The Flying Critic

4 Southwest Rapid Reward Credits for New Accounts

According to the Frugal Travel Guy you can join the Southwest Rapid Rewards program from a LaQuinta Hotel promo and get 4 Rapid Rewards Credits.  You must join by September 30th.  If you don't have a Southwest Rapid Rewards account you should consider joining through this promo.  With Southwest becoming the rare no-fee airline you just might find yourself flying them.

Save US Airways' Dividend Miles Program!

Randy Petersen (of InsideFlyer.com) launched a web campaign to save US Airways' Dividend Miles program:

The elimination of bonus miles for elite members places the Dividend Miles program firmly at the bottom of the frequent flyer program pile. By removing benefits for its best customers, US Airways puts its frequent flyer program and its very livelihood at risk.

...

The purpose of this site is to provide Dividend Miles members with information about the airline and the "new revenue initiatives," and to organize a petition so that US Airways management can see precisely how many of their best customers they are in danger of losing.

Here is the link:  www.savedividendmiles.com

Airlines are Wrong to Devalue Frequent Flyer Programs

US Airways stopped awarding a minimum of 500 miles on short flights in May.  United starts today.  Most of the airlines recently added, or are adding, new fees for booking award tickets.  US Airways shocked their elites a few weeks ago by announcing the end of the elite mileage bonuses that gave very frequent flyers double miles for all flights.

The airlines are making a mistake devaluing their loyalty programs.

Instead of alienating their frequent and loyal customers by removing benefits and resorting to nickel and diming the airlines should be using their frequent flyer programs to create new, and maximize existing, customer loyalty.

We all know the airlines are in trouble.  Their previous business plans do not work with $130+ oil.  Oil now costs more than most leisure travelers are used to spending for their entire tickets.  And don’t forget labor and overhead.  The airlines are bleeding to death with costs far exceeding their revenue.  They can not survive without change. 

Ticket prices need to go up, way up.  Route frequencies and capacity need to drop. 

Make people feel like they are getting more for their money through increased frequent flyer program benefits and the higher fares and reduced routes will be easier to swallow.  Keep cutting frequent flyer benefits and customers will not be able to continue justify paying a premium to stay loyal to their primary airline.

Delta's New Award Fuel Surcharge Doesn't Make Sense

View from the Wing points out that Delta just introduced fuel surcharges on award tickets originating from the US and Canada.

From Delta's press release:

Effective Aug. 15, 2008, the SkyMiles program will add:

• A $25 surcharge for Award Travel between the 50 states and Canada
• A $50 surcharge for Award Travel between the 50 states/Canada and all international destinations, including the Caribbean, Latin America, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific.

This fuel surcharge will not impact existing ticketed award itineraries or award tickets issued prior to Aug. 15, 2008, regardless of the date of travel.

One Mile at a Time thinks this isn't such a bad move by Delta:

I know some might think I’m crazy for saying this, but I think this is a good thing. No, I hate to see new fees, but I’m relieved that it’s “only” a maximum of $50. Many (including me) have long been predicting award fuel surcharges for US carriers, and let me tell you, I’m damn relieved that it’s only $50!

Some may think $50 is a lot, but try redeeming with any non-US FFP. For example, a recent award from EWR-FRA-MLA-FRA-EWR cost $350 in fees, taxes, and surcharges, and that’s on the low side.

I get what One Mile at a Time is saying that with Delta setting the bar at $50 it is unlikely that the other USA carriers are going to set a higher fee and that it is means consumers in the USA will pay less compared to other international airlines.  But is it really in everyones best interest to only charge $50?

I'm not opposed to airlines raising their fares and covering their costs.  They are crazy not to with fuel skyrocketing.

What I don't like about this fee - and many other fees by the airlines recently - is that they aren't actually tied to the airlines increased costs.  It is just an arbitrary fee.

When the airlines create fees that aren't rationally related to the services they are providing it feels like the airlines are trying to trick us by hiding the true cost of their services in a multilayer fee scheme.

If this new fee by Delta is actually a fuel surcharge shouldn't it be proportional to the amount of fuel consumed by the flights covered by the ticket? 

A flight from Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico uses a fraction of the fuel that a flight from Atlanta to Dubai uses yet both have the same $50 fuel surcharge.

I know most of you would hate to see a fuel surcharge based on the cost of fuel related to number of miles you fly because it would likely be more than $50 per award but doesn't that make more sense? 

Of course that only works if the fuel surcharge actually fluctuates with the cost of fuel.  When fuel goes up the surcharge goes up.  But just as quickly when fuel goes down the surcharge goes down. 

I think that sort of plan makes sense for award tickets where you don't want the number of miles that people are aiming for to be constantly changing but the airlines need to cover their constantly fluctuating costs.

There is an argument to be made that award tickets shouldn't have a fuel surcharge or any other fees associated with them because award tickets are filling seats that would otherwise go unsold (and the impact on fuel burn by one person isn't significant). 

That might have made sense last year.  But this year capacity is getting slashed.  And for those of you who toiled to find award seats last year it is going to get worse.  A lot worse. 

But how worse does it have to get?  Reasonable fuel surcharges on awards might reduce the need to drastically cut capacity on award availability.  If airlines know that their award seats will at least cover rising fuel costs with a variable fuel surcharge, in combination with an appropriate number of miles redeemed for the flight, the airlines should be able to keep more award seats available for redemption than they otherwise would with capacity dropping.

 

EgyptAir to Join the Star Alliance on July 11, 2008

According to BMI's Diamond Club news:

"...EgyptAir – who have routes across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Australia – [will] join the Star Alliance network on 11 July 2008."

Another article confirms the July 11, 2008 date.  EgyptAir already has a plane with the Star Alliance livery.

This date comes as a bit of a surprise as last October when EgyptAir's pending admission to the Star Alliance was announced it sounded like it might take 18 months for EgyptAir to gain membership. 

Members of Star Alliance frequent flyer programs should be able to look forward to redeeming their miles for EgyptAir flights and earning miles in their local program when flying EgyptAir starting on July 11, 2008.

Earning Miles: New WorldPerks members can earn up to 6,000 Bonus Miles

If you don't have a Northwest Airlines WorldPerks frequent flyer account and will be flying Northwest or KLM between now and July 15, 2008 you can earn up to 6,000 Bonus Miles:

To be eligible for this offer, simply enroll in WorldPerks between April 15, 2008 and July 15, 2008. You will receive 1,000 Bonus Miles for any flight you take on Northwest Airlines or KLM within six months of enrolling. If you take a second roundtrip flight on Northwest Airlines or KLM during this six-month period, you receive 5,000 Bonus Miles.

Travel Tip: Close to the next elite status level? Consider a mileage run.

Double miles.  First class upgrades.  Standby priority.  Better call centers.  Lounge access.  There are many benefits to airline frequent flyer elite status.

The number of miles you need to fly to get elite status varies by airline but often 25,000 miles gets you the lowest level of status.  The more you fly the higher your status level and the better your benefits can become.

Why you want to get to the next level of frequent flyer status: more miles and more perks

The difference in perks between different levels can be staggering.  For example, on American and United if you fly 45,000 miles per year you get the same mileage bonus rate (25%) that you get if you fly 25,000 miles per year.  So with the 25% bonus and flying 45,000 miles yearly you will earn 56,250 miles per year.  But if you can get up to 50,000 miles per year your bonus goes to 100%.  So flying 50,000 miles per year would change the number of miles you earn from 56,250 per year to 100,000 miles.  By finding a way to fly 5,000 more miles you earn an extra 43,750 miles. (my calculations assume no other bonuses, etc.)

As another example, if on United you fly 95,000 miles you get the same benefits as if you fly 50,000 miles.  But if you can fly 5,000 more miles and get to 100,000 miles you will get 6 international one-way upgrades per year, up to 8 other regional confirmed upgrades per year and lots of fees waived. 

How to get to the next level of frequent flyer status: a mileage run

If it looks like you level of flying will get you close to status or the next level of status it might make sense for you to do a mileage run to get you to the next level of benefits.

A mileage run is an airline trip for the purpose of earning miles.  You don't even have to leave the airport if you don't want to.  The trick is to maximize the number of miles you earn for the lowest cost. 

Lucky, from the One Mile at a Time blog, is one of the world's most prolific mileage runners.  He just wrote a detailed post about how to find and book a mileage run.  If you are thinking about a mileage run you should check out his post.

Yes, you can use American Airlines (AA) miles for awards on partner airlines

A reader e-mailed a question about using AA miles:

I don't have miles with anyone because I never fly with one specific airline. However, if i have AA miles, can I use them with their codeshare partners?

Yes, American Airlines - along with most airlines - allows you to use your miles to book flights on partner airlines.  You can even book award tickets using your miles that combine several different partner airlines on one ticket. 

American Airline Partners

American Airlines is in the oneWorld alliance.  So that gives you access to booking flights with your AA miles on the oneWorld airlines: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, JAL, LAN, Malev, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, and Dragon Air.

American Airlines also partners with: Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, Brussels Airlines, El Al, Gulf Air, Hawaiian and Mexicana.

(please note that these partners are of course subject to change and I didn't include some that are current partners that will no longer be in the near future like Aer Lingus)

Types of American Airlines Partner Awards

American Airlines offers two types of partner awards.  The first is the partner award that allows you to combine travel on any combination of American's partners - both oneWorld and their non-alliance partners.  The amount of miles for different routes can be found on AA's all partner award chart.

The other partner option AA offers is their oneWorld award.  These awards are for travel on any number of oneWorld carriers and the amount of miles you need depends on the number of miles in your itinerary (kind of like how some round the world tickets work).  You can find out more details at AA's oneWorld award page.

Three tips on earning and burning miles with partners

1) You can credit all of your flights on all the airlines in an alliance to one frequent flyer program.  So by concentrating your flying within one alliance and crediting them to one program you can maximize the number of miles in one account and get closer to a big award.  It's also possible that you can earn elite status this way, which brings additional benefits including lucrative mileage bonuses.

For example, if you credit 50,000 qualifying miles to American Airlines in a year then all the rest of the flights that year and all of the flights the next year will earn you double miles (so flying 50,000 miles the next year would earn you 100,000 miles - enough to redeem a roundtrip business class ticket from the USA to Asia).

2) Use your miles for international premium cabin travel.  The return on value of your miles is better with international premium cabin awards.

3) While sticking with one alliance is best for most people you should keep one frequent flyer account per alliance so that if you find yourself on a flight with an airline outside your primary alliance you will have a place to put the miles from the flight.  Don't let miles go to waste.

Daily Travel Tip: If you volunteer to give up your seat (VDB) on United, there is another (better) choice than the free ticket voucher

One way that air travelers with flexible schedules can save a lot of money on their next trip is by volunteering to give up their seat on an oversold flight.   This year I’ve already collected $800 in vouchers from volunteering on United flights.

Airlines regularly overbook flights to maximize revenue because typically some people don’t show.  By being at the right place, on the right flight, at the right time, you may be able to score some great freebies in exchange for agreeing to give up your seat and take a later flight.  You may have heard of this before.

It is called volunteering your seat or voluntary denied boarding (VDB) and to do it on United the first step is to ask during check-in and/or at the gate to be added to the volunteer list.  You will know if you are on the list because the United agent will give you a boarding pass-like card that says “Our United Commitment” and explains some of the VDB policy. 

Getting on the list ahead of departure time increases your chances that you will be selected as the agent may not even publicly ask for volunteers if they already have someone on the list in the computer.  Note that the list is believed to be sorted by frequent flyer status, so just because you got on the list early doesn’t mean you will be selected.  Also not every flight needs volunteers.  There is a huge element of luck.

Today’s Daily Travel Tip highlights a somewhat unknown option in United’s VDB policy that can benefit the frequent flyer and international traveler.

Most United agents who are trying to find someone to volunteer their seat will advertise over the microphone that the volunteer will get a free ticket voucher good for a free round trip travel within the 48 United States.

While this may seem attractive at first, there are some downsides to these free ticket vouchers for frequent flyers:

• You don’t earn miles when you are flying on the free ticket
• You can’t be upgraded with miles or upgrade certificates when flying on the free ticket
• They can’t be used for flights to Hawaii or international destinations
• The tickets must book into certain fare buckets (but availability on those buckets is usually good to great – certainly much better than award ticket availability)
• The ticket must be booked at least 14 days before travel

There is another option that most United agents will let you choose as compensation instead of the free ticket voucher.  You can get travel credits of a varying dollar amount depending on the length it will take for United can get you to your destination on a different flight.  The value of the travel credits range from $200 (for a short delay) to $600 (for an all-day or overnight delay). 

About the only time the free voucher is the better choice is if you need/want to fly between two cities that have fares so expensive that it would still be too expensive to buy even after the reduction of price from use of the travel credits.

For frequent flyers and those who only fly internationally, the travel credits are usually the best choice for all the reasons the free tickets are a downside:

• You earn miles for your flight that uses the travel credits
• You can upgrade your flights using miles or upgrade certificates
• You can use the travel credits to book to any United destination, including international cities, as long as all of your flights are operated by United, Ted and/or United Express
• You can book in any available fare bucket
• You are not limited to any advance purchase – if you can buy the fare you can use the travel credits

There are some agents who refuse to offer travel credits and insist that your only option if you want to volunteer your seat is the free ticket.  Those agents are wrong.  But they have the power.  I don't blame some of them. 

The United VDB policy can be confusing.  It says that the free ticket should be the "primary form of VDB compensation" in the states.  Some agents interpret that to say the "exclusive" form, but that is not what it says. 

If you get an agent who doesn't instantly say "sure, no problem" in response to you mentioning travel credits your best bet is to be friendly and easy going.   Let them know that you would prefer travel credits and see what they say.

If they still say no, you might want to push a little harder (while still being friendly) – perhaps pointing out that the “Our United Commitment” card you were given mentions that travel credits are an option or maybe mentioning that you know that most people prefer the free tickets but as a frequent flyer who flies international they have little value for you and you would prefer the travel credits.  If they still say no, you either need to decide to take the free ticket or just keep your seat.

Remember that when volunteering your seat you are in control until you sign the slip agreeing to the compensation provided.  Until you sign everything is negotiations and if you aren’t happy with the offer you don’t have to take it.  But once you sign, you have no right to complain.  So make sure you understand and are okay with the flights you will be rebooked on and the type and amount of compensation you are going to get.

If you have any questions about the VDB process, please feel free to post in the comments or e-mail me.

Horizon/Alaska announce new non-stop service between Los Angeles, CA (LAX) and Flagstaff, AZ (FLG)

Horizon Air/Alaska Airlines announced on March 31st that on June 23 they will begin twice daily non-stop service between Los Angeles, CA and Flagstaff, Az. 

Horizon/Alaska will fly their 74 seat Bombardier Q400s on the new route. 

This will hopefully bring some competition to the Flagstaff market, which has been dominated by US Airways/Mesa with their 5-6 daily flights to/from Phoenix.

The flight will earn 500 miles on Horizon/Alaska's Mileage Plan and flights before September 1 will earn double miles.

Here is the flight schedule:

Flight Number	Depart Flagstaff	Arrive Los Angeles
2497	6:40 a.m.	8:20 a.m.
2499	4:10 p.m.	5:50 p.m.
	Depart Los Angeles	Arrive Flagstaff
2316	1:55 p.m.	3:35 p.m.
2318	7:40 p.m.	9:20 p.m.

Aer Lingus and United Airlines to create codeshare partnership

Aer Lingus and United announced on Tuesday that they will be creating a codeshare partnership starting on November 1, 2008. 

This should create additional mileage earning and redemption opportunities for members of both Aer LIngus' Gold Circle Club and United's Mileage Plus frequent flyer programs. 

Typically with codeshare partnerships with airlines that are not in the same alliance like in this situation, you are able to earn redeemable miles in the other airlines program (ie. fly Aer Lingus but earn United miles) but you will not earn elite qualifying miles.  It is likely that this will be the sort of mileage arrangement between United and Aer Lingus. 

There is no doubt that adding additional mileage redemption (and earning) options is a good thing for members of both programs.  Hopefully this deal will result in increased traffic for United by becoming a (the?) preferred carrier to provide connecting traffic within the USA for Aer Lingus flyers.

This news also makes me wonder if American's partnership with Aer Lingus is coming to an end.  Aer Lingus left the OneWorld alliance on March 31, 2007.  According to aa.com's Aer Lingus Partner Page:

Aer Lingus will continue to be an AAdvantage participant airline beyond April 1, 2007. Miles earned, however, are no longer elite qualifying miles.

and

Aer Lingus will continue to be valid on AAdvantage All-Partner awards beyond April 1, 2007.

My bet is that Aer Lingus' partnership with American doesn't last much longer.