I usually pride myself on how well I travel, soup to nuts, from booking to sailing through the airport and handling irregular ops. I sweet talk hotel check-in agents for upgrades, game my flights to maximize upgrade changes, and generally maintain strong situational awareness. I love reading Lucky’s blog because it seems like he’s sharing a stupid move he’s made on almost every trip. It makes him a far more entertaining read, I think, than I’ll ever be. I tend towards a far more analytical approach which best suits my personality. But sometimes I do something stupid. Or come off like a total newbie traveler. Like this past Thursday. I was flying up to New York and I was looking at a short delay. I sat down near my gate, at National airport’s round tables…
The Best and Worst Features of American Airlines
Now that I’ve flown enough to re-qualify for American’s Executive Platinum status for next year, I figure I’m in a position to express an opinion on my biggest likes and dislikes about the airline and its AAdvantage frequent flyer program. There Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Gogo inflight internet. Delta has this too, and with even somewhat better fleet penetration. But compared to United and US Airways it’s incredible. Inflight internet has changed my life. I’d unplug on the flight and be desperately behind when I landed, with urgent messages to answer and calls to return. My flight time is now much more productive time. It’s why even the laggard carriers are getting on board with internet — not because usage fees will cover the costs of installation, but because it’s so crucial…
How the Department of Transportation Views United’s 4 Mile Hong Kong Award Tickets
This is totally in the weeds and the sort of thing that will be interesting to a small subset of my readers, but here’s a response to a Department of Transportation complaint that was shared with me. Note that I did not file such a complaint, but I do find the response interesting nonetheless, in so far as it sheds light on current DOT thinking about mistake fares and the interpretation of their current regulations which require airlines to honor tickets that they sell without raising the price of those tickets after the fact in most circumstances. Passed along without further comment: This is in regard to your complaint against United Airlines (UAL) about certain Mileage Plus Award tickets to, from, or via Hong Kong that could be acquired on UAL’s website between July 14…
JetBlue Introduces Animal Farm Elite Status
Via Wandering Aramean come the details of the elite status program that JetBlue will be introducing. It’s called Mosaic, and they don’t want you to call it an elite level. While other airlines categorize their Customers, we’ve always steered clear of items that feel elitist or exclusive, and this strategy has helped carve our name in the industry. Status is earned based on straight spending in a calendar year, or flight segments and spending. And it offers benefits much like an elite program would. But they won’t refer to it as an elite program, since all of their customers are equal. All passengers are equal it seems, although some will become more equal that others. As readers know I’m a big proponent of loyalty and long-term value propositions. The ‘some are more equal than others’…
The Final Word on the 4-Mile United Award Tickets To and Through Hong Kong
United (and I would imagine collaboratively with the Department of Transportation) have come up with an interesting solution. They will allow anyone with travel commencing by July 21 to fly. They will allow anyone who had the ‘usual’ number of miles deducted from their account to cancel for a full refund without penalty. They are cancelling all reservations that were booked without the full normal mileage cost deducted where travel begins after July 21. The DOT has to stand by its regulations, which forbid cancelling tickets and raising price after ticketing under most circumstances. The DOT has now even said their rules apply to frequent flyer award tickets. And yet it wasn’t really something that United owed its customers, to fly them in many cases in last seat inventory and in first class to Hong…
When You Purchase a United Award Ticket, That Doesn’t Mean You Actually HAVE a Ticket
(And this rule applies even when the ticket is being issued at the full, correct mileage cost…!) I booked an award for a co-worker the other day that involved Qatar Airways. As I noted recently, it’s become increasingly difficult to use United miles to book awards on Qatar even though the partnership (which is ending) allows making bookings through September 14. Availability shows up on the website. But over the phone agents seem not to be able to find award space most of the time, and when pressed insist that Qatar is no longer a partner. That means you almost always have to book Qatar space on the website. But the website sometimes spits up when trying to make perfectly valid bookings. In this case I was looking for DC – Doha, Doha – Colombo,…
Law Firm Preparing to Sue British Airways over Fuel Surcharges on Award Tickets
David Bernstein passes along a link to a law firm that’s interested in suing British Airways Executive Club over fuel surcharges. Lieff Cabraser is investigating charges that British Airways imposes excessive taxes and fees when members of its frequent flyer reward program redeem accrued travel miles for a reward ticket. British Airways states members may purchase “free” airline tickets with points through its Executive Club rewards program. However, it also imposes fees for “taxes and other charges associated with Reward travel.” These other charges purportedly include items priced at a greater and excessive amount than when customers purchase BA tickets without using any reward points. In certain situations, customers have complained that the cost of their “free” frequent flyer ticket was nearly the same as, or in excess of, advertised fares on the same British…
Reader Question: Stopovers on US Airways Awards
Reader C.M. asks: Are Genoa and Istanbul both considered part of the same region (Europe) for USAirways? I was trying to book a multi destination trip, with one stop Genoa… (Phoenix -Genoa / Genoa – Istanbul / Istanbul – Phoenix) It was bookable on the United website, but the USAirways agent told me that Genoa and Istanbul are in the same region (Europe) and therefore not bookable as one ticket. She could see the availability, but checked with the help desk and said they could not book it. The agent (and their help desk) misunderstood the airline’s award rules. To answer your question, yes, both cities are in the same region (Europe). But the rule is you cannot have a stopover when an award is WHOLLY within the same region (ie you start in Europe…
The Idiocy of the Families Fly Together Act of 2012
Airline advance seat assignments are something that many people value, as evidenced by the fact that people are willing to pay for them, and elites consider it a benefit worth their loyalty when they receive the ‘best’ coach seats without paying a premium. And clearly enough families consider them to be important such that Mommy Points is wondering whether government should get involved to make airlines give those assignments to parties traveling together, for free and a member of Congress is grandstanding on the issue to boot. Most airlines offer advance seat assignments. If you can’t get seats together, book a different flight where you can. If there are seats together at a price premium, pay the premium to the extent it’s worth some amount of money to sit together. This may sound cold-hearted but…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 18, 2012
A survey of news and offers for the morning: A Skywest pilot, wanted for murder, tried to steal a regional jet to escape authorities. He creashed it on the ground instead. (HT: Seacarl on Milepoint.) bmi’s partnership with Virgin Atlantic ends August 31. It was a foregone conclusion that you would no longer be able to earn and redeem between these two airlines once British Airways acquired bmi. Wyndham Rewards is offering quadruple miles or points beginning with your second stay booked between July 17 and September 13 , 2012 and completed by September 20. The promotion is valid for up to four stays (stays numbered 2 through 5) and up to 3 rooms per stay. Registration required. Wandering Aramean flags that Alaska Airlines is offering 15 minutes of free Gogo inflight internet on all…
