I haven’t spent a great deal of time parsing through the AviancaTaca Lifemiles program yet, I’ve glanced at it occasionally in the past because they frequently offer 100% bonuses on purchased miles (eg here, here, and here. That deal never quite worked for me with their limited airline partnerships, but now that they’ve joined Star Alliance it’s looking mighty attractive. The award chart is pretty reasonable (across the board, but also some sweet spots like North America to Southern Africa for 100,000 miles roundtrip in business class) One-way awards are available for half the cost of roundtrip. They offer cash and points awards bookings. As long as you have at least 40% of the miles needed for an award in your account, you can buy the difference in miles for US$12.75 per 1000 miles. No…
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Bits ‘n Pieces for June 21, 2012
Here’s this morning’s roundup of frequent flyer news you can use, should use, or might merely be passingly interested in knowing: Hertz is waiving under 25 year old driver fees through September 30 with coupon (PC #) 144314. The Hertz website says that the charge may still appear on your reservation but will be deducted at time of rental. Avianca, TACA, and Copa join the Star Alliance today giving Star much better coverage in South America. The best bet with Delta miles is Aeromexico, Star has gotten much better now and clearly makes United and US Airways miles a better choice than Delta miles. But American miles are still king for South America travel given American’s own award availability and that of oneworld partner LAN. Oneworld is expected to be strengthened at the expense of…
British Airways Visa 100,000 Point Signup Bonus Expires July 18
Key link: British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus The most lucrative credit card bonus this year was supposed to expire June 7 but was extended. Word is now out from British Airways representatives in New York that the offer will last until July 18. There was some hope of course that this was the ‘new normal’, that we could get this bonus any time we wished. Now we have the announced end date, four weeks away. The offer is: 50,000 points after first purchase 25,000 points after spending $10,000 on the card within a year 25,000 additional points after spending the next $10,000 on the card within that year There’s a $95 annual fee, spending earns 1.25 points per dollar, and the card has no foreign currency transaction fees. After $30,000, they…
Bits ‘n Pieces for June 19, 2012
This morning’s roundup: Just Another Points Traveler flags 100 free American Airlines miles on Facebook with a chance to win 100,000. Loyalty Traveler reports that Starwood Preferred Guest will now give elite stay credit for up to three rooms in a night, if the member is present and pays for all three. So book rooms for your family, you not only get the points but also elite credit. Even if they’re award nights, since awards now count towards status. And if you’re mattress running at a nearby hotel on a cheap rate, book (3) concurrent stays for triple the credit. Joe knows that I’m considering the Samsung Galaxy SIII phone that debuts in the U.S. in a couple of days, and emails to let me know that in addition to whatever rebates my purchase comes…
Join the Live Chat with the President of American’s Frequent Flyer Program – Tonight!
Milepoint.com is hosting a live online chat with Suzanne Rubin, the President of the American AAdvantage frequent flyer program, tonight. The chat will be held at: 6pm Pacific 7pm Mountain 8pm Central 9pm Eastern You can pre-submit questions in this Milepoint thread or ask them live during tonight’s chat.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers Responds to Yesterday’s Post
I received an email from Amtrak yesterday introducing me to an ‘advocacy organization’ that was ‘involved in launching Amtrak’ and telling me that if I paid to become a member of this advocacy organization I could have a discount on future train travel. It struck me as problematic that an entity 100% owned by the government would give discounts to people paying to support lobbying for more subsidies of its product. And ask whether others felt the same way. The comments mostly strayed from that topic, turning into a good-versus-bad of Amtrak or subsidies generally, a worthwhile topic but one I had hoped would be for another day. I took the train up to New York on Friday. The train was on time. The on-board internet was virtually non-existent. It was fine. Though of course…
If You Support Government Subsidies for Amtrak, You Can Pay Less to Ride the Train
I received an email this morning offering bonus points and a 10% discount on train travel when you join the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Now, the National Association of Railroad Passengers is an advocacy organization founded to lobby for train subsidies. And Amtrak is owned by the federal government. Whatever you think of government funding for train travel in the United States, is it problematic that a government corporation will give people discounts if they pay to join an organization that will lobby the government for more subsidies? Put another way, Americans who pay to support more subsidies get charged less to travel on subsidized trains than those who oppose the subsidies. Two classes of citizens, based on political beliefs, when riding the train? What do you think?
TSA PreCheck is Both Amazing and Useless at the Same Time
As the TSA rolls out PreCheck to more and more airports I’m enjoying the opportunity to use it — shoes don’t have to come off, freedom baggie doesn’t have to come out (though liquid rules apply, and this isn’t a huge benefit since I’ve only been given a hard time about my liquids bag in my carryon on average about once a year for the past three years). Mostly, though, there’s no nude-o-scope (and thus no opting out) and there aren’t that many people in the program yet. Usually there’s no line at all, just a bunch of TSA employees standing around by an unused checkpoint waiting for me to come through. It’s a far more civilized checkpoint experience than what we’ve grown accustomed to over the past decade. It’s almost like… security used to…
Be Careful How You Phone Home During Your Addis Ababa Stopover
Ever since Ethiopian Airlines joined the Star Alliance in December, there’s been great business class award availability to members of United and US Airways frequent flyer programs on Ethiopian’s direct service from Washington Dulles (via Rome) to Addis Ababa, with easy connections from there to the rest of Africa (it serves more destinations in Africa than any other carrier). The government-owned airline ferries plenty more Americans to Ethiopia for stopovers at a minimum than they did before joining the alliance. But Americans may not be aware that they’d better be careful how they call home– since the government there has banned Skype and other voice over internet services, according to al Jazeera. The penalty is up to 15 years of jail time for users. Prime Minister Meles Zenaw says the move is meant to ensure…
Philadelphia TSA Agents Fired for Bribery and Falsifying Results on Proficiency Exams
15% of the Ft. Myers airport TSA workforce were disciplined for failing to actually do screenings they were supposed to perform. Only five were actually fired. Now the TSA is now firing 7 Philadelphia employees involved in a bribery scandal where a supervisor demanded money for passing grades on an annual proficiency exam. TSA management at the Philadelphia airport removed 10 employees from security duties in November pending results of an investigation of bribery by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General. So it took them 7 months to actually decide to fire these individuals. Instead of, you know, just firing them. That’s not how it works at my place of employment… I certainly wouldn’t be paid for seven months ‘pending results of an investigation’ of my paying bribes to have my proficiency results…
