Right now you can book British Airways first class from Johannesburg or Capetown, South Africa to Barcelona or Madrid, Spain for $880 roundtrip. That’s incredible. In fact it’s a base fare of just $111.20 in each direction plus taxes and fees. For international first class.
Right now there’s a fantastic business class deal from Los Angeles to Beijing or Shanghai on SkyTeam member China Southern (which is part-owned by American Airlines). You can book one-stop roundtrip for less than $1510 to either destination. That’s an incredible fare.
When fares are this low you don’t want to spend miles for an award ticket.
Last month Marriott launched their first promotion of the ‘new’ program. There was a companion game 29 Ways to Stay for each of Marriott Rewards’ 29 participating brands. It was supposed to launch October 4. It finally launched today.
And Marriott has added on to their MegaBonus promotion, bonus points for staying at their different brands.
When Marriott combined programs on August 18th they took all Starwood points balances and tripled them. And they kept the basics of the Starwood points transfers to miles system. So miles transfer 3:1 with most airline partners (instead of the old 1:1, but it’s effectively the same) and transfers into 20,000 miles earns 5000 bonus miles.
In other words, transferring 60,000 Marriott points yields 25,000 airline miles. When you transfer to United you also get a 10% bonus because of the Marriott-United RewardsPlus tie-in. And right now United is offering a 30% bonus on Marriott transfers up to 25,000 extra miles.
American Airlines is taking business class seats out of their Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Those planes are going from 28 business class seats down to 20, so that the “mini cabin” at the back of business class can be used for premium economy.
Chicago is American’s 787-8 city. The airline likes to base a specific aircraft type in each city to the extent possible, because it makes their operation simpler. When a plane goes mechanical, they have more of that aircraft. They have people used to working on those planes all the time. And they have the parts. They also have more crew qualified to operate the aircraft.
In writing about New York’s $13 billion plan to renovate New York JFK airport I pointed out that the redesign wasn’t about serving the passenger, it’s about serving investors.
Airports aren’t being designed with passengers as the focus, they’re being designed with selling to passengers as the focus.
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.
Several years ago I wrote about the Radisson JFK being used as a homeless shelter.
I was torn over this. Customers don’t like staying in hotels where the largest in-house group are homeless, but I do think they have a right to stay on property if the going rate is being paid for their accommodations….
Nikolai Glushkov was preparing for legal proceedings over claims that he looted over $100 million from Aeroflot when he served as the airline’s Deputy Director for Finance in the mid-1990’s. He had run out of money and was preparing to represent himself — until he was “strangled to death with a dog leash.” The Russian government has impugned the circumstances around his death, while the British government is investigating murder and notes that “a black van [was] seen near his home the night he was strangled.” Had his trial proceeded he was prepared to testify that Aeroflot was the centerpiece of Russia’s clandestine services. The airline, Ms. Litvinenko said her husband told her, was a centerpiece of the Russian spy services, which since Soviet days had used its global network of offices and air routes…
Corporate travel policies are becoming more generous allowing employees to fly in premium cabins.
There’s a tight labor market and companies don’t want to lose their best employees. The spread between business and coach and winnowed down. With more competition for premium cabin seats there are fewer upgrades available.
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 »
