Hans M. forwards along this email from Rewards Network which runs ‘AAdvantage Dining’ and most of the airline and hotel co-brand dining programs where you earn miles for restaurant meals. It’s titled, Don’t Worry, We Won’t Tell Your Boss… He writes, I find this amusing how blunt they are about trying to bribe you into making purchasing decisions to reward yourself against the best interest of your company. I don’t think it’s troubling at all, I don’t think it says you should reward yourself by acting against the interests of your company. It says go out to eat. Don’t eat at your desk. Like the old Keith Ferrazzi business book, Never Eat Alone (well, that would double your miles if you picked up the check). This might be more troubling if the pitch was “spend…
Singapore Airlines Lets You Waitlist for Awards. Is This a Good Strategy?
Reader Brian said, I’d like to see you talk about the singapore waitlisting process (especially for the much touted suites class). There isn’t much written about it so it would be interesting to hear your analysis as a “professional” award booker. Possible areas of content: Is it ever successful? How often does it clear and on what routes? Is it worth speculatively transferring flexible miles over for the chance of getting into suites? Is there any way to predict your chances? Singapore Airlines is pretty generous with reward space for their own members, they’re just not at all generous with reward space for their partners’ members. If you have United miles you won’t be able to get long haul business and first class awards on Singapore. But if you use Singapore Airlines own miles you…
Review: the Dorm Room Where You Want to Sleep Between First Class and Paradise
This post details my airport overnight at the Premier Inn at the Abu Dhabi airport. This is my second time staying there, it just makes sense to me arriving around 8pm and departing on a flight about 12 hours later. Previous installments: Introduction, overview, and costs Star Alliance first class and business class lounges, LAX Etihad First Class, Los Angles – Abu Dhabi.. the 3rd Longest Flight in the World! Upon landing at an apron position, and taking a bus to the terminal, I had my strangest immigration experience yet. And as a result it took about an hour to get from plane to bed. That made me all the more grateful not to be heading into Abu Dhabi, and needing to head back in the morning. I wasn’t going to ‘go out’. I had…
Amazing Business Class Award Space to Europe for Just 25,000 Miles Each Way, Airlines Steal from Passengers, and a Pilot’s Inflight Proposal
News and notes from around the interweb: $450 bonus for opening Chase bank accounts A United employee just stole a passenger’s cash at the security checkpoint, and an American flight attendant stole coins from UNICEF Change for Children donations. American is expected to get its single operating certificate for the US Airways merger next month. Not a big step in the customer-facing process, but a big leap for the progress of the merger. Really good Aer Lingus business class award availability from Boston to Ireland. That’s important because British Airways charges just 12,500 points each way for coach and 25,000 for business class on these transatlantic flights — and because those prices go up April 28. Free MGM Gold status Alaska Airlines pilot proposes to a flight attendant inflight.
The Real Wind Down Schedule for the US Airways Credit Card, and The True Last Date to Apply
Earlier I wrote about the merger of US Airways Dividend Miles into AAdvantage coming this weekend. One of the things I noted is that this weekend is not the last opportunity to apply for a US Airways MasterCard. Several readers noted that Lucky from One Mile at a Time wrote, At some point this week, new applications for the US Airways Dividend Miles Card will no longer be possible, and soon these cards will be converted into an AAdvantage Aviator Card Whereas I pointed out,
Delta Adds 2 Airlines to Online Award Booking, Will Bring Back Virgin Australia
Delta added an online award calendar back in November (and then of course used it as a fig leaf for the elimination of award charts). Since then they’ve been adding various airline partners to their online booking functionality like China Southern and China Eastern and Aerolineas Argentinas and Garuda Indonesia as well as China Airlines and Gol. Now Delta has more updates. Aeroflot and Vietnam Airlines Added to Online Award Booking Aeroflot has decent business class award availability for two passengers much of the time and flies from New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Miami. Their inflight product is better than you think. And their flights are a way to travel beyond Moscow as well, such as to India. Vietnam Airlines doesn’t have a fantastic inflight product in business (though their new 787s will…
YOU DON’T SEE THIS EVERY DAY: Airline Refunds and Apologizes for a Fee They Were Correct to Charge
Aer Lingus refunded a 214 euro charge for transporting a man’s child. (Photo from Wikipedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, By Brian from Toronto, Canada (EI-DVH)) He booked travel for a child who was less than 2 during the outbound portion of the trip but turned 2 while gone and was no longer eligible for infant pricing. Children under age 2 are generally eligible to fly in a parent’s lap without their own seat. Child aged 2 and over are not. That’s not a rule unique to Aer Lingus, but it is on the Aer Lingus website. Nonetheless, the man was furious that he wasn’t hit over the head with this information during the booking process. He was forced to pay for his child’s seat on the way home, and he…
Get a Free Hotel from United and a New American Express Airport Experience
News and notes from around the interweb: Free hotel room to shower and freshen up when you fly United international business or first class How to use the new metro silver line to travel between Washington National and Dulles airports American Express partners with Toronto Pearson to offer premium services throughout the airport experience Why does United change its flight numbers so often? Crediting United flights to other Star Alliance airlines is getting industry trade pub coverage. The percentage of United fliers that misconnect at O’Hare. It’s 2.5% for mainline and 3% for United Express.
Review: Flying First Class on the Third Longest Flight in the World
This post details my first class award redemption using American AAdvantage miles to fly Etihad, Los Angeles – Abu Dhabi … the third longest flight in the world. Previous installments: Introduction, overview, and costs Star Alliance first class and business class lounges, LAX After visiting the Star Alliance first class lounge, popping over to their business class lounge and outdoor deck, and returning to the first class lounge, the woman from Etihad who met us at the first class check-in counter came to collect us when it was time for boarding and escort us downstairs to the departures level of the terminal out out to our gate. Once onboard I remembered that concomitant with the introduction of a new first class product onboard Etihad’s Airbus A380 (‘Residence’ and ‘First Apartment’) as well as on the…
No More Fuel Surcharges on Virgin Australia Awads with Virgin America (and How to Get Their Points)
Virgin America Eliminates Fuel Surcharges on Virgin Australia Award Redemption Virgin America is a revenue-based frequent flyer program when using points for their own flights (points costs are based on the price of the ticket you’re buying) but there’s an award chart when redeeming for travel on partners. US – Australia business class awards on Virgin Australia cost 45,000 Virgin America Elevate points one way or 80,000 points roundtrip. In the past there have been taxes and fuel surcharges in addition to points, with those fuel surcharges costing more than $400 each way. Virgin America no longer collects fuel surcharges on Virgin Australia flights, so the cost of these awards just went down by better than $800 roundtrip. Indeed, without fuel surcharges even an economy award (25,000 points one way or 40,000 points roundtrip) will…
