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Delta Goes on the Record About Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

USA Today covers the impending risk of changes to frequent flyer programs, moving from rewarding miles flown with an airline to the amount of money spent — turning the legacy frequent flyer programs of airlines like United, American, and Delta into the much more modest offerings of Southwest and JetBlue. The piece is titled Frequent-flier rewards: Change is in the air and Randy Petersen predicts this is going to happen: “I would suggest by this time next year there’ll be at least one, if not more, of the major carriers that have adopted this kind of new normal among frequent-flier programs,” says Randy Petersen, publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, which closely follows loyalty programs. “I think in five years we will have forgotten about the old system.” I’m quoted making the case, though, that the…

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Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur

Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles It was a half hour’s drive from the resort. We pulled up to the terminal and it seemed larger than I remembers from my arrival five days earlier. Upon…

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Strategic Value in the Alitalia Frequent Flyer Program

Head for Points asks if Alitalia has ‘the worst frequent flyer scheme’? Some programs have expiring miles (you have a certain number of years or months to use the points you accumulate). Examples here are Singapore Airlines Krisflyer which gives you 3 years to use miles you’ve earned, and Aeroplan which gives you seven years. Other programs have expiring accounts after 18, 24 or 36 months of inactivity. Any activity at all tends to be enough to extend the life of the account, resetting the clock on all of the miles you’ve earned. United and American are at 18 months, Alaska is at 24 months, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are at 36. My favorite whipping target, Delta Skymiles, does not expire its miles or make its accounts go inactive — although that policy was…

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Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: The Andaman Langkawi

Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles When Starwood first took over The Andaman in Langkawi, Malaysia I was intrigued. I’d heard of the property, seen it on several ‘best’ lists (for best beaches, spa, etc).…

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Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi

Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles We were bid adieu on our way out of the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur by the same front office manager who had been on duty the night before when…

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Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles As we exited baggage claim a representative from the Grand Hyatt was one of the first ones spotted, with my name on a sign. I identified myself and he…

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New Priority Club PointBreaks Hotels for Stays Through January 31

A new Priority Club PointBreaks list is out. These are the promotional awards where rooms at specific hotels are only 5000 points per night. While the offer is valid through January 31, the best hotels participating each round usually sell out quickly and are pulled in a few days. So if you want to redeem your points for one of these properties — or even might want to — it’s a good idea to make that booking right away. As of this writing there are no listed properties in Africa. There are 9 Holiday Inns listed in Europe. There are just 7 hotels currently listed in Asia including the Intercontinental Jakarta — which is the only included Intercontinental at this point (it’s possible that more could be added). I can only hope that the list…

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100% Bonus on US Airways Purchased Miles Extended Through December 7

The current round of bonuses for purchasing US Airways miles was supposed to run through November 30th only. Of course I pretty much anticipated that once the bonus ended, there would be another one. Although sometimes it’s a smaller bonus, or targeted only to people that had purchased in the past. But most of the time US Airways does offer some sort of bonus. This time what they’ve done is extend the November 30-expiring bonus through December 7. It’s over 1.8 cents a mile to buy miles even with the 100% bonus, my personal approach is that I would certainly buy miles to top off an account or to make an immediate award booking (put a reservation on hold then buy the miles) but I wouldn’t buy miles speculatively just to stock up for future…

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Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur

Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles Hong Kong’s airport is almost always a long walk on arrival. You come in on the lower level and either proceed to immigration or to transfer security. Shoes don’t…

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Bits ‘n Pieces for November 28, 2012

News and notes from around the interweb: Are Christopher Elliott’s rants about miles and points sexist? Some frequent flyer programs allow ‘family pooling’ of miles, this is a feature offered by some European and Asian programs and is especially common in the Middle East. It turns out that Delta offers something similar for Asia Pacific members only, and they charge for it. Japan Airlines is now serving KFC in coach and premium economy on several long haul routes. Miles for joining a gym: 1500 Virgin America points for joining Crunch in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. 20 Free Points and Double Points Through February 28 with Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

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