After 21 years, the Freddie Awards were retired. And that was sad news for those of us who follow loyalty programs closely. They were real awards voted on by large numbers of real travelers, focusing on what’s being done right by frequent flyer and frequent guest programs. These were awards programs wanted to win, and really did influence the thinking of program executives towards how to better deliver value for their members. Moreover, there really does have to be a way — beyond just reading this blog — of answering the question, which program is the best? Fortunately there’s going to be a new award stepping precisely into this space, the press release has gone out, so this is now public, the new Frequent Traveler Awards are coming. Voting will begin next month and the…
Why Your Choice of Frequent Flyer Program Needs to Match Your Award Goals
Continental’s generous routing rules are one reason why I’m not all that happy about the pending Continental-United merger. Wandering Aramean writes about his booking from the US via Europe and Asia to Australia. US Airways permits this, Aeroplan often won’t (though booking via Asia is perfectly doable). United on the other hand requires US-to-Australia awards take a much more direct routing, eg San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Vancouver to Sydney or to Auckland and on to Australia. (There are a couple of other permissable routings, such as via Hawaii and New Zealand, but those aren’t generlaly useful.) Continental offers one stopover and an open jaw, whereas both US Airways and United will allow only one or the other. But more importantly Continental doesn’t really have much in the way of routing rules. Like US Airways…
Avoiding Delta Telephone Booking Fees When Ticketing Partner Awards
TM Travel World explains how to avoid telephone ticketing fees with Delta when booking partner awards. Most partners cannot be booked online, and if you ticket over the phone they charge a fee. But Troy points out that on the web (and only on the web, not by phone) Delta will permit you to hold an award. So hold whatever segments of your trip are avsilable online. That creates a reservation. Then have an agent update the reservation over the phone with the additional flight segments you need. You can refresh your screen and the reservation right in front of you will show up with the new segments. Once they’re there, instead of having the agent book the ticket, just purchase the ticket online.. no telephone booking fee. Sneaky, eh?
Everything I Thought I Knew About Complaining Was Wrong
I’ve always thought that the best way to complain to a travel provider was to be concise, stick to the facts, leave out extraneous details and minor annoyances. And if possible, ask clearly for what respoinse you believe is warranted. Often on Flyertalk, on Tripadvisor, and elsewhere you’ll see long rants about the taxi ride to the airport as part of a complaint to the airline. Those are just beside the point, they make it harder to get through the letter andundersand the point. And usually the complaints are being read by customer service center agents who aren’t equipped to decipher complex arguments. You want to make it as simple as possible for the person reading your complaint to digest it, put it into the appropriate category, and act. And yet… I read this complaint…
US Airways Double Elite Qualifying MIles To and From Select Cities
Via Lucky: US Airways is offering a a double elite qualifying and redeemable miles promotion for select markets through the end of the year. Those markets are PIT, RDU, BOS, and MSP. Unlike the similar Delta and American promotions that require travel to originate in the targeted city offering double elite qualifying miles, the US Airways offer includes travel to those cities as well. Registration is required separately for each fo the double elite qualifying offers.
American Re-Introduces Discounted Short-haul Awards (Monkey See, Monkey Do)
Last week United announced that they were bringing back discounted economy short-haul awards through August 31. So naturally I just received an email from American announcing the same — down to the length of flights this applies to and the deadline for booking those flights, as well as the pricing. With short-hop awards, customers can fly on American Airlines®, American Eagle® or AmericanConnection® non-stop routes under 700 air miles each way within the continental United States and Canada for a reduced number of miles. Travel one-way in Economy Class for only 8,750 miles (17,500 miles round trip) — a 30% savings off of the standard MileSAAver award! To qualify for this special award, book your reservation by August 31, 2010 and travel between August 3 and December 15. As before, these awards are more expensive…
250 Free Continental Miles for Learning About Wasting Your Hard-Earned Miles on Merchandise Auctions
Through September 30, Continental is offering 250 free miles for registering on a page promoting spending your miles on Continental Onepass auctions. As with many of these offers, I don’t necessarily bet the points will post for folks who don’t have a Continental Mastercard. But they might. And since the rules of the promotion don’t say you need to have the card, you could probably argue for your 250 points if you don’t and they don’t appear.. Oh, and these auctions seem to be even worse than the ones on eBay. Not that the items on the Continental auction site are fake, of course, but 11,000 miles for two Cleveland Indians tickets… with a week left to go and the price left to rise?
Hilton Announces Free Internet for Gold and Diamond Members
I received an email this afternoon that Hilton is finally adding free internet as a benefit for their Gold and Diamond members — and not making them choose free internet or club lounge access and an upgrade (which isn’t to a suite anyway). Hilton Worldwide is pleased to announce that beginning September 1, 2010, all Gold and Diamond HHonors members will receive complimentary high-speed internet access during their stay at all 3,600 hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands. Over a year ago, Hyatt pulled the trigger, offering all elite members free internet. Then Intercontinental came out with free internet for their Ambassador and Royal Ambassador members, but details have fluctuated a bit. It’s been at some hotels, not all. Then a special promotion. And only on the ‘free internet rate’. Though some hotels…
New Priority Club Point Breaks List is Out
Priority Club’s new Point Breaks list is out, these are discounted award night redemptions, hotels that will cost only 5000 points per night. Now, though this round of Point Breaks is valid through October 30, in fact the best properties seem to drop off the list over the course of the list’s three months. In fact, sometimes the best value properties disappear within days! This time, though, I spy only a small handful of Intercontinental properties, none of the incredible values we’ve seen in the past. Specifically, if your travels happen to take you to San Pedro Sula, Guadalajara, Phnom Penh, or Amman you may be able to book the Intercontinental there for just 5000 points per night. There are plenty of Holiday Inn options, and in smaller towns I do sometimes find those to…
Spirit’s Carry-on Baggage Fees to Go into Effect, But Why Should Anyone Care?
Scott Mayerowitz has an ABC Travel piece tied to Spirit’s new charges for oversized carry-on bags going into effect. I’m quoted in the piece saying, “This is the airline that’s famous for hating their customers,” And of course I believe that — Ben Baldanza spurred the creation of the ‘cockroach’ movement (elite passengers so identifying themselves) after comments that passengers who always bought the cheap US Airways fares the company were offering were not necessarily loyal. And of course US Airways as a carrier was itself the cockroach that would not die, in part because of the loyalty of such unvalued customers. Then as head of Spirit, Baldanza was famous for his ‘oops’ reply-all to staff that a complaining customer wasn’t worth an apology, treat them badly but they’ll be back for more cheap fares.…
