Delta added an online award calendar back in November (and then of course used it as a fig leaf for the elimination of award charts). Since then they’ve been adding various airline partners to their online booking functionality like China Southern and China Eastern and Aerolineas Argentinas and Garuda Indonesia as well as China Airlines and Gol. Now Delta has more updates. Aeroflot and Vietnam Airlines Added to Online Award Booking Aeroflot has decent business class award availability for two passengers much of the time and flies from New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Miami. Their inflight product is better than you think. And their flights are a way to travel beyond Moscow as well, such as to India. Vietnam Airlines doesn’t have a fantastic inflight product in business (though their new 787s will…
YOU DON’T SEE THIS EVERY DAY: Airline Refunds and Apologizes for a Fee They Were Correct to Charge
Aer Lingus refunded a 214 euro charge for transporting a man’s child. (Photo from Wikipedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, By Brian from Toronto, Canada (EI-DVH)) He booked travel for a child who was less than 2 during the outbound portion of the trip but turned 2 while gone and was no longer eligible for infant pricing. Children under age 2 are generally eligible to fly in a parent’s lap without their own seat. Child aged 2 and over are not. That’s not a rule unique to Aer Lingus, but it is on the Aer Lingus website. Nonetheless, the man was furious that he wasn’t hit over the head with this information during the booking process. He was forced to pay for his child’s seat on the way home, and he…
Get a Free Hotel from United and a New American Express Airport Experience
News and notes from around the interweb: Free hotel room to shower and freshen up when you fly United international business or first class How to use the new metro silver line to travel between Washington National and Dulles airports American Express partners with Toronto Pearson to offer premium services throughout the airport experience Why does United change its flight numbers so often? Crediting United flights to other Star Alliance airlines is getting industry trade pub coverage. The percentage of United fliers that misconnect at O’Hare. It’s 2.5% for mainline and 3% for United Express.
Review: Flying First Class on the Third Longest Flight in the World
This post details my first class award redemption using American AAdvantage miles to fly Etihad, Los Angeles – Abu Dhabi … the third longest flight in the world. Previous installments: Introduction, overview, and costs Star Alliance first class and business class lounges, LAX After visiting the Star Alliance first class lounge, popping over to their business class lounge and outdoor deck, and returning to the first class lounge, the woman from Etihad who met us at the first class check-in counter came to collect us when it was time for boarding and escort us downstairs to the departures level of the terminal out out to our gate. Once onboard I remembered that concomitant with the introduction of a new first class product onboard Etihad’s Airbus A380 (‘Residence’ and ‘First Apartment’) as well as on the…
No More Fuel Surcharges on Virgin Australia Awads with Virgin America (and How to Get Their Points)
Virgin America Eliminates Fuel Surcharges on Virgin Australia Award Redemption Virgin America is a revenue-based frequent flyer program when using points for their own flights (points costs are based on the price of the ticket you’re buying) but there’s an award chart when redeeming for travel on partners. US – Australia business class awards on Virgin Australia cost 45,000 Virgin America Elevate points one way or 80,000 points roundtrip. In the past there have been taxes and fuel surcharges in addition to points, with those fuel surcharges costing more than $400 each way. Virgin America no longer collects fuel surcharges on Virgin Australia flights, so the cost of these awards just went down by better than $800 roundtrip. Indeed, without fuel surcharges even an economy award (25,000 points one way or 40,000 points roundtrip) will…
100,000 Mile Bonus, Free Virgin Miles, Passenger Shaming and a $5000 Prize Giveaway!
News and notes from around the interweb: Oneworld airline Qatar Airways is offering up to 100,000 bonus miles for flights to different groups of destinations, in various classes of service, and at different times of the year. Earning 100,000 bonus miles also earns an elite status tier upgrade as well. A woman gave birth in the lavatory on a United flight from Lagos, Nigeria to Houston earlier this month. Being born on a US-registered aircraft outside of the U.S. does not confer US citizenship. 250 free Virgin Atlantic miles for downloading their shopping toolbar Passenger caught on camera trying to snoop on a guy’s laptop I’m giving away a prize worth ~ $5000 for blog readers — it’s the European ‘Amazing Race for Regular Folks’ held July 2-14, 2015 — Competitours is for those who…
United Introducing New Premium Cabin Partnership and Improved Design
United is trumpeting that mystery changes will be coming to their premium cabin experience. In addition to new food, rollout of inflight internet a generation behind everyone else, and themed amenity kits, there will apparently be ‘a new partnership’ and ‘design and comfort enhancements’
US Airways Dividend Miles Program Goes Away Saturday. Here’s Everything That Happens Next (including Changes to How American’s Upgrades Work)
I first reported Sunday night that American and US Airways would combine into a ‘Single Frequent Flyer Program’ on Saturday March 28. American now confirms that date. I spoke with Suzanne Rubin, President of the American AAdvantage program, who shared more of what to expect when US Airways accounts are combined into AAdvantage. Redeemable and elite qualifying miles will be combined on a 1-to-1 basis at that time. This means 2014 elite qualifying miles get combined for 2015 (current) status as well as 2015 elite qualifying miles towards next year’s status. Million mile balances will be combined 1-to-1. US Airways awards need to be ticketed by March 25 at 11:59 p.m. Central. In other words, even held reservations have to be issued by that time as it’s the last moment to issue a US Airways…
Here’s the Secret to Booking Mistake Fares and Fuel Dumps
Reader Joel asked, Hi, Gary. Other than reading the wiki and almost the entire [FlyerTalk] thread, could you help summarize, or simplify, the [fuel dump] tips and tricks? I think someone could monetize on creating an online course about this subject. Do any exist? There are mistake fares probably every day but only a small percentage know about them, as they are kept privy within inner circles. I would like to better understand how to find them, while keeping it to myself, as well. There’s really two different questions here, Mistake fares — the super cheap often “fat finger” (leaving off a number or hitting the wrong button) deals that aren’t always honored, but can provide top notch travel at 90% or even 99% off when they are. Fuel dumps — how to ‘trick’ an…
Changes in the Online Hotel Booking Space, and How They Allowed PointsHound to Bring United Back Into the Fold
PointsHound, the hotel booking site that lets you earn airline miles for your hotel bookings, now has United available as a partner — again. It used to, when it launched, but lost its United relationship early on. Competitor site Rocketmiles had obtained exclusivity in the space with United. The Rocketmiles founder had previously been an executive with MileagePlus. There were erroneous reports that United had taken a stake in Rocketmiles. Since then however much has changed. Rocketmiles announced its acquisition by Priceline. PointsHound was acquired by Points.com Kaligo launched with a United relationship. Whether it was merely the expiration of the Rocketmiles’ exclusivity, the Rocketmiles acquisition by Priceline, or relationships with United that Points.com relationship that PointsHound was able to leverage, United is back. The game change for me, of course, would be PointsHound bringing…
