Starwood and Delta introduced a pretty significant new partnership two years ago. It was a close relationship with bonus points-earning and some reciprocal status recognition. United and Marriott slid in behind them. I’ve expected, at some level, a tie-up with Hilton. Marriott and Starwood were taken. United and Delta were taken. Who was still free […]
The post The Airline-Hotel Partnership That Defies Expectations appeared first on View from the Wing.
U.S. immigration is done outside the U.S. at 16 airports around the world. When you arrive at the airport you go through US customs and immigration before getting on your flight. That’s great for non-US citizens because the lines are usually shorter and they can make quicker connections on arrival. That’s great for the US, […]
The post What is Immigration Preclearance, and Where can You Use It? appeared first on View from the Wing.
The most recent IHG Rewards Club’s PointBreaks preview was just posted in the IHG forum. The hotels on the list will be available for booking starting Monday, September 29, 2014, and will be valid for stays through Sunday, November 30, 2014.
IHG Rewards Club’s PointBreaks is traditionally one of the best promotions in the hotel industry. Through this promotion, select hotels are available for just 5,000 points per night. Since IHG Rewards Club points can be indirectly purchased for 0.7 cents each, that’s like booking stays at certain hotels for just $35 per night.
Looking at the preview list there are roughly 175 hotels participating, and while the list could technically change prior to Monday, the properties involved are pretty lackluster.
The post IHG PointBreaks September 2014 Preview appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, […]
The post The 5 Cards That Offer You the Best Insider Benefits appeared first on View from the Wing.
I recently wrote about how operationally unreliable Thai Airways is, given how many last minute equipment swaps they have. If you book a flight a year out, it's not unusual to have the equipment type changed a handful of times. It's what I (not so) endearingly like to refer to as "getting TGed."
Most recently, Thai Airways cancelled first class service to Sydney, by changing the plane they fly on the route from a three class 747-400 to a two class 777-300. This ended one of the only realistic Star Alliance first class award options to Australia, which was terrible for everybody who had booked first class awards on this route.
Earlier this month, Thai reversed course by rescheduling a three class 747-400 on the Bangkok to Sydney route, once again offering a first class product. But this time the issue isn't what Thai did do... it's what Thai didn't do.
The post How To Fix Thai Airways First Class Downgrade appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
As of April of this year, Hilton HHonors has shifted how they make award category changes. Rather than having massive award chart changes every so often, they're doing quarterly hotel category adjustments. That's to say that they're not changing the number of points required for each category every quarter, but rather are shifting which hotels belong in which categories.
Ultimately I favor anything which isn't an award chart massacre like what we saw with HHonors early last year, though I don't really buy that this is being done to increase transparency.
Basically, rather than emailing members when there's a big award chart change, they now have a website where Hilton lists the category changes. That sounds great in theory, except I'm not sure how a vast majority of members are expected to know when these changes happen.
The post Q4 2014 Hilton HHonors Hotel Category Changes appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
A reader that didn’t want to be identified asked me why it’s so hard to get domestic upgrades as an elite frequent flyer? It used to be that 100,000 mile flyers found themselves in first class nearly all the time, and even mid-tier frequent flyers found themselves in first class most of the time. Some […]
The post Domestic Upgrades are Getting Harder and Harder to Get appeared first on View from the Wing.
I'm in Chicago this weekend for FTU Advanced, and I know well over a hundred people are flying in for that. For those of you that are enroute to Chicago but haven't been following the news, it looks like a vast majority of flights to/from Chicago have been canceled. As of now there's a ground stop till noon for O'Hare and Midway, and hundreds of flights have been canceled.
Via CBS Chicago:
"Authorities said a contract employee at a Federal Aviation Administration radar center in Aurora set a fire in the building Friday morning, prompting the facility to be evacuated, and grounding all flights to and from Chicago’s airports."
The post Check Your Flight Status To/From Chicago appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Argentina is in a pretty abysmal financial state at the moment, and it's having quite an impact on the travel industry. Tourism is down, and some airlines are reducing service as a result. There are rumors of even bigger airline service cuts than what we're seeing already.
Amidst the financial turmoil, it looks like the government of Argentina wants more information about passengers flying into and out of the country. Per the Buenos Aires Herald:
The post Argentina Wants Access To Your Frequent Flyer Accounts appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
The Department of Transportation is conducting an audit of frequent flyer programs, focused on disclosure of program rules and costs associated with redemptions. The audits are being conducted at the behest of Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL), who wants to protect his 10 million miles. Frequent-flyer programs need more federal oversight, contends a Florida congressman. Representative […]
The post Should Frequent Flyer Programs Be Regulated by the Federal Government? appeared first on View from the Wing.
There's no denying that while the Airbus A380 is the best plane in the sky in terms of passenger comfort, the Boeing 747-8 is certainly the sexiest.
The 747 will always be the "queen of the skies" for me, and I'm really sad to see so many airlines retiring them. I think many of us grew up flying the 747, and seeing them retired marks the end of an era.
Yes, I may have shed a tear or ten when I watched the Singapore 747-400 retirement video (especially 4:40 in):
The post Air China Starting 747-8 Flights Beijing To Guangzhou appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
After Hilton’s dramatic award chart gutting of nearly two years ago, there weren’t huge changes again this year. And Hilton decided to change the way they made changes to how they re-assign hotels to award categories. Instead of an annual change to tons of hotels (a schedule they really weren’t wedded to in the past […]
The post The Hilton HHonors Hotels That Are About to Cost You More Points — and Those That Will Require Fewer appeared first on View from the Wing.
US Airways almost seems like a premium cabin alliance consolidator at times, given for how many years they've been selling miles at very lucrative rates. Over the past several years there have been more months where they've sold miles with a 100% bonus than not.
Nowadays the cost to purchase US Airways miles is 3.5 cents per mile, plus a 7.5% federal excise tax, for a total of ~3.76 cents per mile. Then they're usually offering a 100% bonus on purchased miles, bringing down the cost per purchased mile to ~1.88 cents.
That's certainly not a rate at which I'd necessarily hoard miles, as the cost to generate miles with US Airways isn't quite as good as it used to be:
The post Last Chance To Buy US Airways Miles At Current Price? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.