News and notes from around the interweb: Singapore Airlines offers fantastic award availability to their own Krisflyer members (and American Express and Starwood points transfer well to Singapore) but very little long haul premium cabin space to their partners. Since you can’t book business and first class on Singapore using United miles anyway, it wasn’t such a big deal that United pulled Singapore Airlines award availability off its website and misled membes that it was somehow Singapore’s doing. Now it turns out that United is having trouble ‘seing’ Singapore Airlines coach award space for flights to and from the U.S.. But United promises it isn’t intentional. Chase is sending out targeted spending bonuses to their Hyatt Visa cardholders. How to Fly Spirit Airlines (A guide for the perplexed.) Delta is going to test making their…
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American to Add Seats to Aircraft, Wants to Cramp Your Style Just Like Their Competitors Do
American is adding seats to aircraft, with a goal of becoming just as cramped as United and Delta. “The seating configurations we’re going to are the same number of seats on the 737, for example, that Delta has. We haven’t finished the analysis on the 777 yet, but it will be consistent with what airlines like Delta have,” Kirby said. …“We think it’s important to be competitive with United and Delta. You can have a premium product, but a premium product in markets where there is premium demand and customers who are willing to pay for it,” Kirby said. American’s MD80s already have had more seats added, and 737s will be getting more seats soon. Both of these moves were reported last June. Now they’re working out how they’ll add seats to their 777-200s as…
100,000 Mile Signup Bonus for Citi Executive American Airlines MasterCard
Last week I wrote about an offer for a 75,000 mile signup bonus for the Citi Executive / AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard. I applied and was approved for that card myself. It requires $7500 in spending within 3 months, comes with a $100 statement credit, and is the $450 annual fee card that includes American Airlines lounge membership. The card also offers 10,000 elite qualifying miles after $40,000 in spend during a year. In the comments to that post, reader MilesAbound noted that there seemed to be a 100,000 mile offer for the card out there. And it turns out that he was correct. Here’s the application link. 100,000 American Airlines miles after you make $10,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. $200 in statement credits on purchases within 12 months of account…
How One Airline Ticket Let a Man Eat Free for a Year
It’s hardly a new technique, ever since September 11th and the requirement that you actually be flying same-day to go past security, I’ve always said it’s easier to buy a refundable ticket, meet your friends at their gate, and then refund the ticket than it is to get a gate pass. And that you might as well buy an international first class ticket, to take advantage of any available first class lounge while you wait. Back when you didn’t need a ticket to go through security there were plenty of folks who lived or worked near the airport who would exercise their club memberships for evening cocktails (at those lounges which offered free drinks). Nonetheless there’s been lots of coverage for the man who used one first class ticket to eat free for a year.…
Virgin Atlantic Transfers to Hilton Will Devalue on February 6
Effective February 6, transfers from Virgin Atlantic to Hilton HHonors will be at a rate of 1 mile to 1.5 points instead of the current 1 mile to 2 points. Please note from 6 February 2014 the exchange miles to points rate is changing. Flying Club members will be able to exchange miles at the following rate: 2 Flying Club miles for 3 Hilton HHonors points. You can currently exchange miles at a rate of (up until 5 February 2014): 1 Flying Club mile for 2 HHonors point. Minimum Level: 10,000 miles and then in increments of 5,000. Just call the Flying Club Helpline with your HHonors account number. *Please note your name on your Flying Club membership account must match exactly with the name on your Hilton HHonors account for a successful transfer. Your…
American and US Airways Choose the Better Reservation System, But Process to Combine Could Take Two Years
One of the biggest issues from a customer perspective about the American Airlines-US Airways merger is the computer system that will manage the reservations process, from ticket purchase through to check-in and boarding. It’s one of the easiest things to screw up. When America West and US Airways merged, the airline went with the cheaper system the former had used — much to the detriment of customers and to airline sales. I chose to fly the weekend of the airlines’ integration and found lines wrapped around the Ft. Lauderdale airport, including a 45 minute first class line wait. The airline had recommended checking in online, but online check-in didn’t work and neither did kiosks. Problems persisted for weeks, but the legacy of the choice lasted much longer. US Airways couldn’t even sell international partner flights…
40% Off Everything at the W Hotels Store Through February 28
If you’re looking for a W bed, this offer isn’t as good as the 50% off offer from last month. But the nice thing is that this is valid on all items site-wide except mattresses, so if you got in on that earlier and want to pick up other items it’s a good deal. They’ll give you 40% off with discount code M4G7V through February 28. W Hotel Store purchases post as double points earning when paying with a Starwood Preferred Guest American Express. 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 miss out!
1000 Bonus Miles on a 3 Night Hotel Stay from PointsHound
PointsHound, the online hotel booking site that rebates miles to you (and offers ‘DoubleUp’ properties where you’ll still also earn hotel program loyalty points and credit towards elite status), now has 14 options for earning to choose from. They’ve added Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Frontier Early Returns. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would want to be accumulating Frontier miles instead of one of the other choices, but it’s an option. Through the end of the month they’re awarding 1000 bonus miles in the program of your choice for bookings you make that are 3 nights or longer. With these two program additions the earning options for PointsHound bookings are: Always price compare, there are certainly some folks that have reported some times where PointsHound has shown higher prices than booking direct —…
Frequent Flyer With Low Morals Faces an Ethical Dilemna
Via Peter S. My advice: End the affair. The Hilton points are no longer worth it. 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 miss out!
How to Protect Yourself From Tourist Scams
A work colleague was recently in Paris and he was charged 100 euros for a cab ride from Charles de Gaulle airport to his hotel downtown. He didn’t know — until I his return trip was much cheaper — that he had been scammed. A year ago I wrote Common Tourist Scams and How to Avoid Them. I detailed the Paris ring scam, where someone along the road ‘finds’ a ring and rushes to return it to you. Taking advantage of your greed, they separate you from your money in exchange for worthless ‘jewelry’. And the Chinese tea ceremony where a local wants to spend the day with you to ‘practice their English’ and shows you to a local tea place where you’ll experience local culture… and receive a bill many orders of magnitude higher…
