Scott Mayerowitz is considering walking away from points-earning credit cards because awards have gotten more expensive and harder to redeem (“[T]he mileage credit card frenzy? It isn’t worth it anymore.”). I think he’s making some analytical mistakes and losing perspective. Here’s his argument: The price of awards is going up. There are too many miles chasing too few seats (and rooms). The economy is getting better, so there’s no reason to be as generous. Getting awards is tougher than it used to be. There’s some truth here, but the claim that things are worse than they used to be isn’t right (or at least depends on the time horizon you’re considering) and the conclusion doesn’t follow that you’re better off with a cash back card. 2013 Was a Bad Year for Mileage Devaluations United devalued…
Close Encounters, Shutting Down Competition, and Honoring a Great Frequent Flyer
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: All-around great guy and BoardingArea blogger Darren Booth has passed away. The primary airline lobbying group and largest pilots union are exerting political pressure to try to stop the expansion of international low cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle Le Club Accorhotels is running a 40% – 50% off sale. Encounter restaurant at LAX has closed. You can join the 30,000+ 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!
American and US Airways Merger ‘Customer Day One’ Begins Today With Mileage Earning, Burning, and Some Elite Benefits
“Customer Day One” is the first day where a merger changes things for an airline’s customers, and for US Airways and American that’s today — because they’ve made it possible to use miles to fly the other airline, to earn miles flying either carrier, and have begun recognizing some elite status benefits regardless of airline. Use Your Miles From Either Airline to Fly the Other It is now possible to redeem American Airlines miles for US Airways flights, and US Airways miles for American flights. Both will allow you to book flights on the other airline on their websites, until now US Airways has not supported any online partner booking at all. One neat option is that you can now fly US Airways to Hawaii and Europe using American’s discounted off-peak season awards to Hawaii…
38,000 Bonus Points from Club Carlson After Just Three Hotel Nights (“Buy 3 Get 1 Free”)
Club Carlson is offering 38,000 bonus points for staying three eligible nights between January 6, 2014 and April 13, 2014. Registration is required, and you can only earn the bonus once. 38,000 points is enough for a free night at a category 1 through 4 property (out of six total reward night categories). For three nights this is probably the most lucrative promotion in the market. Marriott has MegaBonus which offers a free night at up to a category 4 property after 2 stays (which can be 1 night stays), but those nights can’t be topped up to a higher category property the way a points promotion like this can. I personally prefer Hyatt’s new promotion because it doesn’t limit earning to only three nights or four stays, and is more lucrative than Starwood’s offering.…
We Don’t Know When the US Airways MasterCard Will Go Away
This morning MileValue wrote, In the next few weeks, Barclaycard will stop accepting applications for the US Airways Premier World MasterCard. I think his advice is wrong on two levels: I disagree that Barclaycard will stop issuing the US Airways MasterCard ‘in the next few weeks’. I also disagree that you should sign up for the card that offers 30,000 points after first purchase. I have a link for that offer, too, and it gives me referral credit if you use it. But there’s a better 35,000 mile after first purchase offer, and it comes with a $0 fee the first year — so better on two counts. A key question will be what is the current duration of the US Airways-Barclays agreement, the wind down could well have the card continue through the end…
Today’s Action Item: Burn All of Your Hyatt Gold Passport Points
In 2006 the top Hyatt redemption level was category 4. The Park Hyatts in Tokyo, Paris, and Sydney were only 15,000 points per night. We got category 5 and 18,000 points per night for 2007. Then we got category 6 and 22000 points per night beginning June 2010. Now, starting Tuesday we get a new category 7 at 30,000 points per night. Regency club and suite awards go up, confirmed upgrades get more expensive too. Across the board, standard room nights go up just 4%. But as with the 2010 changes, the increased costs are more significant and concentrated at the very top-end of hotels. So what should you do? Remember that most award nights are fully cancellable. So make any speculative bookings now. For those who like top-end hotels for their points, there’s no…
American Express: Iberia’s Temporary Disappearance Is Inconvenient Timing
Over the weekend I noted Iberia’s 50% off award sale that will allow you to book one-way transatlantic business class awards for as little as 20,000 points. That requires booking by Tuesday. Unfortunately the easiest way for many to get Iberia points is to transfer them in directly from American Express Membership Rewards. Only Iberia has disappeared from the list of Membership Rewards transfer partners. (Another way to get them is to transfer them over from sister airline British Airways — but you can only do this if you have an active Iberia account, you cannot just open a fresh Iberia account for this purpose.) The good news, at least, is that Iberia isn’t actually gone as an American Express partner. here’s what American Express had to say when I queried them over the weekend:…
Re-Introducing the Virgin America Credit Card
Virgin America’s co-brand credit card relationship soured with Barclaycard, for reasons that were never disclosed. The bank and airline parted ways, and there’s been no Virgin America credit card on offer for months. That has now changed, which MileCards flagged earlier today. There are two cards, both issued by a bank I had never heard of — Comenity Capital Bank. It’s a darned sexy card. It’s one that Virgin America regulars looking for help towards elite status may be interested in (and Virgin America regulars flying with a companion will be able to get value out of keeping), and a card that can be strategically useful for partner awards (most with high fuel surcharges). And it’s good to have a card from a secondary bank with a signup bonus out there again. But it won’t…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Park Hyatt Chennai, the Best Value Hyatt in the World?
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class A Park Hyatt representative was waiting outside of baggage claim. I walked up and he immediately rang to summon our (complimentary) car to the hotel. The car itself was an interesting experience — the back of the vehicle had tons of room, and was cut off completely from the driver. You could push a button to speak to the driver, though. And since you couldn’t see out the front of the car, there was a large video screen displaying the view from a camera. The drive to the hotel was only about 15 minutes. I was thoroughly exhausted at this point, after…
Even Better: 9000 Club Carlson Points for a 3-Day Avis Car Rental
This morning I posted that Avis is offering 7500 Club Carlson points for a three day rental and somewhat lamented that the offer they used to make of 9000 points on a three day rental is no longer available. Fortunately I have fantastic readers — al613 quickly pointed out in the comments that indeed 9000 Club Carlson points for a three day Avis rental is alive and well, also through June 30. TERMS AND CONDITIONS Offer of 9,000 total Gold Points is valid on rentals of three days or longer at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Bonus Gold Points are in addition to the base points you receive each time you rent with Avis. 9,000 total Gold Points…
