View From the Wing

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July 31, 2004

Alaska Airlines is Giving Away Worthless Sunglasses

But at least they've got a good tagline for it, with apologies to Timbuk 3.

Simply fly on any Alaska Airlines flight during August, September or October and receive a certificate for up to 4 pairs of free Gattaca Sunglasses with a retail value of $79 to $229 a pair
(a small shipping and handling fee is required).

You will also receive a certificate to extend your summer with discounted travel to seven sunny Mexico destinations. Discounts include:

- Save 20% on airfare between September 1 and October 6, 2004
- Save 10% on airfare between October 7 and December 15, 2004
- Save 10% on Alaska Airlines Mexico Vacations September 1 through December 15, 2004

I'll pass on the Gattaca sunglasses but I might find the discounts useful.

Now sing it with me...

I'm doin' all right, getting good grades

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades

I got a job waiting for my graduation

50 thou' and year will buy a lot of beer

Things are going great, and they're only getting better

I'm doin' all right, getting good grades

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades

Posted by gleff at 4:00 AM | Comments (0)

Delta Silver Elite Trial Offer

Delta is offering Silver Medallion status to members who fly 5000 medallion qualifying miles between August 1 and October 15. The status lasts only through February 2005.

The promotion is targeted, but if you're interested try to register. One of the nice things about Delta IT compared to most airlines is that they'll let you know right away whether you qualify for an offer or not (unlike, say, United which makes it look like you've successfully registered for a promotion but in the end the benefits aren't awarded if you weren't targeted).

Bear in mind that the required flying is 5000 Medallion Qualifying Miles which means more than 5000 miles of flying at low fares and less than 5000 miles of flying at high fares.

Posted by gleff at 3:40 AM | Comments (0)

July 30, 2004

More on Air New Zealand Changes

I'm still a little unclear on all of the implications of Air New Zealand's changes to its rewards program. Here is one summary.

Air New Zealand has unveiled a revolutionary change to its frequent-flyer scheme, becoming the first major airline in the world to give rewards based on ticket price instead of distance flown. (Side note, America West used to do this. Independence Air currently does this.)

An unpopular feature of frequent-flyer programmes such as the Air NZ airpoints scheme is the difficulty in redeeming rewards for flights. This has been changed, with any seat on any flight available for airpoints users. ...

"Overall, the airpoints dollars required to obtain flight redemptions will be 6 per cent less than the equivalent number of airpoints required under the old programme," it says.

On November 16, all airpoints will change and all airpoints will be converted to the new airpoint dollars. Air NZ wants customers to think of them like cash in a bank account, ready to be used when buying their fares.

...

Winners and Losers

Winners

* Business travellers, who fly on expensive, more flexible tickets and often redeem them for cheaper seats on family holidays.

* Transtasman travellers will earn dollars at a higher rate than points are earned now.

* People who use the internet to book their trips.

Losers

* Those in the provinces, who will now no longer get a free flight to one of the main centres when redeeming airpoints for a trip overseas.

* Those who don't travel much. A new annual fee of $30 is being introduced for all members, which is waived if a commercial fare is bought in the previous 12 months.

* Those who travel on short domestic sectors (less than 300km) but want to redeem them on longer domestic sectors.

* Those who fly on the cheapest fares on longhaul international routes.

My own take is that this should make redeeming miles for coach tickets easier but that it's overall a huge devaluation. If points are used based on the price of a ticket, it will be alot pricier to redeem for awards in premium classes of service.

The biggest question I have (selfishly) is how this will affect award redemption by members of Air New Zealand's partner programs. If their own frequent flyers don't face capacity controls, will they maintain a separate set of award controls just for their partners? And how generous will those be (or not be), knowing that they don't have to satisfy their own flyers with their award seat set-asides? On the other hand, since I expect it to be harder for Air New Zealand frequent flyers to redeem points for business class awards that may make it easier for United Mileage Plus members like myself to do so.

Of course, Air New Zealand may just continue to offer parallel capacity controlled awards that partners and Air New Zealand members can redeem. That's the implication I draw from the Air New Zealand website, because it seems there are special reduced-price awards for long-haul travel on Air New Zealand that are bookable only with points and not dollars.

I always have my eye on award flights to Tahiti, Auckland, and Sydney, so I'll be anxiously awaiting more information as it develops.

Posted by gleff at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)

Science Fiction at the Grocery Store

The future of payments is here. That is, if here is the Piggly Wiggly in South Carolina.

Customers enroll in the Pay By Touch program by creating a "Pay By Touch Wallet" which includes: scanning their finger, selecting a PIN, swiping a supermarket rewards card and entering a debit card, credit card or their checking account information. All data is kept in a secure center.

The finger scanning technology does not store actual fingerprints; it creates a set of data points that cannot even be reverse engineered back to a fingerprint. The data points are converted into a mathematical equation that allows for a secure identity match at the point of sale.

Posted by gleff at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)

Who's Better in Bed?

Forbes prefers the Westin bed over the Marriott bed. I agree.

Posted by gleff at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

1000 Free United Miles

Sign up your Safeway Club card to earn United miles here and earn 1000 bonus miles. (Link via Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

If you don't yet have a Safeway club card, go to a Safeway store and get one -- but don't sign up to earn miles. Then go to the link which provides the bonus miles for signing up.

For Alaska Airlines fans, I mentioned a a similar offer the other day.

Posted by gleff at 4:30 AM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2004

25,000 Delta Miles as a Signup Bonus for Intercontinental Ambassador Club

Priority Club is offering 25,000 Delta miles for signing up as an Intercontinental Hotels Ambassador Club member through October 31, 2004.

Just as a mileage-earning deal, this is excellent. Ambassador Club costs $150 to join, which means that the 25,000 miles cost 6/10ths of a cent apiece. Plus Ambassador Club gets you Gold status in Priority Club and special benefits at Intercontinental hotels.

The terms and conditions of the offer say that you need to be a Priority Club member (sign up before taking advantage of the offer) and that you have to have selected Delta Air Lines as your preferred earning partner (so set this up also before taking advantage of the offer).

Further, I suspect that the offer was intended for a limited audience, though the website suggests no such restrictions. It's a good idea to print a copy of the front page of the offer just in case.

Posted by gleff at 5:18 PM | Comments (0)

TSA Intentionally Makes Screening Times Longer at Phoenix Airport

The TSA security director at the Phoenix airport has been placed on leave amid allegations that he intentionally slowed down screening to increase wait times in order to justify expanding his staff.

...

The e-mails written by Fred Carter, screening chief at Sky Harbor, to Florian alerted staffers to the wait-time move on April 5. One of Carter's emails stated that shifting staff away from checkpoints would allow passenger lanes to be shut down so wait times could be lengthened.
Clearly unacceptable and a failure of leadership. Poor security, hiring of criminals, and violations of civil rights haven't been enough to turn the country against this new federal bureaucracy. Perhaps intentional customer disservice could finally bring a call for accountability? Maybe it's time to bring back the campaign to Impeach Norm Mineta?

Posted by gleff at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

Comments Have Been Disabled

I'm sorry to say that the comments feature has had to be disabled. It's not that I don't want to hear your thoughts on what I write -- I do -- but in the past 24 hours the comments feature has been spammed with about 400 ads for online gambling and other such services. It's a bit unmanagable and so until we come up with a solution we'll just have to forgo the comment feature.

Sorry for any inconvenience, but I didn't want to make readers sift through pitches for Cialis as a condition of discussing miles and points.

Update: Looks like the crack technical folks have gotten things cleaned up a bit and I'm hoping that we'll have comments back shortly.

Posted by gleff at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2004

1000 Free Alaska Airlines Miles

Alaska Airlines is offering 1000 miles just for enrolling (free) in their mileage-earning partnership with Safeway grocery stores by August 31.

Posted by gleff at 6:33 PM | Comments (0)

Delta Considers Charging Customers for In-Sourcing

Since the beginning of the year, E-Loan has been offering consumers the choice of whether to have their loan paperwork processed in India or the United States. Processing in India is accomplished two days more quickly.

Now Delta is considering a similar offer with a twist. They would charge a fee to have calls handled by U.S. agents.

Both versions involve the consumer bearing a cost, but E-Loan's model is pitched at offering consumers a benefit, "choose to have your loans processed abroad and we'll finish things more quickly." Delta's model is pitched as a tax, "we're going to charge you for what you want." They're two sides of the same coin, but customers aren't accustomed to paying for this kind of service.

If Delta moves forward with the idea, they would be advised to take a page from the E-Loan playbook: offer callers a shorter hold time if they're willing to have their calls routed overseas. (Conversely, customers preferring US-based agents would pay for the service through longer hold times.)

Posted by gleff at 3:32 PM | Comments (0)

How many frequent flyers worldwide?

Sometimes it takes an article from India to learn about interesting frequent flyer facts here in the US.

[W]orld-wide more than 120 million people were covered with frequent flyer programmes of various airlines. "There are over 500 to 500 million cards related to frequent flyer programmes possessed by air travellers," he pointed out.(The story was prompted because Randy Petersen was in Mumbai for the the launch of revamped Jet Airways frequent flyer program.)

Posted by gleff at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2004

Man Raised As Chicken

Not miles and points related. (Hat tip to the Volokh Conspiracy.)

Posted by gleff at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)

Delta Gives Away Music

Freeipods.com isn't the only way to get music for free.

Delta is offering several free entertainment products as rewards for flight purchases. Delta's "carrier-within-a-carrier" Song

The promotion will require booking on the Song website. It may well also require registratoin -- I don't yet, and I don't see details of the promo yet up on the website. So check for details before making purchases.
Those who book three or more round-trip tickets together will get the mini-iPod from Apple Computer. Those who book only a single ticket will get a 100-song download from Apple's iTunes music service.

Posted by gleff at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

Double Guest Rewards Points

Register to earn double points on Amtrak when booking Acela Express and Metroliner trains online in August (for August travel).

Posted by gleff at 4:18 AM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2004

Chris Elliott's Travel Notes

I cruised on over to Chris Elliott's Travel Notes blog for the first time in awhile and Chris is doing a bang-up job summarizing the day's travel news and offering brief commentary. There's a lot more content each day than I remember, he seems to be doing a better job keeping his website up to date than I am.

Just as I offer each day's writing by email, so does Chris. I've signed up because I want to read his content but I'm terrible about remembering to check all the websites I enjoy reading.

(I offer a simple solution for regular readers of blogs, just add my RSS feed to your favorite Blog Reader software.)

Posted by gleff at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2004

Taxing Miles in Australia

Paying business expenses on personal credit cards for the miles is a time-honored tradition. And there's even a new company, Zevez, which helps businesses run their accounts payable through rewards credit cards in order to capture cash back or frequent flyer miles.

But the practice of earning miles by charging business expenses to a credit card may be coming to an end in Australia.

Australian taxpayers earning miles on business travel are clearly not liable for the tax. However a new Australian Tax Office initiative ("ATO Practice Statement") will tax business people earning miles on their personal credit cards.

The tax office will scrutinize Australians who earn 250,000 or more frequent flyer miles in a year to determine whether those miles are being earned by putting business expenses on personal cards "for no economic purpose" other than to secure rewards. (The tax office will judge the validity of the decision - a small business owner might put expenses on a card for convenience and cashflow and in that case it would be alright and nontaxable for them to also receive award points. Bizarre.)

Tax experts said the Tax Office might also contact the credit card companies or airlines such as Qantas directly for a list of the names of those who have accrued more than 250,000 points in the year.

Posted by gleff at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)

Dangerous Mechanical Delay

This piece has one of the best opening paragraphs of any travel story I've read:

That's when I almost lost my penis.

The rest of the short story doesn't live up to its opening, so you can choose to read it all or not.

Posted by gleff at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)

Marriott offer

Marriott is offering third night free in conjunction with a United Airlines flight for stays booked by September 2nd for travel through December 25. (Hat tip to Samir.)

Posted by gleff at 5:19 AM | Comments (0)

Build in extra time to Wichita

Wichita, Kansas isn't a good place to fly to if you need to be on time.

Nearly one of four flights from major commercial airlines arrived late at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport in the first five months of this year....

"The delays at Mid-Continent Airport are not delays at Mid-Continent Airport," said Bailis Bell, the airport's director. "They are delays at other airports in the system. Delays at this airport because of congestion, bad weather or equipment are rare."

About one-third of daily flights serving Mid-Continent operate between Wichita and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport or Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. Atlanta ranked 27th out of the nation's 31 biggest airports in on-time performance. Chicago was last.

Atlantic Coast Airlines had the most delays of any carrier nationwide, and also led Wichita's late flights, working as partners with United Airlines out of Chicago.

I suspect that on-time performance will improve as a result of activities far away from Kansas.

Atlantic Coast, the largest carrier at Washington-Dulles for year (operating as United Express), has been an operational disaster to be avoided at all costs. Now that they've severed their relationship with United to go forward as the new low-cost carrier Independence Air, things can only improve for United Express markets that they used to serve.

There'll be a shakeout period as replacement carriers get their feet wet in new markets, but oddly enough Wichita stands to benefit from the creation of a low cost carrier that doesn't even serve the city.

Posted by gleff at 4:40 AM | Comments (0)

KLM Under Fire, Fires Back

This opinion column trashing KLM's service to Ghana is a fun read, but even more enjoyable is KLM's point-by-point refutation.

No doubt the original author gets some details wrong and KLM uses that to cast doubt over the whole story. And some of KLM's claims may be unfair, suggesting that since the author isn't a member of the airline's frequent flyer program that they must not have actually flown the airline (when they could simply have not sought frequent flyer credit, or credited their flights to a partner airline's program).

Nevertheless I wish there was a greater dialogue like this on the part of airlines instead of marketing platitudes. It's refreshing to see a major corporation go on the attack with specifics.

Posted by gleff at 4:33 AM | Comments (0)

Credit Cards are Big Business

I earn a plurality of my miles from credit card spending. And Inside Flyer has reported that more miles are earned nationwide from credit card spending than from flying (actual flight miles, not counting elite bonuses and other special promotions).

One indication of how big the credit card business is: the domain name CreditCards.com has been sold for $2.75 million.

Posted by gleff at 4:26 AM | Comments (0)

But low fare carriers aren't a magic bullet for success

Airtran is pulling out of Piedmont Triad International even though they're running at about 80% load factors. Airtran also pulled their Washington Reagan-National to West Palm Beach flights almost immediately after their introduction (inconveniencing me!).

It's worth remembering that in spite of the conventional wisdom that the low cost carriers can do no wrong, not every business decision works out for them.

But at least pulling out of a market is a sign that they care about profitability and are willing to make tough and even embarassing decisions in furtherance of their bottom line, a lesson that the major carriers need desperately to learn.

Posted by gleff at 4:22 AM | Comments (0)

Conventional Wisdom Explained

It may be obvious, but low cost carriers are now driving the airline industry.

In a business in which everyone sells the same thing, the low-cost producer usually comes out on top. It took 25 years, but that is exactly what has happened in the airline business....

They employed frequent-flier programs to build brand loyalty. And they kept a stranglehold on the business traveler, the guy who would pay $2,300 to fly round-trip from Boston to Los Angeles.

...

United's experience is instructive. In 1990, 13 percent of United's passengers could choose a low-cost competitor, according to a report prepared by Daniel Kasper, a Cambridge, Mass., consultant. Last year more than 72 percent of United passengers had a low-cost option, even if they sometimes had to travel to smaller airports in Manchester, N.H., or Long Beach, Calif., to get bargain fares.

At some point - it is hard to say exactly when - the industry reached a tipping point. Business travelers found they, too, could use the discounters, which meant the majors could no longer charge outrageous prices. The loss of pricing power dealt a huge blow to the established carriers. Their higher costs, always a burden, became a weight that threatened to sink them.

...

Paychecks explain the rest of the gap.

Posted by gleff at 4:17 AM | Comments (0)

Donating frequent flyer miles

It's great to see newspapers recommending the donation of frequent flyer miles. It's a great way to feel good for folks with large balances, and for those whose miles are expiring it's better than letting them go to waste (although there are certainly easy ways to extend the life of miles in almost all circumstances -- most carriers require only some account activity every three years, I might transfer 125 miles into an airline account from my Radisson Goldpoints account for instance).

The options for donations are far more varied than the piece suggests, offering only two choices. A good place to check out is MileDonor.com which serves as a clearing house for donation information.

Posted by gleff at 4:12 AM | Comments (0)

Automated Checkin Kiosks to Roll Out at Vegas Hotels

Las Vegas' McCarran airport has check-in kiosks which serve multiple airlines, a departure from the standard practice of each carrier having its own proprietary system.

They'll join AirTran, Alaska, Aloha, America West, Continental, Delta, Midwest, Northwest, Song, Southwest, Ted, United and US Airways, which are already on the system.

This fall the kiosks will be rolled out to local casino resorts on a test basis, beginning with three as yet undetermined properties. Travelers will be able to checkin and check baggage at their hotels.

Currently some airlines offer this service through their own proprietary system at some airport hotels close to their hubs. If memory serves, United offers this at the O'Hare Hilton and Northwest offers it at the Detroit Metro Westin.

It's a great feature for travelers with baggage who may not be flying out for several hours after hotel checkout time, reducing the hassle of storing bags at the hotel and then transporting them to the airport. And it's a great feature for reducing checkin uncertainty that leads some travelers to arrive at the airport far earlier than necessary.

However most of that uncertainty has been mitigated by the availability of proprietary checkin kiosks already -- the checkin process is generally not the most time-consuming part of arriving for a flight. The bigger issue is the airline security checkpoint, and Las Vegas is one of the airports with the greatest variation in security delays.

Posted by gleff at 4:04 AM | Comments (0)

Who should read this website?

Honeymooners!

Posted by gleff at 4:01 AM | Comments (0)

Modifed Recommendations for Luxury Travel on the Cheap

USA Today interviews Joel Widzer, author of The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel. As is so often the case, the advice is almost on target but a bit incomplete.

Being a regular customer, or just being nice, can get you an airline passenger upgrade.Elite status with an airline (regular customer) matters most, as long as you follow the rules for receiving upgrades. Most upgrades are processed automatically, so it's more about rules than interaction. Make sure you know what the airline offers -- free domestic upgrades versus paid for with cash or certificates, a certain minimum fare required, etc. And make sure to request the upgrade explicitly. Each airline has their own procedures.

"Being nice" certainly helps, especially combined with status, at the airport on the day of departure. Sometimes an airline has to upgrade passengers because coach is oversold. In those cases gate agents are usually empowered to do whatever is necessary to get the plane out, and making upgrading you about their ease and convenience is a far better strategy than complaining. The key is to be polite and unobtrusive as well as readily available. And to ask politely at each successive step along the checkin process, you never know who might help out (the checkin counter, the gate, the club, etc.).

I know someone with 3� million (miles) with Delta, but he doesn't get upgraded every time. The guy is unpleasant and demanding. I suspect this is a bit of a canard. This person has lifetime elite status, and probably gets upgraded almost every time that they are eligible for an upgrade. But they don't get upgraded on regional jets, or perhaps on lowest fare tickets where Delta puts this person in the queue behind higher paying, lower status customers. Being nice only counts at the gate and most upgrades happen in advance.

Airlines also are trying to squeeze out more revenue by selling more (discounted) seats in first class instead of giving them away.

Here the key is knowing the rules of the individual airline. Among U.S. carriers only American offers international upgrades on virtually all fares. Some carriers require higher fares on even domestic itineraries, but others do not. Don't just buy a higher priced ticket assuming that it will help secure an upgrade.

A: Not always. For instance, Hilton, Starwood and others now have a best-rate guarantee.

Hotel best rate guarantees don't mean that you'll get the best rate on their own website -- only that if you follow all the fine print you'll get credit back when you don't get the best rate from them. And the fine print varies from hotel chain to hotel chain. So it's still important to check around. Whenever possible, though, it makes sense to book directly with a hotel's website. It saves them on distribution costs, so they generally make it more lucrative for the customer with online booking bonuses or better in-hotel treatment (such as stay credit towards elite status).

Posted by gleff at 3:39 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2004

Update on the Free Flatscreen and iPod

A quick update on the Free Flat Screen and Free iPod offers. (Details of the offers below.)

I've completed all the tasks for the iPod and I've placed my order. I'm told the order is in progress. Not bad for a few minutes work.

I have all my needed referrals for the Flat Screen offer. I haven't completed my own part, though, because I get a recurring error "Not Logged In." So I'm very close to the finish line and I've had a problem that no one else seems to have encountered. I'll try from another computer tomorrow.

Still, these are turning out to be quite lucrative.

Posted by gleff at 4:20 PM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2004

United Gets $1 Billion in Loans

United is set to receive $1 billion in loans and may stay in bankruptcy through June 2005.

That pretty much proves the point that United has access to private capital markets, contrary to claims made in furtherance of their failed application for government-backed loans.

The key difference is that had they gotten the government-backed loans, they would have quickly emerged from Chapter 11 without finishing the job of cost cutting.

By going to the private market for funding, they're being forced to make painful cuts in order to become profitable.

Posted by gleff at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2004

New eBay Anything Points Earning Schedule for Priceline Hotel Reservations

eBay started offering an exceptionally generous 1500 Anything Points per Priceline hotel reservation a few months ago. Some time in the middle of the month they changed their offer to "up to 1500 points." They don't publish the specific details on their website, but I'm told the new rates are as follows:

2.5 - 3.5 star hotels earn 1000 points

4 - 5 star hotels and resorts earn 1500 points

Posted by gleff at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Aviation Security Newsletter

Bob Poole's Aviation Security Newsletter always makes for a fascinating read. Yesterday's issue led with the TSA's failure to provide reasonable security procedures for airport vendors with ramp access to aircraft.

While the TSA focuses tremendous resources -- 45,000 screeners -- on passenger access to secure areas, there are only 358 people inspecting airport procedures covering the million airport and vendor employees with aircraft and secure terminal access.

Poole recommends:

Think about it: unified security at each airport (the buck stops there!) and greatly strengthened arms-length oversight. That should produce much better security than we have today at airports.

Poole also raises concern about TSA overstepping its authority in regulating the business decisions of the nation's airlines:

Eyebrows were raised in June when newspapers reported that the TSA "tried to block JetBlue's expansion into Mineta San Jose International Airport and warned airport officials that its passenger and baggage security system won't be able to handle any significant expansion." (San Jose Business Journal, 6-14-04). Rep. Mike Honda (D, CA) quickly raised the alarm, and a TSA spokesman equally quickly backpedaled.

Posted by gleff at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

Free iPod Advice

Reader Samir emails some useful advice for the free iPod offer:

It takes about 4 weeks to get it - you can e-mail free iPods & they'll send you your Apple order number - then just go to Apple.com & set up an account there & check your order status.

I actually called them up & had them change the order from freeipods to my name (that way, I'd get the e-mail confirmation receipt which is required for warranty work in case it break - if you don't have the receipt, the won't do warranty work apparently & I wanted to track my shipment).

Also I've noticed that the ancestry.com offer is no longer available at the freeipods.com and freeflatscreen.com websites. Too bad, that was one of the easiest ones. But the AOL offer is still a free, cancellable trial (thus you won't pay anything to complete your offer and get your reward).

Posted by gleff at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

Buddy can ya spare $250k?

The federal government has taken in more than a quarter million dollars since October from loose change left behind at security checkpoints.

Posted by gleff at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

TravelZoo deals

TravelZoo is paid to advertise travel offers. Nevertheless, their weekly "Top 20" sometimes has some pretty good deals. Occasionally (though rarely) they're truly exceptional. This week there were two that stood out to me: $799 per person from Los Angeles to Tahiti, transfers to the island of Moorea, and 5 nights hotel. Also $680 per person from Washington-Reagan National (less from New York) to Honolulu plus 7 nights of hotel.

As is the case with any package, the eye-popping appeal comes from the low price. And it isn't going to be the most luxurious trip -- airfares usually not upgradable, hotel that is decent but far from world-class. Nevertheless, these represent decent values.

On the other hand, discounters like GoToday.com and last minute package sites like Site59 give you nice deals with the ability to upgrade portions of the trip. (If booking with Site59, type MC59 into the Promotional Code field on the billing page during check out and use your MasterCard to purchase for $59 off. Offer valid through September 30, 2004.)

Posted by gleff at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

Aeroflot: Drunk Flight Attendants Assaults Passenger

Via Tyler Cowen, CNN reports on an air rage incident that reverses the usual narrative:

Drunken passengers often give air crews trouble, but Russia's leading airline on Tuesday reported an "unprecedented" reversal: A passenger was assaulted by intoxicated flight attendants...on a domestic Aeroflot flight...Seeing that the crew were intoxicated and were not fulfilling their duties, Chernopup [a passenger] asked to be served by a sober and competent flight attendant, Dannenberg said. He was then beaten up by crew members.

Posted by gleff at 7:01 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2004

British Airways 'Winter in July' Sale

From now through July 22nd, British Airways is offering flights to London from $178 plus tax roundtrip for travel beginning October 28th.

Other European destinations are slightly higher, though the fares allow for a London stopover. Saturday night stays are required. Hotel nights can be added from $39.

Posted by gleff at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2004

How does the shareholder fare in loyalty schemes?

I frequently and fervently extoll the virtues of loyalty programs, both as a consumer and from the point of view of businesses whose profits are likely to come from frequent repeat customer and for whom product differentiation is otherwise difficult. (See for instance here.)

At the same time, loyalty programs can be poorly designed, and improperly conceived rules can become very costly for a company.

And I do my best to point out those poorly conceived rules! I make the most of many of them, and I'm comfortable doing so. Pushing the envelope on promotions and loopholes serve a very real economic purpose: by exploiting and exposing loopholes, companies are forced to get better. They're forced to think through promotions. They're forced to improve their computer programming. These things make commerce stronger.

That doesn't say anything about whether an individual action is justified in any given circumstance. That broad claim about the world likely says little about individual ethics. But I sleep well at night.

Companies worry about the high costs that loyalty programs can create, and rightly so. I think a bit of hyperbole too often generates myopia and losses, but in fairness I thought it useful to pass along one such articulation of the excesses of loyalty programs.

David Phillips, the inspiration for the protagonist in the film Punch Drunk Love, emptied 10 US grocery stores of 12150 tubs of pudding to follow up on a promotion offering 1000 frequent flyer points for each pudding code submitted.

His return on investment of $3140 in pudding was 1215000 frequent flyer points at a cost to Healthy Choice Pudding of $25000 (they had to pay the airline two cents a mile).

Granted, this is an extreme (quickly discontinued) example, but there are still examples of poorly conceived loyalty programmes. Loyalty programmes' logic is simple share value with customers who create value, so as to keep them coming back as long as possible.

Existing customers are more profitable than new customers, and it can be seven times more costly to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.

For a modest implementation fee, new technologies can enable companies to identify those valuable customers, model the behaviours that make them valuable and track their explicit preferences in terms of product selection and sales and service channel use.

Sound too good to be true? It is. Anyone who has implemented a customer relationship management "solution" knows that the fee for the technology alone can be quite horrific.

Add to that the other change components (including revamping the sales force, retraining support staff and rewiring contact channels) and we are probably looking at a significant payback period. This, of course, excludes the cost of creating and administering a suitable loyalty scheme.

It prompts the question; while clients are fanatically banking cash-backs, beans, bucks, miles and points in return for their loyal patronage, what happens to the shareholder?

My own suggestion is that companies do best by returning real value to consumers, especially those consumers representing corporate dollars, and keeping tight control over costs in areas outside of customer value-creation, such as expensive technology and personnel. But that's an ongoing debate. For now, it's enough to recognize that there are two sides to the story.

Posted by gleff at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

Gosh, golly, gee

I've been getting lots of mentions lately, by Frommer's and now in Flyertalk.com's TalkMail.

an excellent Weblog, which is hosted over at WebFlyer.com, titled "View From the Wing," and that his blog has been recognized by none other than noted travel-industry expert Chris Elliott, who has this to say about our very own gleff "Gary Leff (is) the original business-travel blogger. Terrific observations on the industry. Sometimes, you wish he'd write more."Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you're coming over here from Frommer's or TalkMail, welcome! If you like what you read, you'll want to sign up to have each day's content delivered to you overnight by email. Just enter your email address in the box to the right beneath by picture.

You might also check out some of my past posts, such as:

A tip of the hat in return, congratulations to Flyertalk.com for reaching 3 million posts!

Posted by gleff at 1:35 PM | Comments (0)

Aloha Airlines Ends Intra-Island First Class

Aloha Airlines is removing first class seating from its intra-island flights.

"Times have changed," Zander said "Demand for first-class service on interisland flights has diminished as more and more trans-Pacific carriers, including Aloha, now fly nonstops direct to the neighbor islands. Today, virtually no one in Hawaii wants to pay a premium for a first-class seat on a 30-minute interisland flight." Naturally Aloha still offers a premium product between Hawaii and the mainland United States. Hawaiian Airlines offers first class both across the Pacific and on its intra-island service.

While Aloha wasn't seeing substantial revenue from purchases of their first class product on short-haul flights, upgrades to first was the primary benefit of their elite frequent flyer program. It remains to be seen how they will retain the loyalty of their frequent customers as long as Hawaiian offers a first class product on routes here the two airlines compete.

Posted by gleff at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)

250 Free United Miles

Posted by gleff at 4:17 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2004

Free stuff

Free mousepad for Virginia residents from the Commonwealth... wonder why my state government needs to be giving away mousepads? Oh well, you can also get a free mousepad by signing up for a psoriasis support group!

Posted by gleff at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)

Free flat-screen TV

The same company offering free iPods (see post below) is also offering free flat-screen TVs. The offer works exactly the same way.

The company making the offers can't lose -- they only ship the stuff to you once you've taken actions that get them paid by their advertisers. So really that's who is bearing the cost.

The key is to take advantage of advertisers' offers that won't actually cost you anything.

Posted by gleff at 4:55 PM | Comments (0)

Free iPods

There's a longrunning discussion at Flyertalk.com about a website offering free iPods. You sign up, complete one of their offers, and get five friends to complete offers as well. Then they send you an iPod.

Seems pretty generous, in fact my first reaction was that it was too good to be true. But now that tons of folks have already taken the plunge, and confirmed that iPods have been shipped, I'm sharing this offer.

The economics are pretty simple: this website gets paid for each offer you and your friends take advantage of. The commissions are enough to cover the cost of an iPod. And since many folks won't complete all of the steps, they'll keep commissions on some folks who they don't ever have to pay out to.

So how should you approach the offer?

Go to the website and sign up. You'll go through a bunch of offers on your screen, all of which you should say no to. Then you'll have a chance to refer some friends to the website. Enter their email addresses now, or better yet just copy the link they give you at the bottom of the page. That's the link you want your friends to use. You can direct them to this website for further instructions or just tell them which offers to sign up for themselves.

The next page is where you sign up for one of the offers they're marketing. I recommend signing up for either AOL or Ancestry.com. Why? Because they're both free trial offers. Sign up and then cancel before the regular fees kick in. You won't be out any money, and you'll be closer to your iPod.

Posted by gleff at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2004

Free Earbud Offer from Sprint is Back

Posted by gleff at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)

Hijacking 'dry runs'?

WomensWallStreet.com carries an unsettling first-person tale of a US domestic flight, suspicious activities by a group of Middle Eastern passengers, and the concerns of one passenger. It raises the prospect of airplane hijacking "dry runs," construction of bombs in mid-air, and difficult questions of civil liberties and racial profiling.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but it's worth a read even though the author loses 90% of her credibility when quoting Ann Coulter.

Instapundit is covering the article and developing story. Michelle Malkin has confirmed the main details of the story.

Posted by gleff at 4:02 PM | Comments (0)

South African Likely to Continue non-Star Airline Partnerships

The Star Alliance will not require South African Airways to drop its partnerships with outside airlines such as British Airways, Air France, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas when the African carrier joins Star next year.

"We are striving for a win-win situation. A decision to join (or relinquish certain partnerships) should not hurt the bottom line," said Klick.

Star Alliance's six-member team was in SA to start the process of integrating SAA into the alliance, Klick said. The integration would include harmonising the ticket booking systems and frequent flyer programmes.

SAA spokesman Onkgopotse Tabane said the airline would communicate with its current code-sharing partners about which ones it was planning to cut ties with.

He said a decision would be made in the next 18 months.

Posted by gleff at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2004

Southwest's CEO Steps Down

Jim Parker resigned and was replaced by CFO Gary Kelly. "Personal reasons" are cited, though anyone who knows the real story please e-mail me.

I've been in Washington, DC long enough to know that 'personal reasons' are never true. Southwest remained profitable throughout Parker's tenure, even as other carriers were losing money across the board -- although Southwest's second quarter profit was down 50% year over year.

The move seems to this outsider to come out of nowhere, begging the question: what happened?

Posted by gleff at 3:33 PM | Comments (0)

Double Elite Qualifying Miles on USAirways

Update: Though this isn't clear from the USAirways website, the offer does appear to be targeted and thus not everyone will succeed in getting the double status miles. However, some folks who have not been targeted do seem to be successful at getting USAirways to agree to let them register anyway.

If you just sign up on the website, it will look as though you are successfully registered but you may not get the miles. Best advice is to call USAirways and ask to be registered. If they say you aren't targeted for the promotion, press further and ask if there's anything they can do. Heavy USAirways flyers have little to lose, lots to gain. But I wouldn't make extra purchases just for this promo until I knew for certain that I had been successfully registered.

Posted by gleff at 3:53 AM | Comments (0)

Wondering how much Hilton HHonors points are worth?

One of the most common questions is "how much are my miles worth?" And one of the most common answers is "two cents apiece." That is an imperfect guess at best, and I think the answer usually varies from about a penny to eight cents (and as a rule of thumb I usually use about 1.5 cents).

But what about the myriad of hotel currencies? Starwood points are worth more than an airline mile - at least 25% more. And Hilton HHonors points are worth less. How much less? One data point is that Hilton will sell you points directly for one penny apiece.

Posted by gleff at 3:50 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2004

Excellent Starwood Redemption Offer - This Week Only

25% Off Reward Redemption at Starwood for booking an award between online July 12 and July 16 for stays completed by August 31.

I don't see the offer on the main Starwood page at the moment, but testing out an online booking the 25% off shows up in bold next to each award possibility along with the terms and conditions.

This discount applies to all Starwood properties worldwide, but only for awards bookable online -- so no suite or upgraded awards which require calling Starwood.

And since "fifth night free" still applies under this promo, five nights at the St. Regis Monarch Beach can be had for 36,000 points rather than the standard 48,000... same with the Hotel Danieli in Venice. Five nights at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket in Thailand can be had for only 21,000 points.

Posted by gleff at 3:55 AM | Comments (0)

Get This Content Delivered to You

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Rest assured, I have not ever used this list of emails for any other purpose. It's just a convenient way to provide you with this website's content without your having to check in daily.

If you scroll down the links on the right hand side, you'll also see that I have an RSS feed available for anyone who regularly uses blog newsreaders - and I even have a WAP-optimized link for reading this site on your cell phone.

Reading this blog couldn't be more convenient!

Posted by gleff at 3:19 AM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2004

Free 32mb Memory Stick

Just read about Dell services and play a game which is really a quiz where all the answers are 'Dell is Great' and you get the memory stick. Oh, and if you get any questions 'wrong' you get to take the quiz again.

Takes about five minutes, and since the memory stick is coming from Dell chances of fulfillment are high.

7/12/04 Update: The game requires a PIN. Up until today there was an option to simply be given a PIN number if you didn't have one. That option is now gone, meaning that this free deal is essentially dead.

Posted by gleff at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)

Bonus miles for transfers into Delta

In a repeat of an offer from last fall, Delta is offering 5000 bonus miles for transferring the equivalent of 20,000 Skymiles into a Delta account from a partner (e.g. Diners Club, American Express Membership Rewards, various hotel programs).

Registration is required. The promotion lasts until August 31st and the bonus can be earned twice.

If you transfer American Express Membership Rewards points before July 15th, this offer should be stackable with the 15% percent transfer bonus as well.

Update: The Membership Rewards double dip may not work, as Amex isn't explicitly listed as a transfer partner for this offer. Strange.

Posted by gleff at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)

More Service Cuts to Come at RyanAir

Ryanair, which announced in February that it would be ordering planes without reclining seats, seat pockets, or window blinds, is considering taking their no-frills approach a step further.

In the next twelve months the European carrier plans to abolish checked luggage, saving an estimate cost of five British pounds per customer.

Posted by gleff at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

500 Free American miles if you're traveling through Dallas

T-Mobile is offering 500 American Airlines miles for a 3 minute presentation on their WiFi service. It's at the Terminal C Admiral's Club in Dallas, presumably club membership is required to get in and participate. Or you could just ask a member on their way in if you could accompany them as a guest.

Posted by gleff at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

Diners Club Special Redemption Offers

Diners Club has extended their 50% bonus on point transfers to British Airways until September 30th, is giving 500 bonus Club Rewards points for a first-time online point redemption, and is also offering discounted mileage awards to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines similar to the Starwood promotion for the same. First class award tickets on America West are discounted as well.

Details of these offers are here.

Posted by gleff at 7:05 AM | Comments (0)

Best Western/Diners Club Bonus

Continuing the strange trend of bonuses for paying with particular credit cards, Best Western is offering bonus points for paying with Diners Club.

In addition to the regular points earned for the stay, members who charge the bill to their Diners Club card will earn a bonus for their first three qualified stays. The first stay will net 100 bonus points, the second will earn another 100 points, and the third stay entitles members to yet another 200 points -- for a grand total of 400 bonus points. Free night awards can be had for as low as 800 points.

Now, as far as bonus promotions go, this one is good, but it's not necessarily anything to write home about.

So why are we writing about it?

This is an interesting bonus in that, Best Western GCCI offers its own MasterCard-branded affinity credit card, yet has decided to reward its members for using a different (Diners Club) card.

As the piece observes, Diners Club and MasterCard plan to link up in 2005 to allow Diners Club acceptance at businesses which take MasterCard.

However, a promotion like this isn't so out of the ordinary. The recent bonus American Airlines miles offered by Starwood required paying for hotel stays with a MasterCard, even though Starwood partners with American Express for its co-branded credit card (and, as I understand it, the recent Starwood online booking bonus was co-sponsored with American Express).

It does continue the trend of offering bonuses tied to payment with specific credit cards. Hyatt's Faster Free Nights promotion requires payment with Mastercard, Marriott has a promotion to award $100 future stay credit when paying with Visa, and several airlines offer double miles for ticket purchases with their own co-branded credit card.

It's becoming more and more important in the miles and points game to carry a diversified set of credit cards -- an Amex, a Visa, a MasterCard, and in my own view even a Diners Club card.

Posted by gleff at 6:57 AM | Comments (0)

Fascinating reading

Looks to be a student case study for business school, a corporate history of American Express. Quick and easy read.

Posted by gleff at 6:55 AM | Comments (0)

Double Membership Rewards Points on Travel Purchases

Amex is offering double Membership Rewards points on travel purchases from July 15 to August 15. Registration is required. The offer terms and conditions say that it's targeted, though I didn't get any kind of promotional mailing and I was able to register. As a result, your mileage may vary.

Posted by gleff at 6:31 AM | Comments (0)

Westin Offers

Starwood has a few Westin resorts available starting at $289 for 4 nights, with a bonus of 10,000 Starwood points for booking. The Westin Maui is 5 nights for $649, or $130 per night. An excellent value.

Bear in mind that the offer is pre-paid, availability is limited, and at least in the case of the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale the reservation will be in their Villas rather the hotel proper, though you can be accomodated in the hotel subject to availability.

Posted by gleff at 5:42 AM | Comments (0)

Membership Rewards to Starwood Conversion Bonus

American Express Membership Rewards points usually convert 3 to 1 into Starwood.

Through August 31st the ratio is 2 to 1 -- which equates to a 50% bonus.

No registration is required.

Posted by gleff at 5:20 AM | Comments (0)

July 9, 2004

7-11 Promotion

Free Slurpees this Sunday.

And 7-11 takes Diners Club, too. So I almost want to pay for my drink.

Posted by gleff at 7:03 PM | Comments (0)

WebFlyer Rolls Out Beta of New Tool

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is "how can I combine my miles from programs X and Y to get an award?"

I've written on this before, such as here and here.
Now WebFlyer has introduced a tool to answer the question for yourself, plugging in the program you want to move miles into or out of, and generating a list of methods for how to do it.

The new tool is here.

It isn't 100% exhaustive yet - the tool didn't offer any suggestions for converting USAirways points into American miles, although Points.com does offer the exchange. It also doesn't have all the fine print, such as exchanges out of USAirways via Points.com require the person making the exchange to hold a USAirways Visa. In a similar vein, I was told I could move miles from Mexicana Frecuenta via the Hilton HHonors Reward Exchange which is only sort of true. Mexicana has a practice of only permitting flight miles to be transferred out. But it's a good start, and I understand the programming is still in beta.

Posted by gleff at 5:33 PM | Comments (0)

Tidbits from David Rowell

David Rowell's "TravelInsider" newsletter has some interesting tidbits today.

On the economics of lost luggage

But that 0.7% represents 800,000 lost bags every year, and it costs Delta $100 million every year to resolve lost bag problems. A $25 million investment to massively reduce the number of lost bags and the associated problems when bags do go missing won't take more than a few months to pay for itself.

On the potential for major carriers to outperform low cost carriers in the short-term

But don't plan on that situation remaining for too much longer. Low cost carriers are already operating to Mexico, the Caribbean and Canada, and are now looking further afield. ATA plans to fly to two or three cities in Europe next year, and rumors abound of other discount carriers considering international destinations. JetBlue, already serving some Caribbean destinations, is also thought to be looking at more international flights.

On whistle-blowing at the TSA

They told their boss about their concerns. He said they were responsible only for assisting screeners, not for supervising them. So they wrote a letter setting out their concerns to TSA headquarters. Two months later, the TSA responded to their complaints - by firing them both!

Worth signing up for a free email subscription, IMHO.

Posted by gleff at 3:53 AM | Comments (0)

New Zealand's Slide Back Towards State Ownership of Transportation

Tyler Cowen is writing about the New Zealand government's renationalization of its railways and its 2001 bailout of Air New Zealand in exchange for an 83% ownership stake.

Did privatization fail? It is unlikely that New Zealand should have a rail system in the first place. Imagine 3.6 million people living in a country about the size of California. About one-third of them live in or near Auckland. The rest are widely scattered across two (technically, three) islands. When you privatize something that shouldn't exist in the first place, you are asking for political and economic trouble. It is no surprise that the company wouldn't invest much in the system....

It was never the case that flights to and from New Zealand would cease or even dry up. But there was never any guarantee that a New Zealand company would be controlling those flights; read this whinge about a possible Qantas takeover. Again, privatization may well have been economically efficient, but it didn't deliver what people expected or demanded.

Posted by gleff at 3:42 AM | Comments (0)

Mentioned in Frommer's

Under the title "Read What We Read," Frommer's describes View from the Wing thusly:

If you're a crazed, obsessive frequent-flier-mile fanatic, you'll love Gary Leff's dry but informative View From The Wing (www.webflyer.com/blog/), where he collects oddball shopping discounts and the best obscure ways to earn frequent flier miles. If you're not an airline coupon-clipper, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. Check it out, though - you might love it.

Posted by gleff at 3:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 8, 2004

20% off a Borders, Brentano's, and Waldenbooks

Valid July 9th - 12th. Print this coupon for an in-store discount.

Posted by gleff at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)

Notes from Citibank

Loyalty programs count on rewards going unused. Citibank reveals that in Australia its proprietary rewards programs assumes that a third of all reward points will go unused.

Meanwhile, Citibank is pushing their Diners Club product in Taiwan with new perks:

In addition to getting airport VIP lounge access in 85 airports worldwide, the card grants users VIP priority check-in service for EVA Airways flights and free business class upgrades with UNI Air if they pay for their economy class tickets with their Diners Club card. Being Spas, one of the premium spa chains in Taiwan, also gives cardholders complimentary room upgrades and a 12 percent discount on the spa's treatment lines.

Posted by gleff at 4:22 PM | Comments (0)

United Member-Get-Member Bonus

Refer up to 4 friends to United. Each one who signs up will earn you 1250 miles. Each one who flies a roundtrip in "V" class or higher will earn you 5000 miles.

The promotion lasts through September 15th and can earn you up to 25,000 miles.

Posted by gleff at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 7, 2004

Hotel Ratings Inflation

Joe Sharkey's column in Sunday's New York Times highlighted hotel rating inflation, with some properties now claiming "six star" designations and one even claiming seven.

Meanwhile, there's a proliferation of websites and guides offering star ratings of properties, and there's little consistency or quality control among many of them.

Beyond those basic points, of course, the article degenerates into silliness: that a good rule of thumb is "about $100 a star," that Westin is on par with Four Seasons and Peninsula properties, and that Radisson is a four star chain.

Posted by gleff at 5:56 PM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2004

5000 Free Continental Miles for Texas Residents

Texas residents can get 5000 Continental miles for registering by September 12th to earn Continental miles for shopping at Randall's.

Posted by gleff at 5:38 PM | Comments (0)

More Hawaii Service

Northwest Airlines will begin flights from Portland to Honolulu on December 15th.

New flights are always good for award redemption, as award seats haven't been claimed yet. Perfect for that Christmas trip to Hawaii.

Aloha Airlines is adding service between Las Vegas and Honolulu and between Sacramento and Maui. Aloha is also cutting some service:

Aloha will eliminate its Phoenix service and the nonstop route between Burbank and Maui, effective September 6. Aloha also will drop short-haul service between Oakland and Las Vegas, Burbank and Las Vegas, and Burbank and Sacramento. Remember that United miles can be used for travel on Aloha, so these two new routes are two new opportunities.

Meanwhile, Hawaiian Airlines is offering an online sale from $267 roundtrip.

Posted by gleff at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)

Double USAirways Points from Points.com

Through September 30, 2004 points transfers into USAirways will be doubled at Points.com. PointsPlus members (membership available free, explained here) get another 25% bonus.

This deal isn't as lucrative as the previous bonus for transfers to American Airlines, both because the initial exchange rates being doubled in many cases aren't as good and because USAirways points tend not to be as valuable as American miles. Nevertheless, it's a deal worth knowing about.

Posted by gleff at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)

Another partner bites the dust

Marriott Rewards will cease to partner with American Express Membership Rewards on December 31, 2004. After that date it will not be possible to transfer points from American Express to Marriott.

Posted by gleff at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)

A quick plug for a hotel

A quick plus for the Renaissance Boca Raton. I spent the weekend there and was thoroughly pleased with value for the dollar, admittedly in their off-season.

The lowest available rate was $85. I paid $90 and received two full breakfasts and two cocktails daily.

This isn't a five-star property, but the grounds are nice. The palm trees provide a nice backdrop and the pool is comfortable. The rooms were more than fine, although a bit dated (and my room had an industrial-style toilet). Parking is free.

Where they really shined, though, is in service. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Friday night they didn't miss a beat in providing a dozen champagne glasses and a dozen wine glasses out by the pool in about five minutes, and provided a dozen complimentary water bottles as well.

Can't beat the property for the price. The Holiday Inn next store goes for the same money. The best I've ever done in Boca Raton is $50 for the Marriott, but that was on Priceline and their zones have been reconfigured so that it isn't possible to reliably pick properties that I'd be happy with anymore. Besides, the full breakfast for two with made to order omellettes and smoked salmon was worth $40 and the cocktails were worth about $10. So in the end my $90 rate was just as good, plus it earned points and I wasn't worried about being given an inferior room.

The hotel is nestled inside of the Towne Center shopping mall, but you wouldn't know it from inside the property. It's right off Interstate 95, and next door to high end shops and a Starbucks. Mostly it's just around the corner from my family which meant I could visit with folks and head back to the room conveniently. So a big thanks for the hotel's staff for all their help over the weekend!

Posted by gleff at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)

25% Bonus for Membership Rewards Transfers to Continental

Through July 15th, if you transfer a minimum of 10,000 Membership Rewards points to Continental you'll receive a 25% bonus. Register online and enter promo code 24013 and your Continental Onepass number.

Posted by gleff at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)

The Ups and Downs of Airtran

I just returned from my first trip using Airtran, and thought I'd share some things about the experience. I was traveling to Boca Raton for the 4th of July weekend and booked Airtran because their non-stop service from Washington-National to West Palm Beach was especially convenient and their flight times were superior to USAirways' for my plans.

Unfortunately just days before my trip Airtran cancelled their brand new non-stop service on this route, and I wound up connecting in Atlanta. I could have pushed the issue and gotten a refund and bought tickets on another carrier, but at the late date that would have been far more expensive and I really wasn't in a rush anyway.

In the end I was four for four on upgrades and all were complimentary, which seems pretty good for someone who has never flown the airline before. All flights were operated by Boeing 717 aircraft, which is the current version of the MD-80/DC-9, so seats in coach are configured 2-3. Consequently overhead bins aren't as deep on the former side as the latter.

The only real business class benefit (other than complimentary cocktails.. be sure to bring plastic in coach for your drinks, because Airtran doesn't take cash) is the bigger seat. There aren't any meals. There's no entertainment system. And the flight attendants don't keep coach passengers away from the forward lavatory.

On the positive side, Airtran permitted cell phone useage during taxi to and from the gate. When we landed after each flight there was an announcement that phones could be used as long as it didn't require getting out of the seat to reach them.

I noticed lots of new flyers and babies, seemingly more than I'm used to even on a holiday weekend. And on all of my flights there were announcements about where to find reading lights. They seem to expect that their passengers won't be familiar with the rituals of flying.

The biggest downside to Airtran's service was two hour connecting times in each direction. Airtran doesn't operate a true hub and spoke system, where planes wait for people. Instead people wait for Airtran's planes. What's worse, there are no airline clubs in Airtran's C concourse in Atlanta, making the waits more difficult. At Reagan National I can use Northwest's Club and in West Palm Delta's. But I'd have to travel to a different concourse to make use of a club in Atlanta. Hardly worth it, but at least the vending machines sold Good Humor ice cream.

Airtran has introduced new benefits for its A+ Rewards members, and these have gotten a whole lot of notice recently. Airtran has always been willing to buy a ticket for you on another carrier for double the credits (32 instead of 16). Now they'll buy you a ticket to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, or Mexico for 50 credits and anywhere else in the world for 100 credits.

This does deserve plenty of acclaim. Pick your spots wisely and a flight to say Gabarone might yield a 20% return. And if you use your American Express to buy your Airtran tickets you'll reach the required credits 50% faster.

The downsides remain that all of the credits must be accumulated in 12 months and once a ticket is purchased for you it is in coach and in most cases won't be upgradeable.

I do like that elite members can now transfer credits to other members' accounts. That'll be useful.

Unfortunately, elite members and business class customers don't have the option of designated checkin lines at West Palm Beach or Reagan National. Fortunately I checked in online, though Airtran provides no bonus for doing so.

Posted by gleff at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)

July 2, 2004

Rewards Drive Credit Card Marketing

Of 325 million credit card offers mailed in April 2004, 55% were for cards which include a rewards component. That's the fifth month in a row in which rewards cards outnumbered their non-rewards brethren.

Posted by gleff at 3:16 AM | Comments (0)

It would take more than a rewards program...

It would take more than a rewards program for me to eat what they consider seafood, but Red Lobster is bulking up its loyalty program, moving from an email discount list to tracking the value of individual customers.

It'll take more than a signup bonus for me to eat there, though.

Posted by gleff at 3:12 AM | Comments (0)

Venetian Offer

The Venentian in Las Vegas is offering weekday rates of $129 and weekend rates of $179 through September 27.

This hotel is sometimes available on Priceline for less. I used to see it for about $80 on weeknights, more recently $100. I've seen it for $130 on weekend nights, though more often $160.

Priceline aside, this represents a pretty good offer for this property.

Posted by gleff at 3:01 AM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2004

Paying Bills Via Credit Card

Alaska Airlines Visa cardholders can earn up to 5000 bonus miles for paying bills automatically with their credit card. The offer is 1250 miles per service company bill (such as cable, phone, etc).

The USAirways Visa has a similar offer of 1000 miles per bill, up to 5000 bonus miles.

Both cards are issued by Bank of America. BofA also issues the Hawaiian Airlines Visa and the America West Visa. If anyone knows whether those cards are offering billpay bonuses, please let me know.

(Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

Posted by gleff at 4:22 AM | Comments (0)

July Starwood Bonus

Starwood is offering 500 bonus points per stay in July (up to 5000 points) as a thank you to Flyertalk members for their help winning the Freddie Award for "Hotel Program of the Year." Registration required.

Posted by gleff at 4:16 AM | Comments (0)