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.
Singapore Airlines Non-Stop Business Class Awards Bookable With Air Canada Aeroplan Miles
Singapore Airlines usually makes premium cabin awards available only to their own KrisFlyer members. You can transfer points from Chase, American Express, and Citi into the KrisFlyer program, so their miles are relatively easy to get.
If you want to fly Singapore’s business or first class on more than an intra-Asia flight you aren’t going to be able to use miles from United, Aeroplan, or other Star Alliance programs — most of the time.
Six years ago there was a brief window where Singapore Airlines awards were bookable by partners but there hasn’t been anything like it since.
American Airlines Expects Its New Bigger Partnership With Qantas to Be Approved Next Year
Three years ago American Airlines and Qantas announced an expanded joint venture. American was launching Sydney and Auckland service, Qantas Sydney – San Francisco. And they indicated there would be more new routes in the offing as a result of the partnership.
They proposed to extend their partnership to coordinate schedules and pricing and share revenue on Pacific flights (but not Hawaii routes). The Obama administration said no.
8 Things Congress Will Change This Week About Air Travel
In a move that should surprise absolutely no one the Fair Fees Act isn’t a part of FAA reauthorization that will be voted on this week.
The FAA reauthorization bill includes a number of provisions other than ‘Fair Fees’ that are worth noting.
Even As It Becomes Tougher to Earn a Marriott Ambassador, Ambassadors May Be Spread Too Thin
I stayed 100 nights with Starwood in 2016 and was assigned an Ambassador for 2017. My Ambassador was excellent.
However members certainly have had varied experiences. Different Ambassadors provide different levels of service. Each person has different skills. The program itself provides guidelines but some go above and beyond. And workload matters. Now that the program is scaling to support top elites at Marriott too, Marriott’s metrics are being put into place.
American Airlines Brings Passengers to Hawaii That It Has No Intention of Flying Home (But That’ll Change Next Year)
At an employee Crew News session this past week a pilot asked American Airlines President about weight restrictions flying Hawaii back to the mainland of the U.S. using Airbus A321 aircraft. American cannot fly as many people back to the mainland as they fly from the mainland to Hawaii.
The Bad Airline Idea That Just Won’t Die and Saudia Gets Political
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.
Coming Soon: American Express Will Let Platinum Cardmembers Book Sold Out Restaurants By App
American Express offers its Global Dining Collection program to The Platinum Card from American Express cardholders and to Centurion (Black Card) customers.
These are top restaurants where American Express has an arrangement to set aside some tables for cardmembers. You’ve had to make bookings through their concierge service. They’ll be launching searches for reservations, including special set-aside availability, through the American Express mobile app first in the UK starting next month and then in the US next year.
I Love Delta Award Sales But They Don’t Actually Drive Much Value to Members
Delta has been running sale after sale on award redemptions recently. Make no mistake charging fewer miles for a ticket is better than charging more miles. But there’s been tremendous euphoria in the blogosphere about how valuable Delta SkyMiles have become. That’s just falling for Delta’s hype and doesn’t make sense at all.
American Has a New Electronic System for Giving Out Hotels, Meals, and Transportation During Delays
American Airlines is in the process of rolling out a new “Hotel, Meal & Transportation (HMT) system” that will replace vouchers for hotels and meals during irregular operations with “a virtual credit card for hotels and meals.”
Vouchers can be emailed to customers or printed, so that vendors no longer need to return paper vouchers for payment.