News and notes from around the interweb: The new co-branded American Express and Target Prepaid REDcard which should let you load up to $72,000 per year. US to eliminate option to add pages to passports in 2016. Because the rest of the world stopped doing it, after pressure from the US. This can’t be a good idea for tomorrow, right? The meal improvements at American can’t come soon enough! Aegean — which had the easiest path to Star Alliance Gold status for life — if changing their system to require annual requalification. And, sadly, they’ll be sending out new elite cards to take the place of our long expiring ones (which will no longer be valid for for lounge access). You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day —…
When Hotel Check-in is “A Time for Choosing”
I’m more than a little bit tired today, but that’s not important right not. I failed to take my own advice, and wound up making a poor choice last night. Here’s a travel conundrum: You arrive at a hotel at 1 a.m. You have to be up at 6 — although it would be better if you were up at 5. When you walk into your room there’s a loud noise coming from the bathroom fan. You’re exhausted and just want to go to sleep, but you’re afraid it will keep you up or wake you up. Do you: Go back downstairs to the desk and get a new room, or Try to minimize the noise as best you can and tough it out? It’s worth deciding the answer to this question in advance, because…
Randy Petersen Calls Me Out: Should American Make a Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Program Their IT Priority?
They say you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Nevertheless last month I called out Randy Petersen‘s September editorial in Inside Flyer for suggesting that American get ready for a revenue-based program right away… contra the statements made by the airline’s CEO that the focus now is on merging two airlines and that decisions about those sort of changes come later. Randy follows up by calling me out in the opening to his October issue of Inside Flyer, and says he wasn’t advocating that American adopt a revenue-based program, just that they build the IT infrastructure now to do so. He has this to say about me.
Understanding, Aligning — and Gaming – Domestic Upgrades on American and US Airways
As the merger between American and US Airways continues apace, systems are being updated and policies are getting aligned. One area where we’ve already seen some alignment is domestic upgrades, with American elites eligible for complimentary upgrades on US Airways (as US Airways receive) albeit only at check-in, and US Airways elites eligible for upgrades (paid, except for US Airways 100,000 mile flyers) at check-in only if Ameircan would otherwise sell a first class seat to a non-status member. There’s been some speculation that the US Airways processes for upgrade have been aligned a bit with American AAdvantage policy. But before we get there, we need to look at how America’s domestic upgrades work.. and how US Airways upgrades have worked and how it’s been possible to game the US Airways system to jump the…
American Introducing Cadillac Tarmac Transfers… and 7500 Miles for a Test Drive!
There’s a brand new announcement today of an American Airlines Cadillac partnership. It brings tarmac transfers for high value customers making tight connections at certain airports, and a new promotion to earn miles for test drives, with possibly more to come. Make Tight Connections By Driving Across the Tarmac in a Cadillac American launched tarmac transfers at LAX last week for Concierge Key members making tight connections. And they’re rolling the service out to Dallas Fort-Worth and both New York JFK and LaGuardia airports by the end of the year. They’re partnering with Cadillac in this offer, as part of a larger brand partnership. The plan is for 2 cars per airport at this point, and transfers will be in a Cadillac CTS, SRX or Escalade. They’ll evaluate how many cars they ultimately need for…
Hyatt’s Mobile App Goes “Ooops.”
On Thursday I wrote about a stackable Hyatt bonus — 1000 extra Gold Passport points per stay booked through a Hyatt mobile channel, which can be earned on top of the current 50,000 point promotion. Several readers identified problems completing a reservation with the new Hyatt app. SkiCo asked if I would reach out to Hyatt, and I did. MJM speculated the issue was related to his having stored his Hyatt Visa information in his account. And indeed, that seems to be the case. Here’s what Hyatt shared back: [W]e identified an issue affecting mobile app bookings made with a Hyatt credit card, and we have been working to address it as quickly as possible. An updated version of the iOS Hyatt app has been released, and we continue to investigate issues with the Android…
Marriott: We Stick It To You For Your Own Good!
On Friday, Scott Mayerowitz reported on Marriott’s big settlement with the FCC over blocking guests use of their own wifi. The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center wants its exhibitors to pay $250 to $1000 each to the hotel’s wifi. So they didn’t want folks to be able to bring their own, and they used equipment to jam the signal. It’s one thing to provide a service, a convenience, even at a high price. It’s another thing to have folks find themselves in the exhibit hall and prevent them from using a service they had prepared to bring themselves in order to extort money from them. If the hotel had a policy clearly on its website, or in its meetings and events contracts that stated only hotel wifi signals could be used (and requiring meeting…
Concrete Actionable Advice, American Puts Me Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and Vodka that Makes Popov Taste Good
News and notes from around the interweb: Mommy Points is launching a series of helpful e-books that show you how to use miles for cost-effective trips to attainable destinations. I’ve had the chance to preview the Hawaii e-book and it’s filled with concrete, actionable tips to help you travel well and inexpensively. Are US Airways clubs downgrading their vodka? Odysseus had to pass between Scylla and Charybdis in order to return home. Scylla was a horrible man-eating monster that struck from above on the cliffs and Charydbis was a treacherous whirlpool. This is the ‘rock’ and the ‘hard place’ that American presents for my upcoming lunch choice: Here’s hoping that American’s coming meal improvements nix the ‘mystery meat’ from the menu. As for the manicotti, as I’m given to say, thanks to American by body…
Loyalty Programs Should Be Loyal
I recently saw Delta Points sharing a Delta Skymiles ad, which I’ve seen around over the past couple of years and have a copy of. It’s especially ironic. They lay down a belief about what a frequent flyer should do. The ad came out around 2012, if memory serves. I’m not sure how well they lived up to the idea back then. The best argument they made, I think, was about reducing fees associated with award tickets. Sure, award space might have been tougher to get than with other programs. They didn’t have one-way awards at half the price of roundtrip. Routing rules and website pricing were sources of frustration. But they weren’t charging close-in booking fees. And unmentioned, they eliminated the expiration of miles (after leading the way in shortening expiration periods down to…
How to Be a Travel Hero: How to Handle Yourself When Flight Schedules Melt Down
After several tough travel weeks for the nation’s air transport system, Joe Brancatelli runs a column on tactics for dealing with air travel meltdowns. He suggests: Assume the worst will happen Don’t check your bags Avoid regional airlines Have access to airport lounges Get yourself an airport hotel He’s got more suggestions, so read the whole thing. Here’s my advice for when flight schedules melt down. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, don’t be a wallflower, don’t be at the airline’s mercy. There are things you can do to proactive solve problems that come your way, and ways to handle travel stress effectively.
