Readers of this blog know that I’m generally a fan of American Airlines, I fly over 100,000 miles a year with them and I think the AAdvantage program is the most rewarding airline frequent flyer program at least at the top elite tier. Every once in awhile though an airline does something that reminds you […]
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At the beginning of the year I wrote The State of Frequent Flyer Miles in 2015. Award charts are more expensive. Miles are easier to earn. The products we cna redeem for are better than ever. The economy and travel business are relatively good which makes programs less generous with us. And they’ve gotten smarter, […]
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Hello from Florida! February -- or for that matter this whole year -- has been crazy for me on the travel front. Last weekend I flew to Jakarta, and after a brief stop in New York I caught a cold (which is rare, because I'd like to think I have the immune system of a horse for all that recirculated air in my system). ;) I canceled my travel plans and headed down to Florida, where it's much warmer.
Goodness, I think my greatest luxury in life may be the ability to escape cold weather. I don't know how some of you do it. It's looking much nicer here in Florida today, where it's 70 degrees and sunny.
The post Weekly Review: February 21, 2015 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, […]
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I'd like to think I eat a lot when I fly (I mean, I'd rather not think that, but I'm just being honest with myself). I'd rather not think how many hours I have to spend on a treadmill to burn off what I eat and drink on a longhaul flight on a premium airline in first class.
For that matter, I tend to think that airlines serve too much food in premium cabins, if anything. Like, look at a domestic American first class lunch, for example. You get hot nuts, salad, chicken or ravioli, and a hot cookie. It's terrifying to think how many calories that has.
Interestingly I'm still often asked if it's possible to order more food. I don't think I've ever been hungry in international first class. I've maybe a couple of times ordered seconds of caviar, etc., and then skipped another course. But I've never gone beyond that.
The post How Much Food Can You Order In First Class? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Reader Ryan wanted to know, [W]hat do you think would be a ‘worst-case’ scenario for US/AA miles devaluation after the programs merge in Q2? Plenty of folks thought that combining US Airways and American frequent flyer programs was a chance to implement a brand new program on day 1, a revenue-based one like Delta and […]
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During the week Quartz ran a story with a rather curious headline -- "The simple reason why your airline points always get more valuable."
Now, I don't think there's anyone that likes miles & points more than I do, but I have an "earn & burn" philosophy. Never think of miles as a long term investment. Instead earn them as quickly as you can and then redeem them as quickly as you can. Personally my approach is to never have more miles in an account than I can reasonably redeem within six months. That's why I like to diversify my miles as much as possible.
Can points get more valuable over time? Short term, yes. For example, sometimes an airline announces a new partnership which opens up a great redemption opportunity. For example, when Alaska Mileage Plan miles became redeemable on Emirates, I'd say that increased the value of those miles short term (go figure they're having issues now).
That being said, long term the value of a particular points currency almost invariably goes down (fortunately it also usually becomes easier to earn points over time, which sort of balances things out for the earner and burner).
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From time to time people ask my advice about marketing to Generation X or Millennials or any other group of people. When this happens, I always worry.One research firm offered me $250 for an hour-long consultation on this exact topic. I said no, partly because I don’t like to trade time for money, but also on the principle of “What would I say?” If forced to say something, I suppose I’d say that unless you’re selling diapers, it’s a bad idea to market to people based on what generation you think they belong to on account of their birth year.Instead, maybe you should think first about making something that matters. Then, stop putting people in boxes based on how you expect them to behave and what you think they want. You might be surprised at the results, and you might be a lot more successful. Cartoon: Tom FishburneVia Miles Remaining, Scottevest founder Scott Jordan has a plan to revive SkyMall. Here’s the sordid tale that led to SkyMall’s bankruptcy My favorite SkyMall item Jordan’s observations are: Skymall is as much entertaining as selling It needs a strong content partner It needs to be fresh So he’s got a content partner and wants […]
The post Here’s The Plan to Bring Back SkyMall, and My Plan to Do It Better. appeared first on View from the Wing.
Etihad Guest seems to frequently offer targeted status matches, though through March 15, 2015, they're offering a more widely available status match opportunity.
The status match opportunity is open to those with "gold cards" in other frequent flyer programs, aside from those that belong to the Etihad Airways group (Aer Lingus, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways). I'm not sure whether they're talking about "gold" tier equivalent (like top tier status in other programs), or any card which is simply "gold" (in which case American's lowest tier status would qualify).
The benefits of Etihad Gold aren't especially rich, at least compared to what we're used to in the US. The benefits are as follows:
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On the third Friday Saturday of every month, Cameron Wears from The Traveling Canucks is here to give us tips and advice on how to travel better with your kids. This is an often requested topic so I’m excited to have him on the team! Here is this month’s article. Before having kids, we didn’t spend much time thinking about what travel would be like with little ones. We knew having kids would be a big part of our future […]
The post 7 Common Excuses People Use to Avoid Family Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
Late last year, China began issuing 10 year visas for Americans.
In general, the whole visa process really frustrates me:
-- It involves lots of paperwork, which I'm not good at
-- It requires me to part ways with my passport for some amount of time, which makes me feel uneasy (I know I should get a second US passport at some point)
-- The end result is often me just choosing to travel somewhere that doesn't require a visa or that allows visas on arrival
The post I’m Now Applying For A 10 Year Chinese Visa! appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
The next frequent flyer gathering I’ll attend in a small ‘FTU Advanced’ session in San Diego at the beginning of March. April’s Dallas event will be the only major Frequent Traveler University this year. Just a little window into my personal quirks. One of the things I do as I prepare for these is clean […]
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