Milepoint member HansGolden emails for help for some folks that are (as of his email) just 538 votes away from 1 million SAS EuroBonus points. I was wondering if you’ve seen that I’m giving away a free 25K-level ticket in the US in exchange for checking out and voting for some videos by some buddies of mine in an SAS contest? If they get enough votes (538 more people), they’ll get 1 million SAS miles. They’re already the team in the lead, so votes won’t change the outcome, but there’s a big diff between 300K miles and 1 million miles. It’s an opportunity to help out community members and also get a chance to win something. Some of the videos are quite good as well (my faves are Takeoff, Helicopter, and Alarm Clock). Randy Peterson entered and enjoyed…
What United Used to Consider a Loyal Customer
The rumored changes to United Mileage Plus for next year very much would make the program more transactional in nature, rather than focused on loyalty. I’ve argued that the best (most effective and profitable) programs shift member wallet-share, rather than rewarding high spend. And I’ve contended that a program which rewards the highest spend on a given flight, rather than the most valuable customers overall, undermines loyalty over the long term. We need to shout from the rooftops, I am not my rate or my fare! A customer is the same person every time they board one of your planes or check into one of your hotels. We’re either valued or we’re not, loyal or we’re not. Setting a minimum spend for benefits defines what you see as loyal, though I grate at punishing people…
Mileage Plus 2012 Change Rumors: Fallacies, Fantasies, and Fact
One Mile at a Time writes a followup post to yesterday’s rumors about the face of the new United-Continental Mileage Plus program. United all but confirmed that the gist of what’s been leaked is correct when they issued a denial. As we’ve said, the details are coming in the fall – specifically, we’re aiming for the end of next month. In the meantime, there will be rumors — like what’s been posted here — that unfortunately contain some inaccurate information. “Some inaccurate information.” Indeed. Not false, incorrect, mistaken, grossly speculative even. Just some of what’s been speculated isn’t quite right, but we won’t tell you what. So if you haven’t seen the direction that at least some of Mileage Plus’ thinking seems to be going in, it’s worth reading up. In Ben’s follow up, he…
How PR Firms Pitch Bloggers, and Why It Can Take Me Awhile to Answer Emails
There’s a reason that I use a Yahoo email address here on my blog, an email account that I don’t download to Outlook on my laptop. Instead, I usually check it twice a day for reader emails and comments. So I apologize that I’m not always quick on the draw with my replies. The reason isn’t that I need to focus on work, although I do, so I shouldn’t always be paying attention to your questions and needs during my business day… Rather it’s because once you put an email address up on a blog, you get on lists. PR firm lists. And you get pitches. A lot of pitches. Some of them are better than others, which is to say they’re at least customized to the blog. They might reflect some understanding of what…
Studying at 36,000 Feet for the Mile High Club
Long-haul flights can be tedious, but they’re also a great opportunity for uninterrupted education, at least if the multimedia offerings can hold your interest. On Qantas, apparently, the video on demand system allows you to learn improved sex techniques (HT: Sam S.) A documentary about the female orgasm is now available for viewing on all of the carrier’s international flights, reports news.com.au. The French film, “The Female Orgasm Explained,” seeks to show the intricacies of the female orgasm and features old pornos, graphics and sound effects. According to a Qantas spokesperson, the documentary is the most popular selection on in-flight channel The Edge… Apparently flight attendants can block this from the inflight entertainment systems of unaccompanied minors. I understand that Cathay Pacific offers similar instruction, albeit not through their CX World entertainment system.
Friday Links Around the Blogs: View from the Wing Reads Everyone Else So You Don’t Have To
Lots of credit card deals, American Express getting aggressive, deals to take advantage of you may not have known about. And a couple of imbecilic stories – from passenger and from the TSA: 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards points per month, for every month you make at least 15 transactions on the card. Possible 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points for Adding Authorized Users to Your Account TSA Agents Can Now Use Their Judgment to Decide Who is Really a Pilot, and Who Needs to Be Screened Ugh, I think I was on this flight 75,000 mile signup bonuses for new Citibank American Airlines credit cards still work. Meanwhile, Some people are still getting 75,000 signup points for the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card.
Rumored Drastic Changes to United-Continental Frequent Flyer Program
Lucky passes on some pretty specific speculation about the combined United-Continental frequent flyer program for next year. I’ll quote substantially from his post, and though while I don’t claim to be entirely in the know on this my understanding has been that the details of next year’s program aren’t final or fully decided and wouldn’t be until after Labor Day — so this may not be completely right. Although it certainly resonated with some things I’ve heard about in terms of the direction they’re going. Let’s start with the good news (and trust me, there’s not a whole lot of it for most of us). Class of service bonuses: Class of service bonuses for full fare tickets and paid premium cabin tickets will go up substantially, ranging anywhere from 125% for Y, B, and M…
Status of the 83,000 Mile AAdvantage Shopping Mall Offer?
Over on Milepoint a member named Cartera Commerce appeared to take responsibility for running the AAdvantage Shopping Mall and claims they’re not liable for providing any miles. Attention AAdvantage eShopping(SM) customers: Cartera Commerce, Inc., operator of the AAdvantage eShopping mall, displayed an incorrect offer for certain products available through Verizon Wireless on the AAdvantage eShopping mall website on Tuesday, August 10, 2011. The incorrect offer of 83,871 AAdvantage® miles for online purchases of certain Verizon wireless accessories was the result of a Cartera system error. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Due to Verizon’s Terms & Conditions, which reward American Airlines AAdvantage miles on service plans only, Cartera is relieved of awarding AAdvantage miles for shoppers who clicked on the offer and purchased Verizon Wireless accessories online. The specific Verizon Wireless AAdvantage…
Can You Really Trust Online Mileage Mall Shopping Portals? Or the Biggest Mileage Bonanza Ever, Gone Awry
Randy Petersen posed an interesting question on Milepoint two evenings ago, Recently an offer provided through the US Airways Dividend Miles Mileage Mall featuring EasyCGI was found to have had some fulfillment problems and a recent statement from EasyCGI that “EasyCGI has never approved or gave permission to be a part of frequent flyer mile program.” seems to be leading to confusion as to if this offer was legitimate or not. If you have any experience with this offer, we’d love to hear from you. Looking for members whose miles have posted, members whose miles have not posted and more importantly, members who have actually been able to enroll in the services provided by EasyCGI so that officials of these organizations can track down exactly what happened. Wow, frequent flyer miles don’t usually generate mystery…
El Al Matmid Club Free Signup Plus 30 Points for Joining
Kosher Kouponz is offering $25 signup fee waived for joining the El Al Matmid frequent flyer program. Signup also comes with 30 free points. Now, odds are that if joining El Al’s program will be useful to you, you’ve already done so. If you’re going to fly them and want to upgrade, for instance, you want to be a member. Most Americans will redeem for El Al travel via American Airlines AAdvantage. But if you’ve ever considered joining, it’s worth not paying the joining fee. And signing up lets you search for El Al award availability online so you know what flights are available before ringing up AAdvantage, say if you don’t have an Expertflyer account in order to accomplish the same thing. (Via Dan’s Deals.)
