US Airways has posted a new Star Alliance award chart (.pdf) on their website, I haven’t noticed any changes yet to their mileage prices but the zone definitions have changed slightly. Russia used to be listed as North Asia, and so flying Russia – Europe – Hong Kong (for instance) for only 40,000 miles roundtrip in first class. Now Russia is gone from the list of countries on the chart, it’s possible that it’s been recategorized to Europe, I haven’t checked with US Airways yet. But they may have read about all the Flyertalkers jumping on that award value bandwagon. The one most interesting to me is that Thailand was moved from South Asia to North Asia. So first class from the US to Thailand just dropped in price from 160,000 miles to 120,000. Wow.…
A trip report, flying Toronto to Lahore in PIA economy…
.. No, it wasn’t me. Saria sends along this story of flying Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from Toronto to Lahore. In coach. And I realize that this story is repeated across airline and flight, worldwide. Patriotism demands that we fly by PIA, also because no one else does. The airline must be doing fantastic business since all its flights are always fully booked regardless of a date or destination. The reasons routinely given are: School holidays, Haj season, wedding season, summertime vacations, while winter is traditionally a convenient time for expatriates to visit families back home and, at times, even excuses like the excitement generated by a new batch of senators and people rushing back to Pakistan to watch the spectacular oath-taking ceremony. Reports about the airline losing money appear as a clever ploy to…
American Airlines Coach Roundtrip Ticket for Free Small Business Program Signup and One Roundtrip by January 31
Several airlines offer small business loyalty programs, these are generally stackable with the miles that individual travelers earn for their itineraries. The idea is to quote the small business number at booking and the company earns points in addition to the passenger. American’s program is called Business ExtrAA. Since points expire after two calendar years following the year in which they’re earned, single travelers unaffiliated with a company don’t generally earn significant rewards through their own travel alone, especially since the points-earning is spend-based rather than miles-based. But even a solo traveler can earn some modest points for their travels, for instance lounge passes. And certainly even lower and mid-spending solo top tier elites will likely earn the points necessary for an extra free roundtrip ticket or to nominate someone for AAdvantage Gold status after…
For Dealing With International Call Centers, Calculating Taxes on an Aeroplan Round the World Award, or Trying to Redeem Skypesos at the Low Level…
…here’s a coupon for a free bottle of Advil.
Starwood Accelerated Elite Status for Aloft, Element, and Four Points Nights/Stays
Through the end of the year, nights at Starwood’s Aloft, Element, and Four Points hotels count double towards elite status. And if you aren’t already Gold, four stays at those same brands by January 31 will get you that (of course four one-night stays by December 31 will get you eight nights under the first promo, and Gold only takes 10 nights in the first place). Both promotions require registration.
35% Off at the W Hotel Store (Including Beds and Bedding)
35% off of everything at the W Hotels Store (including beds and bedding, the former coming with free shipping) came back on September 17 but quickly expired. Via Dan’s Deals it’s back again, for how long tough to say (but it does seem to come around frequently enough), promo code to use is WD574.
100 Free Air Canada Aeroplan Miles
Signing up with Air Canada Vacations will get you 100 Aeroplan miles. That is all. (Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)
100 Free Continental Miles, or Onepass Finally Fixes the Terms and Conditions on its Minor Free Miles Offers
Free Frequent Flyer Miles posts a link to an offer of 100 free Continental Airlines miles. 100 easy Continental Airlines miles, apparently for letting them know that you read about earning miles by paying your bills automatically via the airline’s credit and debit cards. What’s most interesting to me is this — there have long been reports that many of these offers are specific to things that someone with a co-branded Continental Airlines credit card might take advantage of, but the terms and conditions of the offers never said anything about requiring such a card in order to receive the bonus miles. There have been reports of folks not getting the miles, usually folks who don’t have the card. I’ve never known it personally, I do have their card, one of the nice benefits I…
Amtrak Double Points and 10,000 Bonus Points for 10 One-way Trips Through December 14
Amtrak’s new website has launched, it’s been an annoying couple of days unable to check balances or redeem points. But they’ve brought it back with a new bonus, “Take Ten”. (registration required.) 10 trips = 10,000 bonus points. Plus, double points along the way. Take Ten-the celebration starts on Friday, October 1, 2010. It’s the ten-year anniversary of Amtrak Guest Rewards, and we’re celebrating our members with more ways to better serve you, including an improved program, extended service center hours, a better online experience, mobile site, and the new Take Ten promotion. Earn with Take Ten from 10/1/10 through 12/14/10 – 10,000 bonus points when you Take Ten trips – Double points on all Amtrak® travel – Plus, the points you already earn for Amtrak travel So we get double points on everything through…
British Airways to Offer Full Mileage Earning on Discount Fares, Increased Elite Tier Earning on Discount Fares, and Increased Silver Elite Bonuses
Yesterday I wrote about the American Airlines side of mileage changes with the American-British Airways-Iberia joint business venture. The changes to British Airways Executive Club are as expected: British Airways Executive Club members can now earn and redeem miles and earn Tier Points on all American Airlines flights. But here’s the kicker. In lining up more with American Airlines mileage earning, (1) Elite mileage earning increases for BA Silvers. They’ll earn a 100% bonus instead of a 25% bonus. BA Silver is considered the equivalent of American Airlines Platinum, and so they’ve upped the mileage bonuses to match American’s offering. (2) Flying discount coach now earns full redeemable miles, whereas it used to earn as little as 25%. (3) Flying discount coach also earns 50% elite tier points, up from 25%. This is a huge…
