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 —…
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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 All-Around Credit Card is Chase Sapphire Preferred
Key Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred Veterans already know this, although the very experienced will find that they can earn the most bonus points with the Ink Plus® Business Card because it earns 5 points per dollar on telecommunications (cell phone, internet, satellite/cable tv) and at office supply stores (with all the myriad things you can buy there, including online through the Chase Ultimate Rewards mall for even more bonus points). Plus it has a signup bonus of 50,000 points after $5000 spend within 3 months and a $0 fee the first year ($95 thereafter). But for someone looking for just one card, wanting to know which one is best, I recommend Chase Sapphire Preferred. I have this conversation on a daily basis, and at events it’s probably the question I’m most asked. I start by…
Starwood Changing Award Prices on 20% of Its Hotels
Starwood has announced its annual changes in award categories. The increases are centered in North America, the decreases in Asia, with more hotels going down than up but more hotels entering the upper redemption tiers than leaving those tiers. Ultimately changes we can live with. Please note that we are not adding new categories or changing category pricing. Just over 20% of hotels are changing category, of these 56% are moving down and 44% are moving up. Here’s the preliminary (‘subject to change’) list of hotels changing category. Hotels dropping in award category: 8 hotels are dropping in category in Africa/Middle East. 88 hotels are dropping in category in Asia/Pacific. This is great news for redemptions in China and India and across the region. Oddly with so many hotels dropping in the region, none are…
Club Carlson Reduces Points-Earning, Increases Prices on Reward Nights, and Starts Counting Free Nights Towards Elite Status
2013 was the year of hotel devaluations, requiring more points to redeem reward nights. Hotels are generally full, and prices up, so hotel loyalty programs haven’t needed to be as generous. Devaluations took various forms — new award categories, wholesale point increases, shifting categories, and structural changes. And they were doing in varying degrees, at the extreme end was Hilton’s absolute bloodletting. Some gave notice, others did not. Meanwhile Club Carlson, the loyalty program for Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns & Suites, didn’t make a move. Until now (HT: Hans) There are some positive changes, but the biggest change from my perspective is increased award prices for many hotels and a new top tier redemption category. Here’s the summary they sent by email: More Redemption Options Club Carlson is introducing premium room…
Unlocking the Virgin Australia Award Chart (Now that They’re a Starwood Transfer Partner)
Virgin Australia has more non-stop award availability, especially in premium cabins, between the US and Australia than anyone else. By far. They have flights from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. I’ve managed to get four business class awards on the Brisbane flight over Christmas. They’re a Delta frequent flyer partner, and though Delta charges a pricey 160,000 miles roundtrip for business class between the US and Australia (fortunately, they no longer add fuel surcharges in addition to miles), this is more or less the best Australia redemption out there. The only alternatives, much of the time and certainly during peak season, involve flying via Asia — often double the travel time. And that’s really the only extent to which I’ve paid attention to them. (You can use Virgin America miles on Virgin Australia,…
I Need Your Help Before I Write My Next Trip Report!
I’m about to start another trip report and I’d really appreciate your feedback on how I should go about it. Back at the end of August it looked like American was going to start adding fuel surcharges onto all partner awards (where the partner charged those on paid tickets). It turns out to have been a system glitch, compounded by a vaguely worded memo talking about changes to certain revenue tickets, and then mistakenly confirmed by American’s twitter team. Oops. But during the few hours that this was going on I decided to book an award ticket, to get in under the wire and burn some miles and presumably save myself some money on fuel surcharges in the process. I booked Cathay Pacific first class New York – Hong Kong and return, and then added…
Airlines Duel Over the Best Food in Economy, the February 15 Deadline, Woman Offers Inflight Sex, and More Sochi Hotel Goodness (Bits ‘n Pieces for February 11, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Malaysia Airlines is taking heat for the quality of the Nasi Lemak (a national rice dish) that it served in economy on a ~ 750 mile flight. The carrier promises to take “mmediate measures to improve the quality of its in-flight meal.” Meanwhile rival discount airline Air Asia (tagline: “Now everyone can fly!”) touts the quality of its own nasi lemak. Imagine such a rivalry in the U.S.! (HT: uggboy on Milepoint) Starwood is offering double points for eating at their hotel restaurants when you aren’t staying there as a guest. Woman went berserk on a Delta flight when another passenger turned her down for sex. Perhaps Delta’s planes just didn’t offer convenient places to join? If you got in any Hyatt Gold Passport reward night reservations before…
40% Discount on Purchased United Miles
Through February 17 United is offering up to a 40% discount on purchased miles. Buy 15,000 to 39,000 miles and receive a 25% discount, or buy 40,000 miles or more for a 40% discount. United now allows the purchase of up to 150,000 miles per year. But would you want to at this price? You’ll still pay 2.26 cents per mile all-in with the 40% discount (requiring you to buy at least 40,000 miles). And while that would have been a little high — I’d not really have wanted to buy miles above 2 cents, though this is as low a price as United directly sells miles for — in a post-devaluation MileagePlus world I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where I’d be buying 40,000 United miles, enough to get the price down…
Spirit Airlines Wants You to Pay More for Your Ticket on the Day of Departure if the Price of Fuel Rises
I love that Spirit Airlines exists. They serve a different market niche than I find myself in. Air Asia uses the slogan, “Now Everyone Can Fly!” and Spirit is very much in that same mold. I don’t like their miles. I love their advertising. But at root I can appreciate that if their route network serves you and you can navigate their myriad fees, you can often fly cheaper than any other alternative. And they do seem really transparent about their fees if you book on their website. It’s bookings through third party sites that can lead to confusion, where folks may not know what they’re getting into. That’s the key, and don’t book Spirit if you don’t want the product Spirit offers. The AP’s Scott Mayerowitz spends time playing board games in the home…
