On the heels of JetBlue introducing BluePass, this year’s more limited version of ‘All You Can Jet’ where they’ll let you fly as much as you’d like from either Boston or Long Beach, Philippine Airlines is offering their own an All You Can Jet Pass (so to speak), a “Fly Asia” pass which allows unlimited travel to 12 cities for 7 weeks for only US$270 + taxes/fees. (Unlimited business class is $1070 + taxes/fees.) And it earns miles. Travel from Manila, Cebu and Davao to Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Macau, Saigon, Shanghai, Singapore, and Taipei. They’re seling the unlimited travel pass through August 7 and all outbound travel must be between August 15 and November 30, with all travel complete by December 10. Within two weeks of purchase you must redeem all your travel…
I’m An Idiot Who Doesn’t Know How to Find His Own Blog URL
I never bothered to register a domain name for this blog. I started it back in 2002 on blogspot, and back then it seemed neat.blogspot.com (my original URL!) was fine. Then I transitioned over to being hosted by Randy Petersen, this blog could be found at webflyer.com/blog. Simple, right? That’s when this blog left behind its original name, “More Room Througout Coach” and took on “View from the Wing” – actually, Randy suggested the name. It then transitioned over to blogs.flyertalk.com but somehow folks always seemed to find it and I never really worried to much about how. BoardingArea started up and the blog moved again. And ever since then I’ve been typing out the URL viewfromthewing.com and I figured it would probably be a good idea to get a domain name but somehow never…
A Oneworld Mega DO in the Future?
With the third Star MegaDO approaching in little more than a month, frequent flyers are talking about what a oneworld version of the event might look like. Maya Leibman, the President of American’s AAdvantage program, chimed into the discussion. Wow – how cool is this!? We can’t wait for our first (and sure to be the best) Mega DO. You definitely have to come to DFW – we’ll take you through the SOC, the flight training academy (simulators), the tower and more. And whether in DFW or Toulouse, Airbus will definitely love to show you the new aircraft we’re buying (youngest fleet in 5 years baby). She says they won’t actually give Executive Platinum to everyone who shows up (Hyatt is giving all participants to who stay in the official hotels for the event Diamond…
List of Hyatt Properties Whose Award Categories Are Changing
Earlier today Hyatt said that they’d be announcing the hotels which would be going up and down in award category on August 4. But the list is now available: Hotel Current Category New Category Grand Hyatt Jakarta 1 2 Hyatt Place Atlanta/Downtown 1 2 Hyatt Place Chesapeake/Greenbrier 1 2 Hyatt Place Freemont/Silicon Valley 1 2 Hyatt Place San Antonio NW Med Ctr 1 2 Hyatt Regency Buffalo Hotel/Conf Ctr 1 2 Hyatt Regency Fukuoka 1 2 Hyatt Regency Kolkata 1 2 Hyatt Place Chicago/Hoffman Estates 2 1 Hyatt Place Dallas Garland 2 1 Hyatt Place Dallas/Plano 2 1 Hyatt Regency Dearborn 2 1 Hyatt Place Jacksonville Airport 2 1 Hyatt Place Richmond/Arboretum 2 1 Hyatt Place Sacramento/Roseville 2 1 Hyatt Summerfield Suites Dallas/Las Colinas 2 1 Hyatt Place College…
Official Word on Upcoming Hyatt Gold Passport Changes
I posted this morning that changes would be coming to Hyatt Gold Passport — some benefits changes and also some properties going up in points for redemption and others going down. Now we have a few more details. Hyatt Gold Passport has announced: Guaranteed 4pm late checkout for Diamond members (but still subject to availability at resort and casino properties). This brings them up to Starwood, though we’ll see how they do in practice because Hyatt has long had difficulty meeting expectations with late checkout. No doubt this new policy will come along with training of hotel properties. In my earlier posted I noted being turned down for 2pm at the Andaz 5th Avenue back in May as a Diamond, I really appreciate Gold Passport putting 4pm in writing. This will mean a great deal…
Most Airline Ticket Taxes Still Suspended, Who Gains and Who Loses?
On Friday I wrote a long post explaining the reasons for the logjam in Congress over re-authorizing the FAA, and what it would mean for airline ticket taxes. At the time, I suggested that any tax savings would be very short-lived for consumers. Besides, an elementary understanding of tax incidence theory suggests that people are paying roughly what they’re willing to pay in airfare now. One would expect prices to rise much of the way to compensate for removal of taxes. Contra Rick Seaney, I would expect any savings – were taxes to go uncollected — to quickly fall, prices rise, and the difference in price would be far less than his projected 13%. I did flag, however, that [N]ew fares aren’t filed in real-time, so even if airfares do adjust that will happen over…
More Changes to the Combined United-Continental Frequent Flyer Program
The sheer volume of changes that have to move forward to integrate the United and Continental frequent flyer programs are staggering, I’ve provided updates recently here and here on some of what we now know. In the past few days several other minor progress items and changes have revealed themselves. United Systemwide upgrades (upgrades which can be used on any United flight, including internationally, provided you buy a W coach fare or higher; given primarily to 100,000-mile flyers) can now be used on Continental. Continental Onepass members get to keep their current 8 character account numbers. Presumably United members keep their 11-digit numbers. Unclear is which number members will keep when they have both a United and Continental number and accounts are merged. (US Airways and America West members kept their own numbers with that…
Changes Coming to Hyatt Gold Passport
Last night Milepoint member chanp posted an email from his Private Line Representative saying that 43 hotels would be changing award categories on August 4 — 25 will require more points, and 18 will require fewer points. So this is how it works… If you currently have a reservation at a hotel that is going up in points, it will not change how you have booked it, even if your stay is after 8/4. If you currently have a reservation at a hotel that is going down, and your stay is after 8/4, GP will be refunding you the difference in points. If you need to change your dates, you will get the better option of the two, however anything changed after 9/3 (30 days later) will have to adhere to the new point chart.…
The Freddie Awards Will Return in 2012!
The Freddie Awards were the airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty program awards. Running from 1988 through 2009, hundreds of thousands of program members cast their ballots for the most rewarding efforts in miles and points during the previous year. They created a meaningful way to answer the question of which program was actually the best, as determined by the members of the programs themselves. Randy Petersen discontinued the awards after the 2009 ceremony, and a group of frequent travelers got together to found a replacement, the Frequent Traveler Awards. The idea was that it’s important to recognize what’s good in miles, points, and loyalty. Doing so actually nudges the programs themselves at the margin to do better for members, and highlights those things which frequent flyers most value. It gives voice to the frequent…
67% Bonus on Transfers from American Express to Delta
Via The Points Guy, Delta and American Express are effectively offering a 40% rebate on Membership Rewards points transfers through September 30th (registration required). For every 50,000 points you transfer from Amex to Delta Skymiles, you’ll receive an electronic certificate to deposit 20,000 Amex points back into your account. Only 50,000 mile increments count, so if you transfer smaller amounts that total more than 50,000 points you’re out of luck. A 60,000 mile transfer and a 90,000 mile transfer won’t get (3) 20,000 point rebates, just two. The rebate doesn’t come right away, but rather 6-8 weeks “following registration in promotion” (which I assume is an error in the terms and conditions, and that they actually mean either 6-8 weeks from making the transfer or 6-8 weeks from the end of the promotion). That means…
