United currently has the most generous lifetime elite program of any major airline: You can even earn revenue-based Global Services status based on lifetime flight miles.
The best deals, those orders of magnitude better than the competition, don’t last. United’s million miler program is generous, so it’s reasonable to expect it will change. And there’s now a rumor that it’s about to change.
Singapore Airlines commissioned one of their Airbus A380s made out of manila envelopes. They manage the details even inside the plane with seats in all four classes of service.
They want you to know that they pay attention to the little details. They aren’t just about transportation that gets you from A to B.
Chase extended its British Airways partnership back in May and then in June American Express announced you’d no longer be able to transfer Membership Rewards points 1:1 into British Airways October 1. Presumably the British Airways-Chase deal precluded other card products from having 1:1 earning with BA.
It’s a far cry from a year ago when transfers were still 1:1 and American Express ran transfer bonuses on top.
But there’s a work-around.
Through January 4 American is selling miles for as little as 2 cent apiece. That’s cheaper than they usually sell miles.
On average I value American miles at 1.7 cents.
They’re worth more if they put you over the top for a specific award. And they’re worth more if you redeem them for something you’d be willing to pay full or close to full price for otherwise.
Singapore Airlines used to operate the two longest flights in the world — Newark to Singapore non-stop (9534 miles) followed by Los Angeles to Singapore (8770 miles). Both of these were flown with Airbus A340-500 flying gas cans.
I came up with the following 15 flights that are currently scheduled to operate and are over 8000 miles.
Delta has ended its interline ticketing and baggage agreement with Emirates.
An interline agreement is the most basic agreement and major airlines almost always have those with each other. Ending the interline agreement means neither airline will sell tickets on the other. And they won’t transfer baggage to each other, either.
Interline agreements were once a basic level of cooperation between airlines to provide service to customers. Now for Delta they are a strategic business tool.
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Starwood is offering “Blogger Thank You 2015” — 2015 bonus points for your next stay as a ‘thanks’ for all of your online feedback. And it stacks with other offers like their end of year bonus on stays 2 nights or longer and their 2500 point ‘keyless’ bonus. Registration is required and there’s really no reason not to register ‘just in case’ you wind up with a Starwood stay through the end of the year.
Delta is back with their year-end offer to sell qualifying miles to help you earn status. And the prices are jaw dropping, though they vary based on your current status and the number of miles you want to buy.
Higher status pays more, the more miles you buy the less they cost per mile. It looks like a Platinum would pay between 30 and 88 cents per mile. If you really care about Delta status… get thee on a plane!
So hotels have gone to greater lengths than airlines in trying to get customers to book direct. Generally when you book on Expedia you still earn frequent flyer miles for your flights, and are eligible for elite status accrual and elite benefits. (Although it may not always be as clear what restrictions apply to the fares you’re buying.)
Hotels on the other hand have imposed restrictions on points-earning, elite status earning and elite status benefits on these reservations. Now hotels are winning the battle over how much commission to pay, and what rates to even make available to online booking sites.
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 »
