Recently on Flyertalk there were dueling threads in the “MilesBuzz” forum (which I moderate) about whether miles were on their way to increase or decrease in value. The latter contained the usual arguments of doom and gloom, and perhaps it was just one member’s effort to be contrarian but the thread about miles increasing in value sought to turn the usual arguments on their head. It didn’t make the claims I’ve offered in the past about the relative ease of earning miles compared to the past and the advent of alliance awards that give you access to the award inventory of airline partners allowing you to travel across the globe in ways that didn’t exist in the “good ‘ol days.” Instead, the argument was that as the price of oil goes up, capacity falls, and…
The TSA Will Decide If You Can Fly Without ID Based On Your Attitude
The TSA has a new policy on flying without an ID. It used to be that you would be subject to secondary screening. Annoying, but no big deal. Now they’ll decide whether to let you do that based on your attitude. Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity. This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. One Mile at a Time calls it “TSA’s dumbest policy ever.” I disagree. There are plenty equally dumb things that the TSA has…
40% Off at W Hotel Store
The W Hotel Store is have a Summer White Sale, 40% off through June 30 with discount code T4K7P. And this time you don’t even have to pretend to be an employee…
Should I Redeem Now Before Starwood Makes Me Pay More Points?
Reader David asks The Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu is currently being renovated, and set to re-open in Jan 2009. The press release stated that it will join the Starwood Luxury Collection, which is Cat 7, correct? If I make a Jan or Feb 2009 reservation now at 12K/night, will they make me pay more points later, or cancel my reservation? David wants to know if this hotel is going to require a whole lot more Starwood points to redeem for a free night once it re-opens. Bottom-line, while the property may go up in points if they expect substantially higher room rates, I’d be very surprised if it turned out to be “Category 7,” the highest redemption level Starwood offers. Luxury Collection is the ‘brand’ (like Sheraton, Westin, etc) used to identify a chain of…
Thai to Stop Flying New York to Bangkok?
Flyertalkers are reporting that Thai Airways is canceling its New York-JFK to Bangkok flights, effective July 1. Actually, the consensus seems to be that Thai isn’t currently selling any tickets on the route after that date, and that the flight is ‘under review’ with a decision to be made shortly, possibly next week. Asian long-haul flights clearly are gas guzzlers, they need really high load factors and high average fares in order to be profitable. My sense has long been that Thai has neither for this route, scheduled at roughly 17 hours of travel time. It’s sad to see flights like these disappear, they’ve long been some of the better award redemption values and certainly anyone who has booked their travel for dates beyond July 1 could be in a difficult spot. Thai will certainly…
Spirit Air (as we know it) next to go?
Via Joe Sharkey points to the Miami Herald‘s report of massive downsizing at Spirit. Spirit Airlines may lay off or displace up to 60 percent of its flight attendants and as many as 45 percent of its pilots in two months, as it struggles to cope with soaring jet-fuel prices. The Miramar-based low-cost carrier sent letters to union leaders Saturday, notifying them that it will furlough or displace up to 448 flight attendants and 242 pilots on Aug. 1, as the airline closes its New York LaGuardia and San Juan bases and reduces its Fort Lauderdale base. For flight attendants, the airline is also shutting its Detroit base In 2002, Spirit Air CEO Ben Baldanza was a Senior Vice President at USAirways and became famous for publicly stating that the airline should fire its ‘unprofitable’…
Speculation on United Downsizing
Holly Hegemen passes on the rumor du jour about United’s plans to downsize in the face of record fuel prices. 1. Culling the B737 fleet (94 airplanes) by Fall 2009. 2. Selling off 7 B747s by Fall 2008. 3. 25 percent staff cuts by Fall 2008. 4. Death to TED (quickly but painfully). Small city domestic mainline flying pretty much goes away. Reduced frequency on more major routes currently served by the old 737s which guzzle gas. Presumably free up the TED Airbus aircraft to replace some of the 737s which are only losing a little money in hopes that reduced fuel costs can turn around the route economics. Speculation at this point, and the specific numbers may change, but it seems a good bet that we see the 737s going away.
Continental Introduces Million Miler Program
Continental Airlines is introducing a million miler program. Lifetime status is one of those wonderful holy grails of loyalty programs, continue to strive to give loyalty to a single company over several years and be rewarded with a wonderful (to mix metaphors) brass ring at the other side of the rainbow. American offers lifetime Gold at 1,000,000 miles and lifetime Platinum at 2,000,000 miles. The kicker here – and why American has the most generous million miler program – is that all miles earned in an account count towards this status, not just flown miles. United offers lifetime Premier Executive (mid-tier) at 1,000,000 flown miles. Delta offers lifetime Silver at 1,000,000, lifetime Gold at 2,000,000, and lifetime Platinum at 4,000,000. These are all airline miles, not any source miles a la American. Continental’s new offering…
USAirways’ Pilots Union Goes Federal On Its Own Members
Most folks’ mental model of unions is that they are representing the interests of ‘the workers’ against ‘management’. That’s frequently not the case, at least as unions age, they often represent the entrenched union leadership over the interests of the workers, if even such a thing as a common interest across employees is a coherent concept (and this phenomenon isn’t uncommon with corporate management, either, just replace ’employees’ with ‘shareholders’). Over at USAirways we’re seeing the unfolding of one of the most interesting and vivid (from the outside, I feel bad for the players) illustration of how employee interests aren’t a unified whole — and we’re watching some of its most malicious consequences, first hand. PlaneBuzz reports on the lawsuit which the new union representing pilots at USAirways has filed against some of its own…
Europe This Summer in Business Class for Less Than $1900
There’s a current thread on Flyertalk about several US cities (so far noting Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, but no doubt others) having August fares across Europe — Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, and More — for less than $1900. The fare is nonrefundable and bookable on Expedia and also shows up on Orbitz, though there are reports of pricing difficulties on Orbitz. It seems to be the key that the overwater segments either be on Lufthansa or a Lufthansa-coded United flight. This is an outstanding fare for peak summer season, and especially from the US West Coast. Plenty of coach itineraries will be approaching this price…
