American and US Airways made more program in the integration of their airlines and frequent flyer programs today. They announced a minor alignment of their award charts, increasing a handful of US Airways award prices to match what American AAdvantage already charges. They introduced reciprocal upgrades within 24 hours of flight for US Airways and American elite frequent flyers. And we learned a little bit about their strategy going forward. I spoke with American AAdvantage President Suzanne Rubin to get an idea of what these changes mean, and what to expect next. Here’s my observations about what the announcements mean: The US Airways award chart changes were announced in advance, with changes not taking effect for nearly 3 months. This is the first time I ever remember US Airways making an advance announcement of an…
BREAKING: American and US Airways Begin Reciprocal Upgrades This Week. Here’s How It Will Work!
About a week and a half ago I reported that American and US Airways would begin offering each others’ elite frequent flyers upgrades within 24 hours of departure starting June 11. Now they’ve confirmed it, and the program will indeed start on Wednesday to allow US Airways frequent flyers to upgrade on American flights, and American’s elite frequent flyers to upgrade on US Airways flights. Upgrades are available within 24 hours of departure, when the check-in window opens. US Airways Chairmans Preferred (100,000 mile flyer) elites will get their upgrades complimentary. Silvers, Golds, and Platinums looking to upgrade on American will have to buy stickers to do so, just like American Gold and Platinum members do. American elites looking to upgrade on US Airways will get theirs complimentary, like all US Airways elites have. These…
US Airways Makes Changes to Its Award Chart.. With Notice This Time
US Airways announced two minor award chart changes today. They are set to go into effect August 1. Both changes were to be expected. And they did it with nearly 3 months’ advance notice. They are increasing medium and high-level US and Canada awards to match the prices American already announced back in April. I say this was expected because it’s the new price that was just announced on the ‘other side of the equation’ (American) only two months ago. They’re also increasing the price of US domestic and Canada 3-cabin first class saver awards to match the prices American charges. They actually posted this one prematurely a month ago, and then retracted it. No surprise there. Currently US Airways charges the same 50,000 miles roundtrip for business and for first class on flights within…
The Latest on Earning Miles for Mortgages and Liquidating Gift Cards at Walmart Plus 19% Off Marriott Stays
News and notes from around the interweb: Evolve Money (earn miles for paying your mortgage..) begins tightening its policies. The latest on OneVanilla, Bluebird, and Walmart. Today’s “Daily Getaways” deal is 19% off Marriott gift cards. 1000 bonus Asiamiles for two partner transactions, including just “crediting a Cathay or Dragonair flights and then booking something on Ctrip.” Singapore Airlines Krisflyer joins the mileage-earning shopping portal game, but the payouts strike me as ungenerous. 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 Why the Park Hyatt Maldives is My Favorite Resort in the World…
Previous trip report installments Introduction: Maldives and Malaysia in First Class, How I Booked It and What it Cost Etihad Lounge and First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport Etihad’s Abu Dhabi first class lounge, and business class Abu Dhabi – Male Maldivian Domestic Lounge, Flight, and Boat Transfer to the Park Hyatt The Park Hyatt Hadahaa in the Maldives is my favorite resort in the world. Here’s why.
Disruptive Travel Technologies Are Worth More Than Companies That Provide You With Travel
Something I’m pondering this Sunday morning is Uber’s new round of financing and $18 billion valuation. Fifteen years ago the most valuable thing Delta owned was shares in Priceline — the company liquidating unsold airline inventory was worth more than the carrier that actually had that inventory. It was 2001 before Delta had sold more than a billion dollars worth of tickets online — and only half that amount was through its own website. (Southwest Airlines was actually one of the first 5 websites to cross a billion dollars in sales in a year.) In a blast from the past, two years ago Priceline had a market capitalization greater than all US airlines combined. That’s no longer the case, with Delta, American, United, and Southwest alone combining for about 50% more market value than Priceline…
$8 Ice Cubes, Snacks Replacing Meals, and 2 Stays Pays
News and notes from around the interweb: Here are the current snack baskets presumed replacements when first class meals go away from most American domestic flights under 1150 miles. Which over-the-top Middle Eastern airline will be the first to introduce $8 ice cubes in premium cabins? It’s been out for a couple of weeks, but I may have failed to mention it: Choice Hotels 2 stays pays you a $50 gift card. I had some fantastic Khao Yum at Elephant Jumps Thai in Northern Virginia yesterday. They expect to add this to the specials board in the coming days. A reader – a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa – asks for help by taking a survey on airline crises. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis…
Is a $1700 First Class Seoul Roundtrip Ticket Even a Good Deal?
Matt at Saverocity penned an important post about whether or not a $1700 3-cabin first class roundtrip between Boston and Seoul is even a good deal. He points out that my tweet included #ScreaminDeal #Hurry and wrote, How about Hashtag #Bollocks #to #you? The deal, that is, not the tweeter, he is just sharing what his readers want. Let’s explore this, with a scenario. It assumes that you actually get off the plane, stay say 3 nights, and get out of your hotel room… of course you might just want to fly there and back which is just magical, and I wish you good speed…. And he goes on to posit that you’re going to spend ~ $2400 per person on the trip. That’s still a lot of money, and there are other things you…
Meals Will Disappear from American First Class on Many Flights Starting September 1
Back in February, American Airlines announced that US Airways would improve its meal services. Effective April 1 they changed the cutoff for meals from flights of 3.5 hours or longer to those of 1000 nautical miles or greater which they said equated to flights of ~ 2 hours 45 minutes. That meant about 40% more US Airways flights would be seeing meals in domestic first class — or an increase of 126 flights a day. But the news wasn’t all good. At the same time they announced that come September 1, US Airways and American would align domestic first class service — tray elements, food components, and meal cutoff times. Speaking to an American representative yesterday, he reiterated the September 1 timetable and the 1000 nautical mile standard. I find the use of ‘nautical miles’…
WOW Deal $1700 3-Cabin First Class Fare Boston and Other Cities – Seoul Roundtrip
United has a ~$1700 fare valid through the end of schedule between Boston and Seoul that allows travel across the Pacific in their 3-cabin United Global First product. The fare also appears to be available from Hartford, Connecticut and Burlington, Vermont. Perhaps there are other cities, please share if you find them. This deal is no longer available. Read on to see what you missed!
