Korean Air is a founding member of Skyteam, but they’ve long been on the outs with Delta — even though they’re alliance members together Delta eliminated the ability to earn elite qualifying miles when flying Korean. American’s launch of daily Dallas – Seoul service has hurt Korean’s performance on the route with its own daily flight, carrying 19% fewer passengers year-over-year. Korean carried 114,192 passengers to and from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the 12 months ended November 2014, compared to 140,784 in the 12 months before that. Oddly, the press release talks about Korean placing its code on American’s flight — and passengers being able to earn Korean miles when flying American — but it doesn’t mention the reverse, earning American miles flying Korean or the American code on any Korean flight. I confirmed…
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Earn Elite Status Without Flying, An Exciting Hotel Opening, and My Debate With Lucky and Cranky on the Future of Miles..
News and notes from around the interweb: The full schedule is up for the only major ‘Frequent Traveler University’ even of the year. Do airline loyalty programs have a future? Lucky from One Mile at a Time, Brett from Cranky Flier, and I debate this in an online forum. 5 Ways to Earn Elite Status With Little or No Flying Enter my hotel points giveaway. If you win you get to choose the program, and it’s a whole bunch of points! The Park Hyatt Sanya has opened! I can’t wait to stay at this resort on the South China Sea. It will be a fantastic value at category 5 for redemptions, especially cash and points (10,000 points and $125 per night). The base room is over 600 square feet, and suites are over 1200 square…
Now It’s American’s Turn: HURRY for Great Business Class Award Space to Europe!
Yesterday I wrote that US Airways had (briefly) opened the award floodgates for transatlantic business class space. Inventory had also been wide open for the weekend and two weeks ago we saw nearly whole cabins available. These weren’t glitches mis-pricing awards, these were opportunities to get awards at their regular prices — but on most flights, most dates, on certain routes. And they were opportunities to do it without fuel surcharges. With British Airways as the primary transatlantic partner of US Airways and American, and with the hefty fees imposed for awards on that airline, many find Europe premium cabin awards cost prohibitive. Over the past few years, American hasn’t offered much space on their own flights. There’s some airberlin space and occasional Finnair space, but their routes are limited. Iberia is feast or famine,…
Today’s TransAsia Crash Video Footage Caught on Dash Cam
TransAsia Airways flight GE 235, an ATR-72 operating a domestic flight from Taipei to Kinmen crashed shortly after taxi after hitting a taxi and a bridge before landing into a river. Five crew and 53 passengers (22 Taiwanese and 31 Chinese tourists from Xiamen) were onboard. Reports are that the pilots communicated with air traffic control, “Mayday, mayday, engine flame out.” The flight data recorder has been recovered. The Taipei-based airline operates Airbus and ATR aircraft. Another one of their ATR-62s crashed in July. My thoughts are with the passengers and crew — both those that perished in the crash and those that escaped the wreckage to safety — as well as the families and the employees of the airline. You can join the 50,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day —…
Conrad Hilton Arrested: Went Berserk on London – Los Angeles Flight
Years ago I remember seeing somewhere online ‘the Paris Hilton video’… an animated version of the Hilton hotel leaning over to kiss the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, is neither animated nor cute. Paris Hilton’s brother, 20 year old Conrad Hilton — named for the family patriarch, founder of the hotel chain, and the man for whom the Conrad brand is dedicated — apparently has been arrested for an incident where he went berserk on a flight. He apparently yelled things like, “If you wanna square up to me bro, then bring it and I will [redacted] fight you.” and “I will [redacted] own anyone on this flight; they are [redacted] peasants.” Hilton is said to have started punching the bulkhead, near a flight attendant’s face and to have grabbed a flight attendant’s shirt declaring, “I could…
American Will Now Waive Telephone Fees for Awards You Can’t Book Online
American has updated its award booking fees and on net I actually like the change! On February 16, American’s telephone booking fee will increase from: Domestic: $25 to $30 International: $35 to $40 But American will now waive the telephone fee entirely for awards that cannot be booked online. Previously American would add the telephone booking fee regardless of whether you could book awards online or not. And since American currently only lets you book its own flights plus those of a handful of partners: That meant there was a de facto “partner booking fee” if you wanted an award on an airline like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, LAN, Iberia, Etihad, etc. Now there isn’t. American’s top tier Executive Platinum members of course have telephone booking fees waived already — as long as they’re one…
HURRY, IT’S BACK: US Airways Business Class Award Space to Europe (Use American Miles With No Fuel Surcharges)
A couple of weeks ago, immediately after US Airways transitioned to using American’s fare class codes, the floodgates opened on US Airways international awards in business class. Then over the weekend things opened back up for summer travel — not the floodgates of the first wave, where whole cabins were practically available for redemption on most routes, but a few seats in business class most days, which is very much not the historical norm for US Airways. And then within a few hours it was gone. Glitch, corrected. Some folks got their summer award trips booked in the interim, however. Commenter Joe just noted that “Saver level US flights are back up..” It’s not quite the wide open field that it has been in the recent past. This looks to be primarily over the summer,…
You Can Now Book American and US Airways Standard/AAnytime Awards With Either Airline’s Miles
US airlines generally allow you to book miles at a ‘saver’ or ‘low’ award level, and at a more expensive price point that offers greater availability. The old standard used to be that spending ‘double miles’ would get you any seat, any flights. That’s how it worked at American for the most part until April 8. Alaska, Amterican, and Delta now offer multiple tiers of prices. United doesn’t offer ‘last seat availability’ to general members who are not co-brand credit card holders. Last seat availability is offered only to folks with the United Explorer and Club cards and to elites. The idea of spending extra miles to get the seat you want isn’t universal, you can’t do it with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic miles for instance. Most European and Asian carriers don’t offer this,…
American’s Lounge Food Improvements and… Non Skid Slippers
Yesterday I wrote about American’s new brand heritage amenity kits and posted photos of the TWA business class amenity kit. American is out today with more information. These new amenity kits are offered in international business class and their New York JFK – Los Angeles / San Francisco first class cabins. Non-Skid Slippers Are Coming.. For international first class, a little less exciting: We’re introducing a new amenity kit that includes all of the items you already love – plus, by popular demand, we’re adding Scope® mouthwash for a breath of fresh air. But we’re not stopping there. If you’re planning to catch some zzz’s, we’ve added new pajamas and non skid 100% cotton terry slippers. So curl up, get comfortable and settle in for the long haul. As you can see, business class get…
100,000 Free Hilton HHonors Points, Plus Check Out the Airport With No Air Traffic Control!
News and notes from around the interweb: Qualified for Hilton Diamond? You may be able to register and receive 100,000 points instantly from this targeted promotion. (HT: Double Wides Fly) On the no fly list because of accusations against your brother? Enter my hotel points giveaway. If you win you get to choose the program, and it’s a whole bunch of points! Farang? Pay more. Thailand to charge foreigners 10x the local price to enter national parks. The airport where the nearest air traffic control is 105 miles away. Targeted bonus on purchased Hyatt points through February 15. I wasn’t targeted. (HT: One Mile at a Time) You can join the 50,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or…
