United is getting a cash injection from the issuer of the United Visa to keep it going through to better times and lower fuel prices. UAL Corporation (Nasdaq: UAUA), the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, today announced that it reached an agreement in principle with its Mileage Plus co-branded bank card partner, Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A. (“Chase”), and Paymentech, one of its credit card processors, to extend the term of their respective agreements. As part of the transaction, United will receive a payment of $600 million from Chase, which relates to the advance purchase of frequent flyer miles and the extension of the contract. The company also expects this transaction will improve cash flow by about $200 million in the next two years. In addition, the level of reserve or holdback that…
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Not All Baggage Fees are Created Equal
The Washington Post has a helpful up-to-date chart on current airline baggage policies. Southwest stil doesn’t charge for the first or second checked bag. Airtran doesn’t charge for the first, and discounts the second if you prepay online. Delta, and Continental don’t charge for the first, but do for the second. Personally I expect that Delta and Continental will eventually join the leaders. Unless they see significant bookings coming their way driven by the lack of fees — and the fees are sufficiently conoluted for most passengers to make sense of so I doubt it — they’re walking away from revenue if they don’t. I do see the opportunity for a clever ad campaign to differentiate their products, but in the end all the evidence I’ve ever seen on coach travel is that the driver…
Northwest’s Odd $44 Award Fuel Surcharge for Hong Kong Departures
A week and a half or so ago Northwest announced fees for award redemption. They call them fuel surcharges, but fuel surcharges are really part of the cost of a ticket. And with awards they aren’t even tied to the fuel surcharge imposed on paid ticket, they’re made up fees imposed based on the region of travel for your award. $25 for flights within North America, $50 transatlantic, $100 transpacific, $75 intra-Asia (unless travel originates in Hong Kong, in which case it’s $44), and $50 on all other itineraries. The $44 fee for award travel beginning in Hong Kong struck me as strange. My hunch was correct, it is a bit of an anomaly. Turns out that there’s a law in Hong Kong which prevents them from imposing fuel surcharges on award tickets that are…
25,000 Bonus Miles for a US Airways Small Business Mastercard
Last month I posted about a 20,000 mile signup bonus for the US Airways small business Mastercard. Looks like the 25,000 mile offer is still around, however. Not bad. Though US Airways has made some pretty unfriendly changes to the Dividend MIles program recently (award redemption fees and ending bonus miles for elite flying), they are still a Star Alliance member — for how long, no one knows — and as such their miles can be redeemed throughout the world on some lovely carriers such as Singapore, ANA, and Asiana. And unlike United they do not generally filter out award seats those carriers are making available. Plus their award chart is closer to United in requiring fewer miles for awards than most Star Alliance carriers. 25,000 for the small business Mastercard, 15,000 for the personal…
Continental Severing Partnership with iDine
Continental is ending its iDine (err… Rewards Network aka dining for miles) participation as of October 31. That’s alright, the bonuses were never that great and you should be accruing your dining-induced points elsewhere (such as with American, or at least United) anyway.
Continental Announces Some Program Changes to be Effective August 17th
Continental is making a bunch of changes effective August 17th (and no promises that more changes won’t follow… just not in the next 30 days). No more award holds. Even Delta lets you hold an award online, just not over the phone anymore. No holds at all with Continental, but they’ll refund your miles and taxes/fees if you cancel within 24 hours. The exception is if you don’t have enough miles in your account, then you get a three day hold so you can transfer miles in. (A pretty good reason not to keep any miles in your Continental account, you get more accomodation out of Onepass than if you have a large mileage balance.) There are no more holds on paid tickets, either, except group tickets and tickets purchased using Western Union, cash or…
Flyertalk is Giving Away OpenSkies Tickets
Flyertalk is giving away tickets on OpenSkies — A pair of tickets a week for ten weeks, five pairs will be New York to Paris, and five pairs will be for a future OpenSkies destination. The tickets will be in Prem+, which is pretty similar to the international business class offerings on Delta and Continental (but not lay-flat, which British Airways and sibling OpenSkies offer in business class). The tickets will be open date, with travel to be complete by the end of November. Write an email to randy@flyertalk.com and tell him what you think about FlyerTalk; how it has benefited (or disappointed) you, and how you would like to see it grow. Every Friday – starting July 18 and ending Sept. 19 – there will be a drawing from among those that have submitted…
Alaska Airlines to Discontinue Air France Awards to Asia
Flyertalker (and Alaska employee) missydarlin shared the news that Alaska will not book Air France awards to Asia after August 31st. (Air France awards to Europe remain possible, as well as awards to Tahiti since those are booked via Los Angeles.) Combined with this week’s news that Alaska will no longer book British Airways awards to Australia, clearly the changes are being driven by Alaska Airlines rather than their partners, and it’s a cost issue. As with the British Airways news, the change won’t affect a whole lot of people, most Alaska members are on the U.S. West Coast and traveling to Asia or Australia via Europe is truly ‘the long way’ and of interest to only a few folks who really enjoy flying for flying’s sake. But for me they are sad losses.
Alaska Discontinuing British Airways Awards to Australia
You can still book awards using Alaska Mileage Plan miles for British Airways flights from the U.S. to Australia via London. Yes, that’s the long way around! At least twice as long from the West Coast of the US than going Qantas directly. But according to this Flyertalk thread (and confirmed on the Alaska Airlines website), the option will be going away August 31st. (You can redeem for travel past then, but August 31st will be the last day to book.) Alaska’s partnership with British Airways continues, as far as I know, they just won’t allow you to book Australia awards. While it’s a lot of flying, it’s also quite a redemption value, spending 150,000 miles for all that first class flying. First class was just a 50% premium over coach (business class a mere…
1000 Thank You Points for an Expedia Hotel Booking
Expedia is offering 1000 bonus Thank You Network points for booking a ‘special rate’ hotel by July 31 for travel through August 31. Enter promotional code TY1000 on the rate details page. Valid once per account. This wouldn’t sway my hotel choice, but it’s a pretty good deal if you’re going to book a hotel via Expedia anyway.
