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JonNYC just tweeted that there’s a new ‘third region exception’ as part of American AAdvantage’s unpublished award rules. Here’s what’s changed.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air India has started operating San Francisco – Delhi, and it’s almost one of the world’s longest flights.
The flight operates 3 days a week in each direction, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. And award availability is very good for 2 passengers. It’s wide open for two passengers in business class, and even in first class which is surprising because Air India usually only opens award space for 1 passenger in first.
Through January 4 American is selling miles for as little as 2 cent apiece. That’s cheaper than they usually sell miles.
On average I value American miles at 1.7 cents.
They’re worth more if they put you over the top for a specific award. And they’re worth more if you redeem them for something you’d be willing to pay full or close to full price for otherwise.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Marriott is buying Starwood and Starwood Preferred Guest members are nervous.
Blog reader Vineet S discovered a famous fan of the program ready to take action. Vineet took advantage of a Starwood Preferred Guest private event to meet Lewis Hamilton, the 2014 and 2015 Formula One World Champion.
One bit of good news for members in the AAdvantage program changes that I haven’t seen get any play is that mileage upgrade award charts don’t appear to be changing.
Delta made upgrades a lot more expensive this year. United has many more upgrade price levels, including some more expensive than AAdvantage. But American hasn’t changed their upgrade prices.
In some ways what American didn’t say about their devaluation is even more interesting than what they did say.
United made major changes to their award chart ten years ago … they made this bitter pill go down a bit easier by promising “saver awards available on every flight to every destination.”
When British Airways announced a huge devaluation at the beginning of the year which went into effect in April they softened it in a similar manner.
Marriott is buying Starwood and Starwood Preferred Guest members are nervous.
Marriott’s CEO spoke directly to members in a new video, and says “Devaluing points or member benefits is not the way to preserve and strengthen these programs.” With due respect to the Marriott’s distinguished CEO, I do not think he’s familiar with the Marriott Rewards program.
Starwood is offering a discount of up to 25% on purchased points through December 31. Starwood points are the most valuable loyalty currency.
If you need to top off most any frequent flyer account this could be strategically useful.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
