Canadian shopping loyalty program Air Miles faces a newly intensified challenge from Air Canada as its Aeroplan program branches out into more partnerships in retail. This is hardly new for a frequent flyer program, many of its US and Asian counterparts have already recognized that their currencies are powerful incentives beyond distinguishing commdity airline seats, and the partnerships are profitable as airlines sell their points to retailers for a higher price than the cost of airline seat redemptions.As Air Canada reaches more consumers through non-aviation earning opportunities, look for them to offer more non-aviation redemption opportunities as well — just as Air Miles offers low point redemption for movie tickets, many US carriers offer miles for magazines, and United now partners with Sony to offer music downloads.
ASIA
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Northwest Instant Elite
Residents of Asia can get automatic gold status for the summer when signing up for Northwest Worldperks.
Triple Miles from Philly and Other USAirways Star Alliance Bonuses
In an attempt to leverage its frequent flyer program to defend its presence in Philadelphia, USAirways is offering triple miles between that city and 22 destinations. Registration is required.USAirways is also offering lots of bonuses for flying specific routes on its Star Alliance partners.Route-specific bonuses include bonuses for flying Austrian Airlines to Vienna (specific fares only), from 5,000 to 50,000 miles for flying United from Dulles to Zurich (on all fares except S, L, and T), and from 5,000 to 50,000 miles for flying United from Chicago to Osaka (looks like all fares earn something).USAirways is also offering carrier-specific double miles on Asiana, bmi to Heathrow, Singapore, Thai, and Varig. These are all restricted to specific fare classes and require registration.
Could the US learn something from Korea?
Although the Korean approach may be a bit too extreme. One of the most vexing problems for frequent flyers is that the programs they belong to change the rules and redemption requirements seemingly at will. Customers save miles for awards and suddenly their miles are worth less, with higher mileage required for the flight they’ve been saving up for. It can seem like mileage programs are like Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip, pulling the football away at the last moment. Admirably, Korean carriers Korean Air and Asiana are seeking to make changes to their frequent flyer programs with a year’s notice and still they are facing legal hurdles from the Korean government. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have been warned not to change their mileage policies. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday issued…
Air Canada restructuring documents available
The 18th Report of the Monitor, Ernst & Young Inc, was released yesterday. It provides a comparison between the Cerberus bid and the Trinity Time (Li) bid for the carrier. Attachments to the report and past documents are also available online.And while we’re on the subject of Air Canada, there is a current promo (registration required) to earn up to 60,000 miles for flights between Canada and Europe, Asia, Australia, India or Tel Aviv, and on non-stop scheduled flights operated by Lufthansa between Canada and Germany. Any status-earning fares qualify.
When in doubt, create your own category to win
Northwest Worldperks has been named the most popular Morth American frequent flyer program in a survey by Time Asia. Not it’s settled.
Government Demands Prettier Stewardesses
According to one reader, India’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation is demanding that state airlines hire more attractive flight attendants.I haven’t found stories validating the claims in the aforelinked-to article, and the piece in question takes on more of a tone of opinion (criticism) than reporting, but I assume that the quotes are genuine.Presumably the government believes that more attractive flight attendants will help attract business to the country’s national carriers. And as a passenger I’m not opposed to that — Singapore Air has followed this model quite well — but perhaps the airlines’ troubles can be traced to government policies that demand frequent air service on unprofitable routes and subsidized air travel for officials.
About Singapore’s New Flight
Singapore Airlines’ new planned ‘longest flight in the world’ (non-stop to Los Angeles) will come at a price premium and offer upgraded seats and service. It isn’t quite the Lufthansa all-Business Class model, but coach will have wider seats and greater pitch. The flight will be scheduled for 16 hours from Singapore to Los Angeles and 18 hours from Los Angeles to Singapore. A similar length flight is planned for Singapore to New York — though New York is nearly three thousand miles West of LA, its over-the-pole routing will prevent substantial additional flight time.The current longest flight is Continental’s Newark-Hong Kong non-stop service.
Couldn’t do this in the U.S.
Malaysian Airlines is in a scuffle with its employees union because Malaysian Airlines has grounded air hostesses over the age of 40, and a senior airline executive defended the move by saying that passengers … “prefer to be served by young, demure and pretty stewardesses, especially Asian ladies.”
Is coach unbearable on purpose?
Tyler Cowen’s recent post on price gouging referenced a common misconception about airline pricing: It is sometimes argued that airlines keep coach quality low deliberately, to raise the demand for business and first class tickets. I don’t know if this is true.. In fact, it isn’t true. Or at least it doesn’t seem to fit the current evidence for domestic flights at all. Airlines only sell about 10% of their first class seats domestically. 90% of first class seats are occupied by frequent flyer awards, upgrades given to frequent travelers, and airline employees. Coach quality has, in general, been rising. American made a fleetwide decision to add 2″ of legroom at every seat by removing a row of seats (They’ve retrenched a bit on some very low yield routes, but this enhancement is still true…
