Via AAdvantageGeek, American is testing buy on board food pre-purchase via its mobile app. That’s great, and I hope that will include the ability to make ‘free’ purchases for Executive Platinums, American is especially generous with their top tier elites allowing them a complimentary food item and complimentary cocktail by virtue of their status when they’re sitting in back. American is also …examining ways to improve some its existing mobile capabilities including offering “much deeper functionality around booking and changing existing reservations”, Leibman explains. “All of these things we have to varying degrees, but those areas are example of things that are on the slate to continue to evolve.” Another potential upgrade under consideration is improving mobile mapping functionality so customers could determine the number of miles they’re accruing for a particular trip. That’s all…
100% Bonus on AviancaTaca Lifemiles Points Transfers Through July 31
Yesterday I posted about new Star Alliance member AviancaTaca making their award chart available online. Last month I explained how that program provides some real value, even for folks living in North America: a favorable award chart, cash and points awards, no fuel surcharges, and frequent bonus offers for points purchases. Now through the end of July the AviancaTaca Lifemiles program is offering a 100% bonus on transferred miles. That represents the ability to purchase miles at 1.5 cents apiece, provided you or someone you know has an account with miles in it already. From July 16th to July 31st, for every 1,000 miles you transfer to the account of a relative or friend, we will double the miles transferred to your friend’s account. Pay USD $15 plus local taxes per each block of 1,000…
Let Each of Your Kids Give You 2500 Free British Airways Points
Through August 31, Iberia is giving 2500 points to each kid that gets a child account. Iberia points transfer to British Airways. You can set up British Airways household accounts and draw on your kids’ mileage balances for your own awards. After all, you’re spending a whole lot of time and money caring for them, why not have them pay you back? Sign each child up or an Iberia Kids Account by August 31. The child must be at least 2 years old. They way you do it is to fill out the .pdf registration form and mail, fax or e-mail it in along with a copy of the child’s ID or passport. It may take a few months before points are available to them, but you’ll then be able to transfer your kids’ points…
United Won’t Honor the 4 Mile Award Tickets to/through Hong Kong
I had posted originally that I didn’t think United would honor this, that it was a long shot, and that for all of the armchair lawyering about tickets being issued and DOT regulations that it at least wasn’t obvious to me that it was a slam dunk. And indeed, it wasn’t. United’s official word is that people can either pay the proper mileage price of the awards or cancel without penalty. Hi Everyone, over the weekend, we discovered a united.com programming error that allowed customers to obtain Mileage Plus travel awards to and from Hong Kong for as little as four miles roundtrip per person, substantially below published levels, which we disclose to customers. We have since corrected the error and will be in contact with customers who have tickets issued at the incorrect award…
Act Now – Last Day for 100,000 British Airways Points
Key link: British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus Chase has announced that the most lucrative credit card bonus this year gets pulled at 5pm Eastern on July 17. (It could well last a few minutes or hours past that, but that’s the stated time at which the offer is supposed to be pulled.) So this is your last chance to grab the biggest credit card signup bonus out there. The offer is: 50,000 points after first purchase 25,000 points after spending $10,000 on the card within a year 25,000 additional points after spending the next $10,000 on the card within that year There’s a $95 annual fee, spending earns 1.25 points per dollar, and the card has no foreign currency transaction fees. After $30,000 in spend within a year they award a free companion award…
“Do Not Call” the Airline or Hotel During a Mistake Fare, and Is There Strength in Numbers or Best to Keep a Deal Quiet?
Right after I posted an explanation of why there are very few airfare mistakes these days, we get two in a row — first tons of premium cabin award space available on Singapore Airlines (which looks like it’s being honored without any difficulty) and second United MileagePlus awards that touch Hong Kong for 4 miles (it’s too early to say for sure what will happen, though apparently at least two people have already flown on the deal). Both of these examples are consistent with my explanation — that ‘fat finger’ discounts where a zero or two are most commonly left off of a paid airfare are mostly a thing of the past. The system that airlines load their international fares into now contains a warning screen that flags fares that look too low. So it’s…
AviancaTaca Lifemiles Posts Their Star Alliance Award Chart
With the addition of AviancaTaca as a Star Alliance member, I noted that this will be a very useful program for some. They offer frequent bonuses on purchased miles, making their points cheap to acquire, and they offer cash and points award bookings as well. At the time there was no complete award chart posted, you had to search route-by-route to figure out how much awards are supposed to cost. That has been rectified. Overall the chart is quite good, generally competitive with US frequent flyer programs. They offer online award bookings, and some glitches (mostly in customers’ favor) have been reported so far (some destinations pricing in the wrong zone, other routings allowing getting off at a connecting city for less than the full routing costs). I wouldn’t bank of those remaining, I’d focus…
Is Delta Now Adding Fuel Surcharges onto Korean Airlines Awards? Perhaps Not.
Yesterday Lucky wrote that Delta had started adding fuel surcharges onto award bookings made with Korean AIrlines. Fuel surcharges are commonly billed to customers on award travel throughout the world. Nearly all European airline programs add fuel surcharges (usually several hundred dollars per ticket), with the notable exception of SAS Eurobonus which eliminated the practice a couple of years ago. Most Asian programs do as well. Most programs in the Americas do not. Notable exceptions are Aeroplan which began last year to add them to a majority of partner bookings, American which adds them to British Airways awards and a small one on Iberia bookings, and Delta which adds an ‘international origination surcharge’ to bookings originating from Europe (since their European counterparts add fees, they figure their European customers have little choice and they can…
Are United Award Bookings on Qatar Airways About to Go Away Early?
Matthew ran into an issue booking United MileagePlus award travel on Qatar Airways. Just weeks after Qatar award space became bookable on the united.com website, it was announced that the United-Qatar partnership was ending and awards would be bookable up until September 14 (for travel through the end of schedule as of that time). There are now lots of reports, though, that United’s telephone agents will no longer book the space, citing a memo they received that the partnership terminated early and award travel on Qatar is no longer bookable. The United website still stays bookings can be made through September 14, and the website shows the award availability as well. Qatar awards are still bookable online, and some folks have reported taking four or five phone calls to get it done offline. Bottom-line is…
United Awards to Hong Kong and Beyond for 4 Miles
Reader Sean emails to let me know that United’s website appears to be pricing out award tickets originating in China for 4 miles plus taxes. I’ve checked this with tickets originating in Shanghai and in Beijing (though I haven’t checked other cities), and for business and economy awards, and the result is the same. Here’s for a Beijing-Hong Kong roundtrip in business: I love that for $1035 I could save my 4 miles. You’ll see that it shows the correct mileage price initially and then the mistaken cost in the ‘total’. I haven’t tried to ticket this, though Sean reports that he was successful and had only 4 miles deducted. It remains to be seen whether this will be honored or not. My guess is that it will not be, but some may find this…
