Hilton Adjusts Points Prices of Several Hotels Effective October 14 (78% are Increases)

Sep 30 2015

After Hilton’s dramatic award chart gutting of nearly two years ago, there weren’t huge changes again this year.

Hilton decided to change the way they made changes to how they re-assign hotels to award categories. Instead of an annual change to tons of hotels (a schedule they really weren’t wedded to in the past anyway) they decided they would make rolling changes throughout the year. And instead of informing all members proactively of these changes, they would just post them on a web page in the name of ‘transparency’.

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American Airlines $99 Companion Ticket Deadline — and a Free Terrace Suite Stay in New York

Sep 30 2015

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.

US Airways companion tickets get a reprieve – a few extra days to use yours. United’s new safety video. Boeing 747s for sale on the cheap. A hotel program eliminates expiring points and goes revenue-based. And more…

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What are the 10 Fastest Growing Aviation Markets — and What Does That Tell Us About the World?

Sep 29 2015

Thailand is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets, so Thai Airways’ challenges can’t be pinned on the overall economy there or the military coup.

China is only number 14, and number 22 looking just at year-over-year data (not surprising given its slumping economy). Still, China is the second largest airline market in the world behind the United States although the US market remains more than 70% larger than the Chinese one.

The fastest growing aviation markets – based on the number of departing seats over the past 5 years are…

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American Just Promised to Give “Plenty of Advance Notice” When Making Changes to AAdvantage

Sep 29 2015

In light of the mistaken posting of lower earning rates in American AAdvantage on discount British Airways and Iberia fares, American’s Laura Nedbal makes one thing clear to me about changes like this: “[I]f we were to issue changes like this we would be certain to give plenty of advanced notice.”

All of the messaging from AAdvantage for the past year and a half has been that they’ve internalized the importance of giving members advance notice of changes.

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