Apparently American Airlines has ceased selling onboard duty free. Delta dropped duty free last summer. It was characterized in media as a dispute over contract details with their outsource provider, the same company I believe which American worked with (DFASS Group). Duty free is said to be a $3 billion industry, although that strikes me as surprisingly high. Duty free purchases of high tax items like alcohol and cigarettes are popular as are jewelry and cosmetics, especially in Asia and the Middle East as well as Scandinavia flights. You’ll just have to buy your duty free here instead. US airlines don’t have the same volume of duty free purchases as Asian and Middle Eastern carriers. I’ve read that Korean has a standalone duty free display for shopping throughout the flight on the A380 (I’ve only…
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Will the Thai Airways Mileage Program Be a Savior for United Passengers?
yosithezet responds to my post suggesting that the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program is a good place to credit miles for United flights (because it earns full miles flown and you can top off accounts with points transferred from Citi, Chase, Amex, and Starwood) by asking, “What about Thai? And that’s such a good question! Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus offers full mileage earning on all paid United fares. Here’s the earning chart: And for avoidance of doubt:
Where Should You Credit United Flights to Now That They’re Awarding Fewer Miles?
With United’s new revenue-based frequent flyer program for earning miles from flying, you earn miles based on the price of your ticket and not based on the distance you fly when traveling on United. The ‘break-even’ price to earn the same miles in 2015 that you would have earned in 2014 is a ticket that costs about 20 cents per mile. But United’s average fare is significantly less than 15 cents per miles. So on average folks are positioned to earn fewer miles from their flying under the new program. As a result, it is worth asking whether — if you must fly United — to credit those miles to the MileagePlus program or to credit to a partner airline. If you are going to earn elite status, credit to United. You may earn fewer…
For the Best Airfare Deals (Including Mistakes), Follow The Flight Deal
Several readers asked how they could have found out about the American Airlines mistake business class airfares to China from earlier this week. That one was on FlyerTalk first, I believe, but it was also posted at TheFlightDeal.com. They had the $1700 3-cabin first class deal to Seoul and the $178+ fares to Abu Dhabi, India, and Africa. They also had this month’s $500+ Air France premium economy deal to Istanbul (a $2500 – $3000 ticket normally). Scanning their site just this morning I see: Chicago – Jakarta for $795 roundtrip Los Angeles – Copenhagen for $651 roundtrip New York – Bangkok for $756 roundtrip San Francisco – Stockholm for $654 roundtrip Seattle – Hong Kong for $536 roundtrip They have a daily email list and they tweet out deals as well as listing deals…
How to Get American Airlines Lounge Membership for Just $100/Year
Back in December I wrote how to get American Admirals Club access free for one year. That strategy still works. Here’s how to get American club access for a net cost of $100, plus get a whole lot of additional benefits as well. (Admirals Club membership normally costs $400 – $500.) Here’s American’s new airport lounge strategy What makes a domestic airline lounge special? Citibank and American Airlines promote that the Citi Executive / AAdvantage Card is the only credit card offering American Airlines lounge access, but that’s not accurate. The Citi Prestige card does as well. The card normally comes with a $450 annual fee but Efficient Asian Man writes that he had no problem getting the $350 annual fee offer meant for Citi Gold accountholders (Citibank customers with significant financial relationships) that also…
Cathay Pacific Will Introduce a New Business Class Seat Next Year
Cathay Pacific is an American AAdvantage partner (and a member of oneworld) and flies from New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver to Hong Kong and of course beyond. I love their first class product, and redeem for it when I can. But their business class is excellent. It’s a similar seat to what US Airways pioneered, American has in their new 777s, and Delta flies to Asia and Tel Aviv. I especially like the two-row ‘mini cabin’ on the Cathay Pacific 777. Their business class of course is four seats abreast on the 777, with all aisle access. It’s the ‘reverse herringbone’ style seat, which is my absolute favorite business class seat. Australian Business Traveller reports that Cathay Pacific will come out with a new version of the seat…
How to Maximize Buffets, Lawsuit Over Airport Bottled Water, and Inflight Falcons for Lufthansa First Class Passengers
News and notes from around the interweb: How to maximize brunch Will the Amtrak MasterCard come back… as a Chase Visa or a Citibank MasterCard? Aerolineas Argentinas and Garuda Indonesia awards are now bookable online with Delta miles. Delta has made strong efforts bringing more partners online over the past couple of months. Aerolineas Argentinas isn’t an airline I much want to fly, but it can get you to South America. While Garuda Indonesia is a worthy carrier for intra-Asia flying, it won’t be used often by Americans. Alaska Airlines is offering double miles on their new Seattle – New York JFK route Lufthansa first class passengers will soon be able to bring falcons onboard. No, really, that’s not going to happen. (HT: Paul H.) The high cost of buying bottled water in airports is…
The Most Important Travel News and Advice From the Past Month
Whether it’s recapping the month’s news to get you caught up or passing along tips like “six tricks to get through to airline customer service when phone wait times are long” here’s the opportunity to learn what you missed in miles, points, and travel in February. Credit Card Rewards Advice Four rewards cards that deliver you the most value (and the card to get if you want just one) The card I don’t have… but would never give up if I did Data Shows What Credit Score You Need to Be Approved for the Best Rewards Card 50,000 Mile United Business Card Offer Now Publicly Available Your Miles and Points Just Got More Valuable and Your Travel Just Got Easier Flights to Asia you can pretty much always get business class award tickets on In…
What Makes a Domestic Airline Lounge Special?
There are some really special, amazing airport lounges in the world — places that are more ‘top end private club’ than ‘somewhat more quiet waiting room’.
FREE MONEY: Sign Up to Receive Payment from the Airline Price-Fixing Settlement
Several airlines have settled a price fixing lawsuit and you may be entitled to a very small share of the settlement if you purchased a ticket to Asia or the South Pacific in the past 15 years. No doubt the class action share will be small, but it’s not much effort, and you will just be asked for trip details and won’t need to dig up any documents. In 2009 a class action lawsuit was filed against Air New Zealand, Air France, and Continental for price fixing between the US and Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands. The case later expanded. And in August 2014 there was an agreement for a $30 million settlement with Air France, Japan Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, and Cathay Pacific. In September Qantas and Singapore Airlines agreed…
