Delta is selling lounge access on Groupon: $25 for a single visit pass, $89 for a five-visit punch card. The passes expire after six months. And don’t forget you can earn points and cash back for Groupon purchases. Expires Apr 30, 2012. Limit 3 per person, may buy multiple as gifts. Not valid until 10/28/11. Must be 21 or older or be accompanied by guardian. Valid only when traveling same-day on any airline. Guest passes not included. United is straight up selling access to walk-ins for $19. So I don’t really consider this an amazing, Groupon-worthy deal. But it’s still notable, since Delta normally sells one-day passes for $50. Which strikes me as sorta crazy pricing, since the lounges aren’t that great, although some of them do have showers. I could imagine passengers in LAX…
70,000 Bonus Points for Marriott Rewards Visa Signup
Ok, so you won’t be able to use the points towards an all-inclusive. But this is the biggest signup bonus I’ve seen for a Marriott Rewards card: 70,000 bonus points after first purchase (offer expired), a free night (up to category 4), and fee waived the first year. You also get 15 nights towards elite status. The card also comes with no foreign currency transaction fees, so it may be worthwhile to grab this card for the no fee year on that basis alone if you don’t have another card which offers this benefit. If you keep the card, the annual fee is $85 and nets you a free room night (up to category 5) each year. Sadly I’ve had (several) Marriott Rewards Visa cards from Chase in the past so I’m unlikely to be…
Marriott Eliminates All-Inclusive Rewards With No Notice Whatsoever
Loyalty Traveler writes that Marriott Rewards has eliminated its “all inclusive” rewards. With no notice, whatsoever. The option was simply pulled, and they acknowledged it through social media channels after the fact. All-inclusive rewards providing food and beverage and kids activities at seven Marriott Resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean have been discontinued effective October 17, 2011 with no advance notice to members. Inclusive rewards were 70,000 points for five nights or 90,000 points for seven nights at select all-inclusive resorts and covered meals, beverages including alcohol and some activities for two adults and children under 12. The all-inclusive reward option was on top of the regular hotel reward cost.. Regular readers on this blog know my feelings about no-notice and short-notice program changes. Customers fly, stay, and earn points in loyalty programs…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 21
Live and Let’s Fly says you can’t buy them at this price online, but if you walk into a United club they’ll sell you a day pass for $19. The Man of a Thousand Places put together a spreadsheet on how much it’s worth to spend in exchange for a marginal ‘hit’ in the US Airways Grand Slam promotion. Mommy Points updates on her plans to earn hits 25 – 32 in the US Airways Grand Slam. I’ve done 28 hits so far, know how I’m getting to 33 for sure, and have a list I’m considering for getting to 36 in order to earn 100,000 miles. The Travel Insider points out that it isn’t just the TSA — Security Theatre on the Northern Border. There are too many agents, with nothing to do. But…
Mark Your Calendar for November 9: Live Online Chat with Hyatt Gold Passport
Jeff Zidell, Vice President of Hyatt for the Gold Passport program, will hold a live chat on Milepoint on November 9. You can sign up for an email reminder, and you can also submit questions in advance if you’d like. You’ll also be able to see the questions that others are asking. American Airlines kicked off the first chat, and Maya Leibman (President of AAdvantage) went back and answered questions that didn’t make it into the live chat. At the end of last night’s live chat with Jonathan Clarkson of Southwest Rapid Rewards there was a similar commitment to do the same. So getting your questions in usually means getting them answered. I can guess that there will be plenty of questions in the Hyatt chat about promotions — Faster Free Nights (stay twice, get…
Delta Introducing Economy Plus Fleet-wide
Delta has been offering ‘economy comfort’ seating on its international aircraft, with additional legroom at the front of coach. It’s available for a premium but free for elites. Wandering Aramean notes that Delta is now planning to roll out the extra legroom seating to all of their domestic aircraft, including two-cabin regional jets, by summer. Pricing will run $19 – $99 per segment. However, they’re only going to be putting 3-5 rows of extra legroom seating in. So this is nowhere near as extensive as United’s offering, which will be extending to the Continental fleet over the coming year as well. United’s new configuration 777 — which has 9 seats across in coach — offers 12 rows with extra legroom. Delta’s economy plus seating will be available for free at booking to their Gold elites…
Excellent Award Availability and Excellent First Class: Etihad is Now an American AAdvantage Redemption Partner
Yesterday afternoon I got a tip from reader Abdou that Etihad flights were now bookable as awards with American AAdvantage miles. I meant to blog it right away, but looks like both Online Travel Review and One Mile at a Time beat me to the punch. While first and business class upgrade space (R and X inventory, respectively) are published through Sabre, and thus also searchable using the KVS tool and Expertflyer, the only way to search for award seats that I’m aware of is signing up for an Etihad Guest account and then using their website to search space. All reports so far are that American AAdvantage has access to the same award inventory that Etihad Guest members do. And that award availability is, so far, quite excellent. Like four first class award seats…
Reminder: Live Chat Tomorrow Night with the Head of Southwest Rapid Rewards
As noted last month, Jonathan Clarkson, Director of the Rapid Rewards program, will talk live online with frequent flyers at 9pm Eastern. Here’s the event page. You can also pre-submit a question if you’d like. Here’s an idea of some of the questions that folks are asking. Here’s the question I blogged last week. I have to give Clarkson a lot of credit coming out and speaking with members online. There’s been much handwringing about the program, and certainly most engaged frequent flyers think that recent changes are anything but positive. It’s not just the fact that drink coupon expirations are now enforced. Instead, it’s all about their new fare-based rather than segment-based frequent flyer program. Me, I think it all goes back to their change in 2007 deciding that they could change the terms…
American AAdvantage Complimentary Upgrade Promotion on Selected Regional Routes
AAdvantage Geek reports that American is now offering complimentary upgrades to all elites on certain regional carrier flights. American remains the only US carrier which charges its bottom and mid-tier elite members for upgrades. American’s 100,000-mile flyers get unlimited complimentary upgrades. Other elites earn 500 mile upgrade certificates based on their flying, receiving 2000 miles worth of upgrades for each 10,000 miles flown. That used to be the standard in the industry, all other carriers have switched to offering all elites upgrades without burning these certificates. American, though, continues to sell these upgrade certificates to its Gold and Platinum members who want to upgrade beyond the complimentary certificates that they earn. So it’s interesting news that they’re running a complimentary upgrade promotion on select routes. [F]rom October 18 through December 15, 2011, AAdvantage Platinum and…
American Airlines Promos on Japan Airlines: Double Mileage Earning and Reduced Award Redemption Prices
Via DestinationDavid and JALPak on Milepoint come several mileage offers related to American Airlines’ joint venture with Japan Airlines. 50% off mileage redemption, San Francisco – Tokyo Haneda, for travel between November 1, 2011 and February 29, 2012. That makes makes business class roundtrip 50,000 miles and coach roundtrip 30,000. The same offer on Vancouver – Tokyo Narita Double miles on American codeshare flights operated by Japan Airlines and booked into a high fare class (K fare or higher) for travel between November 1, 2011 and February 29, 2012. Registration required. All of these are of limited usefulness, yet still interesting for what they signify. Winter is very much off-season for travel between the US and Japan. And the reduced mileage offers, while great for folks in or near San Francisco or Vancouver are appealing,…
