News and notes from around the interweb: A new website you have to check out. Conde Nast Traveler‘s consumer editor Wendy Perrin has left after nearly 2 decades and now has her own venture. Here she interviews Randy Petersen who has kind words for yours truly. The big upcoming changes to the Turkish Miles&Smiles program turn out to be not so bad. Indeed, it’s still one of the better programs in Star Alliance, though I prefer Avianca’s LifeMiles for lack of fuel surcharges. United has reduced the price at which they will sell you elite qualifying miles How high fuel prices help legacy airlines compete against low cost carriers. Since everyone more or less has to pay the same cost for fuel, as fuel prices rise the cost advantage of the discounters evaporates. Singapore Airlines…
SURVIVOR: How to Make a 15 Minute Connection With Checked Bags
Yesterday American saved my bacon on the way home from Frequent Traveler University and the story reveals a few things about how the airline works and what to do (and not to do) when desperately trying to make a connection so it seemed worth passing along. Delta often gets the most kudos for running an excellent airline operation, but yesterday at least American delivered at a level I haven’t often seen from a US domestic airline. Pizza in Motion and I were on the same flight flying from Seattle to Chicago. I was connecting to Washington National and he was connecting on a separate ticket to a United flight to Washington Dulles. Here is his version of the story, a veritable he-said-she-said so read it. Our flight was just a few minutes late out of…
How to Get a Reservation at a Sold Out Hotel
Major Events Cause Rooms to Open Up Early Find out if there are any big conferences going on at the hotel. If there are, the group contract usually specifies various deadlines for ‘attrition’ (reducing the group’s commitment of roms) and also a deadline for the group’s block. A group might reduce the number of rooms six, three, or even a month prior to the event. And any unused rooms may go back into inventory often a month out, These dates can vary by contract but are roughly standard, and are times when rooms may open up. Often hotels are sold out in advance of major events, like the Presidential Inauguration in DC, but once the room blocks expire hotels find that they have unsold rooms and they’re quite anxious to move them. Many Hotel Chains…
Which Airline and Hotel Program is the Best?
The Freddie Awards were held in Seattle on Thursday night. They’re the awards for the best airline, hotel and credit card loyalty programs voted on by millions of frequent travelers around the world. They’re one way to answer which program is best. Not for everyone and at all times (not everyone casts their vote for the same program!) but they’re a real people’s choice award (although the voting is structured so that it’s not a ‘popularity contest’ – voters rank programs and small programs with a passionate and satisfied member base can do well). I had the honor of emceeing the awards, and presenting trophies on behalf of members tot he programs that earned them. Here’s USA Today coverage and Skift coverage of the event. And here are full results. I was interviewed by KOMO…
Discounted Purchased Miles, Chihuahaus Gone Wild at the Airport (Bts ‘n Pieces for April 26, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: The most lucrative miles for flowers offers The design strategies behind the most innovative new airplane seats. (HT: @A_W_Gordon) Chihuahua runs free in LAX terminal. Turkish Airlines is selling miles at 1.84 cents apiece through June 30 (up to 50,000 miles can be purchased per account each calendar year). Use a card with no foreign transaction fees if you buy. Changes are coming to the program June 1. I don’t expect that Turkish metal business class roundtrips between Los Angeles and Istanbul will cost 70,000 miles any longer. (HT: Loyalty Lobby) 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…
Last Chance: I’m Giving Away 25,000 American Miles Plus Lounge Passes
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that American Express Platinum cards would still get you into US Airways and American lounges through the end of April. Platinum cards lost access a month ago. Citibank is now the sole issuer of cards that offer lounge access with the new American Airlines. And they’ve got – by far – the best credit card offer in the market with a 100,000 mile signup bonus for their Executive Card which bundles American and US Airways lounge access. This month they’re ready to tell you about this card in American and US Airways lounges. If you come in with a card that used to come with lounge access, they’ll give you a club pass (valid for a year). They’ve also given me plenty of miles and club passes to…
Up to $1250 in Free Lyft Rides in 24 Cities Through May 8
I’ve written mostly about Uber, the on-demand car service app, starting nearly two years ago with Why Taxis Suck and What You Can Do About It. Uber offers several levels of service — from blacks cars and SUVs to a model where individuals with their own cars will pick you up and take you where you want to go (for less). In that space they have several competitors like Lyft and Sidecar which I’ve written about less, having used them less. But Lyft just expanded significantly yesterday. And they’ve got a compelling offer to promote their growth. First, don’t use my referral link to sign up. Use promo code SLICKDEALS and you’ll get a $50 credit (which is better than the standard $25 for being referred). Second, in the 24 new cities they’ve launched service…
May the Points Be With You: Double Points and Elite Qualifying for Star Wars Day
I’m currently at Frequent Traveler University, which I’ve described as being like a Star Wars convention for frequent flyers. That’s just mild self-amusement. Virgin America, on the other hand, goes there. Leave it to Virgin America to invoke the holy trilogy (yes, sadly, there were movies beyond the first three). To them, a transcontinental flight is indeed far, far away and they’ll give you double points — that count towards status — if you >register and then book and fly transcon flights between April 29 and June 11. Oh no, they di’int.. And they want the 4th to be with you. You can be a ruler of your galaxy when you fly far away with us on May 4, 2014, and take a #StarWarsSelfie on a Virgin America flight dressed as your favorite Star Wars…
Insights from My Breakfast with the Vice President of Hilton HHonors
Yesterday morning I had breakfast with Mark Weinstein, Vice President of Hilton for the HHonors program. (Full disclosure: He offered, but I bought breakfast; we met at my hotel – a Marriott – and so I was the only one in a position to earn points.) My sense is that they know they took a hit with last year’s devaluation. And they’d like to build some of the passion back amongst the most dedicated flyers. Of course they’re not going to undo last year’s major changes… Mark heard from me more than he revealed things to me, but he did promise that there were no big negative changes looming on the horizon. (They’ve already done that.) My message to him was that: The program is too complex, hopelessly so. Reducing complexity isn’t about taking away…
United’s Jeff Smisek Wants MileagePlus to Be More Revenue-Based
While everyone else is making money — $200 million or more for the quarter for American, Delta, and Southwest — United lost $600 million and says it’s not their fault. If it wasn’t for the same bad weather the airline faced, they say they would have only lost $400 million. When it comes to an airline that believes their customers are the problem, they’re clearly doing it wrong. So what do you do? Be more like the cool kids, Southwest and Delta. In all things, and certain in the frequent flyer space. From United’s earnings call: Michael Linenberg – Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Okay, good. And then just one other question here. And I guess maybe this would be for you, Jim, as well. You look at how Delta is sort of rethinking their…
