Here’s the cheapest first class upsell fare I’ve ever seen. And it offers lessons about airfare search and also crediting miles — to American and to partners.
American Airlines will sell you coach one-way for the 834 mile flight between Portland and Los Angeles for $58.10. That’s a pretty good price. But it gets so much better…
Last night I wrote about Austrian’s new flight between Vienna and Los Angeles.
Austrian is a Star Alliance airline, you can use miles with United, Aeroplan, ANA, LifeMiles, and many other programs to book awards to and through Vienna to most places you’d want to go in Europe and even Asia.
And I shared that there were days after this new flight goes into the schedule April 10 where there are 6 or more business class seats available. Most dates weren’t showing up for United, though, although they were bookable by some Star Alliance partners.
Last month I reported that was discontinuing the sale of fare ‘bundles’ and would change the way they handle upsells.
We don’t yet know exactly what that’s going to look like, since it will be heavily influenced by new stripped-down ‘basic economy’ economy fares whose details haven’t been released yet — we’ll see that before the end of the year. Odds on they’ll follow Delta, which has taken heat for ‘hate selling’.
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.
tar Alliance member Austrian Airlines is launching Los Angeles – Vienna service on April 10. The flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 five times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) and then will go six times weekly June 12 (Monday through Saturday).
The person who buys full fare tickets but doesn’t pick their own travel provider (either because they ignore it, their corporate travel department buys the tickets) isn’t going to spend more money on an airline because the loyalty program is slanted to high revenue travelers.
Yet a program can influence both choice of travel provider and total amount of travel. A business traveler is less reluctant to travel if she’s being rewarded for it. They may not fight against travel when they aren’t just getting their expenses covered but they have something to cash in later. Without a rewarding scheme, business travelers become more reluctant to travel.
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.
Two days ago I posted about the hotel deal of the year.
This was an amazing deal, plenty of people made bookings right away as I suggested. However I wrote that I expected “Visa will stand behind it” I also thought it was too good and that they would “end the promotion early” — which is exactly what they’ve done.
Delta has a partnership with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. That means Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke, Shake Shack and the like.
When Delta started serving Blue Smoke barbecue onboard, and a Shake Shack opened in the Delta terminal at New York JFK, I revised my opinion of Delta’s food upward and of Danny Meyer downward. This Sunday September 18 is National Cheeseburger Day (who knew?)…
Marriott is launching a new ad campaign tonight during NFL football centered around its loyalty program and members. They’re not focusing on the features and benefits of members, but people who are members having experiences at their hotels. The campaign will run globally including in Canada, China, the U.K., Germany, Mexico, France, Brazil, and India.
There’s something meta about marketing your marketing program.
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 »
