One of the things I really enjoy doing is responding to reader questions and it looks like I haven’t really opened things up in a structured way since a major Q&A thread in September. So here’s your chance.
I will my best to cover many of your questions. Some I may answer right away, others that I answer will take me a few weeks.
Please leave requests in the comments section. I might answer some there while others will warrant standalone posts if they seem like topics that would help many readers.
As my boss once wrote making a similar request on his blog, “The only promise is that of weak monotonicity, namely that your mention won’t lower the chance of the topic being covered.” In other words, I won’t promise to cover everything, though I’ll read and ponder everything that’s written here in the comments.
I’d love to hear from you!
Is there any way to book Condor Airlines using Amex MR ‘pay with points’? They have some reasonable business class fares from the US to Europe that would be really attractive to me if I could get 2 cents per MR point (which I still have access to for now with my Amex Business Platinum card).
Gary, now that all three U.S. legacy majors (UA, AA, DL) have devalued their FF programs and instituted revenue based accumulation, which, in your judgment, is the best alternative airline FF program in which to credit mileage/points for flights on each of those three?
Thanks very much…
Will supersonic air travel be available again within your lifetime?
Which of the world’s FF programs is currently your choice for obtaining the best combination of (1) the least costly (in points/miles) C or F tickets between the U.S. and Europe; (2) a good to superior seat, cabin configuration, and soft product (avoiding, for example, UA’s bunkroom C, and BA’s usual C); and (3) with a good to very good likelihood of being able to find available seats with six months to a year’s notice and some flexibility on the dates of travel? Big bonus if the FF program accepts Chase UR or Citi TY points transfers.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Gary
I am about to secure Egypt air plus silver does it equate with United premier silver benefits as well
Thanks
Faisal
If Rosa Parks bought an economy class ticket but tried to sit in first class, would the flight attendants have told her she has to go sit in the back of the plane?
Gary,
Do you forsee American Airlines releasing premium saver awards from USA to Australia anytime soon?
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/aadvantage-program-updates.jsp
Upgrades on award tickets
“As a ConciergeKeySM or Executive Platinum member, you’ll be able to use your complimentary 500-mile upgrade benefits to upgrade yourself and 1 companion on AAdvantage® award tickets for travel within North America on American from Main Cabin to the next class.” So I read that as I (an EXP) get a free upgrade on a MileSaver award ticket and 1 companion gets a free upgrade on a MileSaver award ticket. If my companion is an EXP/PLPRO/PL/GOLD/no status, it is free upgrade. My companion status is irrelevant. It says “your complimentary 500-mile upgrade benefits to upgrade yourself and 1 companion”. It is clear. Free. Me and 1 companion. Very clear.
So why does it go on to muddy the water? If companion is EXP, then no charge… If companion is no status, then there will be 1 sticker for up to 500 mile, 2 for up to 1,000 miles, 3 for up to 1,500 miles, etc.? It is clear up front. Free. Me and 1 companion. Very clear.
On top of that, EXP desk says one thing, ticket counter says different thing, gate agent says different thing.
Gary,
Do you have any advice on how to book SCL-IPC award flights on LATAM? I can’t seem to find ANY award availability on BA search.
Hi Gary,
What are the best miles/points to use for intra Asia awards (particularly out of Thailand and Indonesia)?
Hey Gary!
I’ve got a lot of British Airways Avios (650,000) and Virgin Atlantic miles (800,000) from years of transatlantic business class travel. I live in New York and travel to Europe and transcon quite a bit. The trouble is that I’ve almost NEVER found availability on BA, AA, or Virgin for ANY trips I want to take. The miles are almost impossible to use.
At this point I’m thinking of giving up on them and just trying to liquidate the miles into some hotel program. I can burn off the Avios pretty quickly with hotel stays and transfer the Virgin miles to IHG or Hilton.
What do you think? Are BA, AA, and Virgin Atlantic EVER going to free up some more seats? Or will these miles always be mostly useless!
I would love a post that would help me traverse how to book hotel suites or guaranteed connecting rooms. Especially with the night and flights Marriott chart. We always end up staying at extended stay type hotels (think springhill suites and residence inn) on family vacations because we need 3 beds.
What is the best way to get to Asia from North America with Singapore or Aeroplan miles in premium cabins without huge fuel surcharges (or other fees)?
As your site is US focussed it doesn’t benefit me being from the UK (so all these great mileage offers and deals almost never come up). Is there any website or good advice you can suggest?
@Phil – Raffles’ headforpoints.com was the best I found when I lived in the UK.
@King George well Singapore Airlines no longer has fuel surcharges, so using KrisFlyer miles is a strategy… Aeroplan doesn’t add fuel surcharges on all of its partners http://viewfromthewing.com/2016/03/05/45953/
Can you comment on what someone should do if they booked a international trip involving two differen’t itineraries and airlines that do not have the code-share agreement. Pro’s being saving money Con’s meaning airlines won’t transport your luggage to final destination, transit visa to go through customs and change terminals, any denied boarding and recheck baggage landside etc.
@jay connecting rooms need to be worked out with hotels in advance, booking suites either focus on all suite hotels or confirmed suites are a great option either for top tier hyatt elites or redeeming hyatt points [~ 60% premium over standard award redemptions]
@Joel – I find pretty decent availability New York – London in premium cabins actually so not sure what dates you’re restricting yourself to. I wouldn’t transfer to hotel points. Any interest in Asia? Those Virgin miles are FANTASTIC for Tokyo. http://viewfromthewing.com/2017/05/05/booked-ana-first-class-just-120000-miles-roundtrip-tips/
@Bill out of Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Colombo it’s hard to beat Avios (short haul awards are cheap). My favorite award — South Asia – Australia with United miles (http://viewfromthewing.com/2017/06/25/17-favorite-frequent-flyer-award-booking-values/) will get more expensive with the upcoming United devaluation.
@Dave it goes in spurts and is seasonal, there are limited flights of course and LATAM is tough on awards generally until closer to departure. The flights are occasionally cheap to buy though.
@Carlos EXPs and ConciergeKey members get complimentary domestic upgrades. Elites get complimentary upgrades on flights up to 500 miles. Non-elites do not.
What’s changed here is that upgrades are now valid on awards.
`
@Ed – Magic 8 Ball? Unclear. AA goes in spurts with availability, they dump some it lasts 24-48 hours, then it’s gone. But I don’t have a great theory to predict when the availability dumps will happen.
@Faisal Star Alliance silver benefits listed here:
http://www.egyptairplus.com/MS_Member_WebSite/levels.html
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/premier/staralliance.aspx
@ScottB – (1) Asiana mile flying United, (2) Air France new business class [consider Korean Air awards with fuel surcharges (3) Air France’s own miles for better availabiltiy, Asiana miles flying any Star Alliance airline with fuel surcharges.
Chase transfers to Korean and Air France, Citi to Air France
@Chis it may take that long, but… yes.
http://viewfromthewing.com/2016/12/17/10-years-well-able-fly-us-london-3-hours-tokyo-just-5-hours/
@ScottB – Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer for United [easy to top off with transfers from other programs, but watch out for mileage expiration!], Etihad for American, we’ll see how long that lasts [sadly AsiaMiles devalued earning on American a couple of months ago http://viewfromthewing.com/2017/05/03/no-longer-earn-many-miles-crediting-american-airlines-flights-cathay-pacific-heres-can-instead/ ] and Czech is interesting for Delta flights but you can’t really top off with transfers [http://viewfromthewing.com/2017/01/25/still-earn-1-mile-per-mile-flown-cheap-delta-fares/]
@JRG there have been some efforts at rewriting the rules here, but bear in mind it’s really government forcing this on the airlines
@beachfan – I don’t have experience with Marriott Guanacaste to offer, sorry!
@Sid – I did it yesterday, albeit AUH-JFK not JFK-AUH
@Paulo generally speaking Star Alliance mileage-earning follows the airline metal, not the code.
@rich – American AAdvantage no longer offers free stopovers, and hasn’t at all since April 8, 2014 and hasn’t outside North America since the introduction of one way awards unfortunately.
@toomanybooks…
1. CNN Airport is a separate product, they allow a few minutes an hour for local announcements, and it comes without charge
2. In some airports they’ve provided / paid for the equipment
3. Airports try to appeal to the broadest possible audience and are seen as less left than MSNBC and less right than FOX. Airports think they’ll get fewer complaints.
@pastorjohn – post offers to answer travel questions. nonetheless, to your question my answer is http://bfy.tw/Ckfv
@Andrew have been sort of meaning to do this now that I’m halfway through the year…
@Woofie there’s no guarantee at any spending level I know someone that AA screwed up with who had spent over $100k and wasn’t renewed, she asked United for a status match and they gladly matched to Global Services ! But in general go buy a $50k AAirpass and they’ll give you concierge key.
@Woofie – search BA.com for award space on the airlines AA.com doesn’t support then call AA. Search Etihad’s website for Etihad space then call American’s Australia reservations line.
@Woofie IHG Rewards Club doesn’t offer redemptions for higher room categories — at least intentionally. It’s just not a feature of the program.
@Christian – make your booking by phone rather than online
@Jonathan hate those fortunately most airlines don’t marry segments with awards only a handful do
@SG – DOT has NOT clearly applied 24 hour refund rules to award tickets. American only JUST changed policy to apply this to award tickets.
@Matt — since it’s an AAdvantage redemption American rules apply here, I *believe* a lap infant should be added to the ticket free to Canada just as they do for US domestic flights.
@Max Bilen – airlines and destinations outside Montreal are highly limited, I don’t see how you would fly there avoiding Montreal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Joli_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations
@beachfan it’s a matter of competent agents, I call Manchester in the UK and hang up call back if I don’t get a decent one. But I’ve done many of these and so have many readers.
@Francisco C – sure, for instance Aeroplan
@Ethan — my favorite program for booking lap infants is Air Canada Aeroplan but you’d need SPG and Amex points for that so you’d want more there. For availability Korean Air Skypass (Chase transfer partner) is great. Of course even booking with United should give you good availability and Chase points transfer.
@Mark first with American you need to search BA.com because AA.com doesn’t show the airline’s Asian frequent flyer partners. You will never get an award to Bali to show up online at AA.com.
Chase transfers to United, check out Aeroplan.com since United.com doesn’t show Singapore Airlines award seats and SIN-DPS is one of the frequent ways to use United miles to get to Bali but you’d have to call to book that.
@Omer Yuhjtman – unfortunately Starpoints are hard to earn aside from the cobrand Amex
@Michael – I don’t think I’m best-positioned to offer advice for RV owners, maybe you can be more specific about what owning an RV means for your (1) spend types and (2) reward goals?
Given the change in Global Entry procedures when returning to the US – e.g. no more fast exit lane from the baggage area – don’t you think that that is a major loss in GE benefits? You now need to allow for considerable more connection time.