As a travel junkie and someone who booked not just travel for myself but for all sorts of friends and colleagues, I like the American Epxress Premier Rewards Gold card which earns triple Membership Rewards points on airfare purchases. And I do like my Membership Rewards points, especially for transfers: To Continental, which will hold Star Alliance awards when you don’t have enough miles in your account. Points transfer instantly, as well. This partnership ends September 30. To Aeroplan, because of their favorable award chart (e.g. 80,000 miles for business class from the US to much of Europe, or 120,000 miles for first class from the US to as far South in Asia as Singapore. Points transfer instantly. To British Airways, because of their 100,000 mile business class awards on Cathay Pacific from the US…
General
Category Archives for General.
Delta Finally Publishes Their Award Chart for Destinations Outside North America – And It’s a Doozy!
Delta has finally published their award charts. Yep, you read that right. Previously how many miles they were supposed to charge you for travel that didn’t begin or end in North America was a secret. They didn’t actually publish an award chart. You had no idea how many points you were supposed to need for an award, and had no way to know if an agent was prciing something correctly or not. After many years of haranguing (by me, though of course by others) they’ve gone ahead and actually published their award pricing. And they’ve taken the opportunity at the same time to bump up the price of several of their awards. TM Travel World points out that they’ve increased the cost of awards from US to North Asia from 60,000 miles in coach to…
100 (or More) Free AAdvantage Miles for Liking American Airlines on Facebook
Via Ben, American Airlines will give between 100 and 100,000 miles to everyone who likes them on Facebook. Most, including me, will get 100 miles. Go here, hit Like, and then the next screen will ask you for your AAdvantage number.
10,000 Hilton HHonors Points for Sending a Text
The Hampton Inn Boston Raynham has an offer on their Facebook page Text HAMPTON to 40491 Earn 10,000 Hilton Honors points for joining!!! Apparently if you give them permission to text you, they’ll give you 10,000 Hilton HHonors points. Slickdeals says that you’ll get a text back with a phone number to call and provide your HHonors number to receive the points. Apparently, though, “the voicemail is full, so you can email your info to renee.snoke@hilton.com and she will take care of it.” The number is 401-608-3516 but it’s probably easier to email. Personally I work off a blackberry and I never text, I’m such a luddite I don’t have an unlimited texting plan. They’ll text you room deals and deals on dinners and the like, apparently. Not sure how often so my inclination is…
Starwood Announces Hotel Award Categories for 2011, and the Changes Aren’t Bad at All…
Yesterday I wrote on Milepoint that Starwood should be coming out with their revised award categories for 2011. The list of changes has been made public and my predictions were all wrong. In the past I’ve given Starwood a hard time over their annual re-categorization of properties. A very hard time, and I think it’s well-deserved. They say their categories are based on the average room rates for a hotel property, but on the hotel categories seem to go up even when room rates stay constant. Starwood introduced category 6 and category 7 and certainly hotels in that category cost more in points even when the rooms themselves don’t cost more. And I’m especially exercised over Starwood charging double points for ‘all suite’ properties at the highest award categories. A hotel earns its room rates…
Has Delta Increased the Price of their Asia Awards, and Are More Increases Coming?
TM Travel World reports that Delta has apparently increased the price of a whole bunch of awards. It’s always something that’s really difficult to verify, much of Delta award pricing is shrouded in mystery. They do not publish an actual award chart for flight redemptions that don’t start or end in North America. But Troy says that they’ve broken Asia into two separate regions. I remember when Asia was all just one region, and business class within Asia was 30,000 miles roundtrip. Now it’s apparently 25,000 miles just for economy within North Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and 45,000 miles for business class. With a new separate region for North Asia and South Asia, instead of just a single region for Asia, flights between the two regions — or even just…
United WIll Keep Economy Plus and Expand it to the Continental Fleet
Scott O’Leary posted on Milepoint (and, I’m guessing, on Flyertalk as well) that United will be keeping Economy Plus and will be adding it to the Continental fleet ‘beginning in 2012’. This is a big sigh of relief, though not unexpected. While it was certainly going to be a ground up review, and Continental’s management was going to make a decision based on whether they thought economy plus would drive incremental revenue compared to having the additional seats in coach to sell, United has gotten quite adept at upselling passengers for these seats and economy plus unquestionably drives product differentiation and consumer choice at the low and mid-tier elite levels. A United Premier flying 25,000 miles a year doesn’t see the front cabin very often, but is better off in back on United with extra…
Club Carlson to Replace Radisson Goldpoints Plus
On March 31, Radisson Goldpoints Plus is being replaced with a new program, Club Carlson. I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to the Goldpoints program. Back in December 2001 I was hugely engrossed in their shopping portal, they were offering a holiday shopping promotion that allowed me to earn points that transferred into miles in any number of programs and purchased those points (through shopping transactions with Valumags) at less than a penny apiece. That was the high point. It wasn’t long after that when the points-to-miles transfer ratio got cut in half. And the shopping portal itself is no more. In fact, Goldpoints itself was a shared loyalty program between Radisson hotels and of all things TGI Fridays. You could earn points from stays or by eating out, and redeem your points…
US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles is Back (for Almost Everyone This Time)
Via Milepoint, US Airways is back with their 100% bonus on purchased miles through March 31. Except it’s not a straightforward double miles offer. Instead, you get a 75% bonus immediately when you purchase miles. Then in order to get the remaining 25% bonus you need to use the Dividend Miles toolbar by March 31. Now, when you download and install the toolbar and make three searches with it or an online purchase, you get 500 bonus miles (1000 bonus miles for US Airways elite members and co-branded credit card holders, only US-based members of the Dividend Miles program are eligible for the first use bonus). Making three searches with the toolbar is required to earn the 25% bonus on purchased miles, and the 25% will post 5-10 days after having made the miles purchase…
Delta Ends Expiration of Miles — And That’s NOT Such a Good Thing!
Don and Matthew send along the news that Delta is eliminating expiration of Skymiles. This is a consumer-friendly move to be sure, and deserves to be lauded. And I admit it’s a move that surprises me. Mileage programs hold unredeemed miles on their books as a liability until those miles expire or are redeemed. Expiring miles mean recognizing revenue without associated cost. That’s why programs have shorted expiration periods in recent years, with most programs going from three years to 18 months (Delta’s miles expired after two years). Mileage expiration is big business. United Mileage Plus booked an extra $64 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2010 just by tweaking their model for mileage expiration. So real applause here, but at the same time I don’t value the move myself and anyone who…
