I mentioned on Sunday that redeeming US Airways miles for Lufthansa transatlantic flights has been a challenge over the past couple of weeks. Flights that Lufthansa is offering to partner airlines are showing up to US Airways reservations agents as unavailable. I’ve tested this on a number of routes and dates and found this to be the case — bookable with Continental or Aeroplan miles, but US Airways says not available. At first I assumed it was an IT glitch of sorts, something I’ve seen and experienced with US Airways in the past. Or just agents who didn’t know how to search for what I was asking about or who didn’t know what they were doing. I’ve frequently asked about first class awards and the agent will say nothing is available — when the agent…
United and Continental Elite Program Changes for 2011
Others already blogged the details while I was in meetings today (e.g. here and here) but still worth noting that United and Continental have announced changes for 2011, mostly aligning their upgrade programs. The two programs operate separately in 2011. And just as United moved to and end of January the following year for status expiration, Continental will follow suit. Then they’ll merge the programs for 2012. When they do there will be clear differentiation between 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, and 100,000 mile flyers. Put a different way, United’s top tier is 1K at 100,000 miles flown. Continental’s top tier is Platinum at 75,000 miles flown. Clearly a combined entity wasn’t going to have a 75,000 mile top tier, just too easy to reach that and would mean too many top level elites (who were thus…
US Airways’ Uninspiring Holiday Shopping Promotion
Last Holiday Season US Airways offered one of the greatest mileage promotions of all time to encourage shopping through their online mall — up to 250% bonus on earned miles which when paired with an offer from TrackItBack yielded 140 miles per dollar spent without having to leave your computer. Judged against that standard, almost anything will appear disappointing. So it’s no surprise that this season’s promo doesn’t get the juices flowing. (Actually, it’s not even as lucrative as their back to school promo was just a few months back, which is rather surprising.) This holiday offer (registration required) is for up to 4 additional miles per dollar spent, based on how much in total you spend through their shopping portal between November 15 and December 30. Spend $100 to $249 and earn 1 bonus…
A New Twist on National Opt Out Day
Jeffrey Goldberg recommends a twist to National Opt Out day, where folks are trying to get passengers to refuse nude-o-scope screening en masse on the day before Thanksgiving, perhaps the busiest travel day of the year. Like Lucky I’m somewhat torn over the concept. I’m not sure that the TSA really cares, lines are bad enough on such a heavy travel day, and clogging them up further will likely inconvenience passengers more than it will TSA gropers. Moreover, I’m not certain it’s even individually rational to opt out at this point, since the TSA has started their retaliatory ‘enhanced’ pat downs designed to be worse than the nude-o-scopes in order to push folks to accept their backscatter fate. Personally I generally just try to fuss with my stuff long enough for someone else to be…
Free WiFi on US Airways, American, and United
Dan’s Deals flags free wifi codes for United, US Airways, and American. When flying AA use code: HPAA When flying United use code: HPUNITED When flying USeless Airways use code: HPUSAIRWAYS Expiration of the codes is unknown. Now, there isn’t a whole lot of wifi going on at US Airways and United, but it’s reasonably widespread at American. And of course, with Airtran, Delta, and Virgin America wifi is free from November 20 through January 2 anyway. (HT: Frugal Travel Guy.)
Free Priority Club Platinum Status
Jared Blank of Online Travel Review passes along a link for free Priority Club Platinum status. Plus stay 5 nights within 90 days after signing up and they’ll kick you a $25 prepaid lodging gift card. The offer requires opening up a new Priority Club account, so it’s for new members only. Now, Platinum status doesn’t get you a whole lot outside of perhaps Crowne Plaza properties outside the United States. It’s supposed to get you upgrades but that doesn’t often mean much at the median Holiday Inn, though it’s frequently offered me one free breakfast during a stay and maybe a coupon for a free cocktail and appetizer as well. The bonus points are useful, of course, for in-hotel earning.
Return to the The Jefferson Hotel, Richmond — Better This Time
Last November I reported on my mediocre stay at the famed Jefferson Hotel in Richmond. While a grand hotel, there were significant problems: Noise from our upstairs neighbors, including hearing them walking around above us Exceptionally slow service in the hotel’s casual restaurant Valet parking dinged my car door The Assistant General Manager proactively called me the day after my stay, asked me about the stay, apologized and asked to comp a future night. I finally took her up on the offer, a full year later. I was given a small suite, similar though a bit smaller than my room last year. It was perfectly fine, the only thing that last year’s room had though was a bigger shower with three showerheads, one of the best showers I had experienced. I had no complaints about…
US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased and Gifted Miles Extended Through November 30
The US Airways 100% bonus on purchased or gifted miles that was supposed to expire November 15 has apparently been extended to November 30. The landing page for buying and gifting miles still says the bonus expires November 15, but if you choose either buy or gift miles the terms on conditions on each of those pages now list the expiration date of the bonus as November 30. Now, some folks are a little bit nervous about US Airways miles at the moment since they’ve been having difficulty redeeming awards between the US and Europe on Lufthansa that are being offered to other Star Alliance members. The fear is that US Airways has implemented some sort of blocking scheme, similar to what United had in place for years, when they don’t want to pay the…
How Did My New Year Frequent Flyer Wishes Perform?
Randy Petersen generously offered me the opening editorial for the January issue of Inside Flyer some 11 months ago. I offered my 5 Frequent Flyer Wishes for the New Year. One came true unequivocably. One might have come true. And another is either true or two-thirds true. In short, my wishes are: ■United ends Starnet blocking. No other major North American program engages in the practice. No other Star Alliance member engages in the practice. United should allow its members to book the award seats being offered by its partners, not pretend that the partners aren’t offering them the seats. ■American and British Airways each permit members to book transatlantic awards on the other carrier. There’s no legal reason that this legacy restriction remains in place. ■Delta brings back at least 24 hour holds for…
Making a Grilled Cheese Sandwich With an Iron in Your Hotel Room
Bobby Laurie and Sara Keagle teach you how to make a grilled cheese sandwich with an iron in your hotel room in their first ‘tips from above’ video. I had the pleasure to meet them both, finally, in Houston last week. Their recent Crew Lounge podcast they wanted to know what in the world they were doing at Table #1 for the Frequent Traveler Awards. Well, I did the seating and… a last minute reshuffle it was just the most convenient thing for me to do to make table assignments work, hah! And a little insider’s tip for anyone at a dinner, table one is rarely if ever actually the best table. Either the table numbering starts from the wings of the room (and you generally want to be in the center) or the event…
