One Mile at a Time says the passengers from US Airways flight 1549 will get top tier elite status for a year. Unless US Airways did something wrong, I’m not sympathetic to lawsuits. Something really bad happened, people survived, from what we know at this point the pilot did a remarkable thing and the emergency response crews were outstanding. Thanks are deserved, not lawsuits. Still, going above and beyond is the appropriate response from US Airways. Sending out checks immediately for lost luggage in excess of the maximum permitted under the contract of carriage was a good immediate step. I’d have liked to see “free travel for a year” or “elite status for life.” Somehow top tier for a year (while nice) doesn’t quite feel the same or seem to get US Airways very much.…
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Link Your Northwest and Delta Accounts for 500 Bonus Miles, Transfer Points Instantly at Will
It was supposedly coming in February, they’re even a little bit early. You can now link your Northwest and Delta frequent flyer accounts and they’ll give you 500 bonus points for doing so by March 15 which will post to your Skymiles account 2-4 weeks after the end of the promotion (or 4-6 weeks, depending on whether you believe the transfer website or the e-mail confirmation after linking accounts). And then you can transfer points back and forth between your accounts, the transfer happens instantly. Excellent functionality!
Continental to Switch to Star Alliance End of October, 2009
It’s certainly taken long enough, but we finally have some specifics on when Continental miles will become worth something (i.e. when Continental will leave Skyteam and join Star Alliance). From their mass email yesterday: Regarding SkyTeam, Continental intends to end its participation in the SkyTeam Alliance after the last scheduled flight on Oct. 24, 2009. We continue to work through the details of our planned exit from SkyTeam and entry into Star Alliance, but anticipate our participation in Star Alliance will begin promptly after we leave SkyTeam. We’ll have to wait until the end of October to learn whether Continental will provide access to awards throughou tthe Star Alliance the way that every other Star Alliance member except United does. If that’s the case, their miles will be worth more than United’s, assuming that they…
Hilton New York Deals
With hotel bookings exceptionally down, and New York suffering both from the general decline in leisure travel expenditure and a drop in business travel tied to financial firm troubles, it’s unsurprising (yet pleasant) to see Hilton offering a New York-specific sale. A handy rate calendar offers specific prices on given dates at each participating hotel. Through April they promise: Hilton New York: Rates as low as $159 (code QO, 14 day adv. purchase Millenium Hilton: Rates as low as $159 (code P9) Waldorf=Astoria: Rates as low as $175 -(code QO, 14 day adv. purchase) Unsurprisingly, the Millenium Hilton down in the financial district is offering both a low rate and no advance purchase requirement. While these are advance purchase, non-refundable rates, they’re not much higher than one often finds on Priceline and of course qualify…
Northwest Partially Relents Just a Little on Platinum Award Change Fee Waivers
Having just blogged about the end to Platinum award change fee waivers over at the new Delta/Northwest (sourced from the head of the Skymiles program), perhaps responding to the outcry Northwest has sent out an email which clarifies that Platinums will still get 2 free changes a year and changes thereafter will be $50. That’s better than the original plan to end fee-free changes entirely, but still a hit. [W]e will modify the reissue and redeposit fee waiver for Platinum Elite members. Effective March 1, 2009, we will waive this fee for two different reservations per year and collect $50 for each additional award ticket change. It’s not yet completely clear to me whether this means that two award bookings will have unlimited changes, or whether only one change per booking is allowed with a…
Vinesse Wine Club — 4800 Northwest Miles for $42
Through January 30 (I meant to blog this awhile ago…) Vinesse Wine Club is offering 4500 Northwest miles for signup, in addition to 8 Northwest miles per dollar spent. Here’s the offer. This involves signing up for their wine club, so assuming you don’t want to continue you’ll have to cancel which I understand is relatively painless (under a minute) by phone. And the miles do appear to post as promised. You’ll get (6) bottles for $6.99 each with no shipping charges on the first order. I’m not valuing the wine a whole lot, but it’s less than a penny a point for Northwest miles and the wine value must be nonzero…
Hertz Sells Their Top Tier Elite Status
Hertz is offering their top status level, Platinum, for sale. The price ranges from $1200 – $1500 a year depending on your current membership level with them. (Though no one should ever pay more than $1350 since that’s the Hertz Gold price, and that status can be had free any number of ways — and even if you were paying it’s only $60 so the $1500 no status price seems silly, see for instance here or here and search on the page for ‘gold’ or find plenty more versions of this by Googling ‘free hertz gold’.) The benefits strike me as similar to Avis Chairman’s status, which I much enjoy: vehicle delivery, upgrades, valet service back to the airport so you don’t have to ride the shuttle bus. As an Avis Chairman I pay market…
Interesting Interview with Aeroplan’s CEO
An interesting finding about the effect of successfully redeeming frequent flyer miles, from the head of the Aeroplan program: One thing that’s very interesting is that when they do a redemption for an airfare or a gift card or an iPod they actually become more loyal afterwards for about a six-month period. Actually, the accumulation rate of the currency goes up substantially. He suggests that frequent flyer programs aren’t just a rebate, they’re a way to leverage a relationship. [B]y developing a longer term relationship with a consumer, you actually encourage them to focus their spending in a way that they wouldn’t normally do. And, it’s not normally because they get 1 or 2 per cent cash back, because that’s what loyalty schemes essentially represent. You’re actually becoming part of their behaviour and their everyday…
More Ways That Delta Has Gutted Their Program, And Why You Shouldn’t Fly Them Unless You Live in One of Their Hub Cities
Jeff Robertston, who runs the Delta Skymiles program, posted on Flyertalk that as part of integrating Northwest into Delta, Northwest Platinum elites will earn a 100% mileage bonus instead of a 125% bonus, and Silver elites will earn a 25% bonus instead of 50%. Losing benefits is unfortunate. This one doesn’t surprise me. First, because it’s an area where Northwest remained generous compered to competitors (Continental made a similar move, but then allowed their elites to earn at the earlier more generous levels if they held Continental’s premium co-branded credit card>) and that just doesn’t fly under the new leadership, and second because my working model has been that where the features of the Skymiles and Worldperks programs were different, the default would be to opt for the less generous benefits. So far that assumption…
The World’s Best Airports?
Via Taking Off Travel Blog, CNN has a piece on the world’s best airports They rank ’em as: Hong Kong International Airport Changi International Airport, Singapore Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia Munich Airport, Germany The problem, of course, is best for what? About Munich, they say, the architects wanted the airport “to be less an ‘anonymous transfer location,’ than a ‘foyer to the city’.” Except that what makes Munich a great airport is precisely how easy transfers are there! (I’d say the only other airport in Europe that is its rival in this regard is Vienna.) Seoul-Incheon is also outstanding for transfers, in addition to being a lovely structure. Singapore Changi, to me, is the ‘nicest’ airport. For the median passanger there’s certainly no better airport in the…
