Jared Blank thinks that in my excitement over Continental’s entry into Star Alliance that I’m too hard on Skyteam. He agrees that Star will be better for Continental Onepass members in terms of “first class options, lounge access and choice of carriers ” And he agrees with some of the limitations of Skyteam Was it the best alliance out there? No. Did they have a large array of world class carriers associated? No. Did Continental and Delta have miserable – truly miserable – reward availability, especially in business? Yes. But he defends Air France, KLM, and Alitalia business class availability. And his priorities were “quick trips to Latin America, or a long weekend in Europe.” But I think the defense of Skyteam here is a bit of a straw man. I’m not saying it’s impossible…
Trust, But Verify: Fact Checking the FrequentFlier.com Newsletter
I make mistakes, too. Read what I have to say, but make sure I really mean what I said. I don’t proofread very well, so I imagine it’s possible that I could make a similar mistake some day. If I do, I apologize in advance. I was reading the FrequentFlier.com emal newsletter and came across what seemed like an interesting offer. Continental will sell you 50% bonus miles — up to 17,500 for $175 (or a 30% bonus up to 12,500 for $125). You have to max out your flying under the offer in order to be paying only a penny a point for the miles. For someone who is going to hit the flying targets anyway it’s probably worth it. It wouldn’t have been when Continental was a member of Skyteam, but their miles…
Top 10 Excuses for the Northwest Pilots
Scott McCartney reproduces David Letterman’s Top 10 Excuses for the Northwest pilots who got distracted and missed Minneapolis… what caused this, you ask? 10. Bunch of fat guys seated on the right side of the plane made us vector east. 9. We get paid by the hour. 8. Mapquest always takes you the long way, am I right, people? 7. Tired of that show-off Sullenberger getting all the attention. 6. You try steering one of those airplanes after eight or nine cocktails. 5. Wanted to catch the end of the in-flight movie. 4. Activating autopilot and making occasional P.A. announcements is exhausting. 3. According to our map, we only missed our target by half an inch. 2. For a change, we decided to send luggage to the right city and lose the passengers. 1. Thought…
The Benefits of Continental’s Entry into Star Alliance
Continental is a Star Alliance member now, and they’re promoting the news on Twitter with a sweepstakes. You just need to follow @Continental and tweet something with the hashtag #StarTreatment to enter. You can do this up to 5 times a day through November 3rd for more entries to with 2 business class tickets to any Continental destination or one of two $1000 Continental Vacations gift cards. The big news of course is Star Alliance lounge access, and earn and burn in the Star Alliance. Especially burn. Continental was miserable for redemption as part of Skyteam, but now members have access to the wonders of the Star Alliance — including first class products, something Continental itself doesn’t offer. A real kudos to the Continental IT team, they’ve made redemptions on United Airlines, US Airways, Air…
What Customers Want from Their Frequent Flyer Program
CrankyFlier attended the ARAC Frequent Flyer Mega Event, asked for blog reader feedback on what he should tell the program folks, and then posted a wrapup of his presentation. He said that offers don’t need to be simple and easy, but the value proposition needs to make sense to the customer. [L]ast minute award bookings fees..may make sense in the context of revenue management, but from a pure customer perspective, they can’t really be justified. The disconnect is the problem there. (Emphasis mine.) Cranky suggested that customers want to feel valued, both for their current revenue contribution and for their lifetime value. And he offered up honesty and integrity, that the airlines make the rules. Customers will work with whatever game is offered as long as the programs shoot straight and play fair. And in…
Reader Mail: Should I Get a Hilton Amex, Should I Redeem an Award to CDG?
Reader Robert writes: Hilton Amex talked me into upgrading from Hilton Amex Plat to “Surpass” mostly because of Gold status; it’s $75/yr + ~ 15k bonus miles?; I have Plat Amex and Plat Intercontinental (ambassador); I almost never stay w/Hilton. Should I back out? and just ask for a match? Should I use US Air winter discount (60k ea) for Envoy to CDG from BOS for my mom & me just to burn? we ea have ~65k dividend mi or is there something better? (membership rewards, CO, Delta, AA) So here’s my rather rambling reply, a bit off-the-cuff and unedited. The value in the Hilton Surpass card is $40k in spend gets you Diamond (top tier) status with Hilton. If you can put $40k in spend on the card, it’s great. Otherwise not worth a…
20% Discount on United Transatlantic Coach Awards — This Week Only
This week only United is offering a 20% discount on awards between the 48 contiguous United States and Canada and Europe or the Middle East. Book by October 31, 2009 for travel between January 10, 2010 and March 15, 2010 to or from Amsterdam (AMS), Brussels (BRU), Frankfurt (FRA), Geneva (GVA), London (LHR), Moscow (DME), Munich (MUC), Paris (CDG), Rome (FCO), Zurich (ZRH), Kuwait (KWI) and the United Arab Emirates (DXB). United metal only, no Star Alliance or other partner flights.
50% Bonus on Transfers from Diners Club to British Airways
I admit, I didn’t think they were bringing this one back. It used to be, perhaps before 5 years ago, that every year there would be a 100% bonus on transfers from Diners Club to British Airways. And then they reduced the bonus to 50%, but they brought it back every year. It was usually a summer bonus. And this year summer came and went, and no word. I thought it was the end of the line for this lucrative bonus, and said so on Flyertalk. They’ve been slowly killing the card for awhile now, losing partners and taking away benefits, and you can’t even apply for a new Diners Club card these days. So I was pleasantly surprise to read the news today that the bonus is back (or is about to come back..):…
New Website for My Award Booking Service
There have been published kudos and media coverage for my award booking service. So I’ve decided to set up a simple page: BookYourAward.com — to lay out the specifics. Please drop me a line if I can ever help plan your award, gary -at- bookyouraward.com.
Continental is Liberated from Skyteam, Star Will Be Much Better for Onepass Members
Continental exited Skyteam last night. Or as I prefer to think about it, they were liberated. That’s because on Tuesday they join the Star Alliance. Continental has always been known to be stingy in offering award inventory. And this was a huge deal, because their partners were known to be the stingiest as well. Skyteam award inventory isn’t nearly as generous as Star or oneworld counterparts. Just try booking more than one business class seat at the same time on the same flights between the U.S. and Asia. Going forward I still expect Continental to manage its own award inventory in a similar way. After all, Continental offers relatively small international premium cabins and employs a strategy to actually sell those seats (at a discount) rather than offering them for redemption. Continental is also known…
