Last week I reviewed the American Airlines Admirals Club in Buenos Aires. The club itself is gorgeous. The food offerings are far better than I would have expected. I thought the lounge wasn’t big enough for the number of guests at peak times, and I found it strange that a new-build lounge for an American flag carrier wouldn’t have North American-style power ports. Comment Agnel said, If I remember correctly, the US style outlets are prohibited by code in Argentina. My mom was doing some renovations in her condo and they couldn’t put them in. I managed to confirm this with American. American did want to put in these power ports, but were not permitted to do so. There are loaner adapters available in the club. Just ask an agent to borrow one. I think…
The Program With the Single Best Award Chart, Aeroplan Award Pricing Mistake Update, and Delta Fixes Online Award Booking
News and notes from around the interweb: The frequent flyer program with the single best award chart. High-end all-Audi rental car company Silvercar (see $9 Audi Car Rentals from Silvercar and How I Made $12 On My Audi Rental Car and How You Can Too) has increased their referral offer to $100. Here’s my referral code. You’re welcome to leave yours in the comments. Virgin Australia and Alaska Airlines award space appears to be back on the Delta.com website. So rather than a plot to prevent members from booking seats (either to keep Skymiles members off frenemy Alaska, and save money on Australia awards) it does look to have been a temporary glitch. There is so far a single report that Aeroplan may not be honoring it’s amazing award sale, where you could book travel…
The Second Worst Miles Just Became Even Worse
I tend to think that Spirit Airlines has the worse miles. Spirit’s miles expire after 90 days of inactivity unless you have their co-branded credit card and charge to it every month (although presumably charging somewhat less frequently can meet the 90 day requirement). Some airlines have close-in redemption fees. Spirit’s fees start within 180 days of travel. They do not have redemption partners. The reward for traveling on Spirit is… more travel on Spirit. Although – at least – you can redeem miles for magazines. I think of Virgin Atlantic as having the second-worst miles. We can debate this, of course. Icelandair miles, post-elimination of their Alaska Airlines partnership, are pretty useless (but not completely useless). And there are few programs I dislike dealing with more than Aeromexico’s. But among mainstream programs that US…
Introductions to Miles, to Credit, and to Buying and Selling Merchandise for Miles
News and notes from around the interweb: Great guide for beginners in the hobby: My friend Mommy Points has launched an introductory series of e-books. I previewed Hawaii for Nearly Free in the draft stage and think it’s a really good place for beginners to start — it’s a clear explanation of many of the concepts of miles and points, and shows you how to think about putting together a trip to a real world destination, how to earn the miles and how to use them. If you’re new to miles and points, check them out. How average age of accounts is calculated and affects your credit score. I also offer a fairly in-depth discussion of how your credit score works when you apply for credit cards (and why applying for cards can sometimes even…
Free 8000 Spirit Airlines Miles Still Available, and What You Hate Most About Airlines Revealed
Back in July Spirit Airlines launched a promotion that only they could pull off. You could tell them what you hate about an airline, and they’d give you 8000 free points for it. Of course, 8000 miles in the Spirit program isn’t 8000 miles as you usually think of them. Spirit’s miles expire after 90 days of inactivity unless you have their co-branded credit card and charge to it every month (although presumably charging somewhat less frequently can meet the 90 day requirement). Some airlines have close-in redemption fees. Spirit’s fees start within 180 days of travel. They do not have redemption partners. The reward for traveling on Spirit is… more travel on Spirit. About the most valuable thing you can get for them is magazines. Of course, Spirit Airlines credit card holders can use…
More Details Revealed About American AAdvantage Program 2015
I asked American for clarification on a few things that readers wanted to know about the new AAdvantage program, when Dividend Miles gets integrated into AAdvantage during the second quarter of 2015. The new program will keep American’s “stickers” or e-upgrades for domestic travel. Top tier elite members get unlimited complimentary upgrades, while Gold and Platinum elites get unlimited complimentary upgrades on flights up to 500 miles and will earn free upgrades based on their flying for use on longer flights. Historically there’s been a ‘grace period’ so that flyers wouldn’t have to use an extra certificate for ‘going over’. It’s been discussed that the grace period goes away, and American confirms this. I asked Whether 500 mile e-upgrades will no longer have a “buffer” (a 508 mile flight will require 2 certificates) and whether…
Sneak Peak: Inside the Pre-Opening of the San Francisco American Express Centurion Lounge
The new American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco airport is ready and will open tomorrow (as was leaked last week). I had an opportunity to see the lounge last night and try the food since I was invited to the pre-opening party and dinner there. What American Express has created is a stylish, comfortable departure lounge with good food and drink. I actually think this is the most gorgeous, sexiest domestic lounge American Express has built to date. The entry is dramatic, the lighting is great. At ~ 8200 square feet it’s about 10% smaller than Dallas while substantially larger than New York LaGuardia. It features a kids room like Dallas and Las Vegas, and it has a shower. There’s no spa, but its ‘plus’ feature is a self-pour wine wall with real premium wines.…
A Totally New Award Chart Coming to a Star Alliance Amex Membership Rewards Partner: The Good and the Bad
Yesterday commenter TJ flagged that ANA is introducing a new zone-based award chart effective April 12. The only problem is that I haven’t found an English-version of the announcement, and have been on travel and time-constrained. We care because ANA: Is a Star Alliance member, so their miles can be used on a variety of partner flights Their website is in general the best for booking Star Alliance awards, showing award space on on all Star partners. They are an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner, so lots of US folks have access to their miles. The current distance-based award chart has some fantastic values. Fortunately both Travel is Free and Points with a Crew are unpacking what the changes mean. Bottom-line is that at the margin there will be some great values that disappear,…
Turns Out Hyatt’s Elite Status Challenge is NOT Gone For Good…
On Monday it was being reported that the Hyatt Diamond challenge had ended. Hyatt was exceptionally generous in that they were willing to give elite members of other hotel chains temporary top tier status, while offering an expedited way to keep that status. And they even gave these temporary Diamond full confirmed suite upgrades as though they had earned the status for a year. This was exceptionally game-able. Plenty of folks signed up for a credit card that gave them Hilton Gold status and leveraged that into Hyatt Diamond — maybe transferred some points into Hyatt from Chase Ultimate Rewards, booked cash and points award stays, upgraded them to suites at booking and enjoyed free breakfasts during their stays. Hyatt confirmed yesterday that the Diamond challenge offer was discontinued on October 31. With the confirmation,…
Snap! That Won’t Work… The War On Water Has Been Won, But We Still Keep Fighting…
I’ve written that the flight I fear the most are United’s Hong Kong routes in economy. I wouldn’t much love American’s Hong Kong – Dallas in back either. Hong Kong airport isn’t an ally in the War on Water. Since you can take water through their checkpoints, there’s an additional security check at the gate or on the jetway for all US-bound flights and all US airline flights (regardless of destination, for instance I’ve experienced it Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City on United). The same applies to Australia flights. You can buy water in the airport, but it will be confiscated from you upon boarding. So you’re reliant upon the airline’s flight attendants to stay hydrated flying super long haul. I always wanted to freeze water and take it through a TSA checkppint…
