Etihad, new American AAdvantage partner and new partial owner of oneworld member Air Berlin, has introduced a new mileage earning structure that bases mileage earning on fare class. Effective June 1, most economy fares will earn only 50% of miles flown. Only H, B, and Y fares will earn 100% miles in economy. Discounted business class will earn fewer miles than full fare business class, and discounted first class will earn fewer miles than full fare first class. Meanwhile, beginning June 1 any award booked through their service center will incur a fee of $20 or 2000 miles.
Why TSA Airport Security is Actually Harmful, and Not Merely Ineffective
Bruce Schneier on why current airport security is actually harmful, and not just mere ineffective inconvenience: Kip Hawley doesn’t argue with the specifics of my criticisms, but instead provides anecdotes and asks us to trust that airport security—and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in particular—knows what it’s doing. He wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe. He wants us to trust that the butter knives given to first-class passengers are nevertheless too dangerous to be taken through a security checkpoint. He wants us to trust the no-fly list: 21,000 people so dangerous they’re not allowed to fly, yet so innocent they can’t be arrested. He wants us to trust that the deployment of expensive full-body scanners has nothing to do with…
You Don’t Have to Go to Jetsetter for a Discount on Groundlink
Via Joey M. there’s a New York City Groundlink offer on Groupon. Groupon’s deal is $29 for LaGuardia or $39 for JFK or Newark transportation. And you can get miles, points, or cash back for shopping through your favorite mileage portal, the offers from Chase Ultimate Rewards and from the AAdvantage Mall appear especially lucrative.
Cheap Groundlink Car Service Offer Back on Jetsetter (sort of)
The Wall Street Journal yesterday picked up that car service company Groundlink has acquired Limo Anywhere. That minor piece of news might have escaped me, except that I’m been using Groundlink quite a bit lately, discovering them through a deal posted on Jetsetter back in January, a Groupon-esque offering that gave me a cheap airport pickup and introduced me to the company. It seems that Jetsetter is offering that deal again. If you aren’t already a member of Jetsetter, you can sign up with my link and if/when you purchase something from them, in theory I get a $25 credit. I’d love to find out if they’re actually going to honor credits earned through the Groundlink promotion, or at all. (Update: to be clear I wanted to see whether they would honor referrals to me…
When an Agent Says Award Seats Are Unavailable But You Know They Are…
Back in the era of United’s Starnet blocking — programming computers to say that frequent flyer award seats on partner airlines weren’t available, even when those partners were offering the seats, because United didn’t want to pay for the tickets — things got pretty silly. Agents would say, “I’m sorry, Lufthansa doesn’t fly to Frankfurt that day.” Or, “It doesn’t look like All Nippon flies from Washington Dulles to Tokyo.” Excuse me? “It’s call ANA flight number 1. I was at the party they held in DC to celebrate 20 years of continuous service.” See, at one time United’s computers ‘blocked’ award seats by simply not showing the flight existed. In the very beginning, the most common thing to block was Lufthansa seats inside Europe, the connections simply wouldn’t show up. Then Lufthansa transatlantic space,…
Three Days Left to Vote in the Freddies — Who Are You Supporting?
It’s your last chance to Vote in the Freddie Awards. Balloting ends as the month of March comes to a close (my understanding: 11:59pm on March 31 in the last inhabited time zone — so for many of you, early Sunday morning). The Freddies are the award in the loyalty industry, honoring the best in airline, hotel, and credit card programs. And it’s the voice of the frequent traveler, voted on by the program’s members which makes it in many ways the most meaningful. In my experience talking with programs, I’ve learned that they really do want to win these awards, in fact they want these awards the most, and at the margins they do listen to their customers and hear them through the awards, and have made changes or avoided making changes with an…
Around the Forums and Blogs for Wednesday, March 26
The Points Guy calls out Delta for failing to quickly fix the ‘IT issue’ that is preventing Skymiles from accessing business class award and upgrade inventory on Air France, while not doing anything to assist affected customers such as making more upgrades and awards available on their own product in the meantime. The problem has been ongoing, with little communication from Skymiles about when it might be solved, and one begins to wonder whether they aren’t exactly anxious to fix it (since that would entail higher redemption costs). Deals We Like highlights an offer for 20% off at Starwood hotel restaurants for showing your SPG member card. This is on top of the miles earned for spending at those restaurants. And it doesn’t require you to be a registered guest. Not all hotels participate. Online…
In an Era of Airline Consolidation, Elite Status Matters More Than Ever
It’s a rare publication that will listen to me opine endless, and then quote my rants extensively. So I have to give credit where credit is due. Financial site Minyanville.com ran a piece on consolidation in the airline industry and what it means for elite perks and miles. They quoted me extensively, and began by suggesting that fewer planes in the air, and planes that are more full, makes upgrades more difficult — it shifts those upgrades upwards to only the top elites. (Unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades does this, too.) Indeed, it’s a simple matter of supply and demand with regards to seat upgrades. With airline consolidations, there are now fewer planes and thus fewer seats on many routes, making upgrades scarce commodities. As such, both Raja and Gary Leff, co-founder of the frequent flyer…
$10 for $20 Skype Credit
I use Skype for most of my international calls at home (such as the the bmi Diamond Club call centers in India, for which there’s no U.S. number), the quality does vary but it does the trick. I also use it to call from abroad, when I’ve got internet connectivity. (When I’m roaming around I use an unlocked cell with a SIM card from OneSimCard.com which suits my needs in many countries.) CollegeBudget.com has $20 Skype Credit for $10, one per person. Your $10 purchase yields a $20 e-gift code that can be deposited at skype.com/voucher. The site says the voucher expires September 26th, but then in the fine print says it must be redeemed by September 30th. I assume one should redeem it right away, and that the funds deposited are treated as normal…
Citi Thank You Points Won’t Transfer to BA and Singapore After All?
Yesterday I linked to Dan’s Deals reporting that starting April 1, Citi Thank You Points would transfer to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer and to British Airways as well. I’ve generally found Dan to be reliable, as I noted at the time. Of course I’m relying on Dan’s Deals here for this information, I haven’t independently verified it yet, but I usually find Dan to be pretty reliable. I’ve since, however, received comment from Citi’s PR team. The information posted on DansDeals.com regarding transferring ThankYou Points to certain international airlines is not accurate. ThankYou members can redeem points for travel on any airline with no blackout dates in the ThankYou Travel Center. Currently ThankYou members cannot directly transfer their ThankYou Points to an airline. “Currently” seemed like a bit of a weasel word, because of course members…
