The AP’s Scott Mayerowitz offers the mainstream public a look into the offerings in international first class. Airlines certainly offer premium passengers rarified experiences such as tarmac transfers to the plane, gourmet meals onboard and on the ground, top wines, and space — personal space in their seat and general separation from the masses. Although this last is a bit of a mischaracterization, I think — it’s less about avoiding the ‘sort of people who travel coach’ and more about avoiding lots of people which brings with it stress. Yet some of the most cherished new international first-class perks have nothing to do with meals, drinks or seats. Global airlines are increasingly rewarding wealthy fliers with something more intangible: physical distance between them and everyone else. The idea is to provide an exclusive experience —…
Ferrying a Plane to Afghanistan, Radio Clip About Delta Frequent Flyer Upheaval, and Big Changes at Qantas (Bits ‘n Pieces for February 27, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: A fantastic story of a pilot hired to ferry a plane from Arizona to Afghanistan. Supersonic Jet Throws Traditional Design Out the Window (HT: Rob R.) My comments last night on WTOP Radio about Delta’s frequent flyer program changes Yesterday I outlined Qantas’ troubles. Lucky outlines their plan which amounts to shedding older aircraft, delaying purchase of aircraft and laying off staff. We’ll see the end to 747s with first class (there are only 6 left). They’re eliminating international service from Perth, shifting widebodies away from most domestic service, and re-timing some flights for better aircraft utilization. This should help a little bit on the cost side but there’s nothing here to increase revenue, no fundamental shifts in business despite losing AU$250 million over six months. You can…
The World Is Really Paying Attention to Delta’s Revenue-Based Changes (And Read On to See My ‘Outrage Face’)
I appeared on ABC’s World News Tonight talking Delta’s planned shift on January 1 to a revenue-based frequent flyer program. A major evening newscast, time is short, I explained the changes early in the segment and then came back at the end and explained that they’re risky — that other airlines will wait and watch, and how consumers respond will offer some direction to Delta’s competitors. Now, I get pretty darned impassioned when anyone puts my miles in jeopardy… I had a little more time to talk ‘winners and losers’ on WTOP Radio tonight in my home market of Washington, DC. I spoke to a print journalist today, and put together a piece for Conde’ Nast as well. I’m not sure I remember the last frequent flyer program change (as opposed to ‘air travel issue’)…
40,000 Mile Signup Bonus for No Fee the First Year LifeMiles Visa
Avianca LifeMiles has a co-branded Visa offered by U.S. Bank here in the States. Usually the signup bonus is just 20,000 miles. But there’s a new offer with a 40,000 mile signup bonus. It’s also a $0 annual fee the first year. As with recent posts about the statement credit Citi Hilton Reserve Card and the Fidelity 2% card, this card does not offer referral credit to me (only the card with the smaller bonus does). Though LifeMiles has a history of tweaking their award chart pricing without notice, they remain one of the best programs in Star Alliance and thus most useful programs in the world given one-way awards at half the cost of roundtrip, a still reasonable award chart, and no fuel surcharges. Their call center customer service can be a challenge, they…
1000 Free Turkish Airlines Miles for Updating Your Contact Information
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, a surprisingly useful program, is offering 1000 miles for contact information updates to your account. Updates can be done online or via the call center. The offer is valid through April 30. 250 Bonus Miles for members who update their TCKN (Republic of Turkey Identification Card Number) . 250 Bonus Miles for members who update contact (business or home address or email) details. 250 Bonus Miles for members who update mobile telephone numbers. 250 Bonus Miles for members who update contact information and click on all of the E-mail Subscriptions boxes Details in each field have to be changed to earn miles for that activity. Turkish offers some cheap awards for flights on Turkish aircraft, they do add fuel surcharges to awards, and as I’ve written before their status is easy to…
Big Changes Coming to Qantas to Stem Losses
Qantas used to have more or less a license to print money. In the early part of the last decade its main domestic rival Ansett Australia had gone under. And it had strong pricing power on key long haul routes. Come the latter half of the last decade, its international routes were hemorrhaging but a near monopoly domestically helped hide losses. Qantas’ expansion in Asia, and its shift to a joint business venture with Emirates rather than British Airways, has helped shore up its international business to some extent (although mainline expansion in Asia has done less well than that of its low cost subsidiary). As has their cutback in routes offering international first class, and offering of more seats on the same planes as a result. But an increasingly competitive domestic market has caused…
The Best Cash Back Card Has No Fee — and Now Comes With a Signup Bonus
The Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express is a 2% cash back card where you deposit funds into a Fidelity investment account. It has no annual fee. And normally it has no signup bonus. Now you can get it with a $75 bonus for making $500 purchases within 60 days. For avoidance of doubt and disclosure, this card does not offer any referral credit to me of any sort, and I do not have this card myself. I’ve long written that it’s the best cash rebate card, most offer 1% or 1.5% or bonus only specific spend categories but this is 2% on all purchases. No signup bonus means it’s no all that leveraged for quick rewards. But it makes the opportunity cost of spending on a mileage-earning card where you earn just 1 mile per…
The Other Shoe Drops at Delta: Revenue-Based Program Starts Next Year
As though Delta’s recent award chart devaluation wasn’t bad enough (and Delta thought it wasn’t, since they announced a no-notice devaluation to tied them over to the previously announced devaluation), the Skymiles program has come out with the major restructuring we’ve all been fearing for the last couple of years. Details are now up on the Delta website. For Delta marketed or ticketed flights (purchased from Delta, or with a Delta flight number) earning will be based on ticket cost beginning January 1, 2015. We’re getting 5 redemption tiers for bookings made January 1, 2015 onward, but Delta hasn’t shared details on what those will look like — and won’t until the fourth quarter. Delta’s been pushing towards revenue-based programs for years, they made changes to the earning structure (that they backed off from) 11…
The TSA’s New “Expedited” Choose Your Own Checkpoint Screening Adventure
I had a TSA screening experience unlike any other, not bad mind you just new and different. I was departing Charleston, South Carolina and was happy to have discovered a few days earlier that TSA Secure Flight information transfers over well from American’s booking engine to US Airways flights. I had booked an American Airlines codeshare flying US Airways at AA.com in order to use an American voucher, and still managed to get PreCheck when flying US Airways. I knew I had read that Charleston now had PreCheck, in one of the batches of 60 airports added in the fall. So when I approached the checkpoint at about 2pm and there was no PreCheck lane, I asked. The travel document checker told me that they only open the PreCheck lane when it’s “really busy.” but…
TODAY ONLY: 20% Off Virgin America
Virgin America is offering a 20% discount if you book today and travel between March 17 and April 17 using promo code LEISURE20. This is valid for all non-refundable Main Cabin, Instant Upgrade to Main Cabin Select, or non-refundable First Class tickets. You have to travel Monday through Saturday only, Sunday travel is blacked out. The itinerary can’t be multi-city and can’t include more than two passengers or multiple destinations in order for the coupon to work. (HT: The Flight Deal) 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 feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
