Today we learn of news of Southwest’s changes to the Southwest Companion Pass, and how the needed 110,000 Rapid Rewards points are calculated, or rather, what points count, and what points do not count. I can’t say that this surprises me. While many would like to blame Bloggers for killing the deal, I would rather…
I think we all enjoy double or triple dipping. The American Airlines Business Extra program is a way to do that, if you fly on American. That said, if you’ve been using American Airlines Business Extra for a few years, your points earned in 2014 will expire soon! You see, points expire 31 December, 2…
It is very easy to get into intermediate and expert territory when it comes to finding award space and booking awards. That can sometimes be intimidating. This is my attempt at boiling down the very basics of searching for award spaceI’ll start with a couple of assumptions: You know where you want to go, at…
If you’ve attempted to work with United’s New Award Search Tool, you know how much of a pain it is.Perhaps the most prevalent screen is this:Now, some in the software industry would call this a feature. I would call this one of my most vexing customer experiences. What causes the issue with United’s New Award Search Tool?The…
American Airlines continues to release AAdvantage Program Updates, as we move toward the “go live” of a few new aspects of the program, previously announced in June.Just a brief summary of the AAdvantage Program Updates announced in June: AAdvantage Redeemable Mileage went Revenue Based (for the most part)Of course, we’ve learned subsequently that there are…
I’ve held top tier elite status in hotels and airlines for the better part of the last decade. While I started out earning status mostly from business travel (aka Other People’s Money), I came to appreciate the top tier status at Marriott, then Hyatt, and United, then American. As I came to appreciate that status,…
Last year, Delta introduced a 20 minute guarantee for checked bags, called “Bags on Time” or “Bag-to-Claim Guarantee” (I’m not quite sure, based on the Terms, so lets just go with Delta’s 20 minute guarantee). The concept is very similar to Alaska’s similar guarantee, The concept is that Delta will have your checked bag to the…
I’ve been an American Airlines Executive Platinum for a few years now. Ivy enjoyed a bunch of the benefits, like complimentary domestic upgrades, and no charges for redepositing award miles. But the benefit that I find especially valuable, is the ability for same day standby. Now, don’t get me wrong, American devalued this benefit significantly…
With American’s move to revenue based earning, the three legacy US carriers all award miles based on your fare, not miles flown anymore. So, where should you credit your miles and points for miles flown? Enter a great new tool – Where to CreditI learned about this awesome tool from Jonathan Khoo yesterday via twitter. Where…
I just ended a whirlwind round the world trip with my father and brother, which was awesome. Our last long haul flight was in Asiana A380 First Class, a flight I was very much looking forward to. Unfortunately, I encountered some of those pesky first world problems. In Flight Entertainment (IFE)Of the three of us…