American Airlines’ parent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning. In the past decade, United, Delta, and US Airways have all been in and exited from bankruptcy protection. American will certainly continue to operate through its reorganization, which is designed to shed costs that competitor airlines have already offloaded. While there will be some operational changes no doubt, frequent flyers need not worry. As I explained last month, an American Airlines bankruptcy is not bad for frequent flyers. I have nearly a million American Airlines miles myself, and lifetime Platinum status with the airline. And I’m not worried about my stash of miles. American Airlines will continue to fly, liquidation is not foreseeable. Bankruptcy may even be a boon to American’s mileage program. It’s been quite some time since American Airlines restructured their frequent…
The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok: “Burn Avios, Burn” Cathay Pacific First Class and Amazing Conrad Suites
Index: Planning the trip US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Conrad Bangkok Deluxe Suite Bangkok Airways Business Class, Bangkok – Koh Samui Conrad Koh Samui, 2 Bedroom Ocean Pool Villa Conrad Koh Samui, Resort Bangkok Airways Business Class, Koh Samui – Bangkok Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok – Hong Kong and Marriott SkyCity Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong – Chicago United Airlines Back Home We landed in Hong Kong, proceeded to transfer security, and took the train over to Cathay Pacific’s The Pier lounge which was adjacent to our onward connecting gate. Though we were flying business class Hong Kong – Bangkok, as an arriving first class…
Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong: “Burn Avios, Burn” Cathay Pacific First Class and Amazing Conrad Suites
Index: Planning the trip US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Conrad Bangkok Deluxe Suite Bangkok Airways Business Class, Bangkok – Koh Samui Conrad Koh Samui, 2 Bedroom Ocean Pool Villa Conrad Koh Samui, Resort Bangkok Airways Business Class, Koh Samui – Bangkok Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok – Hong Kong and Marriott SkyCity Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong – Chicago United Airlines Back Home Cathay Pacific first and business class check-in is with British Airways at the end of Terminal 7, it’s quiet and has its own dedicated security so no real waiting. With no one ahead in line it took a surprisingly long time for an…
Free Accor A|Club Top Tier Platinum Status
Via RoninTech on Milepoint: If you have an existing non-platinum account go here (its in german but chrome/firefox can translate for you), enter your member number and email, click the button and you get upgraded to Platinum for free. Update: Commenter Colleen notes “…or just select “English” on the upper right pull-down menu and the translated page will appear ” As I noted with a previous offer at the beginning of last month, Platinum status generally requires 60 nights (or 25,000 points earned) and comes with a 100% points bonus and then at Sofitel, Pullman, and MGallery hotels: room upgrades that the rules say you specifically have to ask for, 4pm late checkout, guaranteed availability, and a welcome drink and gift. I’ve always found it odd that A|Club elite status doesn’t get you recognition at…
US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK: “Burn Avios, Burn” Cathay Pacific First Class and Amazing Conrad Suites
Index: Planning the trip US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Conrad Bangkok Deluxe Suite Bangkok Airways Business Class, Bangkok – Koh Samui Conrad Koh Samui, 2 Bedroom Ocean Pool Villa Conrad Koh Samui, Resort Bangkok Airways Business Class, Koh Samui – Bangkok Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok – Hong Kong and Marriott SkyCity Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong – Chicago United Airlines Back Home There’s little detail to share about the start of the trip. Since we’d be taking the morning Cathay Pacific flight, a 9am departure, we flew up to New York the night before. Since I was using British Airways miles (in their pre-Avios incarnation),…
Free Club Carlson Award Nights (9000 Bonus Points Per Award Stay)
Via Ben: [T]hey’re offering 9,000 bonus points for each award stay (excluding cash and points) that you make with them between December 1, 2011, and January 31, 2012. You can earn the bonus up to five times, and bonus points will be credited to your account by February 15. Registration is also required. Now, Club Carlson’s category one hotels actually only cost 9,000 points per night, so if you have the points balance up front, this actually means you could get five free nights at one of their lower end hotels.
Planning the Trip: “Burn Avios, Burn” Cathay Pacific First Class and Amazing Conrad Suites
Index: Planning the trip US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Conrad Bangkok Deluxe Suite Bangkok Airways Business Class, Bangkok – Koh Samui Conrad Koh Samui, 2 Bedroom Ocean Pool Villa Conrad Koh Samui, Resort Bangkok Airways Business Class, Koh Samui – Bangkok Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok – Hong Kong and Marriott SkyCity Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong – Chicago United Airlines Back Home Hopefully this trip will be useful to some readers, as I believe two of the very best aspirational uses of points are Cathay Pacific First Class (because it’s an outstanding product, and one that’s reasonably possible to redeem for) and the Conrad Koh…
30% Bonus on Transfers from Membership Rewards to British Airways
Via Mommypoints, American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 30% bonus on transfers to British Airways through January 31. It’s not as generous as the February/March 40% bonus or the June/July 50% bonus. And both of those were offered before British Airways decided to make up a new word for its frequent flyer program, “Avios” — a fitting change because they want you to make believe that the program retains much value. Still, there are times when you’ll want to use Amex points to redeem awards via British Airways. And a 30% bonus is better than no bonus! I rather thought they’d bring back bonuses once they made their points less valuable, though I admit I was hoping it would be 50% again, perhaps that’ll be offered again in the future. In fact, it makes…
Frontier Early Returns Offers Double Elite Qualifying Miles
Via Lucky, Frontier is offering double elite qualifying miles during the month of December, registration required using promo code DBLEQ. I like Lucky’s comment, “[N]o, the legacies won’t match.” Of course not, American has moved to shrink its elite ranks by making changes to million miler qualification effective December 1. In general airlines haven’t felt the need to run double qualifying miles promotions the past couple of years because they’ve shrunk capacity, their load factors have been up, and their elite ranks have not shrunk. Delta, with ‘rollover’ qualify8ing miles, is the carrier in least need of making such a move. They’re also most aggressive in offering alternative methods of earning qualifying miles, perhaps followed by US Airways which will let you do it via Grand Slam, outright purchase, or re-upping on club membership. And…
Should Loyalty Programs Care About Social Media Recommendations?
In the October issue of Executive Travel, Randy Petersen adopts a controversial thesis in an article titled, “2 Great Frequent Flyer Programs” — what two programs is he talking about? Delta Skymiles and Southwest Rapid Rewards! Why is it shocking that these programs would be dubbed great? I’ve redeemed well over 100 million miles for myself and for others, and from my experience and the near-universal experience of those I speak with, these two programs offer less value than their peers. Delta miles are difficult to work with and availability (at the ‘low’ or ‘saver’ level) is relatively poor. Southwest has a revenue-based program designed to reward buying expensive paid tickets and using points for cheap leisure travel on empty planes, with no possibility of aspirational international premium class travel. What Randy is reporting on…
