The U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to British Airways Executive Club through July 31. Points from Amex transfers post to BA instantly in real-time, and the bonus posts right away as well. (The fine print says ‘one bonus per cardmember’ so you may only get to do this once during the promotion period, though time will tell whether or not that’s enforced.) In February and March there was a 40% transfer bonus offer and that was a huge deal, of course this is even better. While I wouldn’t make transfers without a specific award in mind, because I do hugely value the flexibility of Amex points more than I do most bonuses, and it’s important to understand what BA miles are good for and what they aren’t,…
US Airways 3000 Bonus Miles for Crediting a Flight, Hotel and Car Rental to Dividend Miles
US Airways is offering 3000 bonus miles for crediting a flight, hotel stay, and rental car to your Dividend Miles account between June 1 and July 31. No registration required. Hotel points transfers don’t count, Starwood Platinums can’t just transfer 1 point over to US Airways to get their hotel credit for the promotion. It’s not a huge bonus but might get me to throw an odd hotel stay their way and once I’ve done that the rental car piece makes sense, I suppose this sort of engagement is meant to get people in the habit of crediting their non-flight activity to US Airways in the hope or expectation that they’ll continue to do so out of habit. I’d wish for a bigger bonus, but every 3000 helps!
Was the Government Really Prepared to Kill Everyone Onboard the United Flight that Returned to DC After a Seat Reclining Incident?
Scott McCartney blogs about the incident Sunday night onboard United’s DC- Accra flight where the aircraft turned around after two passengers got into a fight over a reclined seat. He notes “[w]ith seats squeezed together closely in coach cabins, reclining seats have become a major annoyance for many passengers” and flags etiquette issues. I think there’s a more important point here. McCartney notes, Two F-16s from Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled to shadow the flight until it landed safely. Now, there is only one thing that the F-16s could have done in this situation. Either they do nothing, or they shoot down the plane. I’ve seen quite a bit of coverage over this incident, most of the coerage notes that fighter jets were scrambled to respond. But nobody points out that those fighter jets…
United-Continental Will Keep Offering an International First Class
One of the last major questions remaining (ok, there are tons of minor questions) was whether the combined United-Continental would retain international first class. The answer is yes, as I’ve speculated in the past, although we don’t yet know which routes will have it or whether they’ll retain as many aircraft in that configuration as they do now. It’s certainly unlikely to spread. United’s entire transatlantic and transpacific fleet offers three-cabin service, while Continental offers business and coach only. We know that they’re keeping United’s economy plus, although of course currently if you get a Continental aircraft you don’t have that benefit. Continental sees it as profitable, from the upsells, so they’re keeping it and they seem to discount the importance of the loyalty benefit that it offers. To me, it’s why United Mileage Plus…
How to Score the Best Hotel Room Upgrades
I was riffing yesterday morning over at Milepoint on different ways to get upgraded at hotels and thought I’d share the advice here as well and maybe blow it out a bit. Back in 2005 I offered up some recommendations, the upshot of which was to find a way to just ask (without being a jerk). I think I’m a bit more experienced now than I was then, and can offer some additional insight, hopefully some of it is new or will spark some idea about how to go about it. The crux of the advice from back in 2005 remains, though. There are a lot of guests in a hotel, man of which have some sort of status, and some get the upgrade and some don’t, some get the ‘special’ suites while others get…
40% Bonus on Transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Delta
The 50% bonus for first-time transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Delta Skymiles (with bonus of 25,000 elite qualifying miles for transferring 50,000 or more) ends today, but they’ve already come out with the next bonus and it’s available to anyone who registers. Transfers of up to 99,999 miles earn a 25% bonus, and transfers of 100,000 miles or more earn a 40% bonus through June 30. My general advice remains, however, don’t be tempted by bonuses, don’t transfer your American Express points without a specific award redemption on the horizon.
Free Planeside Meet-and-Greet and Fast Track Immigration with Roundtrip Car Transfer in Bangkok
In most cases throughout South Asia, VIP immigration meet-and-greet is available, reasonably priced, and utterly gratuitous. It’s wonderful to have when included free, such as provided by Thai Airways for all of their first class passengers in Bangkok – you’re met at the jetway and escorted (depending on distance, either walked or taken by golf cart) through VIP immigration with no lines, assisted with baggage, and turned over to your driver if one is waiting for you. The first time I experienced this was back in 2006, Thai used to identify first class passengers at Don Muang airport with a card they would give out and since my wife and I were both given a card and I admit I turned back only one, I still have one. It was really need to be taken…
Weekend New Orleans Premium and SUV Car Rentals $15.50 all-in
Posted on Milepoint by AutoSlash: Just came across this great deal for weekend rentals in New Orleans with Hertz for $15.50 total including tax. Seems to work for the weekend of 6/17 and the weekend of 6/24. After clicking through, you can change the dates and times to suit your needs. The best part is that this deal is available for *ANY* car type from economy right up to Luxury, any SUV or Minivan.
Book American AAdvantage Domestic (and Canada) Coach Awards at 30% Off
Via Destination David, it’s the last day of American AAdvantage’s 30 Deals in 30 Days to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the program. And today’s deal is worth mentioning, a 30% discount on coach saver awards within the Continental U.S. and Canada for bookings made by June 10 and travel between September 7 and November 8. That means 17,500 roundtrip for awards that would usually cost 25,000 miles. Registration is not required for this one, mileage discount will apply automatically, whether booking one-way (3750 mile discount) or roundtrip (7500 mile discount).
Who Has the Best Frequent Flyer Award Availability? Why the Media is Silly to Believe the New IdeaWorks Study
Scott McCartney writes about this year’s IdeaWorks study of award inventory, but the underlying work isn’t all that useful and I don’t think Scott does a good job of framing why. Some of Scott’s takeaways are true, others true ‘as far as they go’, and still others quite misleading. Last May Scott covered the study as well. The problems that I identified with the study last year remain. They’re just querying airline websites. As a result you get pretty big disparity between US Airways (‘the worst’) and Continental (‘in the top half’) even though they are dealing with virtually the exact same award availability as Star Alliance carriers. The US Airways website doesn’t show partner availability (yet), the Continental website does. Route selection bias. They handpicked 20 routes per airline, remember these are different routes…
