This story is so compelling you’d almost think it was made up. Jerry Meekins will die soon of esophageal cancer, and he can’t fly because of his compromised immune system. But Spirit Airlines considers his condition insufficiently grave to grant him a refund for a flight to Atlantic City next month. But if he actually dies before his flight, Spirit would be happy to give him some money back. …Meekins, 76, bought the ticket last month. His daughter is having surgery in May, and he wants to be there to take her home from the hospital and care for her while she recovers. He has been battling cancer for about two years. But it was not until shortly after he bought the ticket that doctors told him there was no more they can do. He…
Bits ‘n Pieces for Saturday, April 21
With british midland acquired by British Airways, here’s an airliners.net bmi photo retrospective. British Airways is offering a 25% bonus on transfers from hotel programs through June 20 (you must be logged into your account to see the details). I think the Amex Membership Rewards 50% bonus running through the end of May is a better way to get Avios points if you want/need them (and have Amex points!), I wouldn’t burn my hotel points this way unless I specifically needed to top off an account towards a specific award. Are travelers checks still useful? BBC travel says yes, for Africa. I’m not persuaded. Via Lufthansa Flyer, April 30 is the deadline to register for one route to count for double award or status miles in economy, triple in business, for travel between May 1…
Save the Date: Frequent Traveler University in Los Angeles, December 7-9
Follow the discussion on Milepoint.
Details Leaked of Starwood’s Summer Promotion
Starwood has been offering hints about their new promotion, but not details, and registration won’t open until May 1 so while others have covered the dribs and drabs I haven’t yet posted on it. The promotion is called “Nice Choice” and the idea is that it’s a choose-your-own-adventure, you pick the earning period you want and the rewards you want to shoot for. This premise is consistent with the way that Starwood seems to be thinking about its program — customizing the experience, interacting with members in the way they want, rewarding them with what they value most. Their new elite benefits let Gold members choose a check-in amenity of points, internet, or a cocktail. Platinums get an added choice of breakfast in addition to their previously existing amenity choices. 50 night Platinums get to…
Move Points Back and Forth Between Southwest and Airtran
When US Airways and America West merged, they offered the ability to move points back and forth between accounts before actually combining the programs. Delta and Northwest offered this as well in their merger, and it brings IT benefits to the airlines as well because consumers ‘link’ their accounts on a self-service basis which helps ensure that their most engaged customers don’t have any problems with that linkage later. Most recently United and Continental offered this in advance of their March 3, 2012 mashup, and yesterday it was announced that British Airways will offer this feature with bmi, so it’s certainly baked into the cake as an expectation now in any airline merger. Via NotiFlyer, this feature is now in place for Southwest and Airtran: A+ Rewards members can convert their credits into Rapid Rewards…
Singapore Airlines 50% Off Award Sale
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer is offering 50% off redemptions booked by May 2 for travel by June 16 on specific routes. Bear in mind that they normally offer 15% off for redemptions booked online, so this isn’t a full 50% off the normal price — just 50% off the list price. Bookings must be made online, and apply to specific Singapore and Silkair operated flights only, though interestingly the discount applies not just to saver awards but also to medium and high mileage awards as well. Singapore Airlines Krisflyer is an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner, and a Starwood Preferred Guest transfer partner, both a 1-to-1. Singapore offers one-way awards, and adds fuel surcharges like most non-U.S. programs. Business Class City Pairs Eligible Flights Singapore – Beijing SQ803, SQ810 Singapore – Brisbane SQ255, SQ256 Singapore…
The Boeing 787, from a Pilot’s Perspective
There are aviation enthusiasts and mileage enthusiasts, and those two aren’t always the same thing. I fall much more in the latter camp. I’m generally much more interested in the seat, service, and amenities than I am the aircraft that those items are housed in. But I also know and can even get a little excited by a new aircraft, the introduction of the Airbus A380 was a big deal and so is the Boeing 787. So I pass along the contents of an email that was forwarded to me by Gene, I can’t vouch for its authenticity but it seems reasonable enough to me as a non-specialist. This is something that will be mostly interesting to aviation enthusiasts rather than mileage enthusiasts, so for those of you, enjoy if you fall into that category!…
Minimizing Fuel Surcharges When Redeeming British Airways Avios
One thing I love about the British Airways Visa 100,000 point signup bonus offer is how it makes the program really focal and has folks figuring out how to make the most of the points. The British Airways program was pretty much gutted back in November. They promised that 97% of routes would have the same points cost after they revamped the program but it turned out the part they didn’t say was that would apply only to non-stops from London. Each flight is now priced as a separate award, with longer distances more expensive. And like most non-U.S. programs, fuel surcharges can be a killer. My own take on maximizing the credit card signup bonus is to set up a family account and then have multiple people sign up for the card so that…
Virgin Systemwide Bonus for Flights through June 15
Virgin Atlantic is offering up to 15,000 bonus miles for flights taken through June 15. These bonus Flying Club miles are on top of all the usual miles that you’d earn: 5,000* bonus miles in Economy (2,500 per sector) 10,000* bonus miles in Premium Economy (5,000 per sector) 15,000* bonus miles in Upper Class (7,500 per sector) Register by May 13, and oddly the Accra and Shanghai routes are excluded from the offer. Not a huge bonus, but worth registering if you’re going to fly Virgin anyway, and nice that the offer includes economy bookings.
bmi’s Exit from Star Alliance and Transferring Points and Status with British Airways
All pretty much as expected: bmi is no longer a member of the Star Alliance. Star Alliance benefits such as lounge access continue through May 31. Star Alliance earn and burn (excluding Lufthansa group airlines) continues through May 31. Can credit British Airways flights to bmi accounts effective today. Redemption on BA will come soon. BA lounge access for bmi elites starts today. On May 1, bmi elites will be offered equivalent elite status with British Airways. I’ll become a British Airways Gold member, which will get me access to American’s Flagship lounges regardless of class of service when flying domestically in the U.S. bmi miles will transfer 1:1 into British Airways Avios, and points can be moved back and forth between the two programs online effective July 3. Assuming the bmi award chart doesn’t…
