I’ve been writing a ton about new Star Alliance airline EVA Airways over the past two weeks. I noted briefly just how amazing their award availability is back on June 19. Taipei-based EVA Airways has joined the Star Alliance and is a truly awesome ‘get’ — business class award availability is really, really good and thy fly to Toronto, Vancouver, New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Another great way to get between North America and Asia and with a really stellar inflight product. I’ve found the Aeroplan website good for searching space, along with the ANA website. I was unsuccessful pulling up available space at United.com yesterday. I shared some of my frustrations with United’s call centers getting EVA Airways awards booked, since the flights couldn’t be found at United.com. Nonetheless, it’s…
This New Service from Uber is Beyond My Means
Scott Mayerowitz passes along a new service from Uber. This is a new service in New York for getting out to the Hamptons. $3000 buys a helicopter ride and SUV rides on each end for up to 5 people. Now, I love Uber. I think the concept is great from a consumer standpoint (car shows up with a couple of taps on your phone, you can even watch it as it approaches you, and there’s no cash transaction at the end of the ride). I think it’s a great concept from an entrepreneurial standpoint as well (utilizing down time from existing car services). But I admit that UberChopper is going to be beyond my means — I’ve never even flown in a helicopter. Continental used to offer a 10,000 mile add-on to transatlantic business class…
Marriott Introduces Mobile Check-in, When the Real Value is in Mobile Check-out
Marriott’s Marriott Hotels brand has rolled out a mobile check-in app at 31 hotels so far, and will be extending it to 325 Marriott-branded properties in the US and Canada. All Marriott Rewards members can check-in after 4 pm the day before their arrival and will receive an automatic notification when their room is ready. Because credit card information is stored within their Marriott Rewards profiles, members simply walk up to the expedited mobile check-in desk where their pre-programmed key card will be waiting for them. The mobile check-in feature is part of the free Marriott mobile app available in the Apple iTunes Store and Google Play. While I really like electronic check-out, at the end of most of my Hyatt stays I get a link in an email and can designate my checkout time.…
Finnair Joins British Airways, American, and Iberia in Joint Business Venture Across the Atlantic… No Upgrade for You!
Finnair, the Helsinki-based oneworld airline, joins American, British Airways and Iberia in their joint business venture across the Atlantic tomorrow. Finnair also intends to join the Japan Airlines-British Airways joint venture between Japan and Europe. This is a business play for the airlines involved, and while companies will talk about better coordination of schedules and seamless transfers (and it is the case that they tend to be better at interlining during irregular operations as a result) this really isn’t something that affects customers in a way that most will pay attention to or care about. When American, Iberia, and British Airways formed their joint venture, it became possible to use miles from any of those airlines to upgrade on any of the other carriers. Of course space had to be available, and there were specific…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 1, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: The mile high club is an unpublished elite benefit. (Worth the read.) India’s GoAir will hire only female flight attendants… to save fuel. The verdict on Spirit’s “wine in a can” Points, Miles & Martinis is giving away a Briggs & Riley @work bag Tyler Cowen’s ethnic dining guide concurs with me about just how good the new dishes are at Elephant Jumps in Northern Virginia. Membership Rewards 20% transfer bonus to Hawaiian Airlines extended through tomorrow. (Meh.) 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. Don’t miss out!
Club Carlson Devalues Points Transfers to Miles With No Notice Whatsoever
Via reader Glenn L., Club Carlson has drastically cut the rate at which points transfer to airline miles — overnight, without any notice whatsoever. Previously, points transferred to miles at a rate of: 2000 points -> 250 miles 50,000 points -> 8000 miles 100,000 points -> 18,000 miles Now the same 100,000 points transfer to just 10,000 miles. The new ratio is a consistent 10-to-1. Significant changes to the value of points without notice is, I think, the worst thing a program can do. Members earn points with an eye towards redemption. They spend money in good faith based on an articulation of benefits. Having the deal changed after they’ve spent that money, without any chance to redeem under the rules in place at the time they did so, is a true breach of trust.…
Targeted Bonuses for Buying US Airways Miles in July
US Airways is running bonuses for mileage purchases through July 31. They make you identify yourself with name and account number before displaying the purchase miles page, which tells me they are verifying eligibility. But I was offered a 100% bonus which seems to be quite common. With a 100% bonus, purchases of 50,000 miles you get 50,000 bonus miles, and your 100,000 miles cost you 1.88 cents per mile. US Airways has been dubbed the ‘consolidator of Star Alliance premium class seats’ since seats that aren’t expected to be sold (distressed inventory) tend to be offered as awards, and US Airways has been the most aggressive about letting members straight up buy those seats cheaply via purchased miles — even putting awards on hold before buying the miles (which post instantly). Although they’re no…
Are Revenue-Based Changes to Frequent Flyer Programs a Shift in Strategy or the Economy?
Joel G. points to a Matthew Yglesias article in Slate that makes the case shifts in frequent flyer programs are a function of the economy — fewer seats to give away with full planes. There’s no doubt a significant element of that. Here’s what I wrote about United imposing minimum revenue requirements for elite status earned starting next year. United has set the bar at spending a consistent 10 cents per mile minimum. That’s the same amount that Delta is using with its tiers (Delta’s top tier is earned at 125,000 miles and has set the bar for that at $12,500.) Interestingly this is a higher amount per mile than when United was rumored to be looking at making similar changes two years ago. I wonder how much of that is based on the current…
Last Day to Get 50,000 Mile Signup Bonus for Lufthansa MasterCard?
Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard® The Miles & More website says that the 50,000 mile offer for the Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard® expires today. The limited-time offer is for up to 50,000 points — 20,000 after first purchase and 30,000 more after meeting minimum spend within 90 days. The card comes with a $79 annual fee, and the points are exceptionally useful for domestic premium cabin awards on United (35,000 miles roundtrip) and for first class awards on Lufthansa and Swiss (much better availability than offered to Lufthansa’s frequent flyer partners like United). The 50,000 mile offer is historically unusual, and I’ve heard much jealousy from European members of the Miles & More program. (Note that cards in this post offer credit to me if you’re approved using my links.…
Last Day to Switch From Google Reader — Don’t Miss Out on Your Fix from View from the Wing!
Google Reader goes away tomorrow. If you’ve used Google Reader to keep up with View from the Wing, this post is for you. And I’m going to ask you to take action now. I don’t want to lose touch with you. Google Reader has been my preferred way of following blogs, and the best way for me to manage all of the people writing about frequent flyer miles and travel, for quite some time. But the product is about to disappear. I know that several thousand of hte 30,000+ people who keep up with this website use Google Reader, though of course every time pulling up the site in the past couple of weeks I’ve gotten a popup reminding me of its demise. If you haven’t done anything about it already, there are several easy…
