With loyalty programs regularly offering less value for their points, I’m putting together this series with background, tips, and tricks for frequent flyer programs programs whose points can be very useful to you and that you can earn easily by transferring in from bank rewards currencies.
Here are 20 things a US-based frequent flyer should know about the Marriott program:
United appears to be discounting domestic economy awards by 20%. This looks like an unannounced sale, with short haul flights under 700 miles in distance pricing at 8000 MileagePlus miles each way (instead of 10,000) and other domestic flights pricing at 10,000 miles (instead of 12,500).
In addition, United just posted a redemption discount to Asia which is 25% off North Asia awards and 22% off South Asia awards.
In May I shared that Suzanne Rubin would be leaving as head of the American AAdvantage program. She led the program since December 2011 when Maya Leibman became the American’s Chief Information Officer and brought stability to a role that had seen several leaders in a short time.
American announced today that Bridget Blaise-Shamai has been promoted to Vice President – Loyalty and President of the AAdvantage program. Bridget’s role had been Managing Director, Customer Loyalty and Insights – the position Suzanne held before becoming AAdvantage Vice President. She was the the senior person on the team once Suzanne left and the manager in charge in the interim.
This morning American Airlines announced more free inflight entertainment options in coach. This is both strange and entirely predictable.
Of all the things to offer ‘free’ (or at no incremental charge) inflight entertaiment makes sense as one of those things. Once you offer it onboard, there’s no incremental cost for each additional passenger to access it. And one passenger’s access doesn’t trade off with another’s. The airline isn’t rationing a scarce resource or incurring additional cost.
No-frills cheap fares are no longer limited to domestic markets where Spirit and Allegiant fly. With the introduction of low cost carriers across the Atlantic — Norwegian and Wow Air — combined with softening economic conditions, fear, and overcapacity we’re seeing frequent deep discounts to travel the world.
Between January and March Wow Air has roundtrips between New York and airports in London, Paris, and Amsterdam starting at $299 roundtrip.
Etihad Aviation Group CEO James Hogan says loads on their US flights are “acceptable” but “there’s pressure on yield” (prices are too low). Since they look to fly to gateways and leverage the networks of their partner airlines, he doesn’t see much more US expansion “Maybe one more city. That’s it”
Hogan also offers this assessment of their premium The Residence product on their Airbus A380s which fly from Abu Dhabo to New York, London, Mumbai, Sydney and Melbourne:
Delta’s operations suffered a significant IT lapse today. Ultimately hundreds of flights were cancelled and many more than that were delayed inconveniencing travelers across the globe.
While Delta’s CEO recorded an apology video and the airline updated its flight cancellation stats online throughout the day, it should have been more forthcoming with its customers about what happened (not started the day deflecting blame) and should have been more flexible with its customers as well (a travel waiver that extended to customers scheduled to fly on Tuesday, with a longer period in which to rebook travel).
This is a really big deal, and the most exciting new card offer I’ve seen in awhile. Chase has a brand new offer for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card which is now only the second Visa Infinite card in the country.
The signup bonus lets you earn 3 free nights at Ritz-Carlton hotels. And the card benefits include club lounge upgrades, Gold elite status, lounge access, and fee credits.
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.
American Airlines fees for overweight bags can be as much as $450 between the US and Asia.
The standard weight limit is 50 pounds. Between 51 and 70 pounds is $100 per bag. But once you get over 70 pounds things get really expensive.
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 »
