Scott O’Leary posted on Milepoint (and, I’m guessing, on Flyertalk as well) that United will be keeping Economy Plus and will be adding it to the Continental fleet ‘beginning in 2012’. This is a big sigh of relief, though not unexpected. While it was certainly going to be a ground up review, and Continental’s management was going to make a decision based on whether they thought economy plus would drive incremental revenue compared to having the additional seats in coach to sell, United has gotten quite adept at upselling passengers for these seats and economy plus unquestionably drives product differentiation and consumer choice at the low and mid-tier elite levels. A United Premier flying 25,000 miles a year doesn’t see the front cabin very often, but is better off in back on United with extra…
Club Carlson to Replace Radisson Goldpoints Plus
On March 31, Radisson Goldpoints Plus is being replaced with a new program, Club Carlson. I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to the Goldpoints program. Back in December 2001 I was hugely engrossed in their shopping portal, they were offering a holiday shopping promotion that allowed me to earn points that transferred into miles in any number of programs and purchased those points (through shopping transactions with Valumags) at less than a penny apiece. That was the high point. It wasn’t long after that when the points-to-miles transfer ratio got cut in half. And the shopping portal itself is no more. In fact, Goldpoints itself was a shared loyalty program between Radisson hotels and of all things TGI Fridays. You could earn points from stays or by eating out, and redeem your points…
US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles is Back (for Almost Everyone This Time)
Via Milepoint, US Airways is back with their 100% bonus on purchased miles through March 31. Except it’s not a straightforward double miles offer. Instead, you get a 75% bonus immediately when you purchase miles. Then in order to get the remaining 25% bonus you need to use the Dividend Miles toolbar by March 31. Now, when you download and install the toolbar and make three searches with it or an online purchase, you get 500 bonus miles (1000 bonus miles for US Airways elite members and co-branded credit card holders, only US-based members of the Dividend Miles program are eligible for the first use bonus). Making three searches with the toolbar is required to earn the 25% bonus on purchased miles, and the 25% will post 5-10 days after having made the miles purchase…
Delta Ends Expiration of Miles — And That’s NOT Such a Good Thing!
Don and Matthew send along the news that Delta is eliminating expiration of Skymiles. This is a consumer-friendly move to be sure, and deserves to be lauded. And I admit it’s a move that surprises me. Mileage programs hold unredeemed miles on their books as a liability until those miles expire or are redeemed. Expiring miles mean recognizing revenue without associated cost. That’s why programs have shorted expiration periods in recent years, with most programs going from three years to 18 months (Delta’s miles expired after two years). Mileage expiration is big business. United Mileage Plus booked an extra $64 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2010 just by tweaking their model for mileage expiration. So real applause here, but at the same time I don’t value the move myself and anyone who…
US Airways Will Sell You Your Elite Status
Troy points to US Airways’ new offer to let members buy elite qualifying miles or segments towards their status. Now, the status lasts only through February 2012. So it’s current-year status, not earning credits this year for status through February 2013. But what really sets the US Airways offer apart is that the offer runs all year, and you can buy all the way up to top tier status even if you’ve never had a single segment or qualifying mile credited to a US Airways Dividend Miles account. For the first five months of the year, you can choose to top off the elite qualifying miles you earned in your account in your choice of 2010 or year-to-date 2011. So you get more months of status and at a lower cost. For the last seven…
Double British Airways Executive Club Miles on BA and Iberia to Central and South America and on Iberia Between the UK and Spain
Through April 24, British Airways is offering (registration required) double miles on Iberia between the UK and Spain, between Madrid and South and Central America (excluding Mexico and San Juan.. odd), and also on all British Airways flights to and from South America. (HT: Milepoint)
Full Details of United’s New More Generous Award Routing Rules
This morning I described United’s increasingly generous rules for routing frequent flyer award travel. The rest of this post doesn’t need to make sense to you, everything you need to know is in this morning’s post. But a friend sends along the actual profile for the new United routing rules which confirms my earlier description of the changes. For the routing rules junkies it’s worth looking at, but not something the majority need to even read further on. UPDATED: 10FEB11 S*R.A PERMITTED ITINERARY TYPES (RT/OW/LEGAL SOJ/RTW) S*R.B STEPS TO VALIDATE ROUTING FOR ONE AWARD S*R.C STOPOVERS —PERMITTED ITINERARY TYPES————————— THE FOLLOWING ITINERARY TYPES ARE PERMITTED FOR ONE AWARD: – ROUND TRIP (RT) – ONE WAY (OW) – SINGLE OPEN JAW (SOJ) – DOUBLE OPEN JAW (DOJ) – AWARD TRAVEL DOES NOT NEED TO FOLLOW LEGAL…
United Mileage Plus Makes Award Booking Even Easier: Stopover AND Open Jaw, Exceed Maximum Mileage By 15%
Via Matthew, United is apparently loosening its award routing rules today. Historically, United has allowed: One stopover or an open jaw on a roundtrip award. Then they introduced one-way awards, including on partners. And that meant you could do a ‘double open jaw’ (they couldn’t restrict whether you flew back out of the same city you arrived in, or returned to the same city you departed from, since they were just one-way awards). But no stopovers on one-way awards. Now, you can have a double open jaw on a roundtrip award. Why not just do two one-ways? Because if you need to cancel two one-ways and aren’t a 100,000-mile flyer you will pay two $150 change fees per person. So this means lower fees, is more consumer friendly to offer this option. Now also you…
US Airways Credit Card with 35,000 Bonus Miles and No Fee the First Year
Via Rick, US Airways is offering a no fee the first year credit card with full mileage earning, something they haven’t done in several years. Here’s the offer: 35,000 bonus miles with first use, no fee the first year ($89 thereafter). The card also comes with a $99 companion ticket valid for up to two passengers ($99 each when you buy a ticket of $299+tax or more), an annual US Airways Club Pass, 10,000 elite qualifying miles after each card anniversary, and zone 2 boarding on US Airways flights. The no fee offer is geared to US Airways Chairmans elite members, given that the URL for the offer is http://www.mostmiles.com/Chairmans but it does not appear in any way to be a targeted offer, anyone can take advantage of it. If you haven’t had a US…
Tales of bmi Diamond Club’s Demise Have Been Grossly (Somewhat?) Overstated
Back in June it looked like bmi’s Diamond Club frequent flyer program had only a year left of life, that it would be merged into Miles & More in the summer of 2011. Wandering Aramean reports that tales of the program’s demise have been grossly overstated — at least according to a chat with bmi’d CEO, the Diamond Club program will not get folded into Miles & More during 2011. And they’re even still investing in and working on the program, introducing Star Alliance awards (ed: (meant to say — upgrade awards) this spring. I still ultimately expect Diamond Club to cease as an independent program evetually. The CEO isn’t denying that this is a likely outcome. But it won’t happen so quickly. That’s great for me because I still have plenty of bmi miles,…
