Ever since US Airways announced the end of elite bonus miles, I’ve been telling folks that they should keep earning miles in the Dividend Miles program… by every means except flying. Sure, they’ve introduced new award redemption fees. Those are annoying, but they just make it impractical to redeem miles for domestic coach tickets. US Airways miles are still useful for redeeming Star Alliance awards, their award chart is almost as favorable as United’s (and better than most Star carriers), and unlike United they don’t generally filter out otherwise-available award seats their partners are offering. (United prevents members from redeeming seats that partners like Lufthansa and Thai are offering because they don’t want to pay for the seats, US Airways would probably do the same but my guess is their IT system is too primitive,…
Spirit Ends Web Convenience Fee for Online Bookings
Upgrade: Travel Better notes that Spirit has reversed one of the more absurd fees in a recent spate of absurd airline fees – a $10 (roundtrip) “web convenience fee” for booking online. “It’s your cash register, stupid!” not some previously bundled service in need of unbundling (and even there, most airlines would do well to read a simple Tyler Cowen illustration on how bundling can be both profit maximizing and good for the consumer). Oh, and as I’ve noted previously, I go out of my way not to fly Spirit.
Typology of Those Favoring Airline “Re-Regulation”
Megan McArdle offers a trenchant observation about those who call for greater regulation of the airline industry (I hesitate to call it ‘re-regulation’ as commercial aviation is already among the most heavily regulated industries). Like everyone else, I hate the delays and various indignities of flying. On the other hand, I like the fact that it’s costing me $100 to fly to Tampa to pick up my car in two weeks; absent deregulation, that trip would cost a lot more than twice that amount. I think it’s telling that complaints about deregulation of the airlines come almost entirely from three groups of people: 1) People who have no idea what they are talking about 2) Affluent people 3) People who fly a lot for work The third group, especially, would like to basically cut the…
30,000 Priority Club Points Each for Personal and Small Business Visa
Chase is still offering 30,000 Priority Club points and first year free for their Priority Club Visa. What’s new is that they are also offering 30,000 Priority Club points for their co-branded small business Visa as well. Now, 30,000 points used to be enough for a free Intercontinental night. Alas, except when PointBreaks are available (at 5000 points per night!) this is no longer the case — the standard Intercontinental room night is now 40,000 points. But 30,000 is enough for two nights at most Holiday Inn properties, so the offer isn’t bad. And with no fee the first year (don’t keep the card past that point, it’s not a great place to put spending), and points generated for you after first purchase rather than after reaching a spending threshold as some of the airline…
Northwest Unpublished Discounts on Unrestricted Awards
As reported on Flyertalk, Northwest is in the process of testing different award pricing options and various itineraries may show less than the usual published pricing for awards without capacity controls. When the usual domestic ‘PerkSaver’ 25,000 mile awards are unavailable, ‘PerkPass’ may price at 40,000 miles rather than 50,000 — or more precisely, 20,000 miles each way instead of 25,000. Similarly, there’s a report on unrestricted awards pricing at 70,000 miles to India instead of 90,000. This is an improvement for those who would otherwise be in the position of booking an unrestricted award. My guess, though, is that they’re working on their systems towards the goal of aligning them with Delta, which currently offers three levels of awards at different mileage price points. The testing may have to do with preparing their systems…
Orbitz Discount Codes
Orbitz is offering discounts on qualifying hotel stays and vacation packages targeted towards the gay community but usable by anyone. three or four nights save $40 with promo code GAYPRIDE40 five or more nights save $100 with promo code EQUALITY100. Book by August 31 for travel through November 15.
If You Didn’t Believe the Airlines Had to Keep Flying to Support The Underlying Credit Card Business…
United is getting a cash injection from the issuer of the United Visa to keep it going through to better times and lower fuel prices. UAL Corporation (Nasdaq: UAUA), the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, today announced that it reached an agreement in principle with its Mileage Plus co-branded bank card partner, Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A. (“Chase”), and Paymentech, one of its credit card processors, to extend the term of their respective agreements. As part of the transaction, United will receive a payment of $600 million from Chase, which relates to the advance purchase of frequent flyer miles and the extension of the contract. The company also expects this transaction will improve cash flow by about $200 million in the next two years. In addition, the level of reserve or holdback that…
Not All Baggage Fees are Created Equal
The Washington Post has a helpful up-to-date chart on current airline baggage policies. Southwest stil doesn’t charge for the first or second checked bag. Airtran doesn’t charge for the first, and discounts the second if you prepay online. Delta, and Continental don’t charge for the first, but do for the second. Personally I expect that Delta and Continental will eventually join the leaders. Unless they see significant bookings coming their way driven by the lack of fees — and the fees are sufficiently conoluted for most passengers to make sense of so I doubt it — they’re walking away from revenue if they don’t. I do see the opportunity for a clever ad campaign to differentiate their products, but in the end all the evidence I’ve ever seen on coach travel is that the driver…
Northwest’s Odd $44 Award Fuel Surcharge for Hong Kong Departures
A week and a half or so ago Northwest announced fees for award redemption. They call them fuel surcharges, but fuel surcharges are really part of the cost of a ticket. And with awards they aren’t even tied to the fuel surcharge imposed on paid ticket, they’re made up fees imposed based on the region of travel for your award. $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. The $44 fee for award travel beginning in Hong Kong struck me as strange. My hunch was correct, it is a bit of an anomaly. Turns out that there’s a law in Hong Kong which prevents them from imposing fuel surcharges on award tickets that are…
25,000 Bonus Miles for a US Airways Small Business Mastercard
Last month I posted about a 20,000 mile signup bonus for the US Airways small business Mastercard. Looks like the 25,000 mile offer is still around, however. Not bad. Though US Airways has made some pretty unfriendly changes to the Dividend MIles program recently (award redemption fees and ending bonus miles for elite flying), they are still a Star Alliance member — for how long, no one knows — and as such their miles can be redeemed throughout the world on some lovely carriers such as Singapore, ANA, and Asiana. And unlike United they do not generally filter out award seats those carriers are making available. Plus their award chart is closer to United in requiring fewer miles for awards than most Star Alliance carriers. 25,000 for the small business Mastercard, 15,000 for the personal…
