It purports to be the first suitcase with its own smartphone app. The luggage: Weighs itself Lets you know whether it’s onboard your flight Tells you if it has been opened by anyone between the time you drop it off an pick it up at baggage claim Acts as a stereo in your hotel room. I’d be surprised if this suitcase is permitted to be transported in a luggage hold, since it uses wifi technology that I don’t believe shuts off inflight. Surely the Department of Homeland Security will consider it a risk in some sort of movie theater-style plot, given the possibility of remote detonation. But if it is allowed, would you buy high tech luggage? Or would you prefer an old fashioned suitcase on wheels that lacks this sort of connectivity? Would it…
General
Category Archives for General.
US Airways Reduces Top Tier Elite Qualification Requirement.. for One Year Only
US Airways Dividend Miles will be combined into American AAdvantage next year — the official word is second quarter 2015. If I had to be it would be on the early end of that timeframe, since they’ve made an announcement of when they’ll do it they are confident they’ll be able to hit the target (why announce a target you may not hit?). That tells me they think they can be ready even earlier. When the two programs are combined, elite qualifying activity from 2014 between the two programs will get combined to determine 2015 elite status. So someone that had qualifying miles or segments in both American and US Airways during 2014 can get their status bumped up as a result of merging the programs. Someone might have 90,000 qualifying miles with American and…
Signup Bonus: 2000 Free IHG Rewards Club Points
IHG Rewards Club is offering 2000 points for new signups through December 7. I view that as worth about $8. It’s only for new members, but there isn’t usually a bonus just for signing up. So if you aren’t already a member it may be worth the minute or so to pocket 2000 while you do it. (HT: Frequent Flyer Bonuses) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Is Every Travel Day About to Become Like Thanksgiving Travel?
Via Tyler Cowen, the ‘Thanksgiving rush’ is something that many airports already experience at least one day a week, and some major airports regularly experience twice every week. According to the group’s analysis, a true “Thanksgiving rush” involves passenger volumes that run between 108 percent and 259 percent above an average day. ..Of the 30 busiest U.S. airports (accounting for 70 percent of total U.S. passenger flow), 13 already feel like the day before Thanksgiving one day a week on average. Three airports — Midway, Las Vegas McCarran, and Orlando International — suffer those levels of congestion twice a week. Worse yet, the capacity improvements that are currently slated won’t help much. Within six years, the study notes, 27 of the 30 busiest airports will be Thanksgiving-busy at least once a week. The piece argues…
The Credit Card That Gives Automatic Delta Gold Status
In a comment on my post about the card that earns 2 Delta miles per dollar on all spend, Tokyo Hyatt Fan points out that there’s also a card that gives you Delta Gold Medallion status. It’s an American Express card. And it’s issued in Japan. US carriers in foreign markets have unique challenges. Generally speaking their benefits are geared towards US consumers, but with a substantial presence elsewhere they may try to tailor their offerings. Delta in particular inherited a big Japan presence from Northwest Airlines (formerly Northwest Orient) in their merger. Delta, through their Seattle hub and with longer range aircraft, are now overflying their Tokyo operation to a much greater degree than in the past. But there’s a large historic tie to Japan. Several US carriers used to offer non-US members complimentary…
Don’t Mileage Run!
Win asked whether or not he should mileage run. I’ve not flown since before September 11, 2001 and am tired of driving around in the car. Time to get in the air! An American Airlines/US Air mileage run (using weekends only) to earn elite status might be fun – any thoughts on an optimal strategy? (I’ve got the US Airways Premier World MasterCard but not earned any preferred qualifying miles). Thanks for a great blog! If you’re flying for leisure purposes, and you’re not flying constantly, you do not need and probably shouldn’t, mileage run. See also: the Final Death of the Mileage Run Now, if you’re flying just for the fun of flying, then by all means. Fly a lot and focus on a single airline. Earn status, and the flying will become more…
Getting an Extra Free One-Way Ticket Each Time You Book an Award: The Programs That Still Let You Do It
Peter asked about “free one-way tickets on awards.” If you can summarize which airlines allow for free one-ways on international award tickets, that would be helpful. I know there’s been some changes in the past few months. The idea of the “free one-way” is that when you redeem a roundtrip award ticket, with an airline that allows stopovers, you can ‘throw in’ an extra flight at the end of your award without spending an additional miles. For instance, if you need to fly Newark – London – Newark, why not fly Newark – London (destination), and then fly back London – Newark (your allowable stopover) – Los Angeles (destination). You fly Newark – Los Angeles at some later date, basically you get a free cross country flight to use later. And changing dates on award…
This Never Gets Old
Even the comments on the video, many from hotel employees, are priceless. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Alaska Airlines Will No Longer Be Our “Delta Hack” for Full Mileage Earning on Cheap Tickets
Starting January 1, discounted Delta airlines fares will no longer earn full mileage when crediting to Alaska Airlines. We knew this had to be coming — with Delta moving to a revenue-based frequent flyer earning structure, with miles earned based on ticket price, it was too big of a leak to just let customers credit their flights to Alaska Airlines and earn full flown miles instead. Here’s the new earning rates: F and P first class fares increase from 150% mileage earned to 200% A first class fares increase from 150% mileage earned to 175% G first class fares decrease from 150% mileage earned to 125% J and C business class fares increase from 125% mileage earned to 175% D and I business class fares increase from 125% mileage earned to 150% Z business class…
United Has Started Requiring Proof of Address Changes to Places Outside the U.S.
Delta requires minimum spending in order to earn elite status in addition to the required miles you have to fly. And since Delta does, United does also. Both airlines allow you to avoid the requirement if you spend $25,000 or more in a year on their co-brand credit cards (United won’t let you avoid the requirement for 100,000 mile flyer status — only up to their Platinum 75,000 mile level). And both airlines allow you to avoid the requirement entirely if you have a primary account address outside the United States. Naturally the first thought many members had was to simply change the address on their frequent flyer account. When Delta first announced that U.S.-based members had to meet minimum revenue requirements, they also instituted a requirement that you had to prove your new address…
