Uber and Lyft received cease and desist orders to halt operations in Pittsburgh. The judges issuing the orders recognize they’re hosing residents. “We are not blind or deaf to the public opinion, at least in the Pittsburgh area, that the transportation needs of many individuals are not adequately met by currently certificated carriers. Nor are we unmindful of the potential benefits of the service proposed by Lyft,” they write. “…Therefore, it may seem to some that our order here is contrary to the public interest in the ability of individuals to secure transportation in a timely manner.” Uber intends to continue operating anyway despite the order. Uber and Lyft continue to operate in Virginia as well despite being ordered by the DMV not to do so. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these…
20,000 Starwood Points Gets You 30,000 American Miles This Month
Through July 31 there’s a 20% bonus for transferring Starwood points into American miles. From July 1 through July 31, 2014, simply convert your Starpoints® to American Airlines AAdvantage miles and earn a 20% bonus. As always, for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred within the same transaction, SPG® will automatically add another 5,000 miles. With the additional 20% mileage bonus offered by the AAdvantage program, you will receive a total of 30,000 miles from the transaction. Starwood can post up to 79,999 points to a given airline mileage program during a 24 hour period. And of course you want to transfer in chunks of 20,000 to maximize your bonus. So don’t transfer more than 60,000 Starpoints (which will yield 90,000 American miles) in a 24 hour period. If you want to make a larger transfer, break…
Always Double and Triple Check Your Awards!
I know these lessons well, I’ve had every mistake in the book made on the airline side. Was the correct name entered on the reservation? Was the correct flight booked on the right date? (Especially challenging for flights shortly after midnight.) Was the ticket actually queued to issue correctly? So many things can go wrong. It always amazes me that members in general are able to issue award seats at all, at least for those itineraries that are not bookable on an airline’s website. Given the number of mistakes an agent can make — and that is after, even, battling to actually find award space on the flights you’re looking for — it’s important to make sure all of the details are correct. And especially in the case of partner airline awards, to make sure…
Man Hit With 2000 Euro Bill for Scamming Lufthansa Lounge Access!
Six months ago the story went ’round about the Chinese man who ate free for a year. He bought a fully flexible ticket, changed his travel date each day, used the airport lounge for food and drink and then refunded his ticket at the end of a year. Lots of folks thought this was a brilliant hack. Although it certainly wasn’t new. Ever since September 11th and the requirement that you actually be flying same-day to go past security, there are people that have found it convenient to buy a refundable ticket, meet friends at their gate, and then refund the ticket rather than get a gate pass. And if doing that, you might as well buy an international first class ticket, to take advantage of any available first class lounge while waiting. Back when…
Your Next Flight May Land in a Totally Different Way
The thing I miss the most in my flying is listening to Channel 9 air traffic control on United. There’s a certain familiarity to the discussions that’s just soothing. The usual patter on approach of “descend maintain one two thousand” is going to change though — and at some airports is already changing. (HT: Alan H.) That’s because more airports are moving to bringing planes in on a steady path to the ground instead of descending, leveling off, and descending again. Leveling off involves cranking up the engines, which burns fuel. A steady glide to the ground burns less. And it allows descent to begin later, where the new approach pattern has been implemented descents begin a couple miles closer to the airport. Usually, planes approaching an airport drop altitude in steps, cranking up the…
PointsHound Introducing Increased Mileage-Earning
I already really like PointsHound for the ability to earn miles when booking hotels for yourself (and especially for others). In that way they’re similar to Rocketmiles (which sometimes offers more miles, but has fewer properties to choose from). What I especially like though – and what differentiates PointsHound – is the ability to earn miles while in the case of their ‘Doup We’ve supercharged our website and the deals have never been better. This is no promo – we’ve increased our everyday earning rates and expanded our selection of hotels! Check out the new PointsHound and see how many more points you can earn on your next hotel stay. Here are their examples: A couple of months ago PointsHound was acquired by Points.com. That’s the company that many frequent flyers know lets you transfer…
The Decline of – and Remaining Value in – Promo Awards
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program should be interesting to U.S. frequent flyers for several reasons. They offer one-way awards, which Delta won’t have until next year. They are an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner (points transfer instantly). They have access to award space that Delta won’t let you have. They have most of their partners available for online booking Unfortunately their call centers are frustrating, their website can be too (and has been known to show ‘phantom’ award availability, seats that look available but aren’t really here to book). And they add fuel surcharges onto award tickets. One of the great values, historically, has been their ‘promo awards’. Award tickets at half the cost of their regular award chart can be a great value, for a relatively short booking window and for travel…
British Airways 50% Off Redemption Sale Now Live
As expected, British Airways has launched a 50% off long haul economy redemption sale. For 2 weeks the mileage cost of economy redemptions originating in London to 20 cities has been cut in half. Travel is permitted October 1 through February 28, excluding December 10 through January 10. Here are the destinations:
KLM’s Offensive World Cup Tweet (and What the REAL Outrage Is)
It’s not been a good quarter for airline twitter teams. But ever since US Airways gave us the greatest online gift of the past five years and no one from the twitter team got fired, it seems like their jobs are safe at least. After all, if US Airways didn’t fire the guy who used a Boeing 777 outside of normal operating parameters, then Delta couldn’t really fire anyone for sending out an arguably racist tweet about a giraffe (or at least one ignorant of its subject matter). And if the World Cup ensnared Delta’s twitter team in controversy, others haven’t been spared either. Buzzfeed highlighted KLM’s celebratory missive over the Netherlands’ victory over Mexico to advance to the quarter finals. The tweet even featured a guy wearing a sombrero. Mexico fans did not take…
United Announces the Elimination of Garlic Bread and Ketchup
While United makes excuses for losing $600 million in the first quarter, and is out of ideas so just copies Delta, they get more and more desperate. Strategy plans are said to look like what’s “found in a typical operating department’s annual budget presentation than in a corporate presentation..” So where do they turn for salvation? Elimination of ketchup from Europe flights and garlic bread from Asia flight premium cabins. The airline that spent 2013 losing 250,000 customers a month is eliminating complimentary meals on their Honolulu – Guam flights. They’re also shrinking the lavatories on 737-800 and 737-900 aircraft. They call them ‘space saving lavatories” which sounds almost futuristic… like Magic Flush. Why you may ask are they doing this? To squeeze in more rows of coach, of course! In a move @FakeUnitedJeff would…
