If you’re looking for the cheapest day to buy tickets, you want to read How and When to Find the Cheapest Airfares. What you don’t want to do is believe the ARC study that says Sundays are the cheapest day to buy airfare. I was actually expecting that the Airlines Reporting Corporation, which has tons of real data to parse through, would actually offer a useful data-driven answer to “what’s the cheapest day to buy airline tickets” as though that were really a thing. The problem is that their data set is actual ticket purchases and not airfares. So they’re capturing the average price of tickets purchased on a given day of the week, not the cheapest day to buy tickets. The reason why there is a difference is because different kinds of tickets are…
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Lufthansa First Class Award Space Wide Open!
Lufthansa first class awards used to be a gimme. But as the economy improved, the airline cut back the number of first class seats on many planes, and even the number of routes offering first class, award space dried up. In fact, Lufthansa generally only opens first class awards within 15 days of travel. And even that isn’t as guaranteed as it once was. Occasionally, though, either through a glitch or because they’ve given up on first class for a particular route, they open award space — wide. Here’s The Route Where Lufthansa First Class Award Space is Wide Open
Just When Cheap Mileage Purchase Gravy Train Seemed to End, One Last Reprieve
Last month I broke that news that perennial mileage sales deep discounter US Airways would change their ways… [A]t a latest case come November the bonus and pricing structure for US Airways miles will look more like the old American approach. That the last 100% purchase bonus for US Airways miles would be the last time US Airways miles were on sale at 1.88 cents apiece. And that come November US Airways would be selling miles in a way that aligns with how American AAdvantage does it, as part of their merger and in advance of combining the two frequent flyer programs. It turns out this prediction and news was correct. As One Mile at a Time notes, a new US Airways buy miles promotion is up. And it’s exactly the sort of tiered bonus,…
Thank Goodness the CDC Head Stayed at a Holiday Inn Express Last Night…
At the time this commercial was sort of funny. 13 years later it’s kind of dark. (HT: Alan H.) 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 the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Ignore Delta’s Award Availability Calendar, There’s Great Business Class Space to Europe, Here’s How to Find It
Alitalia’s business class award availability between the US and Italy is really good. And their business class product is much improved, too. But if you believe Delta.com, the award calendar is going to make you think there’s nothing available. Here’s a search at Delta.com for two business class seats, New York – Rome, in June. It’s all blue which means high level awards only. The entire month, which means 162,500 miles each way or 325,000 miles roundtrip per person. But it isn’t true.
If You’re On the Terrorism Watchlist, You’re Not Allowed to Sit in an Exit Row
Toqueville passes along a piece about the blogger who is on a terrorism watchlist because of a conviction related to his animal activism in the 1990s. He chronicles his experiences. And one of the things I learned was that if you’re on a watchlist, you’re not allowed to have an exit row seat assignment. This one rather befuddles me. Someone who gets super duper screening and is deemed not a safety risk, so they can fly, is still too much of a safety risk to sit near the emergency exit. The blogger speculates why Terrorists hate humans so much we would physically block exit points in the event of a crash and/or fire. They make you do that weird verbal confirmation thing after the fight attendant recites that exit row speech, and we’re known for…
US Airways MasterCard 10,000 Mile Anniversary Bonus Will Continue!
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Some US Airways MasterCard cardholders signed up for an offer that included not just a signup bonus, but also an annual renewal bonus. I have a card from awhile back that had a $0 fee the first year, 40,000 bonus miles after first purchase, and this 10,000 mile annual bonus. That bonus makes it worth it to me to keep paying the annual fee. That, and I like…
One-way Flights to Europe for $100!
WOW Air is really their name, they’re a low cost carrier with initial promo fares for US service that are advertised from Washington DC (but really departing BWI) and Baltimore to London, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik as low as $99-$125 one-way. Return flights are slightly higher, but total trip costs under $300 to Europe are pretty amazing and it’s certainly a great way to get buzz going for a new airline no one had ever heard of before. The flights do not start until March 27 for the 6 weekly Boston – Reykjavik flights (with connecting service beyond Reykjavik) and until June 4 for Baltimore – Reykjavik. So you have to make your purchase pretty far out. BUt that also means these fares are for travel during peak season to Europe, too! Their website isn’t great,…
Why Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades are Bad for Frequent Flyers
Over the weekend I took a domestic flight on American Airlines where the first class cabin was only half full. There were two factors at play, as I tweeted, 1) it’s Saturday 2) I like the @AmericanAir upgrade system please don’t change it.. American and US Airways Have to Decide How to Handle Upgrades as Part of Their Merger With the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, the two carriers are in the midst of working through their differences and figuring out the policies and procedures that will prevail when the two airlines actually combine into one. In a practice common to US airlines but not really done in the rest of the world, premium cabin seats on domestic flights that the airlines doesn’t sell are released as upgrades to elite frequent flyers. US…
Do You Dispute Small Charges? Or Am I Just Being Petty?
I checked into a Hyatt Regency property late on recent evening. Three’s a store in the lobby, and it had just closed. I asked at check-in whether there was anywhere else I might get water. The agent checking me in just told me to take the bottles in the room, they have a price tag on them but they don’t charge Diamond members. I thought that was nice — I remember three years ago at an event in Denver Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell mentioning to me they were looking at making bottled water a Diamond benefit. It’s a small item, but you get into a hotel and it’s nice to have that by your bedside at a non-extortionate price. As these things go, though, I took one of the two bottles and the charge did…
