Readers of this blog know that I’m generally a fan of American Airlines, I fly over 100,000 miles a year with them and I think the AAdvantage program is the most rewarding airline frequent flyer program at least at the top elite tier. Every once in awhile though an airline does something that reminds you why people hate airlines. This time it happened to be American. Apparently American’s baggage system broke down in Miami for several hours on Friday. The airline couldn’t deliver checked bags to aircraft. Planes took off without any checked bags loaded Passengers weren’t told their bags weren’t onboard Indeed, in many cases they weren’t even informed on arrival at their destination Usually when truly terrible situations develop, there’s an external factor (most often its weather) combined with very bad decision-making. Here…
Is It The End of Loyalty, Time For Everyone For Themselves?
At the beginning of the year I wrote The State of Frequent Flyer Miles in 2015. Award charts are more expensive. Miles are easier to earn. The products we cna redeem for are better than ever. The economy and travel business are relatively good which makes programs less generous with us. And they’ve gotten smarter, there are fewer opportunities to game. But as they continue to get more complex opportunities emerge. And the economy won’t stay strong forever. Something else has changed. Some of this is driven by the economy, that programs aren’t as worried about our loyalty in good times. But that’s not all of it. At some programs, the gloves are off, there seem to be no constraints, things that were unthinkable for programs to do in the past are now just ordinary…
The Changes That Will Happen to American’s Award Chart After The US Airways Merger is Complete
Reader Ryan wanted to know, [W]hat do you think would be a ‘worst-case’ scenario for US/AA miles devaluation after the programs merge in Q2? Plenty of folks thought that combining US Airways and American frequent flyer programs was a chance to implement a brand new program on day 1, a revenue-based one like Delta and United. I predicted from the beginning that: The primary focus would be on integrating the airlines When you merge you don’t want to alienate your customers So the merger would be reprieve from devaluations, for the most part. (Not exclusively.) And indeed, we know what the 2015 program looks like and I don’t expect a big upending of the award chart in the second quarter of 2015 when Dividend Miles gets migrated over to AAdvantage. I don’t necessarily expect big…
Here’s The Plan to Bring Back SkyMall, and My Plan to Do It Better.
Via Miles Remaining, Scottevest founder Scott Jordan has a plan to revive SkyMall. Here’s the sordid tale that led to SkyMall’s bankruptcy My favorite SkyMall item Jordan’s observations are: Skymall is as much entertaining as selling It needs a strong content partner It needs to be fresh So he’s got a content partner and wants to print different versions of the magazine concurrently so travelers see different pages on different flights. (That would seem to reduce the prices he can charge for advertising products, since each ad would have less reach.) And he wants to do more tech gadgets than kitsch. I wonder if that makes them Brookstone and loses the entertainment value. And tech items easily purchased elsewhere — even in real-time through inflight internet — will be harder to price at a premium…
Giving Away All My Worldly Possessions
The next frequent flyer gathering I’ll attend in a small ‘FTU Advanced’ session in San Diego at the beginning of March. April’s Dallas event will be the only major Frequent Traveler University this year. Just a little window into my personal quirks. One of the things I do as I prepare for these is clean out my closet. I pick up lots of swag I am a strong minimalist at heart I prefer not to take ‘stuff’ from vendors in any case So these events are a way to give things to people who will value them more than I do, while letting me remain comfortable in not taking ‘stuff’ that would open me to criticisms. And it keeps my wife happy. It’s also an opportunity to clean out expiring coupons like lounge passes. I…
Etihad Airways Offering Status Match to Their Gold Elite Level
Etihad Airways is offering to status match elites from other airlines to their Gold level. Status matches are of course common though increasingly airlines will only give you status for a limited period of time, if at all, until you first fly a certain amount with them. Etihad on the other hand offers straight-up status matches, but only irregularly and they can take some time to respond. They also limit the total number of matches at any given time (or say they do). The program is most beneficial for folks flying Etihad (bonus miles and extra baggage) and in particular in economy (with lounge access, expedited immigration, etc). But it’s increasingly useful given that the airline has been buying stakes in other carriers around the world and also is a points transfer partner of Citi…
SkyMiles Technology Update Coming: What Will it Mean for the Program?
Delta has announced that SkyMiles systems will be unavailable early Saturday morning. What will this mean for the SkyMiles program? Possibly nothing. Technology maintenance is common. I feel like it happens to the Chase website and to the Hyatt website constantly. And yet when Delta removes award charts from its website, makes changes to technology to eliminate stopovers from pricing correctly online (and then eliminating stopovers on awards all together), and effectively imposes a 21-day advance purchase requirements on saver awards in most Delta markets — all without giving members notice, let alone advance notice — it’s hard not to get concerned any time Delta says their technology for the program is changing. Delta would go a long way towards establishing trust by simply announcing its intentions in advance even when it’s taking important things…
Airline Fuel Surcharges May Be Illegal. Here’s Why It Won’t Matter.
I regularly hate on fuel surcharges. They’re bogus fees that have nothing to do with the cost of fuel. A full transatlantic flight – or even one 3/4ths full – will generally cover more than the full cost of gas at current prices with the surcharges alone. And surcharges are ostensibly just meant to cover the increasing cost of fuel, not the total cost and certainly not to generate a profit. Who Should Care About Fuel Surcharges — and Who Shouldn’t The only people who should worry about fuel surcharges are corporate travel buyers and award passengers. The median passenger pays a price for their ticket that’s based on supply of available seats and demand for those seats, not based on cost. Fuel surcharges are being used as a mechanism to raise and lower prices…
One Woman Who Deserves a Place in Aviation History and Another Who Attacked a Flight Attendant, Plus the Most Important Meal of the Day and Where I Really Want to Go
News and notes from around the interweb: I’ve always wanted to go here. I’m genuinely not sure why I haven’t (including when there was a $61 mistake fare..). How An Ohio Housewife Flew Around The World, Made History, And Was Then Forgotten Breakfast is the most important meal of the day… for hotels. (HT: Alan H.) For business destinations, access to quick breakfast, ideally that you can take back to your room so you can work while you get ready is ideal. For resorts, one GM that I much respect told me the first thing she does at a new property is work with the chef to plot out breakfast because it’s an indulgence people don’t get to enjoy in their daily lives. A passenger onboard a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles apparently…
New Company Will Buy Your Miles for 1.5 Cents Apiece… in Bitcoin
I’m a fan of Bitcoin, more generally though of block chain technology. It has a lot of interesting future applications that haven’t been fully fleshed out yet. Bitcoin gets a bad name when used to facilitate illicit transactions. Merely using the currency, however, doesn’t mean that illicit transactions are safe to engage in — especially once they intersect with the real world. So this piece about a new service, BitcoinForMiles.com, seems like a very bad idea. They say they’ll buy miles at 1 to 1.7 cents apiece, and that their average price so far is 1.5 cents. That’s higher than what you’ll get from most brokers. And while I believe strongly in the ‘first sale’ doctrine with respect to intellectual property, and am open to the idea that it ought to be permissible for loyalty…
