News and notes from around the interweb: US Antarctic Program prepares to test plan for regularly scheduled winter flights to McMurdo Station, providing year-round access from Christchurch, New Zealand. A fascinating look at how impending growth at Spirit Airlines could change the competitive landscape of the US aviation industry The world’s cheapest and most expensive cities to visit: how far can US$100 go, around the world? United’s terminal C at Newark is getting a huge makeover complete with celebrity chef restaurants. I was invited to the public launch event for the project, and I do think this is a big deal for passenger experience, but couldn’t make it because of a long haul flight. The one important thing to know is: please, please please do not redeem miles for dining at these restaurants. The feature…
General
Category Archives for General.
70% Bonus Offer for Buying Virgin America Points
Last month Virgin America offered an 80% bonus on purchased miles for 8 hours only. There’s a little bit more time, this time (up through December 12), to take advantage of an ‘up to 70% bonus’ for mileage purchases. You have to log into your account to see the offer. Virgin American points normally cost 5.2 cents apiece. This offer, maxed out at the top bonus tier, lets you buy them at ~ 3 cents (last month’s short-term offer was 2.9 cents). That’s not a good deal for Virgin America flights, where points are worth about 2.2 cents in airfare. For partner awards, which have award charts rather than pricing awards based on ticket cost, this can make some sense for a subset of folks who will have a specific use right away. For instance,…
Here’s JetBlue’s New Business Plan: Give Less to Customers, Charge Them More.. and Why That Makes Sense
JetBlue announced on Wednesday that it will add 15 seats to its 150-seat Airbus A320s in 2016. That will reduce average seat pitch from 34.7 inches to 33.1 inches, which is still more generous than the 31 – 32 inch average across the industry. In addition, JetBlue’s cheapest fares will no longer include first checked bag free. Here’s my JetBlue trip report from 2012 We don’t know yet which seats JetBlue will be reducing legroom for to accommodate additional seating (reducing their extra legroom seats, or squeezing all seats, or in what proportion a combination of the two). And we don’t know how much JetBlue’s check bag feels will be. But it’s a clear sign that being more generous to customers in economy isn’t a business model that works, which is unfortunate but probably true.…
United Announces Several Elite Status Devaluations for 2015
United has announced several minor program changes for 2015 — none of them are good, none of them are awful, but they combine to take away real value from United’s elite members and add nothing of value in return. That seems to be the overall deal in the current environment and a consistent message coming from the MileagePlus program. I’ve already written about United elites losing benefits on Copa Airlines. That’s not United’s fault — Copa is launching their own frequent flyer program, which is great. They’ll no longer be a part of MileagePlus, so United’s members will only get the benefits offered to them as Star Alliance elites. Here’s what else has changed.
Another Star Alliance Program is Launching — and Why That Means Fewer Benefits for United Members, and Opportunities for Everyone Else
Copa Airlines is launching their own frequent flyer program in July and will no longer be part of United’s MileagePlus. Copa used to be majority-owned by Continental Airlines, and Copa took on a variant of the Continental logo and joined Onepass. Continental started selling their investment in 2005, and by 2006 was down to 10% ownership. The special relationship continued. Now the airline is grown up and moving forward on its own. As a result, the airline will continue to offer United elites Star Alliance benefits but will not offer United elite members the unique benefits they’ve had as through Copa was an extension of United. But there’s also a big upside in this, a new Star Alliance frequent flyer program is coming — that has a chance to be really valuable for North American…
What Would You Do If Your Hotel Was Also Serving as a Homeless Shelter?
New York City booked 100 rooms at the Radisson JFK .. and didn’t tell the hotel that the rooms were for the homeless. The hotel is furious and says they won’t rent rooms to the Departmnet of Homeless Services again at any price. Pierre Merhej, the general manager of the Radisson Hotel on 145th Street in Jamaica, said a representative from the city called his hotel’s sales office last month and said the city would need dozens of rooms at the 385-room hotel for a “government group” in November, he said. “When you say they have a government group, as hotel people we like government groups,” Merhej said, adding that November is usually a slow month for the hotel, which is a few blocks from John F. Kennedy Airport. …“It really doesn’t have an impact…
A Surprising New Way To Use Your Credit Card Points for Business Class Awards to Asia With Great Availability
Philippine Airlines flies non-stop from North America to Southeast Asia. You don’t hear about them often because they do not have any US frequent flyer partners, and no bank program transfers points to the Mabuhay Miles program. And yet therein lies an opportunity. Just like Chase transfers to Korean Air open up a world of availability to Asia because there’s very little competition for first class awards on Korean from US members, if you can get access to miles that can be redeemed on Philippine Airlines you’ve got a whole world of availability at your fingertips. Citibank points transfer to Etihad Guest and Eithad’s miles can be used on Philippine Airlines. ANA Mileage Club has a new partnership with Philippine Airlines. American Express Membership Rewards points and Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints transfer to ANA. Here…
Delta Confirms Elimination of Free Stopovers on Awards, Stealth Way to Increase Award Pricing
Delta’s new 2015 frequent flyer program is coming closer to fruition. Miles will be awarded based on dollars spent instead of miles flown Minimum spending requirements for elite status go up 20% New award pricing goes into effect, along with one-way awards. They’ve improved the award search calendar, though there are still bugs and glitches and it doesn’t support all of their airline partners (but at least the calendar now supports some!). And as part of the introduction of one-way awards, I I told you to expect that stopovers would no longer be allowed on award tickets without spending additional miles. If you’re flying New York – Paris – Prague, you can currently book a ticket that lets you stop for a few days in Paris on the way. The website already implemented a change…
25% Discount Buying Starwood Points
Starwood is offering up to a 25% discount on purchased points through the end of the year. 10% off 500–9,500 Starpoints 15% off 10,000–14,500 Starpoints 20% off 15,000–19,500 Starpoints 25% off 20,000 Starpoints This isn’t an uncommon offer — Starwood offered this back in April, last November, and the previous March — but it’s also the biggest discount I’ve seen (it can liekly be taken to be as good an offer as it gets). The ‘normal’ price on Starpoints is 3.5 cents per point. Ouch. Fortunately, unlike airline miles, you don’t pay an additional tax on top. And there’s not also a ‘processing fee’ like many of the airlines charge. If you max out on the discount, and buy 20,000 points (which is what you are permitted to buy each year, although each member of…
The New American Express Studio Lounge Concept Launches Next Year in Seattle
American Express is opening a new lounge at the Seattle Airport next year. But it won’t be a Centurion lounge as we’ve come to know them. Instead it’s a Centurion Studio. Here’s what American Express shared with me, [W]e are opening a new Card Member space in Seattle-Tacoma Airport – it’ll be an extension of the Centurion Lounge but in a smaller footprint. We’ll have the amenities Card Members tell us are most important when they’re on the road: comfortable seating, charging stations, fast and free WiFi, and complimentary healthy snacks and drinks. There are Centurion Lounge locations currently in: San Francisco Dallas Fort-Worth New York LaGuardia Las Vegas The Centurion Lounges feature outstanding food and drink, and some locations include showers, kids room, and even a spa. Access for Centurion and Platinum cardholders is…
