Airlines have tried all manner of boarding processes for years in an attempt to load the plane more quickly. Turnaround time for an aircraft matters — to remain on schedule (delays are costly in terms of labor and misconnects), for customer satisfaction, to avoid losing air traffic control slots (delays can cascade and increasing costs can themselves increase costs). And what seems to work for awhile no longer works — due to customer complacency, due to changing behaviors, and also varies with how full an aircraft is. Checked bag fees mean more bags are brought onboard where possible. Although whereas airlines used to allow two carryon bags US government regulations now only allow one (and a ‘personal item’) as a way of speeding up a still-slow security process. The net effect of more bags is…
Why PointsHound is My New Favorite Hotel Booking Site
Back in October I covered the launch of hotel booking site PointsHound. They were giving out free miles for joining, which was cool. But at the time I said that I probably wouldn’t use the site. That’s all changing. PointsHound is a site that gives you miles – often quite a lot of miles – for your hotel bookings. Here’s what I explained at the time: [W]hile many websites like TopCashBack and eBates will offer cash back for the hotel bookings you make through the hotel’s own website, PointsHound rebates you in the form of miles and has you book through their own system. The downside to making bookings through third party websites is that some chains do not allow accrual of elite stays and nights for those reservations, some do not allow points-earning, and…
Bits ‘n Pieces for May 15, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Delta’s Lawyers Move to South America? AviancaTaca LifeMiles makes some mostly minor tweaks to their award chart. I don’t like unannounced changes. Some programs are more trustworthy than others, and the ability to make changes at will is why I don’t like keeping huge balances (sometimes unavoidable) and why I don’t generally buy miles that aren’t for immediate use. Let’s Spend All The Loot Before The Cops Catch Us: The FAA awarded bonuses to a substantial portion of its workforce right before making sequester-imposed cuts, despite a directive from the Department of Transportation not to do so. (HT: Alan H.) 90% of Expensive is Still Expensive: Reader S.B reminds that the British Airways Visa still offers 10% off on paid BA tickets. At one point the benefit was…
Why Airline Elite Status Matters: You Get Home (in Comfort) Despite Delays and Cancellations
Sunday night I flew home from Colorado Springs. That’s the most important sentence of this post. I actually managed to fly home — despite delays, two mechanicals, a change of flights, re-routing to a different airport, and a change of aircraft. Oh, and did I mention my upgrades cleared all the way through? Inbound aircraft was delayed. American’s website was showing only 15 minutes, which would have given me 35 minutes in Dallas. That didn’t look realistic. Aircraft made up time enroute to Colorado Springs. We boarded and would have been on our way 25 minutes late. A 25 minute connection would be fine, my onward flight was only supposed to be 6 gates away. But the flight went mechanical. We had a flat tire. Fortunately there was a spare on hand. We deplaned, and…
Update on the Lawsuit Between Starwood and Le Parker Meridien Hotels
The lawsuit between Starwood and the Parker Meridien Hotels is fascinating not just because it’s a window into agreements between loyalty programs and hotels that we don’t often get to see the details of but also because it reveals a ton about how the programs work. In this case it’s alleged that because Starwood pays its hotels a ton more cash for award nights when hotels are nearly fully booked, the Parker Meridien hotels in Palm Springs and New York fudged their books to appear to be fully booked much more often — extracting more than an extra million dollars in reimbursements from SPG. Reader Seth Theriault shared how to access all of the court documents related to the case online. Now he emails with an update on the case. The highlights are as follows: – Starwood opposed…
The TSA Really Does Abuse Rights and Take Away Freedom
We can have plenty of debates in the comments, and often do, about the effectiveness of what’s often referred to as security theatre. My own view is that the “tradeoff between liberty and security” is, in this context, a canard — because the TSA contributes little that’s meaningful to security. They focus on silly things which distract resources from real threats. And real security comes not from that agency but from reinforced cockpit doors, and from passengers unwilling to stand by anymore in the face of an inflight threat. And because hijacking a plane is actually hard and there aren’t that many people who actually want to go on suicide missions. In that context, the liberties given up aren’t weighed against “making us safer” they’re weighed against almost nothing. For those who would argue, though,…
Bits ‘n Pieces for May 13, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: You are what you eat: How to Game the US Airways System to Get the Cheese Plate instead of the strange Turkey and Hummus Sandwich Nigerian 419 Scammers Want Your Miles: If you get a fax or email telling you that “you’ve won” and you just need to reply with your frequent flyer number and password it might just be a scam. (HT: Alan H.) Don't Shanghai my PJs! Reader Joan passes along a rumor that Cathay Pacific will be going with a new brand for their pajamas and ending their relationship with Shanghai Tang. But Have to Sleep at a Radisson for Two Nights: Club Carlson is offering 10,000 bonus points for stays that are 2 nights or longer between May 13 and July 21. Registration required.…
How to Keep Your Miles from Expiring
Most airlines have some form of expiring miles. Most programs promote that their miles never expire… but there’s a catch. The miles may not expire, but the account itself can become dormant with all miles forfeit if there’s no activity for a prolonged period of time. Only Delta, among major frequent flyer programs, offers no mileage expiration – period. Ironically in the middle of the last decade they were one of the early adopters of shortened expiration times. Most US frequent flyer programs expired miles after three years, and they led the charge to reduce that initially to 24 months and they even limited the types of activity that would extend the life of an account. Once they had expired a bunch of miles off of their balance sheet, they announced their miles would no…
How to Ensure You Don’t Miss the Best Deals
I want to make sure you get all of the best deals and opportunities I write about. For the past 11 years I’ve been writing this blog — covering how to earn the most points quickly, easily, and at low cost and how to use those points in the most leveraged way. Many readers have traveled the world as I do, with a frequency and in the sort of style that we all never dreamed possible before discovering how to make the most of loyalty programs. And I’ve covered short term outsized opportunities as well, the kind of things that you have to act on right away (whether mistake fares or other glitches that might last mere hours). Making the most of this hobby requires staying diligent, and there are several ways for you to…
Find Out About the Next Ultimate Frequent Flyer Adventure!
Details have been announced for Star MegaDO 5! It’s the ultimate frequent flyer adventure. Join a couple hundred of your newest frequent flyer enthusiast friends, meeting with airline executives, getting behind the scenes tours, bringing home amazing souvenirs and memories, and earning bonus elite qualifying miles in the MileagePlus program along the way. These events sell out quickly in days or even minutes. So if you’re interested, pay attention. “North of the border to the desert to the sea” When? October 22nd-25th Partners: Air Canada, Marriott, Rimowa, Star Alliance, United Routing: Toronto – Tucson – San Francisco Touring: Rimowa factory, Air Canada, Aircraft Maintenance And Regeneration Center, plus a United Airlines Hanger Party Miles: 2500 – 15,000 elite qualifying miles with participating airline(s) depending on class of service Star MegaDO 5 will go on sale…
