US Airways brought back their “up to a 100% bonus on shared miles” (miles transferred between accounts) for just this week. So if you want to take advantage of it, today’s your last opportunity until and unless the bonus returns. And since it’s been a US Airways practice but not an American AAdvantage practice, the merger with American makes future such bonuses somewhat uncertain. You can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles with the offer, which should appear instantly with the transfer. The cost for this is “$0.01 per mile plus a processing fee of $30 and a tax recovery charge of 7.5%” — transferring 50,000 miles from one account to another will deposit 100,000 in that account at a cost of $567.50. Since that’s a net increase of 50,000 miles you’re buying miles at…
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The New Merged American-US Airways Will Adopt American’s Service Levels (Food!)
With the US Airways – American Airlines merger, expected to close shortly, there are basically three risks for customers: Integrations never go as well as hoped. Training employees on new systems is hard, even when you get the IT right. People are grumpy. They take it out on customers. This is a challenge for any airline merger, and a key reason why many business travelers don’t like mergers – period. US Airways members lose out on generous awards. US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance which means more flight options to Europe and Asia than oneworld, which it will be joining with the merger. There are some great values in the US Airways award chart, like 90,000 miles from the US to North Asia. US Airways agents are generally clueless and their IT…
US Airways 100% Bonus on Sharing Miles is Back – the Best Mileage Purchase Offer Returns!
US Airways is offering up to a 100% bonus on shared miles (miles transferred between accounts) between December 2 and December 6. Don’t transfer points today (December 1) — wait until this promotion goes live. You can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles with the offer, which should appear instantly with the transfer. The cost for this is “$0.01 per mile plus a processing fee of $30 and a tax recovery charge of 7.5%” — transferring 50,000 miles from one account to another will deposit 100,000 in that account at a cost of $567.50. Since that’s a net increase of 50,000 miles you’re buying miles at $0.01135 per mile. At that price I’m a buyer. What I love about US Airways is awards in premium cabins on Star Alliance partner airlines, and a generally reasonable…
What to Cook This Weekend When You Tire of Turkey
I can only eat so much turkey. Perhaps some of you have special ways to prepare it, but it will always be fairly bland to me — and after a Thanksgiving dinner and perhaps a once over with leftovers, I need to spice things up a bit. Of course you may be entertaining family (or being entertained by them) throughout the weekend. But if wherever you’re staying has access to an Asian grocer, or even a Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, or the equivalent of either, you could bring a little bit of flavor and spice back into your meals. Six years ago I blogged some Thai recipes that I picked up while staying at the Le Meridien Khao Lak outisde of Phuket, Thailand. In December 2006 the hotel had mistakenly loaded rates (attached to the…
Despite Devaluations, the Miles Game Goes On — And We Still Win
When I got started in miles and points I mostly earned through actual butt-in-seat flying. Miles were much harder to earn: Credit card bonuses seemed a big deal when they were 15,000 miles for a signup (I had never seen a 20,000 mile bonus for a United card until April 2002). I thought iDine — earning miles for eating at particular restaurants — was pretty cool. If memory serves, United once limited that to elites. Redeeming awards wasn’t nearly as flexible, either: US frequent flyer programs did not allow one-way awards, and you could not combine more than one partner on a roundtrip award. If you booked a business class award on a partner airline and needed a domestic flight to connect up to the international segment, United would only throw that in ‘as a…
US Airways-American Airlines Merger: Ten Things to Expect Next
Now that the Department of Justice has settled its anti-trust suit with American and US Airways, what can we expect to happen as frequent flyers? The deal is expected to close in December. US Airways will leave Star Alliance, quickly, and join oneworld. We don’t have a timeframe yet but it should be within a few months. That means if you want to book Star Alliance awards using US Airways miles, you will want to book those very soon. And any changes, once US Airways leave Star, will need to be onto airlines that are in oneworld instead. Once the two airlines are both in oneworld, they will also implement a partnership with each other, and they will likely make it possible to move miles back and forth between US Airways Dividend Miles and American…
Believe it Or Not, Some People Will Benefit from Lower Award Prices from United MileagePlus
Oddly enough, with United’s big devaluation that goes into effect February 1, there are actually some awards that are getting cheaper. Did you know that even the price of some first class partner awards have gone down? After the devaluation announcement, after looking at the increases that United is pushing through (including of its standard award chart), I compared United’s new award chart to American’s and Delta’s. These comparisons were of awards to and from North America, though. Flyers in some other parts of the world, traveling to some destinations, will actually see decreases. Most of my readers are based in North America, so lot of good that does you, right? Well, sometimes putting together complicated award trips all over the world you might find yourself needing a one-way award flight between Central Asia and…
Class Action Fuel Surcharge Lawsuit Against British Airways Going Forward
Last summer I wrote that a law firm was preparing a class action suit against British Airways over fuel surcharges. The case was filed and a federal judge has refused to dismiss it. Fuel Surcharges Briefly Explained Award passengers are frequently shocked to learn that their ‘free’ mileage ticket costs as much as $1000 in cash when redeeming points of certain frequent flyer programs. Fuel surcharges are a fixed amount of money added to a fare. The amount will usually be the same across all fares for a given city pair. In other words, all “New York – London” fares that an airline publishes will add the same amount for fuel surcharge. Fuel surcharges are an easy, efficient way for airlines to alter their airfares across a given market. They can change one number —…
Devaluation Plan B: How I’ll Keep Flying International First Class on Miles For Years to Come No Matter What US Frequent Flyer Programs Do
US Frequent Flyer Programs: on the Brink United is devaluing its award chart. The program is still good for coach and business class awards, good for awards on United, but will not at all be good for partner airline awards in international first class. That’s why I need to look to alternatives. I do not expect a major devaluation from American. Obviously facts will prove me right or wrong on that. For now it is by far my program of choice, and especially so within oneworld. But I still want to prepare myself and think ahead. Delta of course has SkyPesos… a debased currency which does have strategic uses and that I do accumulate but that cannot get me excited at all, in part because of the limited quality airline products you can redeem for…
Will American Follow Suit and Devalue its Miles?
United’s award chart will be devalued come February, award prices are going up, up up. Big changes at United have many flyers considering alternatives. But it would be a shame to jump to a new airline to accumulate points, only to find that airline devaluing its own points shortly thereafter. That uncertainty is what’s holding many people back, and helping United. I’m going to predict there will be some adjustments to American’s award chart over the coming year, but that we will not see a wholesale devaluation like what United has done — not even close. American’s Award Chart Isn’t That Much Less Expensive Now for Many Awards, So There’s No Need to Raise Most Prices United’s changes aren’t as bad as they seem for many flyers. Coach doesn’t go up, or up very much,…
