A SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 hit a buffalo on takeoff from Surat enroute to Delhi. All 146 passengers and crew were safe, although the 737’s engine sustained damage. SpiceJet went to Twitter to explain, It happens to the best of ’em, like in September 1973 when a National Airlines 727 hit an alligator on landing at Tampa. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Here’s the News You Missed.. But Wish You Hadn’t
News and notes from around the interweb: Robots Will Enable Pilots To Avoid Starting Engines Until Right Before Takeoff Berliners fly from metal shed while waiting for airport Reno airport is getting Guadalajara service and season London flights. The press release says that London service “is contingent upon US Customs and Border Protection approval of landing rights.” Of course, CBP doesn’t approve ‘landing rights’ – they have to agree to staff the arrivals facility. And you can’t make ’em do it. Air Armenia has suspended operations.. until December 20th. They blame the Russians, for cutting off air navigation service in Russia. Because the airline doesn’t pay its bills. Don’t like the idea of making an investment in the Virgin American IPO? Consider a strategic stake in Vietnam Airlines instead. The joint venture between Nok Air…
Should You Use a Credit Card to Earn Miles When You Pay Taxes?
Reader Gail asks, I have a lot of taxes to pay – which credit card do you recommend, if any? I pay taxes using my Suntrust Delta debit card… less than $3 for the payment, earns 1 Delta mile per dollar. Sadly that’s no longer available. You can still get an American debit card that earns 1 mile per 2 dollars and gets the low debit card fee. However they won’t process large charges the way Suntrust will with its $35,000 per day transaction limit. Credit cards, though, are too expensive to process to make paying with those worth it for the miles, but it can be worth it as a way to meet minimum spend for a big credit card signup bonus. You’ll pay at least 1.87% of your tax bill as a fee…
Pay Bills With a Credit Card and Earn Miles
At the beginning of the year Evolve Money evolved into a great way to pay bills using gift cards you purchased with a credit card to pay off bills with vendors who don’t accept credit cards (or charge fees too high for it to be worthwhile). In that way, you could earn miles for paying bills. Evolve Money was one of the easiest ways to earn lots of miles at very little cost. The usefulness of Evolve Money for liquidating gift cards crashed down when they limited you to paying each vendor one time per month. No more serial payments using a bunch of gift cards to cover your mortgage! They don’t have all or even that many vendors in their system, but many mortgage providers are. Their limits remain in place, so no more…
Claims About Flight Attendants I Wish Were True
A piece in the Daily Mail claimed that there’s only one hotel in Nairobi that they can put crew up in, and that the hotel has so many complaints about raucous flight attendants that they’re at risk of losing their contract. Thus BA is going to have to stop flying to Nairobi unless their flight attendants become less wild. It’s a three year old article that came across my Facebook feed this morning. British Airways bosses fear having to scrap lucrative flights because of mounting complaints about raucous cabin crew parties at luxury hotels. Topless air hostesses and champagne-fuelled pool parties have prompted a flood of protests about wild behaviour. Now BA has warned its captains to control their crews during overnight stops – or the airline may be forced to abandon at least one…
British Airways Offering 50% Off Award Tickets, and You Still Get Hosed!
British Airways is running an award redemption sale through November 17 for travel through January 31. The sale is for economy travel between London and specific destinations, though there are quite a lot of them, and travel dates vary for a handful. Here are the cities that are 50% off US East Coast and Chicago are normally 40,000 miles. With this promotion they’re 20,000 miles roundtrip. Dallas, Houston, Denver, and San Diego are normally 50,000 miles. With this promotion they’re 25,000 miles roundtrip. Abu Dhabi Austin Bahrain Baku Bangalore Beijing Beirut Buenos Aires Cairo Calgary Chengdu Chicago Dallas Denver Dubai Houston Jeddah Johannesburg Kuwait Mexico City Montreal New York (JFK or Newark) Philadelphia Phoenix Rio de Janeiro Riyadh San Diego Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Tel Aviv Tokyo (Haneda or Narita) Washington (Baltimore or Dulles) These…
I’ve Heard of Xenophobia, But This is Ridiculous
Last week I reviewed the American Airlines Admirals Club in Buenos Aires. The club itself is gorgeous. The food offerings are far better than I would have expected. I thought the lounge wasn’t big enough for the number of guests at peak times, and I found it strange that a new-build lounge for an American flag carrier wouldn’t have North American-style power ports. Comment Agnel said, If I remember correctly, the US style outlets are prohibited by code in Argentina. My mom was doing some renovations in her condo and they couldn’t put them in. I managed to confirm this with American. American did want to put in these power ports, but were not permitted to do so. There are loaner adapters available in the club. Just ask an agent to borrow one. I think…
The Program With the Single Best Award Chart, Aeroplan Award Pricing Mistake Update, and Delta Fixes Online Award Booking
News and notes from around the interweb: The frequent flyer program with the single best award chart. High-end all-Audi rental car company Silvercar (see $9 Audi Car Rentals from Silvercar and How I Made $12 On My Audi Rental Car and How You Can Too) has increased their referral offer to $100. Here’s my referral code. You’re welcome to leave yours in the comments. Virgin Australia and Alaska Airlines award space appears to be back on the Delta.com website. So rather than a plot to prevent members from booking seats (either to keep Skymiles members off frenemy Alaska, and save money on Australia awards) it does look to have been a temporary glitch. There is so far a single report that Aeroplan may not be honoring it’s amazing award sale, where you could book travel…
The Second Worst Miles Just Became Even Worse
I tend to think that Spirit Airlines has the worse miles. Spirit’s miles expire after 90 days of inactivity unless you have their co-branded credit card and charge to it every month (although presumably charging somewhat less frequently can meet the 90 day requirement). Some airlines have close-in redemption fees. Spirit’s fees start within 180 days of travel. They do not have redemption partners. The reward for traveling on Spirit is… more travel on Spirit. Although – at least – you can redeem miles for magazines. I think of Virgin Atlantic as having the second-worst miles. We can debate this, of course. Icelandair miles, post-elimination of their Alaska Airlines partnership, are pretty useless (but not completely useless). And there are few programs I dislike dealing with more than Aeromexico’s. But among mainstream programs that US…
Introductions to Miles, to Credit, and to Buying and Selling Merchandise for Miles
News and notes from around the interweb: Great guide for beginners in the hobby: My friend Mommy Points has launched an introductory series of e-books. I previewed Hawaii for Nearly Free in the draft stage and think it’s a really good place for beginners to start — it’s a clear explanation of many of the concepts of miles and points, and shows you how to think about putting together a trip to a real world destination, how to earn the miles and how to use them. If you’re new to miles and points, check them out. How average age of accounts is calculated and affects your credit score. I also offer a fairly in-depth discussion of how your credit score works when you apply for credit cards (and why applying for cards can sometimes even…
