The New Jersey Star Ledger quotes me on the affect of a hypothetical United-Continental merger on frequent flyer. Frequent-flier customers of both airlines would not lose their miles because they would be combined into one program. However, Continental’s OnePass customers would benefit if United’s Mileage Plus is the surviving program, said Gary Leff, a loyalty rewards expert with Boardingarea.com, a travel website. “United’s rewards chart requires fewer miles than Continental does,” he said. “So, each Continental mile will go farther.” However, the combined airline might adopt Continental’s policy of charging for upgrades to business class on international flights, he said. I leave aside route effects and service levels on domestic flights. I’m just talking about loyalty programs here. Unquestionably, Continental OnePass members would be better off after a merger with United. The combined entity would…
Surviving as an Airport Refugee
Fortunately I’m outside the U.S. and have been spared this week’s American Airlines MD80 grounding fiasco (and somehow even managed to dodge last week’s United 777 bullet). It appears that while American really blew the communications on this one, the issue here is really FAA incompetence and c-y-a. But I couldn’t miss passing along Wendy Perrin’s Top Ten Things to Do When You’re Stranded at an Airport (Family Edition) 10. Go on a family scavenger hunt through the terminal in search of: emergency diapers, juice boxes for sale, a newsstand that has not run out of The New York Times, and an empty electrical outlet. 9. Use the cot and blanket supposedly provided by AA to make a fort. (You can build a wall out of leftover McDonald’s Happy Meal boxes.) 8. Buy ten packs of…
Enhanced Access to the San Francisco Virgin Clubhouse
Via One Mile at a Time, Virgin America eleVAte members (in addition to first class customers) now can purchase access to the San Francisco Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. If you have quite a bit of time to kill, and are sure you’re arriving during the lounge’s mealtimes, it’s probably worth the $40 price of admission. It’s not clear at the moment whether the policy will extend to other Virgin Clubhouse locations.
But there are still 99 that are more important…
We’ll see how long this lasts, but View from the Wing has cracked the Wikio top 100 business blogs.
Short Posting Hiatus – Back Early Next Week
Cheers from the British Airways Terraces Lounge at Heathrow’s Terminal 1. I don’t expect to be online much if at the all the next few days, but it’s a quick trip and I’ll be back to normal speed early in the week … with what should be some pretty interesting stories and experiences to boot.
Delta Offers Expensive Premium Card with Unlimited Elite Qualifying Miles Earning
Randy Petersen has some big news from the co-branded credit card world. Delta is introducing a credit card which offers the ability to earn an unlimited number of status miles (with enough spending on the card, of course) and gift those status miles to yourself or others. Continental has something similar with their expensive premium card, up to 28,000 elite qualifying miles per year and the ability to drop those miles into your account whenever you wish, but the earning ratio is rather poor — just 2,000 qualifying miles for each $25,000 in spend. Delta’s offering appears to be actual unlimited qualifying miles, and a much better earning ratio: 15,000 qualifying miles for each $30,000 in spend. This is huge. I could earn Delta Platinum on that alone and gift someone platinum as well! It…
Bali and Beijing Trip Report Wrapup
Here’s a guide to all of the posts from my recent trip to Bali and Beijing in Lufthansa First Class and Thai Airways First Class. Hope it’s been a useful and enjoyable read. Lufthansa First Class: Washington-Dulles to Frankfurt A Complimentary Day Room at Frankfurt: Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch Frankfurt Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt to Singapore Singapore Airlines Short-haul Business Class: Singapore – Denpasar (Bali) Intercontinental Bali Resort & Spa – Jimbaran Bay Bali – Central Mountain Tour Bali – Dinner at Mozaic Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay Balinese Cooking Class Thai Airways Business Class: Denpasar, Bali to Bangkok Bangkok Overnight at the Airport Novotel Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Beijing Westin Beijing Financial Street One Day to Tour Beijing Beijing’s New Teminal 3 Lufthansa First Class – Beijing to…
JetBlue Fly Two, Fly Free – May 1 through June 18
JetBlue is offering $25 off and 50 TrueBlue points for tickets purchased with an American Express Card by May 13, 2008 for travel between May 1 and June 18, 2008. On top of the discount, this amounts to “fly two, fly free” which is a pretty good deal.
Cell Phone Use Abroad
Via PointsWizard, Gadling offers simple instructions on using your mobile phone abroad. Or you can read my more advanced approach of an Icelandic sim card and callback service.
Delta Giving Away More Elite Qualifying Miles, This Time With Hilton
Through May 31, Hilton family stays of two or more nights earn 1,000 Delta Medallion Qualifying Miles and 1000 bonus Skymiles. Registration required. Between the personal and small business co-branded American Express cards which offer alite qualifying miles along with Hilton stays, it’s possible to become a Platinum elite without ever setting foot on a Delta plane (but that’s probably overkill). Such folks don’t even need the double elite qualifying miles for flights offer…
