Delta miles really are among the least valuable of any airline currency, certainly any major North American airline currency. My feelings about Delta are well-known, I’m the guy who coined the term ‘Skypesos.’ At one point I was told that Delta was ‘building a dossier’ on me. Still, sometimes Delta miles are exceptionally easy to earn, and that can make them attractive (if you can earn twice as many miles per dollar with Delta, it doesn’t matter all that much that it costs twice as many miles to redeem). Sadly there haven’t been any American Express Membership Rewards transfer bonuses to Delta this year, 40% – 67% were common in recent times. In response to a suggestion by the Delta Points Blog that it made sense to credit Rewards Network dining miles to the Delta…
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A Few Hours Left to Book Awards on Qatar Using United Miles
Yesterday Qatar award inventory was pulled from the United website, even though the partnership which is ending was supposed to allow award booking with United miles on Qatar through September 14. Already the ability to book awards on Qatar by phone, calling up United, had all but disappeared. Finding a telephone agent who even believed award booking was still permitted on Qatar was a challenge, and finding one who knew it was possible and knew how to do it became almost impossible some time over the summer. Strangely, the ability to book Qatar awards on the website has come back. Here’s an example of Qatar business class, JFK-Doha. It’s unclear when exactly this ability will disappear again. Normally I’m a big fan of putting awards on hold (you can choose to call in your credit…
Eating Around the Grand Hyatt New York
I was staying at the Grand Hyatt, and as folks who read the review know I had a bit of room service on arrival. So I wasn’t hungry early, but headed out to get a little bit of dinner around 8pm. First stop was Schnitzel & Things, a small restaurant that started off as a food truck with both excellent schnitzel and sides, it’s counter service and a few tables in back. Unfortunately they close at 8pm and were cleaning up as I arrived. So had to go looking for something else to try. That neighborhood has plenty of Japanese restaurants, and wherever there are clusters of one type of food you have competition which gives you a good shot that the food at any given place will be ok. And walking down the side…
Bits ‘n Pieces for September 7, 2012
News and Notables from Around the Interweb: American AAdvantage Transfer Bonus. American is offering up to a 25% bonus on miles transferred between accounts through September 30th. The airline based on a range of points transferred but roughly speaking a penny a mile plus tax and a $30 ‘processing fee’. The $300 is costs to transfer 25,000 miles will yield 31,250 miles under this promo. Good for topping off between accounts, but not worth it just to do it. Scoring Business Class Awards to Australia During High Season with Skypesos. Some folks will recall my pointing out that Delta’s Skyteam partner China Southern offers amazing business class award availability on its Los Angeles – Guangzhou, China route and the seats on its Airbus A380 look really good. Point Me to the Plane highlights that Delta…
Some Non-obvious Frequent Flyer Programs to Consider
Gabriel Leigh has a CNNgo column on 7 top frequent flyer programs — offering a perspective on the unique value proposition of each. For the most part, he’s spot on, worth highlighting and also some modest disagreement. Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus. Easiest Star Alliance status, you get 1000 qualifying miles for signing up and 3000 more within the first year means Star Alliance Silver (so some boarding priority and a free checked bag on your domestic US flying on United and US Airways). 16,000 more qualifying miles to hit Star Alliance Gold which gets you lounge access. I outlined the pluses and minuses of the program when I became an Aegean Airlines Gold member, since then they’ve made it possible to change date and time on award tickets and also cancel awards and redeposit miles (both…
Delta Increases the Cost of Some Mileage Awards With No Notice Whatsoever
Over the weekend Delta made some changes to their award chart without any advance notice. And, in fact, there hasn’t even been a notice posted at all — the award chart itself has simply changed. The price of traditional ‘saver’ awards (“low” in Delta parlance) are unaffected, it’s medium and high coach awards on some routes that are getting more expensive — an increase of 5000 miles roundtrip in those cases. Here are the specific changes that were made on September 1, without any advance notice: ‘Medium’ level coach awards between the US and Mexico or the Caribbean go from 50,000 to 55,000 miles roundtrip. ‘High’ level coach awards between the US and Mexico or the Caribbean go from 70,000 to 75,000 miles roundtrip. ‘Medium’ level coach awards between the US and Southern South America…
‘Keeping Austin Weird’ at the Hyatt Regency on the River
I spent much of Labor Day weekend in Austin, and decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency there. Rates were on the high side, perhaps largely due to a Longhorns football game that everyone on property seemed to be going to, so I used my annual free night from the Hyatt Visa. (While the card comes with two free nights at any Hyatt as a signup bonus, each year cardmembers are credited with one free night valid at a ‘category 4’ hotel or lower, the best value category 4 is often considered to be the Hyatt 48Lex in New York but the Hyatt Regency Austin is a category 4 hotel as well). You can’t make an award reservation and a paid reservation together online, but offline there’s no problem in doing so. I created one…
Bits ‘n Pieces for September 4, 2012
Some links, news, and opinion from around the interweb: Christopher Elliott notes that the Republican Party platform calls for reform of the TSA and private screeners. He didn’t expect anything similar in the Democratic Party platform, and he was correct (.pdf). Elliott concludes that it’s an election year issue, but I’m not so sure. Most items in party platfoms aren’t ultimately issues that get play during a campaign. They serve more to cement coalitions and demonstrate relative status within a party rather than representing even what a Presidential candidate’s position on an issue will be. As of November 1, only elite members of LANPASS will be permitted to use miles for upgrades. The September issue of Inside Flyer‘s Ask Randy section (subscription required) recommends my award booking service. [T]here are a number of bona fide…
Keeping Up With Work While on Vacation
Conde Nast has a piece on how to work productively while still making the most of your vacation. Chaney Kwak interviewed folks like Wendy Perrin, Joe Brancatelli, and IT executives with involvement in the travel industry. I was also interviewed, and here was my take: Some hotel rooms lack power outlets. I always bring a compact power strip so I can recharge all of my devices at once. An air card or MiFi device is indispensable so I can even work in cabs. I actually love staying caught up with work while I’m away because if I don’t, all of the relaxation I’ve accomplished is immediately wiped away by the deluge I receive when I come back. I especially love traveling to Asia. Thanks to a 12-hour time difference, very little is happening the entire…
The Strange Process of Redeeming Awards Through Korean Air Skypass
I have booked hundreds and hundreds of millions of miles worth of premium cabin international awards through my award booking service. But believe it or not I had never booked anything with miles in a Korean Air Skypass account before. Actually, this isn’t that surprising. Most of my clients are US-based with a smattering in Europe and Australia. The clients I’ve had in Asia have mostly been using miles in US frequent flyer programs for their rewards. Not too many US customers have Korean Air Skypass accounts. Plenty have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, though (from Chase Sapphire Preferred). And those transfer to Korean — but since the Ultimate Rewards program is pretty new, and the Korean Air partnership still just shy of a year old, I actually haven’t had occasion. And today I discovered that…
