Over the weekend I took a domestic flight on American Airlines where the first class cabin was only half full. There were two factors at play, as I tweeted, 1) it’s Saturday 2) I like the @AmericanAir upgrade system please don’t change it.. American and US Airways Have to Decide How to Handle Upgrades as Part of Their Merger With the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, the two carriers are in the midst of working through their differences and figuring out the policies and procedures that will prevail when the two airlines actually combine into one. In a practice common to US airlines but not really done in the rest of the world, premium cabin seats on domestic flights that the airlines doesn’t sell are released as upgrades to elite frequent flyers. US…
Do You Dispute Small Charges? Or Am I Just Being Petty?
I checked into a Hyatt Regency property late on recent evening. Three’s a store in the lobby, and it had just closed. I asked at check-in whether there was anywhere else I might get water. The agent checking me in just told me to take the bottles in the room, they have a price tag on them but they don’t charge Diamond members. I thought that was nice — I remember three years ago at an event in Denver Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell mentioning to me they were looking at making bottled water a Diamond benefit. It’s a small item, but you get into a hotel and it’s nice to have that by your bedside at a non-extortionate price. As these things go, though, I took one of the two bottles and the charge did…
Cathay Pacific About to Rebrand, Focus on Its Core Asian-ness By Becoming an Online Travel Agency
The American Airlines rebranding was incredibly expensive. And while it’s true that the new composite aircraft they’ve ordered need painting rather than brushed metal, painting all the aircraft anew – not to mention changing all the signage, even making new napkins and updating websites, was a huge undertaking. I’d suspect it didn’t help them on net to sell a single additional ticket, or a ticket they would have otherwise sold but at a higher price. Now Cathay Pacific is about to reveal a brand refresh. Here’s the concept: “‘Travelling well’ will be a core part of the brand refresh” reveals Dane Cheng, Cathay Pacific’s Director of Sales & Marketing. “We see Cathay Pacific as global brand which is not just about the airline but about the lifestyle, about travelling well and travelling in style and…
Rwanda Screening US Passengers for Ebola, 2.25% Rebate on Amex Gift Cards, and a 2000 Point Signup Bonus for New Members
News and notes from around the interweb: TopCashBack is offering a 2.25% rebate on the purchase of American Express gift cards today only. So I was wrong when I said I didn’t expect to see anything over 2%. (HT: Frequent Miler) Rwanda now requires US passengers to be screened for Ebola (HT: Alan H.) The Atlanta airport’s wifi is unconstitutional 2000 JetBlue points for new members who register and book a flight by November 21 for travel through November 21. (HT: S.) Air France and Delta have offered to give up some slots at New York JFK to satisfy the EU 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…
Credit Card Bonuses: The Most Alluring Thing on the Entire Internet?
There’s a tremendous volume of spam that this blog attracts, sometimes close to 10,000 comments per day. I imagine it’s because of the search value in the blog, and that it’s been around for more than a dozen years. Much of it is well handled by the spam plugins set up with WordPress. Some of it I have to go through manually. And if I ever make a mistake and mistag a comment that you’ve made, I deeply apologize. It’s rare, I may not know if it has ever happened and I’m generally pretty good about getting that stuff right. But the volume means that sometimes I could make a mistake. Please let me know if it happens to you and I’ll retrieve your comment. Most spam is obvious. I came across the least obvious…
US Requires 6 Percent of West African Passengers Traveling to U.S. to Re-Route to Stop Ebola
For those clamoring for a travel ban, the U.S. has ordered that passengers coming from 3 West African countries are only allowed to enter via five airports. Passengers coming from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea may only enter the U.S. at New York JFK, Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago O’Hare. Those are the airports where $19 an hour EMTs will look for Ebola as passengers turn up. And that’s where 94% of those passengers are flying through anyway. So 6% of passengers coming from those 3 West African nations, who might have planned to, say, fly via some European city to Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, or Seattle will have to re-route. A travel ban is both unnecessary and likely ineffective, but politically it is sometimes helpful to “do something”…
One Last Hurrah in American’s First Class Flagship Suite!
American’s 777-200s are being retrofitted, and the first one is now in service with a brand new business class that looks fantastic but no longer offering first class. Since American’s 777-300ER aircraft got a new first class, that means the old Flagship Suites are being retired. I reviewed American’s first class lounge at New York JFK at the start of the trip. From the lounge I proceeded to the departure gate just as boarding was already starting to commence. And there she was! It’s like a throwback to what feels like an earlier time. There’s great space, even some ingeniousness to the seat. They’ve enhanced the soft product over the past three years. But at its core is a large first class cabin (too large for modern economcis) with a seat that’s been left behind…
Hacking the Lufthansa Strike, Cash for Checking Accounts, and Seeking the Dying 70,000 Point Bonus
News and notes from around the interweb: While they haven’t (yet?) led to lower prices, Here’s how falling oil prices could change airline flying decisions (HT: Alan H.) Yesterday I noted that for several hours after the advertised end of the Chase Ink Plus offer, it was still available on the Chase site. Then sometime in the early afternoon that online application was no longer available. And I asked readers to let me know of any still-working links. There are several in the comments of that thread, apparently folks who had created their own referral links still have those links working. So if you’re interested in the card, check out reader referral inks in the comments at least until that program ends. Suntrust is offering a $300 checking account signup bonus at a limited number…
Why Are Airfares Rising When Fuel Prices are Going Down?
USA Today asks but doesn’t really answer the question of why airfares are going up even as fuel prices are down from their peak. The answer is simple, though the story behind the simple answer is a bit more complex. Airfares are high because planes are full. When airlines are selling most of their seats, they can raise prices. Airfares aren’t really directly related to cost, they’re set based on the supply of available seats and demand for those seats. Of course, the number of seats an airline is willing to provide at a given price point is determined in the long term by its cost structure, among other things (like how easy it is to access gates and planes, which is related both to cost, structural limitations, and government regulation). So the interesting question…
IHG Rewards Club Relents, Will Honor Their Free Nights Offer!
Yesterday I wrote, My offer for IHG Rewards’ “Into the Nights” promotion — the most generous hotel offer in the market by far — has not changed. But others are reporting that the requirements for them to earn free nights are shifting after the promotion is underway. I’ve reached out to IHG to see whether there’s some sort of technical glitch, or something more nefarious going on. IHG Rewards initially gave the wrong — too generous — offer to many members. Their intention to was target different offers to different members, but ‘too many’ (relative to their intention) got the super generous one that I got and still had. Here’s what they were telling folks who complained about registering for an offer, staying at IHG Rewards Club hotels to complete the offer, and then having…
