Heels First Travel reports that Expedia Rewards is changing its points earning structure. They are doubling points earning for hotels and dropping points earning on airfare from 1 point per $2 (it used to be 1 point per dollar) down to 1 point per $5. Personally I used Expedia only for airfare, since I care about getting elite benefits on stays (many chains like Hilton and Starwood won’t honor those if booking through an online travel agent) and I care about earning points and stay credit (the rest of the chains won’t award that). What’s striking is that the changes have gone into effect immediately, with no advance notice whatsoever. And that this isn’t the first devaluation the program has made with no notice — and the program is only two years old! The program…
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Category Archives for General.
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 17, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: The DOJ lawsuit against the American-US Airways merger puts a lot of personnel changes on hold. Both airlines now need people to run operations that were told they wouldn’t have a job once the merger closed. Guy sticks a camera on his plane. Then he winds up crashing. Makes for a great video, if not a great flight. Fortunately he’s alright. Two Turkish Airlines pilots were abducted by Lebanese Shiites and are being held hostage to try to force Turkey to pressure Syrian rebels to release Lebanese kidnapped in Syria. This story deserves greater coverage. With the merger of LAN and TAM and the clarity that the combined entity becomes a member of oneworld, it’s not surprising that American miles will be able to be used on TAM…
Has Hertz Figured Out the Rental Experience of the Future?
There have been only two major breakthroughs in the rental car industry, from a consumer perspective, in recent decades: The rental car ‘club’ you join where your car is pre-assigned and your billing information is on file — no need to wait in line or fill out paperwork. Choose your own vehicle, pioneered by National (Emerald Aisle) but recently starting to get copied by others. Now Hertz is trying to think through their own innovations, a couple of which are hits but some are clear misses. Hertz unveiled redesigned car rental locations, featuring on-site printing capabilities, mobile device recharging stations and retail options, according to the company. Redesigned locations sell food, drinks and some travel accessories. Hertz also is “piloting new telematics for its buses” that would allow travelers to use an app to determine…
Priority Club Points Can Now Officially Be Included in Your Estate Plans
Yesterday IHG Rewards (“the hotel loyalty program formerly known as Priority Club”) revised its terms and conditions to codify a benefit that was previously undocumented — the ability to transfer miles from an account upon death. Transfer of IHG® Rewards Club Points Upon Death. When an IHG® Rewards Club member passes away, the member’s IHG® Rewards Club points may be transferred to the IHG® Rewards Club account(s) of the member’s beneficiary(ies). The request for transfer should be sent to the IHG® Rewards Club Service Center by the executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate, along with court documents showing authority, or by a sole beneficiary, along with copies of the decedent’s will and death certificate. The request must be received within one (1) year of the date of death. Transfer fees will be waived. They…
Why Devaluations Can Be Even Worse for Programs Than They Are for Members
Program devaluations can kill the golden goose. And, it appears, we may already be seeing that with Hilton. Ric Garrido points to a really interesting article in Hotel News Now on the value and evolution of loyalty programs which quoted hotel program execs on how the programs generate value and on the risks in disrupting that relationship. In general frequent flyer programs are highly profitable. That’s why I’ve been so skeptical of totally remaking their business models (“revenue-based” airline frequent flyer programs). Sure, members can be frustrated with redemptions on the airline side especially, not finding enough seats. That’s mostly an HR and technology problem. Agents aren’t incentivized to work hard for frequent flyers — they don’t get paid a bonus for successfully booking an award, or for spending lots of time on the phone…
W Hotels Store 40% Off on Everything (includes Beds and Bedding)
The W Hotels Store is running a 40% off sale on everything through September 4 with coupon code LD4W7. I bought my own bed with a 40% discount — the last time I remember this being offered was March 2012 but I may have missed one or two along the way. It was much more common to see 40% discounts between 2006 and 2009. And I got in before the May 2010 price increase. I bought my Queen Plush Top bed and frame for $720 all-in, free shipping and no sales tax. The same purchase today, with this deal is about $100 more. But still a great value I think. Charges at the W Hotel Store do earn double points on the Starwood American Express cards. I’ve been happy with the purchase. It’s a good…
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 15, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Cranky Flier walks through a few of the markets where the Department of Justice claims that an American – US Airways merger would constitute a violation of anti-trust law. Doesn’t look good for DOJ, and I’m increasingly wondering if DOJ just wanted to get something filed before today’s bankruptcy hearing where the judge was expected to approve the merger — to put a flag down on the play. But the rhetoric of the brief was stronger than I’d have expected if that were true (more difficult to walk back from), so I’m still not sure. Pizza in Motion interviews the heads of the MGM M Life and Hyatt Gold Passport programs for Milepoint.tv Lucky says that the increase in price of Delta SKymiles business class awards for travel…
Delta Increases Price of International Business Class Awards
Delta just dropped a new award chart with increased mileage costs for some international business class routes – the award chart is live now and applies to travel from June 1, 2014 onward. (Travel prior to that date should price at the older levels.) For instance, US-Europe in business class goes from 100,000 to 125,000 miles roundtrip US-Asia in business class goes from 120,000 to 140,000 miles roundtrip US-Australia in business class goes from 150,000 to 160,000 miles roundtrip US-South Africa in business class goes from 140,000 to 160,000 miles They say the need for the change is because their product is so good. In June 2014, we will be the only U.S. carrier to offer full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in Business Class across our entire wide-body fleet. Except… except… United is…
The American/US Airways Merger is Far From Over
The big news yesterday was that the Department of Justice filed suit to stop the American – US Airways merger. Why I Didn’t Expect the Government to File Suit to Stop the Merger I did not expect the DOJ to file a suit to block the merger, I assumed that some negotiation would generate sign-off on the merger. I speculated that the filing of the suit could be a negotiating tactic, but that my initial sense was this was unlikely — they wouldn’t need to go through the effort just to demonstrate their seriousness, and they laid out a fairly broad and sweeping case against the merger that would be difficult to walk back from with merely the sorts of concessions that American and US Airways could offer. Blocking the merger is bad for labor…
Department of Justice Files Suit to Block US Airways/American Airlines Merger
Wow. A DOJ anti-trust suit was’t expected. There has long been the belief that there would need to be some divestiture of takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s National airport for the deal to go through — US Airways is already the dominant carrier there, and had to divest some slots when they did their swap of LaGuardia slots with Delta. So it wasn’t expected they could just combine their National airport position with American’s. But the DOJ position is apparently based on the overall competitive environment. US Airways and American currently overlap on very few non-stop routes, so it isn’t about specific city pairs that will see reduced competition. The European Union has already signed off on the deal, seeking only to deal with the Philadelphia – London route. A DOJ suit clearly puts…
