Singapore Suites are one of the holy grails of frequent flyer redemptions. There was a time that Singapore charged about a million miles for Singapore – Los Angeles roundtrip. They started making seats available to their own members for the A380 suites class at the saver level a couple of years ago. A handful of routes started making two seats available to Singapore members only a year ago. But did you know that there’s a route where availability is wide open — and not just using Singapore’s own miles, but seats that are bookable by their partner airlines, too? This won’t be extremely useful to the vast majority of readers, I suppose, for a handful of you this will be an amazing tip. Here’s a search using Aeroplan miles (so partner availability) for the Delhi…
I Love Seeing Heads of Loyalty Programs Getting Ice Thrown On Their Heads!
Jeff Zidell of Hyatt Gold Passport took the ALS #IceBucketChallenge. And since I filmed my own video at a Starwood hotel, and Randy Petersen issued his challenge to me from a Starwood property as well, I thought it appropriate to name SPG head Chris Holdren to take the challenge. He did. Good sports, all! And no surprise here, he issues challenges out to executives at SPG partners — American Express, Delta, Caesars, and LiveNation. Let’s see more loyalty executives take the challenge! 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 can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Does a Passenger Have a Right to Recline Their Seat in Coach?
Scott Mayerowitz reports that a United flight was diverted today when a fight broke out onboard. One passenger was using the ‘knee defender’ to stop the passenger in front from reclining their seat. The flight from Newark to Denver diverted to Chicago, where the TSA deemed it “a customer service issue.” The flight continued to Denver and arrived 98 minutes late. The fight started when the male passenger, seated in a middle seat of row 12, used the Knee Defender to stop the woman in front of him from reclining while he was on his laptop… A flight attendant asked him to remove the device and he refused. The woman then stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water at him, the official says. That’s when United decided to land in Chicago. The…
How Iberia Made Us Believe They Devalued — When They Simply Got More Transparent
Iberia published new, much more expensive award charts for travel on partner airlines recently. That was pretty scary, not because Iberia points were worth less (nobody cares), but because of what it could mean for British Airways points. The two programs are structured similarly. The airlines are jointly owned. And points transfer between the two fairly freely. Commenter Prospero offers some good insight into what’s going on. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that Iberia published this partner award chart online, which they hadn’t done before, but the rates themselves aren’t actually new. Iberia hadn’t posted the chart before Few people booked partner awards with Iberia. You couldn’t book most partner awards online with Iberia for a long time, and you can with British Airways. The Iberia awards are non-refundable. Non-refundable awards you’d have to…
Free Lufthansa Miles, Uses for 85 United Miles, Barefoot Pilots and the Future of Credit Card Apps
News and notes from around the interweb: How banks are trying to make it easier to apply for credit cards via mobile A Hertz perk you might not know about. I used to get this all the time from Avis back when I had their top status. Beta testing United’s Wi-fi Based Inflight Entertainment System 500 free Lufthansa Miles & More miles. Or perhaps you prefer 1000 free Lufthansa miles. Redeem 85 miles to keep your United account active It’s not just breast implants: Cocaine smuggled in tamales. (HT: Alan H.) Barefoot Pilots of the Maldives 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 can also follow…
So is British Airways Going to Devalue their Program in a Big Way, or Not?
Last night I wrote that Iberia made major changes to its award chart. They created a separate award chart for partner airlines, such as oneworld members (and joint venture partners) American and US Airways. That’s a big deal because their program used to be more aligned with British Airways’, a way to buy cheap non-stop short haul flights. Iberia and British Airways are jointly owned by the same company (IAG). You can even transfer points between British Airways and Iberia accounts, provided the accounts have been open 90 days and have both had points activity in them. That means if you don’t like one award chart, you can move points over to the other program. And it led to speculation, could British Airways be poised to make similar moves?
Award Space Bonanza! Take Your Whole Family to Europe in Business Class!
A month ago I wrote that the new Turkish Airlines San Francisco – Istanbul route was wide open with award space. West Coast – Europe can be tough to get with miles, especially in premium cabins. But this new flight, operated 5 days a week, had business class award availability every day, in fact enough seats to take the whole family every day the flight operated. A month later, here’s where you will find enough business class space nearly every day to take the whole family to Europe.
Hyatt Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell Takes the #IceBucketChallenge: Clues About the Future of the Program? And Mommy Points Gets Wet!
Milepoint’s tommy777, Tommy Danielsen, passed on my challenge to him over to Jeff Zidell of Hyatt Gold Passport. And Jeff came through. Jeff challenges Suzanne Rubin of American Airlines, David Oppenheim at United, and Lance Evans at MGM. Can I read the tea leaves a bit here? David Oppenheim, who manages United’s partnerships (including credit card co-brands), used to work at Boston Consulting Group where he did work for Jeff and Hyatt. Lance Evans makes sense, since Hyatt and MGM are partners. But… Suzanne… Have Hyatt and American been spending more time together lately? Delta and Starwood are linked up now United and Marrott have a tie-in as well. That leaves American among the major airlines. There’s not much reason for them to partner with IHG Rewards, since there’s no meaningful elite benefits to speak…
American Airlines Eliminates the Spray Tan as an Inflight Amenity
When I first flew the new 737 back in December, this guy greeted you at your seat: What was most striking was the spray tan. I haven’t been onboard an American aircraft with the new system since January, so flying with them today was the first time I noticed that the spray tan starting you in the face is gone! Don’t get me wrong. This gentleman may have had too many cocktails over the course of too many flights. And it’s a little bit disturbing to sit down and find his big mug looking directly at you. But John Boehner, it seems, is no longer the greeting passengers for American Airlines. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one…
HOLY SMOKE: Is British Airways About to Devalue Its Points? Iberia Massively Jacks Up Award Rates!
It looks like Iberia may have just gone and gutted their frequent flyer program for redemptions on most partner airlines, at least for the rewards that have been the best value. And since Iberia and British Airways are jointly owned, and share very similar programs (and the same named currency, Avios), one worries if something similar could be next for British Airways. The award chart has gotten astronomically expensive for short distance flying — so expensive I almost questioned whether it was a mistake. But there are some positives, too.
