News and notes from around the interweb: New crowd source app for helicopter rides to and from the 3 New York area airports. First ride is $99. Hermes interiors, hors d’oeuvres from Bouchon Bakery. Not the worst idea at the first ride price for JFK and Newark. The Affordable Care Act is a sore point for the pilots contract at American Airlines. The relevant issue is what happens if and when the union’s health plan is determined to trigger a Cadillac tax? Marriott has brought back their ‘elite status buyback’ offer as they do each year. Citibank’s American AAdvantage Executive cardholders can now buy up for a spouse to access the Admirals Clubs Royal Air Maroc to join Star Alliance? This would be cool, since while Casablanca is pretty easy to get to on points…
Korean Air’s New First and Business Class Seats Revealed…
I’m a big fan of Korean Air — a good product and great award availability, and plenty of US routes. They also do more intra-Asia flying with a first class cabin than other carriers as well. Whereas most airlines limit their first class to long haul routes, you can fly Korean first class even on many short routes. Korean’s old first class was comfortable, but generations behind. The current long haul first class seat, which I flew the Sunday after Thanksgiving a couple of years ago thanks to their unprecedented award availability, is extremely comfortable, though not especially private. They now have a new first and business class product, and it’s installed in the first few aircraft.
Fuel Surcharges Lose Credibility With Low Fuel Prices, Invite Government Intervention
Airlines like fuel surcharges because: Changing the fuel surcharge in a market can raise or lower every ticket price in that market, no need to re-file every single fare. They allow an airline to raise price even with many fixed-fare agreements. And, of course, because they can be charged to frequent flyers trying to redeem a captive points currency. US frequent flyers — who don’t participate in mileage programs based outside the US — don’t have to deal with fuel surcharges very much. American adds them to awards on British Airways (and to a very modest extent on Iberia) Alaska adds them to awards on British Airways Delta adds them to awards on some partners – like China Southern and China Eastern – and to travel originating in Europe. United doesn’t add them at all.…
When Will Chase Points Transfers to Korean Return?
Korean Air has been one of my favorite uses of Chase points. First class awards have been so darned easy to get. There are real sweet spots in their Skyteam award chart They offer cheap awards to Hawaii Although they are of course very Korean and their processes for redeeming awards are unique. Korean went offline as a Chase transfer partner in November, though I wrote that it was expected to come back based on what Chase was suggesting. Korean Air’s Skypass website lists Chase Ultimate Rewards as a partner and indicates transfers will be back this month. ※ Chase Ultimate Rewards point transfer is temporarily unavailable. It is planned to re-open during Jan, 2015. When I flagged that last month, I said I didn’t take the date as definitive. Since I have readers asking…
Earning 50,000 Mile Bonuses Multiple Times, How to Find the Best Award Flights, and Let Amex Pay Your TV Bill
News and notes from around the interweb: Wendy Perrin on How to Find the Best Flight with your Frequent Flier Miles. I agree. Get $100 back from American Express by paying a DirecTV bill. You may be able to register several cards and get the rebate from each, and you can even pay your friends’ bills. Leverage it to cover costs of TV and miles. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about earning big miles from investment accounts, plenty of people have earned 50,000 mile bonuses more than once. Fidelity also has a $500 Apple gift card promotion. What are the most underrated credit cards? Not best, most underrated. My picks are the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express and Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express. What are yours? The most exclusive lounge in the world?…
What I Love Most in Paris: Neighborhood Meats, Cheeses, Breads, and Sweets
Previous installments: Introduction: Paris for the Holidays, Saying Goodbye to American’s Old Business Class, and a Suite at the Park Hyatt Vendome American First Class Lounge Chicago O’Hare and Business Class, Chicago – Paris Park Hyatt Paris Vendome Executive Suite Avoiding Tourist Traps: Good Places to Eat Near the Eiffel Tower and Picasso Museum in Paris Where to Find the Best Macarons in the World One of my absolute favorite things in Paris are the specialty shops. In their own way I love the mega-stores in the U.S. I like that I can get pretty much everything I need grocery shopping in a single place, whether at Whole Foods or a less expensive chain. But I also like that in Paris you’re much more likely to stop at a cheese shop, a meat shop, and…
This Post is Giving Away $1000 and Elite Status!
The past several days I ran a giveaway of gift cards and car rental status. This was all courtesy of National Car Rental – to highlight their One Two Free promotion. There are (5) prize winners, each to receive a $200 gift card and Executive Elite status. Not only do Executive Elites get to pick from the Executive aisle of higher category cars (as National Executive status allows) but they earn free rental days faster and in my experience are able to redeem those free rental days for premium vehicles. To enter I asked readers to leave a comment answering the question, what is the one thing that can make your car rental experience better? Here are the five winning entries: (drawn via Random.org)
American Express is Testing Just Buying You Business and First Class Tickets When Awards Are Available on American and United
The new American Express Points Match program is a targeted test which allows some small business cardmembers to redeem their Membership Rewards points for travel on United and American without transferring points to a partner frequent flyer program like Aeroplan or British Airways. When awards are available on American or United, targeted members can call American Express and Amex will go ahead and book revenue tickets on those flights and deduct the number of Amex points that American or United would have taken from your AAdvantage or MileagePlus account. The steps are:
Where to Find the Best Macarons in the World
Previous installments: Introduction: Paris for the Holidays, Saying Goodbye to American’s Old Business Class, and a Suite at the Park Hyatt Vendome American First Class Lounge Chicago O’Hare and Business Class, Chicago – Paris Park Hyatt Paris Vendome Executive Suite Avoiding Tourist Traps: Good Places to Eat Near the Eiffel Tower and Picasso Museum in Paris A couple of years ago I spent New Years Eve in Paris. It’s was a fabulous night — Laduree for macarons and champagne, then metroing to a spot with fewer tourists than the Champs Elysee but where you could still see fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. Street vendors were set up with food, while people ran through the streets with champagne. In the comments to that post many folks suggested that while Laduree’s macarons are good, they don’t come…
Should Higher Revenue Flights, or With More Elites, Get to Land First?
New technology will make it easier for air traffic control to prioritize certain flights over others. Richard Deakin, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), said the introduction of remote technology, sensors and infrared cameras would increase the amount of data air controllers received from flights, The Sunday Times reported. Controversially, this would in turn allow controllers to prioritise flights at the request of the airlines. In the UK press this is being described — and chastised — as letting flights with the most elites and premium customers land first. There’s nothing inherently moral about ‘first come first served’ and while there may be other prioritization rules that offend sensibilities, more information and prioritizing air traffic makes good sense. Experts have suggested such changes would destroy what has been a basic premise of…
