Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

$94 Vacation to Hawaii

by Gary Leff on January 19, 2006

Jan 19 2006

Northwest Vacations is offering airfare and two nights in Hawaii from $94. Choose one person. I’ve found travel between March 1 and March 31. You’re using promo code WVRQ400 and for the cheapest prices will want to pick Monday through Thursday travel. Cities other than Los Angeles for departures are slightly higher. And yes this deal earns Northwest miles. Thanks to Flyertalk. Update Jan 20: The cheapest deals are now gone and the promotion has been revised. No more $94 vacations. Here’s the new promotion in case anyone finds it useful.

Continental Increases Pricing for Unrestricted Awards

by Gary Leff on January 16, 2006

Jan 16 2006

Continental posted several changes to their frequent flyer program today: You can now receive your BusinessFirst upgrade rewards until 24 hours prior to your scheduled departure. Previously, 72 hours were required. Effective February 1, 2006, you may redeem reward travel within the 48 contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada on round-trip flights of 1,500 miles or less for only 20,000 miles. Effective April 1, 2006, some Easy Pass BusinessFirst reward mileage requirements will change: Routes between: Miles requiredbefore 4/1/06 Miles required4/1/06 and after N. America and Asia 240,000 250,000 N. America and Europe 200,000 250,000 N.Amer & India/Africa/Mideast 240,000 250,000 N. America and Tel Aviv 200,000 250,000 Hawaii and Europe 220,000 270,000 Hawaii and Tel Aviv 220,000 270,000 Asia or Europe & S. Amer. 240,000 280,000 The introduction of 20,000 miles for flights under 1500…

Virgin Increases Award Pricing

by Gary Leff on January 14, 2006

Jan 14 2006

Virgin Atlantic is ‘refreshing’ its program earning and redemption. The upshot is that some awards are getting more expensive, for example Upper Class awards from the U.K. to the U.S. are currently 80,000 points and will be going up to 90,000 points (Boston/New York/Washington DC) or 100,000 points (Miami/Orlando/Vegas/Los Angeles/San Francisco). The old award chart is here.

Check the expiration dates of your buy-on-board meals!

by Gary Leff on January 13, 2006

Jan 13 2006

Some Flyertalkers are reporting that United’s buy-on-board snack boxes are frequently expired. Bought a minimeal yesterday DEN-BWI and noticed the salami (or whatever it is) was dated use by 1/4 – 4 days past due. I ate it anyway Its 24 hours later and so far so good So I looked on the box itself and faintly impressed on the bottom is a date which said 12/16! …which I presume is the packing date… Im not one to complain so I didn’t but you may want to check those dates before you pop it open. Surprising for coming out of a hub… they must have quite a backlog of those meals! A flight attendant suggests exchanging expired meat for fresh meat: We’ve had quite a few snackboxes with outdated items lately. We are happy to…

USAirways Award Chart Inflation

by Gary Leff on January 5, 2006

Jan 05 2006

USAirways quietly increased the number of miles required for a first class award seat from North America to Europe (.pdf) from 100,000 to 125,000 miles — a 25% jump. Oddly enough, a first class seat from New York to London is now more miles than a first class seat from New York to Bangkok. There may be other changes to the chart, I haven’t looked closely yet…

Missing Baggage: a Tale of Two Airlines

by Gary Leff on December 20, 2005

Dec 20 2005

When I’m traveling on my own I’ll do everything possible to avoid checking luggage. That will remain my strategy, at least until Ted Stevens succeeds in limiting carryons (from one carryon to… one carryon). But when I’m on a three week trip involving multiple climates it isn’t possible. And when I’m traveling with my wife for a long weekend, and she packs enough that we have to check her bags, I tend to check mine as well. Even without a connecting flight that turns out to be a mistake. Back in June I flew in from Melbourne on Qantas and transferred my bags to Alaska. This was in the midst of their baggage handler unpleasantness, and one of our four bags was sent to Reno instead of Seattle. The baggage service office was extremely apologetic,…

American Elite Buyback Returns

by Gary Leff on December 18, 2005

Dec 18 2005

American is offering its annual elite buyback offer for Gold and Platinum members who did not requalify during 2005. Depending on the number of miles you flew and the status you already have, you can pay $299 – $599 to retain that status through February, 2007.

Two Elite Changes at American

by Gary Leff on December 15, 2005

Dec 15 2005

American AAdvantage Gold elite status can be obtained for 25,000 miles or 30 segments. Platinum is 50,000 miles or 60 segments. (Both can also be obtained via a fasttrack challenge.) However, Executive Platinum has been obtainable only by flying 100,000 miles — so segment qualification existed for the “EXP” level. Supposedly American will announce shortly that next year they’ll introduce segment qualification for their top elite level. Just like United, 100 segments flown in a year will earn top-tier elite status. American has also announced a price increase for 500-mile segment upgrades. They’ll go from $25 to $30 when purchased online or at a kiosk. Over the phone or otherwise ‘assisted’ the price will be $35.

Best Ever American Airlines Mastercard Offer

by Gary Leff on November 19, 2005

Nov 19 2005

Via Fre Frequent Flyer Miles, American and Citibank are offering their co-branded Mastercard with 20,000 bonus miles for first purchase and fee waived the first year.

Improving on United’s New Boarding Procedure

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

Tyler Cowen wonders if, instead of United’s new plan involving boarding passengers assigned to window seats first, airlines would save more time charging for carryons (making passengers internalize the costs of lengthy boarding processes) or awarding prizes based on how quickly passengers get into their seats and buckle up. The latter idea, while novel, would undoubtedly entail pretty substantial technological costs to retrofit aircraft appropriately. How else to know how long each passenger takes from boarding to buckling? And it would probably involve taking aircraft out of service for a time to do the retrofit, not to mention lengthy FAA approvals for the aircraft modificiations. So I’d guess that costs would be way too high relative to any savings from quicker boarding times. Besides, as passengers compete with each other for quicker boarding, aren’t there…