United is ending its partnership with Qatar. Here’s the key line about mileage earning and redemption: Customers will be able to accrue mileage on Qatar Airways codeshare and interline flights until September 14, 2012. Award travel ticketed on or before September 14, 2012, will be honored as ticketed and valid for one year. It’s a terrible shame, United just added the functionality to book awards on Qatar to its website, and they allow combining Qatar and Star Alliance partners on the same award. Qatar has fabulous award space to many destinations, and transiting the Middle East is a really efficient way to get to many destinations in Central Asia and Northern Africa. While awards will be bookable through September 14, it presumably won’t be possible to make changes to those awards (except in ways that…
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Turkish Airlines Star Alliance Gold Status Match
“Status matches” — a loyalty program offering an existing elite member with a competitor status in their own program as a means of attracting high value business — is predominantly a U.S. phenomenon. Very few international airlines offer status matches. Briitsh Midland was known to status match in its day, and plenty of elite members of U.S. frequent flyer programs took advantage of that — as an elite member of a non-U.S. Star Alliance frequent flyer program, they would have access to United, Continental, and US Airways lounges when flying domestically. What many folks who often grabbed bmi status found was that it was also an excellent frequent flyer program. Their award chart was reasonable, leveraged by cash and points, making their miles some of the most valuable out there. Calls routed over a poor…
Will US Airways Be Next to Offer a Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Program?
Delta has been rumored to be on the verge of converting to a revenue-based frequent flyer program. I heard quite a bit after the story broke that Delta folks were apoplectic at the leak, that there was a lockdown, but like many such things the hordes subsided and the rumor mill has been mostly quiet. My hunch has been that after the leak their executives took better care of their documents and were more careful holding their tongues, rather than that the airline had abandoned its plans. While any move towards a revenue-based program might cause some to immediately think of United’s CFO commenting that some of their members are over-entitled, this airline after all seriously considered minimum revenue thresholds for its elite tiers, my thoughts went elsewhere: the summer 2002 move by US Airways…
Up to 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Transferring in Points from Other Programs
Via Notiflyer, between May 21 and June 18 Aeroplan is offering up to 40,000 bonus miles for transferring points in from other programs (excluding the U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program). The bonus isn’t per transaction or per partner, it’s cumulative — the more points you transfer in from various sources, the more total bonus points you earn. Eligible partners are: Credit card programs: CIBC Aventura World MasterCard Card, CIBC Aventura Gold Visa, CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite, CIBC Aventura MasterCard Card, American Express Membership Rewards – Canada, BankAmericard Power Rewards credit card, Diners Club Club Rewards Hotel programs: Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, Wyndham Rewards, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Coast Rewards, Club Carlson, Le Club Accorhotels, Shangri-La Golden Circle Award Car rental: Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Other: Points.com The highest yield points…
Weekend at the Falls: American Business Class, Gol Domestic, and the Sheraton Iguazú Resort: Sheraton Iguazú Falls Resort & Spa
American to Miami in First, then Business Class to Sao Paulo Gol Smiles VIP Lounge and Domestic Service to Foz de Iguassu Sheraton Iguazú Falls Resort The Wonder of the Falls Gol Domestic Back to Sao Paulo and the Admiral’s Club Sao Paolo American’s Business Class to Miami and on to DC With just a weekend in South America, and a goal of visiting one of the places I’ve wanted to see for years, I decided on convenience and time savings — I picked the Sheraton because it’s actually in the National Park, on the Argentina side. The Sheraton is on the pricey side, rooms were over $250++ and suites around $575++ during my stay. It’s a Starwood category 5 — so delivers a bit over 2 cents a point without any high season points…
Why We Shouldn’t Get Duped by the IdeaWorks ‘Study’ on Award Availability
It’s great to take an objective look at award availability across different airlines, so much is shrouded in secrecy and certainly the airlines are far from transparent. That lack of transparency has worked to the advantage of several programs — especially the less rewarding ones — since few consumers know the difference, it’s quite common for the median program member tho think that “all miles are alike.” I’ve certainly gained a great deal of experience through hands on practice, having redeemed over 200 million miles. I do know which airlines offer strong availability, which ones are weak. But even then I know the most important lesson is that the miles which offer you the most value are going to depend on your reward goals — cabin, number of seats, destinations. One study, highlighted by the…
My Conde Nast Daily Traveler Piece on the Best Credit Cards for Your Spending
Links: Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Starwood Preferred Guest American Express American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card Over at Conde’ Nast’s Daily Traveler I wrote a basic piece on rewards credit cards. It’s the first post of a three part series. This one focuses on the best cards to put your spending on. The other two focus on the best signup bonuses and cards with the best benefits for carrying the card (as opposed to actually using it). The basic principles I offered were: The first piece of advice is to pick a reward goal. If you want to fly to South America, your best bet is American miles. If you want to fly to Europe or Asia then United or US Airways miles are best, followed closely by American miles. For Australia and French Polynesia,…
Delta Adds Virgin Australia Flights to Online Award Booking
The toughest frequent flyer award there that there is out there is North America to Australia/New Zealand non-stop. There’s not a lot of flying to Auckland these days, Qantas has pulled their Los Angeles – Auckland flight and Air New Zealand tends to release business class award seats about two months out during peak season (if at all). Meanwhile, getting Qantas seats to Australia can be a real challenge. They’re conservative about releasing award seats (though business class to Brisbane is among the most available). And seats released when the schedule loads are accessible by British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas’ own members, plus Alaska Airlines members, weeks before American AAdvantage members can access thsoe seats — because Qantas opens their schedule nearly a year out while American only books flights 331 days out. United…
Frequent Flyer Blogs With Simple Lessons on How Your Family Can Travel for Free
Last summer I wrote about how to convince people that frequent flyer programs are worthwhile. They’re my passion of course, and I get stares and jealous comments from colleagues, people say they want to know ‘how to do what I do’ and yet most of the time they don’t follow through. It just seems so far outside their experience and comfort zone, they don’t make the leap. And yet some people do, I did, many readers of this blog did, what made that difference? That’s the very nut that Dave Code wants to crack in this Huffington Post piece. He begins with the big value proposition of credit cards, making it sound simple to take your family overseas for free: Parents, you may not realize you have a chance to dramatically increase your family’s quality…
Is Marriott Devaluing Their Elite Upgrade Benefits Even More?
Regular readers know that I’m generally unimpressed with Marriott Rewards’ elite program. Their Platinum level is the most stringent top tier status to qualify for of any major hotel program requiring 75 nights in a year. And yet: Breakfast benefit only applies during the week (though some properties go above and beyond) Late checkout on request only, day of departure Suites are excluded from upgrades per terms and conditions Free health club access isn’t a top tier benefit Virtually no benefits on resort stays — late checkout (even based on availability) doesn’t apply, breakfast doesn’t even apply. And it’s those resort and leisure stays where I often care the most.. Several years ago Marriott added ‘excluding suites’ from the upgrade terms and conditions, the benefit once simply said best available room and there were often…
