United has reduced the free baggage allowance for their partner airlines’ Star Alliance Gold and Silver members. Without any public, official announcement (and just changing details on their website) the free checked baggage benefit for Star Alliance Gold members was reduced from 3 bags (up to 70 pounds each) to a single bag (up to 50 pounds) on domestic itineraries. And Star Alliance Silver members no longer will receive a free checked bag on domestic itineraries at all. This change does not affect United’s own MileagePlus elite members, only the elite members of United’s Star Alliance partner airlines. De-emphasizing Alliances Both Lucky and Matthew think United’s move mean alliances have become less important to them. And while there’s a general trend in aviation towards bilateral relationships and smaller joint ventures (elites of those partners are…
Stackable Promotions for New US Airways Club Membership: Discount, Bonus MIles, and Elite Qualifying Miles
When you sign up for a new membership with the US Airways Club, You can get a $50 discount and waived $50 initiation fee using promo code NM500 by October 25. That promo code will give you 5000 elite qualfiying miles as well through December 31. Buying a US Airways club membership qualifies you for a 100% redeemable miles bonus on flights through November 17 (registration required) I get US Airways club membership both via my American Express Platinum card and through my Aegean Airlines Gold status. So this isn’t for me. But the confluence of opportunities here will certainly appeal to some, especially as US Airways lounge access offers reciprocal lounge benefits with many of their partners (though who those partners are would change if US Airways leaves Star Alliance for oneworld). (HT: Loyalty…
Did You Win Points or Status from National Car Rental?
This past week I ran a contest to give away National car rental points and also elite status. There were (4) prize packages: One grand prize winner: 300 points + Executive Elite status 3 runner-up winners: 300 points each. 300 points can be used to jump-start your participation in the One Two Free campaign. “One Two Free” gives you a free rental day for every two rentals of a mid-size vehicle or larger that’s two days or longer. The grand prize winner is: Eugene Cronshagen said, I think I’m already signed up. Better go check! And the three runner up winners are: Scuta said, Definitely! Dan said, I’m in! Mike said, being able to pick your own vehicle, without having to stand in line waiting for a customer service agent, is a very lucrative benefit.…
American Airlines 2-Day 30% Off Sale on Lounge Day Passes
American Airlines is selling lounge day passes for $35 through Noon central time on Thursday when purchased online. The usual price is $50 when purchasing a single day pass which gets you access for the full day, across multiple airports, so it’s a $15 discount… but still relatively pricey. If I had a very long layover and needed the free wifi, a somewhat quieter place to sit, and power outlets to plug into I would consider it (if I didn’t have access already). Or during irregular operations and delays, where I wanted better help than the long lines at customer service in the terminal. But I’ve always found it hard to justify at that price on a per visit basis. Getting lounge access via a credit card makes more sense for me, spreading an annual…
This Simple Mistake Can Cost You Your American Airlines Upgrade (Like It Did for Me)
When American Airlines makes significant schedule changes, upgrade requests can sometimes appear in your list of reservations online to have fallen off. Domestic upgrades either show ‘requested’ or have a check box to submit a request. Even though you’ve made a request for an upgrade, the box can show up unchecked after schedule changes roll through the system. Do not just check the box and re-request your upgrade. American’s domestic upgrades are prioritized based on status and then based on time of request. You don’t want to make a new upgrade request closer to the date of travel because you can wind up lower in the upgrade queue as a result. Instead, I generally call up American. They’ll usually reassure me that my upgrade request is still in the system with the original request date…
Saudia Business Class Trip Report: Saudia’s Jeddah Lounge and Jeddah-Lahore
Pakistani Correspondent continues her guest post describing the experience flying Saudia business class, which she redeemed using American Express Membership Rewards points transferred to Delta. Here’s her previous installment: New York JFK – Jeddah And now P.C. continues with the Saudia lounge in Jeddah and arriving in Lahore, Pakistan. Welcome to King AbdulAziz International Airport, Jeddah. The airport is fairly small but the signs for the Saudia lounge were misleading. Also, as an unacompanied female, I was not allowed to remain in transit for more than 18 hours but this wouldn’t be a problem because my onward flight was supposed to leave long before that. Eventually, I found the lounge on my own because no one wanted to talk to me and kept redirecting me to talk to someone else, or asked if I was…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 22, 2013 (Including Free Points!)
News and notes from around the interweb: Enter Virgin America’s Facebook contest for 250 free points. You just need to provide your name, email, and frequent flyer number. Hyatt Olive 8 appears to have updated its Diamond breakfast benefit again. Reader Dave N. reports that they’re offering a credit of $26.50 per person, for up to 4 people, and that the hotel remains quite loose about whether all four need to be registered guests or outside friends are welcome. The credit can be taken with room service or in the excellent restaurant. Hyatt will be opening a Hyatt House property in Manhattan, in the Chelsea area, in 2015. JonNYC over at TravelingBetter.com warns AAdvantage members about Alpha Flight Guru, an award ticket brokerage company. Reading between the lines I’m guessing that some folks working with…
Air France KLM Flying Blue Discounting Awards to Twice the Usual Number of Cities for Five Months of Travel
The Air France KLM Flying Blue Program has new promo awards out to double the usual number of destinations and for a full five months of travel. So in many ways much better than past promo award offerings, hence calling it “The Great Take-Off” although many destinations are discounted only 25% and not a full 50%. Book between October 30 and November 30 for travel November 1 through March 31. North America-Europe business class offerings are: Europe-Boston for 46,875 miles each way on Air France Europe-Cancun for 46,875 miles each way on Air France Europe-Chicago for 31,250 miles each way on KLM Europe-Detroit for 46,875 miles each way on Air France Europe-Houston for 31,250 miles each way on Air France Europe-Montreal for 46,875 miles each way on Air France Europe-New York JFK for 46,875 miles…
NBC’s TODAY Show is Looking for Someone That Has Had a Bad Experience With Trip Insurance
From the comments this morning on a post I wrote about why travel insurance usually isn’t a good deal. Sarah Heidarpour said, Hi. I work for NBC’s TODAY Show. I”m looking to talk to anyone who bought travel insurance for a trip and then due to a circumstance, they cancelled and then were NOT reimbursed for travel. Please email me at sarah.heidarpour@nbcuni.com. Anyone that has had a situation like Ms. Heiderpour describes please reach out to her directly by email. I’d love to hear your story in the comments as well. 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…
Alaska Airlines 40,000 Mile Signup Bonuses for Personal and Business Credit Cards
Bank of America is now offering the Alaska Airlines Visa with 25,000 miles on approval and another 15,000 miles for spending $2,000 per month for each of the first 12 months. This offer is available for both the personal and for the business card. It’s an interesting offer, one that’s doable to the extent you get the card and make it primary and/or pay close attention to it on an ongoing basis. It’s not a ‘get it and forget it’ way to maximize your Alaska miles. While they’ve offered 40,000 miles in the past, the usual more aggressive offers have played around with different approaches like 30,000 miles or 25,000 miles and a $100 statement credit which is of course more than the $75 annual fee for the card. It’s nice to see a 40,000…
