Yesterday Delta sent out an email announcing a big price increase for lounge membership and instituting a policy that everyone accessing their lounges via premium credit card would have to pay a fee to bring in guests. Will Run for Miles flags another change to Delta’s lounge policy, this time one that wasn’t announced just slipped into their ‘Skyteam Benefits’ page. Effective May 1, 2014, all Delta third-party operated international lounges will become Business lounges. What this modest statement means is that a ton of lounges will no longer be available to elite members. Here’s the change: And here are the lounges that elites flying international economy lose access to: THIRD PARTY BUSINESS LOUNGE LOCATIONS: Latin America and the Caribbean Bogota, CO (BOG) Caracas, VE (CCS) Lima, PE (LIM) Quito, EC (UIO) Rio De…
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How to Transfer American Express Points to American AAdvantage – Or Book Star Alliance Awards Without Fuel Surcharges
A trick we used to use sometimes with our award booking service to help a client top off a US Airways frequent flyer account if hey had American Express Memnbership Rewards points was to transfer the Amex points to Air Canada’s Aeroplan and from Aeroplan to US Airways via Points.com. Those transfers were offered at 1 Aeroplan point to 0.84 US Airways points. Sometimes the client would have enough Aeroplan points for their ticket, but didn’t want to pay the fuel surcharges that Aeroplan imposes on about half of their partners. This worked out best for awards where US Airways charged fewer points than Aeroplan did, but sometimes even the loss in points with the transfer was worth it for the cash savings. The option went away from the Points.com website several months ago, but…
The Best Aspirational Hotel Redemption Value in the World? An Overwater Bungalow on Bora Bora!
I spent part of my honeymoon on Bora Bora and loved it. I stayed at Bora Bora Nui, which was then a Starwood property, in an overwater bungalow facing Mt. Otemanu for 5 nights at a cost of 186,000 Starpoints. That was before SPG had ‘category 7’. The hotel became a fantastic value for a standard villa when it transitioned to Hilton, just 50,000 points per night (and eligible for elite multi-night discounts). Now the property can be about 90% more points. Not a bad value, by any means. But also still just for a basic room .. .not an overwater bungalow. The Intercontinental Thalasso Bora Bora used to put guests staying on points in a ‘Garden Villa’. You could pay cash to upgrade, starting at ~ $200 per night for the lowest overwater bungalow.…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi
Dec
31
2013
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles I flew Etihad first class earlier this year both New York JFK – Abu Dhabi and also Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf. In some ways this Etihad first class flight was better than either of those, though my return flight to DC would be better still. Etihad’s premium cabin award availability, certainly booking far in advance, is amazing. At times they’ve seemed to go through cycles where their entire first class cabin or at least the majority of it on both the New York and Washington DC routes has been open for awards. Most of the time there are 2 first class award seats. And from the US they partner only with American, which means the bulk of demand for the seats comes from American’s frequent…
IHG Rewards Introducing Free Internet for All Members — Whether Staying as a Hotel Guest or Not
IHG Rewards, the loyalty program formerly known as Priority Club which includes Intercontinental (for points-earning and redemption), Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and other brands has updated its terms and conditions to include internet access not just for elites but for all members throughout most of the world, and to offer that access for free whether the member is even staying at the hotel or not. This benefit doesn’t apply in Europe, where only IHG Rewards elite members will receive complimentary internet. Internet Access for Members: Beginning January 2014, standard internet access will be available to all IHG® Rewards Club members at no additional cost at all IHG hotels located in the Americas, Greater China, Asia, Middle East and Africa with or without a hotel reservation and/or qualifying stay. Furthermore, IHG® Rewards Club Elite members will…
Here’s How to Book 2 Singapore Suites Award Seats Together on the Same Flight
Singapore Airlines Award Availability Is Awesome — If You Are a Singapore Krisflyer Member Singapore Airlines makes much better award space available to its own KrisFlyer members than they do to their partners. Sure, some partners (like Avianca’s LifeMiles) seem to have access to more space than others do (like United, US Airways). But the award availability Singapore offers its own members is really quite amazing. Singapore Airlines Krisflyer is a partner of American Express Membership Rewards, and also of Starwood Preferred Guest. That means plenty of people in the US have points that can be transferred, if Singapore Airlines premium cabin awards are the goal. I’ve written in the past about how Singapore opens up two first class (saver) award seats pretty much every day on their San Francisco – Seoul – Singapore flight…
United’s Award Routing Rules Can Be Confusing Because They Don’t Actually Exist – And Why I Like It That Way
Travel Is Free summarized United’s ‘award routing rules’. Award tickets have basically two components — the number of miles that they cost (and that can be based on the region you are flying from and to — most US programs price awards based on regions — or the number of miles you fly, some international programs offer ‘distance-based’ award charts) and the ‘routing rules’ or the way you’re able to fly. Distance-based awards don’t usually have very many routing rules, for the most part you can fly however you want between your cities. After all, the more miles you fly, the more out of the way you travel, you’ll simply pay more miles for the award. You may not be able to transit the same city more than twice, you may only be allowed a…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning The Empire CLS car dropped me off at Dulles airport and I went to check-in with Etihad. Etihad’s counters are on the backside of the main terminal, and signage isn’t great, so it’s worth knowing this in advance. There was a big posterboard advertising onboard internet, but the poster was turned to the side which was my first indication that this flight wouldn’t have internet. I was flying out on a Sunday night, so wouldn’t be missing much work by not being online, and it’s no longer free for first class passengers. Not a huge loss, but Etihad has internet now on a large chunk of their long haul fleet (I had it flying Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf back at the end of February). There was one person in…
Here’s How to Redeem Miles for Qantas A380 First Class Between the US and Australia
Australia is One of the Very Toughest Awards to Get Award travel between the US and Australia is one of the very toughest frequent flyer bookings there is. It’s doubly tough during peak periods of November through March. Getting two first class seats non-stop is pretty much impossible. Getting two business class seats is very, very hard (although Delta partner Virgin Australia does often have space). Here’s a month-long calendar from the American Airlines website, showing not a single day with 2 first class seats and just one day with two business class seats. Most of the time it’s necessary to route via Asia in order to make an award happen, which several programs permit. It’s a lot of extra flying, but at least in one direction you can generally break up the trip with…
Frequent Flyer Lonely Hearts, Celebrating Travel for the Holidays
Two blog readers in a long-term relationship are on a break from each other. One wrote a poem to the other for the holidays, and decided to share it. I don’t know much about the relationship, other than that I met the person who wrote the poem at a frequent flyer seminar event two years ago just before the couple traveled to Asia in Cathay Pacific first class on points. In whatever direction things take, I hope they both find their hearts in their love of travel and adventure. My best to them, and to all of my readers out there, my best to you! Christmas is a time for giving, and reflecting on the year we’ve had Which as you know, started off quite well, but has ended fairly sad. You see, it feels…
