When your miles are expiring there are plenty of ways to extend them, depending on the program. In general programs let you extend your miles by earning miles in an account or by redeeming miles.
I frequently use Magazines for Miles to keep family member accounts alive without spending any money. I had forgotten there’s a newspaper redemption option, too. And there are some options I’m finding useful on their own merits, not just to deal with expiring miles.
Regular readers know that it’s almost always a good idea to pre-order your meal in American Airlines domestic first class, if you’re in the cabin at least 24 hours prior to departure. They have special meals you can order in addition to the two choices that’ll otherwise be on board. For lunch I’ll often take the kosher meal or the muslim meal (I do not like the kosher meal at breakfast).
Since launching a partnership with Zoës Kitchen American Airlines has introduced a pre-order charcuterie plate.
In November American Airlines revamped their first class meal lineup and included a cheeseburger option at lunch.
My initial reaction was that it looked very similar to United’s cheeseburger, right down to the Sir Kensington condiments, however it appeared to have a proper bun rather than United’s pretzel bun. On Tuesday I finally got to try the cheeseburger.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
What obligation does a passenger have to understand their fare, and how what they’re buying will meet their needs (or not)?
And while It’s fair to blame airlines for a lot of how we experience travel, don’t we also have to take some responsibility for ourselves? The whole experience would be better for everyone, all around, if we’d practice gratefulness.
Marriott’s Autograph Collection Waterline Marina Resort has followed the lead of the JW Marrriott Guanacaste and declared that they do not upgrade Platinums. And they’ve brashly done so at Marriott.com:
In a speech at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London British Airways CEO Alex Cruz declared that ‘the main threat to BA’s future’ is the airline’s employees.
He’s been forced to walk that back and clarify his remarks on an internal website,
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
There’s a real problem that programs are facing, how to deliver award seats in a world where planes are full and airlines aren’t growing faster than the economy? If there aren’t unsold seats on desirable flights the model breaks down. The answer though isn’t to move towards low value redemptions where a mile is worth a penny. That’s giving up.
Fortunately it’s not really an either-or proposition. In fact United’s own experience with revenue-based redemptions shows that this new model can easily co-exist with award charts.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
