since airlines have used the price of…
A Trick for Free Miles, Used Beverage Carts, and a Delicious New Centurion Lounge Dessert!
News and notes from around the interweb: Delta is selling used beverage carts, and you could own one! Another e-rewards signup bonus and a post making the point that you can have as many of these as you want (one per airline with which they’re offering them) using unique email addresses each time. Misleading marketing or language barrier? Congress voted to raise airport security fees not to fund airport security but as part of an overall budget deal (i.e. to pay for other things). But then when the TSA actually raised fees per the letter of the law, people didn’t like that. So the House voted unanimously to cap the increase. Passing through the American Express Centurion lounge at DFW airport yesterday, the new beef dish was gone (no bid deal, it pales in comparison…
Signup Bonus Of Up to 90,000 Virgin Atlantic Miles
Back in August an offer came out promising up to 90,000 miles for the Virgin Atlantic co-brand credit card. It returned at the beginning of October. Now, these are Virgin Atlantic miles which aren’t the most valuable. And the offer required a whole bunch of spend. So it’s wasn’t the greatest card offer out there. In fact, I view the card as 75,000 miles for $12,000 spend and wouldn’t take it all the way to capture the full offer on the table. But it was from an issuer without too many co-brand cards (my only current Bank of America card is an Alaska Visa), and it’s potentially a lot of miles. The link for the offer appeared to die each time, so it seemed like the chance for this was gone. But it turns out…
HURRY: United.com Pricing Partner Business Class Europe Awards at a Discount…
Via Dan’s Deals, United.com is pricing business class awards between North America and Europe at the lower United price. United’s award chart bloodletting created a separate, more expensive award chart for travel on partner airlines (even ‘joint venture’ partners, where United is supposed to be indifferent as to whether you fly United or their JV partner). Business class between the US and Europe currently runs: 57,500 miles if you fly United (115,000 roundtrip) 70,000 miles if you fly a partner (140,000 roundtrip) Right now – for January, February, and March – they are pricing partner awards at the price of United flights. Of course that’s low season for Europe travel, so I am going to assume this is an ‘unannoucned sale’. Of course there is no telling how many days (or hours or minutes!) this…
500 Free Points, Old Planes That Still Fly, and Spirit Airlines Ready to Kick United’s Can
News and notes from around the interweb: 10 Veteran Aircraft Types You May Be Surprised Are Still in Service 500 free US Bank FlexPerks points Spirit Airlines takes on United: So much for low cost carriers focusing on underserved cities. Spirit will begin Denver – Los Angeles service, in addition to previously-announced Denver-Chicago and Los Angeles-Cleveland flights. These will bring Spirit’s Denver operation to 10 cities and Los Angeles to 9. Delta’s mileage-earning rates for partner flights next year have finally been released Cranky Flier talks to JetBlue founder and Brizilian airline Azul CEO Dave Neeleman about why their new service to the US can succeed, and more. If someone sitting next to you purchases Buy on Board, you’re 30% more likely to do so as well. (HT: Hans M.) You can join the 40,000+…
