You can still book awards using Alaska Mileage Plan miles for British Airways flights from the U.S. to Australia via London. Yes, that’s the long way around! At least twice as long from the West Coast of the US than going Qantas directly. But according to this Flyertalk thread (and confirmed on the Alaska Airlines website), the option will be going away August 31st. (You can redeem for travel past then, but August 31st will be the last day to book.) Alaska’s partnership with British Airways continues, as far as I know, they just won’t allow you to book Australia awards. While it’s a lot of flying, it’s also quite a redemption value, spending 150,000 miles for all that first class flying. First class was just a 50% premium over coach (business class a mere…
1000 Thank You Points for an Expedia Hotel Booking
Expedia is offering 1000 bonus Thank You Network points for booking a ‘special rate’ hotel by July 31 for travel through August 31. Enter promotional code TY1000 on the rate details page. Valid once per account. This wouldn’t sway my hotel choice, but it’s a pretty good deal if you’re going to book a hotel via Expedia anyway.
Up to 2000 Starwood Points for Additional Cardholders on Your Starwood Amex
As posted on Flyertalk, American Express will give you 1000 Starpoints per additional cardholder (up to 2) to your Starwood Amex. Points post within 12 weeks of first purchase on the new card. I do suggest printing a copy of the offer page and each subsequent page, it’s useful in case points don’t post on their own.
1500 American Miles for Joining Rewards Network and Dining Once
Frugal Travey Guy points to a Rewards Network (I still call them iDine) offer of 1500 American Airlines miles just for signing up and making your first dine of $25 or more at a participating restaurant. You also have to opt in for their emails. The bonus is only for new accounts, but that doesn’t mean you have ot be new to Rewards Network, just to their Aadvantage partnership. For example, if you have a United Mileage Plus membership you can also create an American membership and sign up a different credit card with that program. I do this with several, so I can take advantage of the different promotions they offer through each.
Do Frequent Flyers Have an Advantage Over Frequent Buyers When Claiming Awards?
Over at the Perrin Post a reader asks the following question: I’m not able to book a business- or first-class mileage award on AA/Cathay Pacific, even though I try for 335 days out, calling at different times of the day and night. Do the agents make a distinction between miles earned by flying vs. by spending money on the affinity credit card? Most of my miles are from credit card transactions. Please advise. And I answer in the comments. There’s no distinction between earning your miles via flying versus credit card spend. Some mileage programs allow an extra inventory of awards for their mid- or top-tier elites, but those are fairly limited in scope. In most cases, members all have the same access to award availability. While most airlines load their schedules 330 days out,…
More Amazing ANA First Class Award Seat Inventory
As a followup to my previous post about All Nippon Airways showing two first class award seats available on the same flights, when previously even grabbing one was next to impossible, here are some more dates and city pairs. This list isn’t comprehensive, I only checked April, 2009 and only Dulles – Tokyo and Chicago – Tokyo. But talk about wide open! 4/5 IAD-NRT 4/5 ORD-NRT 4/7 IAD-NRT 4/7 ORD-NRT 4/8 IAD-NRT 4/9 ORD-NRT 4/12 IAD-NRT 4/12 ORD-NRT 4/13 IAD-NRT 4/13 ORD-NRT 4/14 IAD-NRT 4/15 IAD-NRT 4/15 ORD-NRT 4/16 ORD-NRT 4/19 IAD-NRT 4/19 ORD-NRT 4/20 IAD-NRT 4/20 ORD-NRT 4/21 IAD-NRT 4/21 ORD-NRT 4/22 ORD-NRT I’ve also been seeing tons of Asiana Seoul – Los Angeles flights with two award seats in first, and occsaional Seoul – Chicago flights as well. And the good news for…
25% Off on eBay Buy It Now Items via Microsoft Cashback
There’s a long Fatwallet thread about how to get (currently) 25% off on eBay Buy It Now purchases through the Microsoft Cashback program. (Hat tip to Flyertalk.) The summary is as follows: 1. Go to eBay.com and find an item you want to buy (it MUST have a Buy it now option with paypal) 2. You can get up to $250 per completed item/auction. Pick something $1000+ to get maximum CashBack 3. Add that item to your watch list. 4. go to live search type in cheap pc or try the following links until you see a CashBack link in the gray ‘Sponsored Sites’ section (refresh a few times if you don’t see it) cheap pc 5. click on the 15% banner (Live Search CashBack) 6. Now you are in eBay go to my eBay…
Book Your ANA Transpacific First Class Awards Now
All Nippon Airways offers one of the very best long-haul first class products in the world. Certainly their food is the very best. Their seat and entertainment system are nice. Their service is outstanding. The only real area for improvement is ground service, they excel in the air but really aren’t special pre-departure or on arrival. One doesn’t hear about their first class product nearly as often as Singapore’s. But then ANA flies only a handful of routes that offer first class, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington DC to Tokyo. Ever since their flights were all upgraded to new first class seats, first class awards have become next to impossible to get. One seat is exceptionally rare, outside of a couple days to departure. And so it’s strange that I’m seating flights…
All the Airlines Hate the Evil Oil Speculators
A colleague today asked me whether I was going to blog about the ‘open letter’ from a dozen airline CEOs calling for regulation of oil speculation, blaming Congressional inaction for their fuel price woes. I scoffed, and said no. Of course, others have scoffed online and I didn’t want to feel left out. Holly Hegemen of PlaneBuzz sticks a picture of Dr. Evil on her website and suggests that the airline industry is posturing the role of “victim”. I surmise it’s pressure for Congress to do something and if Congress can’t solve the fuel problems, then this is just act one… As victims there will be future calls for handouts, and it doesn’t matter a whit whether speculation is driving the price of oil or not. On balance there’s probably not much impact on price,…
Northwest Will Sell You a Free Ticket for $100, Plus Taxes and Call Center Fees
Northwest has played follow the leader introducing a $15 1st checked bag fee on tickets sold beginning tomorrow for travel beginning >>. Elites and full fare passengers are exempt from the fee. But they also dropped a bomb. They’re imposing “fuel surcharges” on all award tickets issued on or after September 15th. $25 for flights within North America, $50 transatlantic, $100 transpacific, $75 intra-Asia (unless travel originates in Hong Kong, in which case it’s $44), and $50 on all other itineraries. Of course, fuel surcharges are just part of the price of a paid ticket and have nothing to do with fuel per se. But just as I predicted in January, the allure of fees is just too compelling. Merger suitor Delta announced this sort of fee two weeks ago. They somehow believe it’s free…
