British Airways dropped first class from a handful of routes, but they’ve changed their mind and first is coming back. And that creates an opportunity for award travel. Here’s what prompted my realizing it: MileCards wrote that British Airways award availability was wide open in first class for next summer between Los Angeles and London and Seattle and London. That seemed strange to me, it certainly hadn’t been my experience. And I search for a lot of awards. West Coast – Europe non-stop premium cabin awards are tough to get, even on British Airways which has a ton of premium cabin seats and which adds fuel surcharges onto awards. Perhaps it just happened and there was a huge short term opportunity to grab a couple of first class awards? So I went about searching myself…
Chase Points Transfers to Korean Air To Return in January!
Korean Air has been one of my favorite uses of Chase points. First class awards have been so darned easy to get. There are real sweet spots in their Skyteam award chart They offer cheap awards to Hawaii Although they are of course very Korean and their processes for redeeming awards are unique. Korean went offline as a Chase transfer partner last month, though I wrote that it was expected to come back. Korean Air’s Skypass website lists Chase Ultimate Rewards as a partner and the page says transfers will be back next month. ※ Chase Ultimate Rewards point transfer is temporarily unavailable. It is planned to re-open during Jan, 2015. I don’t take the date as definitive and there isn’t yet a specific date, but it’s good to be hearing from both side that…
Double Miles on all Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental and Related Brand Stays
IHG’s big promo for the beginning of the year is ‘Set Your Sights’ where lots of different kinds of activity earn big bonus points (though it isn’t as lucrative as the fall’s free nights promotion. But if you’re not going to do all of the activities, it’s worth having a look eat earning double airline miles instead. Registration is required and setting your earning preference in your account to airline miles. And then you can earn up to 10,000 bonus airline miles for stays between January 7 and April 30 starting with your first stay. (HT: Frequent Flyer Bonuses) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You…
Court Says MileagePlus is Fraudulent, LOT Installs Mistletoe in Planes, and Other Things You Need to Know
News and notes from around the interweb: 100,000 Hyatt Gold Passport point giveaway Delta is running an award sale that requires booking by today for travel between January 7 and March 25 if you want to save miles for economy travel between North America and Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Court calls United MileagePlus deceptive, fraudulent, and dishonorable. This is all over changes to the million miler program. Is American eliminating full cans of soda for first class passengers? LOT Polish Airlines is hanging mistletoe in their planes Reasons not to be optimistic for Cuba, even though economic liberalization should certainly boost tourism. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe…
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong For more than two years I’ve been looking forward to flying Cathay Pacific’s new regional business class product but I’ve been foiled every time — I keep getting their long haul business product on my short intra-Asia flights. That streak, lucky in most ways, continued. And I was sort of banging my head against the wall over it. What better way than a short hop between Hong Kong and Bangkok would there be to try out lesser seats? Our…
3 Key Rewards Program Tools for Staying in Good Hotels at Very Little Cost
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). I’ve never gone and spent $450 on a hotel room, but I’m not a budget traveler either. There are a lot of travel bloggers who travel year round and do their best to keep costs super low. I travel for work, and pleasure, but I don’t travel full time or live in hotels. I also never really put myself into a box like travel blogger, this is just…
US Airways Pulls Its Elite Challenge (“Trial Preferred”) Offer
US Airways has long offered a paid status challenge program where you get temporary status for 90 days and then have an opportunity to fly to keep that status on an accelerated basis. Three months ago US Airways eliminated the ability to buy miles towards status, which used to be a great alternative to mileage running for those last few flights you’d need to qualify. In contrast, the US Airways program that you pay for, that gives you temporary status, and where the flying you do during the status period determines the status you keep going forward, you haven’t had to have any status with another airline to qualify at all. The End of US Airways Trial Preferred About seven weeks ago I said that if I were running the program I would end it…
The Strangest Airline Policy Ever Has a Deceptively Simple Explanation
Airline policies can be cumbersome, arcane, even byzantine. One frequent flyer program who works for a major airline told me earlier this year that he finds himself in meetings with his colleagues, talking through how a change might work to the program, and he’ll find himself having to stop and have someone remind the group how things are structured to begin with. The programs can be too complicated for even the program’s own executives to understand. But through an email exchange with Reid F., here’s one that I really struggled trying to puzzle through. Effective with tickets purchased September 3, American adopted the US Airways unaccompanied minor policy. Children aged 12 through 14 traveling alone now have to travel as unaccompanied, at a cost of $150 each way. Previously the policy applied to children up…
Hyatt Announces Free Internet for All Guests: Leaves Hilton in the Cold, and Calls Attention to Sparse Gold Passport Platinum Status
Last Wednesday I wrote that Starwood is introducing free internet for all guests and that this follows Marriott and also IHG. At the time I wrote, It will be interesting to see how long Hyatt (which just extended its room type guarantee to all members) and Hilton can buck the trend, or whether they’ll lose business to Marriott, Starwood, and IHG. Now we know, at least for Hyatt. Starting in February, all Hyatts will offer complimentary wireless internet in guest rooms and social spaces (presumably this excludes conference rooms) to all guests. They won’t require a loyalty program account to get the internet. They won’t require booking through their own booking channels, excluding online travel agencies (as Marriott and Starwood policies require), either. Hyatt’s Platinum and Diamond members will receive premium speed at hotels where…
Don’t Store Babies Inside Overhead Bins (Don’t Steal Their Nutella Either)
News and notes from around the interweb: Nutella jars seized from pregnant mother because they represented terror risk. (HT: Alan H.) The airport staff was ‘just following orders’ so I don’t blame them per se, although along the lines of questions that are rarely asked, if liquids are so dangerous, why are they tossed together in a bin next to the checkpoint instead of dealt with by a hazmat team? In recommending that you not slam someone’s head against an overhead bin as a solution to kids crying on a plan, @danrothschild reminds me that you shouldn’t put babies inside overhead bins either. Troubling. (HT: Milepoint) Air France KLM is deferring deliveries of Boeing 777s due in over the next two years after revising down profit expectations for the third time this year. (HT: Alan…
