Category Archives for Airlines.
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…
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 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.
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.
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.
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…
United’s Mileage Plus is such an important economic engine that JP Morgan Chase, which issues United’s co-branded credit card, has been the largest funder of the airline’s bankruptcy. It’s BankOne unit put up hundreds of millions of dollars in debtor-in-possession financing and JP Morgan is putting up a chunk of United’s $3 billion in bankruptcy exit financing. Now a deal to extend the co-branding relationship together with a large pre-purchase of airline miles is taking the place of hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves that United would have to post to its credit card processor (which is majority-owned by JP Morgan). As part of a deal extending United’s co-branding relationship with J. P. Morgan Chase through 2012, the bank agreed to make a “substantial” advance purchase of miles from United, according to an Oct.…
It turns out that United’s mystery double miles promotion that Northwest was ostensibly countering with its own double miles promo was a targeted email offering to Mileage Plus members in the Upper Midwest. United was certainly targeting Northwest’s stronghold, just days after Northwest mechanics went on strike. Northwest countered with across-the-board double miles. While United was taking advantage of an opportunity to poach Northwest passengers, I suspect Northwest is trying to lure passengers who might otherwise book away due to negative publicity surrounding the strike in a month where traffic is likely to be slower than the peak summer season.
An Air France plane skidded off the runway after landing in Toronto and caught fire around 4pm Eastern. Early reports are that most passengers are safe, but this is not yet certain. Thoughts and hopes are with the passengers and crew. Update: Everyone made it out alive, with just a few injuries.
Boldly going where another travel site has gone before, SideStep has brought on Patrick Stewart as its spokesman. In the online travel world, one of the biggest battles for new customers has come down to this: Captain Kirk vs. Captain Picard. Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” is the new company spokesman for travel search engine SideStep. That’s a direct challenge to rival Priceline.com, whose ads have long featured William Shatner, Captain Kirk on the original “Star Trek.” (Via Tripso Daily.)
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
