The official exchange rate between Venezuelan Bolivers and American dollars is 6.3 to 1. Legally you can exchange dollars into Bolivars at that rate, but there are tight restrictions on the ability to buy dollars with the local currency. In fact, the black market rate is apparently closer to 44 to 1. However, it’s apparently now possible to buy up to US$3000 with Venezuelan Bolivars at the official exchange rate in conjunction with an international airline ticket. So Venezuelans are making money through arbitrage — buying airline tickets they do not intend to use, for the right to buy US dollars at a massive discount relative to what those dollars can be sold for on the black market. Many don’t take the flights, yet my own searches for space yield many days over the coming…
3000 — or Even 4000 — US Airways Mile Bonus for First Rocketmiles Hotel Booking
Rocketmiles is offering new customers a 3000 US Airways mile first-time booking bonus. When Rocketmiles offered a Virgin America first-time booking bonus it was stackable with the 1000 mile bonus for being referred by an existing customer. Nothing in this promotion’s terms and conditions appear to exclude that — making it effectively a 4000 mile bonus with your first Rocketmiles booking, in addition to the miles you would normally earn for booking a room. To qualify for the 3000 mile US Airways offer, you need to open an account and make a booking by December 14 for a stay consumed by March 31 and choose to collect US Airways miles for the booking. Rocketmiles used to allow my referral link to give you 2000 miles as a first-time booking bonus. Normally signing up through a…
What Ever Became of TopGuest: Points for Social Media Check-ins?
Three years ago a site called TopGuest started offering loyalty points for social media check-ins. They let you earn points with Hilton, Best Western, Choice Hotels, Priority Club plus Virgin America, Wyndham, plus Kimpton, Voila Rewards, and others. Even United was added. You would link a TopGuest account to a social media profile such as Foursquare, and then check in on Foursquare when at a qualifying venue to earn points. The technology wasn’t perfect, and back when I had a Blackberry I could check in on Foursquare at a Doubletree (Hilton points), Holiday Inn (Priority Club), Best Western, and more all from my home. It became a daily ritual of quick points. One can imagine this didn’t actually generate the buzz that TopGuest pitched travel providers on initially, and one by one programs fell away.…
What Today’s Southwest Rapid Rewards Devaluation Means for the Safety of Your Points
Southwest sent out an email blast today to let its members know that it would be reducing the value of its points for their best use, “Wanna Get Away” or discount advance purchase fares. There’s at least some notice given — bookings made March 31 onward will cost 70 points per dollar, rather than the current 60 points per dollar. Southwest is a ‘revenue-based’ program with the number of points earned being derived from the price of your tickets, and the number of points it takes to redeem for a given flight depending on the price of that flight. With this change each point will become worth 1.42 cents apiece. That’s a 15% hit to the value of Southwest points. The Points Guy says “I wouldn’t call this a massive devaluation” — I disagree. Yes,…
Behind the Scenes at Boeing’s New Everett Delivery Center
When I went out to see the delivery of the first Singapore Airlines 777 with its new interior, the event was held at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center which opened in April. The Everett facility is dedicated to widebody delivery, so that’s where they turn over 747-8, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft to their buyers. It’s a 180,000 square foot facility set up to handle up to 4 simultaneous deliveries. There are contract signing rooms, guest offices, and conference rooms for airlines’ use during the delivery process. The FAA comes on-site to do final inspections before turning planes over to their buyers. The facility is able to support various types of events surrounding aircraft delivery. As it was explained to me, some airlines prefer to sign papers and leave with their planes while others want larger…
A First Look At the New Singapore Airlines 777 Economy Seat
Last week I shared a first look at Singapore’s new 777 first class cabin and then I followed up with the new 777 business class cabin as well. I was fortunate to attend the delivery of Singapore’s first 777 with their new interior at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center and to roam around the aircraft taking photos. I didn’t get to take pictures of everything, the lavatories were closed off for instance and since the plane was literally just delivered Singapore hadn’t done the full upload of its entertainment system yet. There are (8) 777 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London.…
Washington National’s American Airlines Celebrates Winning a Customer Cup
Getting off of a flight last week there was a bit of a celebration going on, recognizing the American Airlines Washington National airport team as “Customer Cup Winner” for the 2nd quarter of 2013. (Days away from the end of the third quarter it seemed to me like they took quite awhile to tabulate results.) The recognition was due to survey results for:Aircraft cleanliness Checked baggage delivery Overall experience with American on this flight Likelihood to recommend Flight attendant referred to passenger by name Flight attendant thanks passenger for business on deplaning Received a personal thank you for flying American Airlines Washington National itself is a great, easy airport largely because there’s not a lot of distance from the entrance to the terminal, through security, and to the gates. Rental car pickup and dropoff is…
First Look Inside Singapore Airlines’ New 777 Business Class Cabin
Last week I shared a first look at Singapore’s new 777 first class cabin, with photos taken at the aircraft’s delivery from Boeing. As with the new first class product, the new business class is an evolution on their current 777-300ER offering, not something completely different. There are (8) 777 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London. Additional routes for future aircraft haven’t been announced, but there were suggestions that San Francisco or Houston (both currently served by 777s) could get the new interiors. The aircraft is configured with a 2-row mini-cabin behind first class, and then a galley separating it…
United Wants to Be the Friendly Skies Again — Without People That Are Actually Friendly
United’s Twitter account sent me a direct message yesterday flagging the New York Times piece about their new advertising campaign that was supposed to harken back to the classic slogan “fly the friendly skies.” The campaign, though, doesn’t actually speak the iconic phrase and words appear only briefly on screen — it doesn’t talk about its people being friendly. It talks about its features being friendly. It has lots of flights, and that’s friendly. United is now telling travelers it is everything from “legroom friendly” and “online friendly” to “shut-eye friendly” and “EWR friendly,” which refers to the hub of Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, which United inherited when the two airlines merged in 2010 to create the world’s largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic. That’s a crucial distinction, because nobody would…
Lufthansa Devaluing Mileage Earning for Discount Economy Flights in 2014
Lufthansa’s Miles & More will be reducing miles earned in economy starting in 2014. [T]he mileage levels in the lower-priced Economy Class booking classes will be reduced, thereby reflecting the actual value of the airline ticket. So far the changes apply to flights operated by Miles & More’s own participating airlines Adria, Air Dolomiti, Austrian, Brussels, Croatia, Germanwings, LOT Polish, Lufthansa and Swiss. We will likely see additional changes in mileage earning on Star Alliance partner airlines as well, based on the timing of their contracts with those airlines. Meanwhile, elites are going to get ‘status stars’ on their membership cards reflecting how long they’ve been elites (that and a euro might buy you a Coke). And they promise new rewards for elites based on number of flights taken starting next year but are not…
