There are some hotels that will be going down in points price, while no hotels are going up. So that’s good news, something we haven’t seen a lot of lately. Here’s the word, and it includes a commitment not increase award night pricing for the rest of the year: More than 100 IHG hotels will require 5,000 less IHG Rewards Club points per Reward Night. We will not be making any increases to our Reward Night pricing during 2014. These changes to our Reward Night catalog will be effective on April 15 but we wanted to share this news with you so you can share with your readers ahead of time (no embargo). Below are some highlights of the more than 100 properties whose Reward Nights will be decreasing by 5,000 points. InterContinental Hotel Shanghai-Puxi,…
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Huge No-Notice Changes to American AAdvantage Awards You Probably Don’t Ever Book
Without any advance notice, American is increasing the price of “AAnytime awards” for travel effective June 1. This is the price when regular award seats aren’t available. They are also eliminating their highly valuable, but complicated, distance-based oneworld awards. US Airways also changes their version of AAnytime awards for travel effective June 1 as well, going to a four-tier redemption chart. (US Airways has had a three-tier award chart for years.) That applies only to the US Airways award chart and not to the partner redemption chart. There are no changes at this time to American’s saver awards, which is what most of us book and care about.
US Airways Eliminates the 90,000 Business Class Asia Award
One of the very best awards in the frequent flyer universe is gone without any notice. But it’s still priced pretty reasonably. The US Airways award chart (.pdf) has been tweaked with one significant change. Business class travel between the US and “North Asia” which extends as far south as Hong Kong has gone from 90,000 miles to 110,000 miles. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific’s business class It’s worth noting that some other minor adjustments have been made. Caribbean – North Asia business class has also gone up to 110,000 miles for instance. But most of the rest of the great values of the chart have been left in place. North Asia – North Asia and South Asia – South Asia business class awards remain 30,000 miles roundtrip each, for instance. I’ve long suggested that: The…
Will The Last Delta Skymiles Member Please Turn Out the Lights on the Way Out?
Randy Petersen‘s opening remarks in the new Inside Flyer offers on hypothesis that members might be okay with announced changes to the Delta Skymiles program because the commotion that was set off when those changes were first announced has seemed to die down — as opposed to, you know, that we now know everything they’re willing to tell us (not as much speculation now), and the changes are 8 months away. I’d even suggest it’s an equally plausible explanation that things have quieted down because the last Skymiles member left is just going to have to turn off the lights on the way out. We’ve always known that Delta was terrible for award redemption. It costs a ton of miles to get anything out of Delta. The refrain of their defenders was always to admit…
More Details on American’s New 777-200 Refurbishment Revealed
This morning I wrote about the unveiling of American’s new 777-200 inflight product. This is another seat image that I didn’t have in that post. And here’s more detail on the Boeing 777-200 refurbishment from the internal newsletter American shares with its employees. One key detail that I didn’t know this morning was power ports: coach gets power ports (standard plug ins) and USB ports, and business class seats get two of each. Interestingly, the size of the tv monitor at each business class seat is being reported as 16″ rather than 17″ reported on the American website. Entryway/Business Class Bar The retrofitted Boeing 777-200ER aircraft features unique mood lighting, a walk-up bar for Business Class customers and a dramatic ceiling treatment similar to our Boeing 777-300ER. New Business Class Seat The new Business Class…
Boeing 747 Makes Emergency Landing Due to Overheating Cows
390 hot cows set off a fire alarm in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747. A pilot flying a Boeing 747 was forced to issue a “mayday” call and make an emergency landing after overheating cows were mistaken for a fire. Pilots sent out a distress signal and received permission to come down at Heathrow Airport, London. Yet when technicians inspected the cows’ deck they found no evidence of flames or even smoke. Cows emit large quantities of methane and maintain body temperatures slightly higher than that of a human – the combination of which may have explained the sounding of an alarm. It’s sort of like what’s going to happen quite regularly once new restaurants are up and running at Washington’s National airport. (HT: @mipo777) You can join the 30,000+ people who see…
Two Offers: 500 Free Virgin Miles and 500 Accor Points With Your Next Stay
Head for Points reports 500 free points for downloading the Virgin Atlantic shopping portal toolbar. Download the Mile Finder tool before 14 May 2014 and earn 500 bonus miles. One time only bonus for downloading the Mile Finder. We reserve the right to remove the download bonus of 500 miles if you subsequently uninstall the Mile Finder Points should show up in about 48 hours. Head for Points also points to an offer you can register for 500 bonus points on your next stay with Le Club Accorhotels within 3 months of signing up. (The offer lasts through November, so wait to register if you don’t expect a stay within 3 months.) The offer is pitched at those that have been members for a year, although there are reports of success by others to. Some…
American’s New 777-200 Retrofit Revealed.. And Business Class Could Be Very Good Indeed
American got a page up about their Boeing 777-200 retrofit. Here’s the business class seat: I mentioned yesterday that they would unveil their new product this week. And no doubt there will be more beyond these two photos of the seat to come. I’ve written that I think American’s 777-300ER business class seat is the best across the Atlantic though of course it’s not on nearly enough planes yet. It’s an improvement on the seat that US Airways pioneered, and is essentially the same seat flown by Cathay Pacific and EVA Airways as well as Delta on their Pacific (and Tel Aviv) routes. This one could be better as a result of more personal space, because of one major change noted below. Here’s how they describe the retrofit: The retrofit offers significant updates throughout the…
Calculating the Best Hotel Deal, Free Wall Street Journal Subscription, and ReloadIt Cards (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 7, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: In Lucky‘s Fly & Dine interview he endorses the Andaz 5th Avenue’s lemon poppyseed pancakes. MileNerd shares the math on how Rocketmiles can be a good deal… even compared to Priceline. Free 26 weeks of the Wall Street Journal for taking a survey. That was fast: 99% of the tickets for Frequent Traveler University Advanced sold overnight. Why the TSA thinks you have no right to leave the screening area without its permission Safeway-owned stores enforcing cash only for Reloadit cards You can join the 30,000+ 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…
AMAZING DEAL: US Airways 100% Bonus on Shared Miles Back This Week Only
US Airways is back with a 100% bonus on shared miles through April 13. Limited time offer: Give up to a 100% bonus when you Share Miles! Share miles from April 7th until April 13th 2014 and your friend or family member will get up to 100% MORE in bonus miles – up to 50,000 miles. The bonus is actually tiered, you need to share at least 30,000 miles to get that bonus. Lower amounts receive a lesser bonus according to the following schedule: This is effectively buying US Airways miles for 1.1 cents apiece. You transfer 50,000 points from account A to account B at a cost of $567.50. Account B receives 100,000 miles. If you have a spouse or significant other, transfer 50,000 points to them and they receive 100,000 miles; then they…
