I’m a fan of the Boeing 787, it’s early teething problems notwithstanding. And I’m looking forward to the routes it opens up. United is flying non-stop to Melbourne. British Airways is flying to Austin. There will be plenty of secondary cities that get non-stop service, and I think it will be ultimately disruptive of a lot of models since it will divert traffic away from existing hub flights. United’s first 787-9 with a longer fuselage, greater seating capacity, and additional range has gotten its paint job up at Boeing. This is the plane type they’ll be using to launch Melbourne, Australia service. (Credit: The Street) United already operates 10 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, on which it seats 219 passengers. With its fuselage stretched by 20 feet, the 787-9 will be configured with 252 seats, including 48…
The Why, How, and What of Devaluation Plus Double Miles and Changes at Qantas Too (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 9, 2014 – Part Deux)
More news and notes from around the interweb: The Real Problem With American’s Change to its Frequent Flier and Bag Fee Policies (my piece for Conde Nast Traveler Wandering Aramean analyzes American’s new AAnytime award levels. He finds that the three levels are not based on ‘fare buckets’ or ticket price but instead calendar days. Of the 278 days he looks at, 51% are at tier 1 (so sometimes lower priced than before), 42% at tier 2, and 7% at tier 3 (as I reported yesterday, tying to the old US Airways blackout dates). Q&A on changes to the Qantas frequent flyer program The segment on bundling airline perks I was filmed for continues to make the rounds. An earlier interview I did with Christian Science Monitor got folded into a piece published yesterday tied…
Another Free Starbucks Star!
I was genuinely surprised last week by the positive reaction when I posted about a possible 15 free Starbucks ‘stars’. Then when I followed up that – after some initial hiccups entering the codes — the deal was working. And finally when 10 more stars were uncovered that could be added to an account. Starbucks is back officially this time with a free Star opportunity. Log into your account and scroll to the bottom of the page. The first task was a couple of clicks to download their ‘global responsibility’ report. Then I merely had to go back to the front page and enter my email address for them to send me a claim code. 30 Stars in a year earns ‘Gold’ status, which doesn’t get you much: But a Gold member earns a free…
Suntrust’s Delta Debit Card No Longer Available for New Accounts
I’ve been using the Suntrust Delta debit card to earn lots of miles. It’s a pin-based debit card, so you can use it to pay taxes online with a fixed transaction fee (less than $3 per payment) while earning one mile per dollar. That’s a much better deal than paying ~ 2% for credit card payments. Folks have also used it to buy and then deposit money orders — earning 1000 miles per transaction for less than $1 (money order fee). This is a deal that has made no sense whatsoever, in terms of why in the world Suntrust has been offering it. Debit transactions are simply no longer a profit center because the transaction fees are capped. It doesn’t make sense to reward or incentivize debit transactions any longer. That’s why we’ve seen banks…
No Big Changes to Hilton Award Categories This Year
Last year’s changes were, apparently, enough that they don’t feel the need to go back to the well in a major way with more award chart devaluations this year. And they even seem to recognize that they’ve done real damage to trust in the program. They’re not taking actual substantive steps to undo any of the changes they’ve made, but they promise to be transparent. Here’s a note I’ve just received from Mark Weinstein, a Vice President at HHonors. I wanted to personally let you know we are updating a few hotels’ reward categories as part of our periodic review process and, even more specifically, share with you that this year we will not be making any major reward category changes or introducing new hotel reward categories. We are taking steps to be even more transparent by better communicating adjustments…
Stackable Hotel Discount, Miles for Test Driving a Volvo, and Surge Pricing Taxis (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 9, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Hotel booking website TravelPony offers new members a $25 first-time booking credit, but ups that to $35 if you’re referred by an existing member. (Here’s my previous discussion of Travelpony.) That $35 credit is stackable with an offer for 10% of to the first 1000 customers both today using promotion code FLASHPONY. 2500 Aeroplan miles for test driving a Volvo in Canada, and up to 40,000 miles for making a purchase. Washington DC is considering allowing taxi to engage in surge pricing the way that Uber does Long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines is still trying to sell itself. You can join the 30,000+ 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…
Two Changes to Dividend Miles Make US Airways More Like American
As part of the announced award chart changes, US Airways has eliminated blackout dates. Seriously — did you realize US Airways still had those? It’s so 1990’s. Or South Korean. There were dates you simply could not redeem miles for a US Airways flight. It wasn’t that availability was scarce, or it took a whole lot of miles, you just weren’t allowed to redeem for those flights. And now you can, although it’ll likely take quite a few points on days that used to be blacked out. Meanwhile US Airways will start charging elite members the program’s cash co-pays for domestic upgrades. As of April 23, 2014, the mileage upgrade fee will now apply to Preferred members on US Airways flights. The fee will continue to be waived for fares purchased in Y or B.…
A Big Lesson Learned for American: Respect Your Members
Now that I’ve had a day to reflect on the changes American announced to their frequent flyer program (not to mention to the US Airways award chart and to checked baggage allowances), more and more I think the lesson in all of this is about member respect. A lot of readers gave me flak for not recognizing the gravity of the changes themselves. And while I will personally miss stopovers at a North American gateway city, and the hidden value in distance-based awards, I just wasn’t that surprised to see them go. My frustrations remain with the lack of notice, and with how that sets the stage for all of the other news that is still to come.
Conversation with the President of AAdvantage on Today’s Changes and What Comes Next
I spoke with Suzanne Rubin, the President of AAdvantage, this morning about the changes that have been announced today. I think she heard the feedback about the lack of notice in the changes to the award chart, rules and opportunities that were announced today, and that while she wouldn’t promise they’d do things differently it’ll be something they think long and hard on in the future. Here are some key points from our conversation: I emphasized the importance of advance notice of changes to members, as an issue of trust and respect Suzanne said made four points, the fourth of which is the most important: They wanted to be out in front of members with their own communication first, rather than having the information come out early, but with some of the changes they had…
American Takes Away Free Checked Bags from Full Fare and Full Award Tickets and Some Elites
American announced changes today to their Checked Bag Policies, in most case taking away from free checked bag benefits. Some elites get fewer free bags. “AAdvantage Gold members and Dividend Miles Platinum and Gold members will receive one fewer free checked bag than they do today.” American Executive Platinums still get 3 free checked bags and Platinums get two. Golds now get only one. South America flights get more bags. Flights to and from South America won’t have second bag charges. Full fare tickets and AAnytime awards don’t get free checked bags anymore. Again, not much notice. For flights operated by American, changes take place for tickets issued starting today. (Again with the lack of notice.) For flights operated by US Airways, changes take place for tickets issued starting April 23. (Not much notice but…
