Via Wandering Aramean, the partnership between Icelandair and Alaska Airlines will terminate June 1. Which is surprising, since Icelandair just re-instated the ability to use their miles for Alaska Airlines travel last month. Back in August lots of folks were hitting Icelandair pretty hard with their partner redemptions on Alaska Airlines. Over the summer you could straight up buy miles and redeem them on Alaska for first class to Hawaii for about $350. So this was certainly a useful partnership. And it continued to be worthwhile, albeit not as lucrative, once Icelandair increased the mileage cost of award travel on Alaska… both because Icelandair still sells miles at a little over a penny apiece and because it was a good use for miles earned from actually flying Icelandair (redemption options in their program are otherwise fairly limited) Sad to…
United Guts Ability of Top Tier Elites to Upgrade on Lufthansa
United is changing the way its systemwide upgrades — the upgrade instruments that are given to 100,000 mile flyers which can be used internationally — (“Global Premier Upgrades” but I can’t quite get myself to call them that with the ‘new’ United) — can be redeemed for a higher class of service on Lufthasna. Instead of just requesting a paper certificate that can be used by the holder on day of departure, United top elites will now have to request their electronic certificates be issued as paper for a specific flight with name of passenger, city pair, flight number and date of travel, and even confirmation number of the booked tickets. If the upgrade doesn’t clear, members can either return the paper certificates to United (and once re-deposited, request new ones for other flights) or…
Flying Blue 50% Off Awards Through Mid-April
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program has posted details of its 50% off promo awards for travel through mid-April. You can book discounted awards for travel between specific cities in North America and all of Europe. (Promo awards also include travel between Europe and other regions of the world, but here I focus just on North America where most of my readers are — sorry folks reading in South America and Asia!) The only cities offering discounted business class are New York JFK and Toronto, Air France business class can be booked to any destination in Europe for 25,000 miles each way. That is, you can fly from New York or Toronto to anywhere in “Europe 1/2/3” (via Paris) which are: Europe 1: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom Europe 2: Austria,…
Elite Upgrades (Almost) Explained in a Video
A video is making the rounds, Free Business Class Upgrades, everytime. It’s basically an explanation of elite status, and tells you that you need to fly a lot on one airline in order to get upgraded. Here’s the thing though. It makes broad, sweeping claims — many of which are wrong. The example in the video is American Airlines. The narrator proclaims, “If you don’t fly a lot you’ll always be stuck in the back” Not quite true, there are companion upgrades (you know someone who flies a lot), there are mileage upgrades (just spend money on your credit card, plus a cash co-pay). There are ways up front that don’t involve being a 100,000 mile flyer. “Status is earned by one metric and one metric only, elite qualifying miles” Umm… no.. American has both…
How to Get Attention in a Crowded Aviation Marketplace
Low cost carriers often eschew global distribution systems – to save money you buy tickets from them in person or online. And in some parts of world many tickets are indeed still purchased in person. Brand identity matters — if you’re going to get consumers to buy from you, they need to know who you are. And certainly the Thai domestic market is crowded. In addition to national flag carrier Thai Airways, there’s competition between Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways (not to be confused with a low cost carrier), and Nok Air. So NokAir is running a promotion with Maxim models dressed as flight attendants posing with their planes. I’m not sure why this is supposed to make people want to fly Nok Air. Hooters Air didn’t survive, and the Hooters Girls were actually on the…
Bits ‘n Pieces for February 12, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Head for Points passes along a £20 signup bonus for Uber with promo code URBANJUNKIES. Meant for U.K. residents, I haven’t tested to see whether the code will work for others. The standard offer (my referral link, as always feel free to leave yours in the comments) provides a $10 credit towards your first ride and $10 to the person whose link you used to join once you use the service. Wandering Aramean has updated his very useful tool for calculating the cost of an award ticket using British Airways Avios points to include new oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines. Their award chart is distance-based, and prices each flight segment separately (except for intra-UK segments), and so I find myself consulting this regularly to quickly test how much an…
Marriott Increasing the Price of Award Nights
Last night Marriott announced both hotel category changes (almost all are going ‘up’ in price) and the introduction of a new, higher award category — category 9. The new category 9 will cost 45,000 points per night 36% of properties will go up by one or more categories (almost all by only 1) Only 1% of properties will drop by a category. The changes go into effect May 16. Here’s the full list of properties changing categories. They new category 9 hotels are: Boston Marriott Long Wharf Le Merigot, A JW Marriott Beach Hotel & Spa, Santa Monica London Marriott Hotel County Hall London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel London Marriott Hotel Park Lane JW Marriott Essex House New York Marriott Marquis Paris Marriott Hotel Champs-Elysees St. Pancras Renaissance London…
Your Kiva Microloans Double Their Impact Today — And Earn Miles
Kiva.org is a micro-lending site that facilitates your ability to do good in the world by making small loans to entrepreneurs around the world. They have partners on the ground who vet people and projects and work with folks who need the funds to foster businesses or cover expenses that allow them to pursue investment in their futures. You can provide funding for loans they’re making, you don’t earn interest but when the borrower pays the loan back you get the funds returned to your account. You can then make another loan with the funds, or withdrawal your principal back to your bank account. Kiva accounts can be funded by credit card. Paypal picks up the processing cost so the amount you charge to your card is the amount available to loan out, and ultimately…
Awesome Southwest Flight Attendant Raps the Safety Demonstration
Even better, to me, than an Air New Zealand safety video. But then I miss late 80s-style rapping. What’s funny is, I remembered this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a Southwest rapping flight attendant go (kinda, sort) viral on YouTube.
In Under the Wire: Should You Get the US Airways and American Credit Cards Now Before Any Merger?
In my discussion last week about the ten best credit card signup bonuses, many of the reader comments centered around what’s looking likely to be a merger between American Airlines and US Airways. Several readers asked, given the probability of a merger, should they get in on the US Airways card now? In general my answer is yes but not for the reason most people seemed to be thinking. Neither the US Airways card nor the American Airlines cards will go away right away. In fact I expect both cards to stick around for awhile. But getting them now may provide for the opportunity to get them again (including signup bonuses) before one of them disappears. Getting a 50,000 mile bonus from the Citibank American card and a 40,000 mile bonus from the US Airways…
