Travelfli Blog for Frequent Flyers

United Mileage Plus Just Got Friendlier

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:55:00 -0700

We are happy to see that United is taking a cue from other players in the frequent flyer mileage segment by adding more flexibility and options to their program. Today United introduced hotel and car rental rewards (cool), in addition to one-way and miles/cash awards (very cool). These new features will make it much easier for frequent flyers to use their miles even if they haven’t reached the golden 25,000 to redeem a roundtrip award fare.

One-Way Awards take half the amount of miles as a roundtrip ticket (12,500 base) and are available on saver and standard awards. You can only use the miles to fly on United or United Express - no flying with partners, thank you very much. You can have connections but no stopovers on one-way awards. To get around this rule, you need to book multiple one-way awards to different cities.

Miles & Money Awards allows you to purchase the additional miles you need to reach the mileage required to redeem an award. For instance, let’s say you want to fly from Denver to San Francisco. Using a saver award, it would take either 25,000 miles or 10,000 miles + $110. Same rules apply - United flights only, no partners….connections but no stopovers. Miles & Money Awards are available on some saver tickets and not on standard awards.

This is another step in the right direction as airlines continue to improve their programs so frequent flyers find them easier to use, and thus more valuable. So go use those miles! And in just a short time, we’re going to help you start UsingMiles!

Easy Ways to Donate Your Frequent Flyer Miles to Haiti

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:40:00 -0700

Welcome to 2010! You have probably noticed that we have been sparse in our blog posts throughout the last half of 2009, and for this we are sorry. We made a group decision that our limited resources (i.e., a bootstrapping start-up) would be better utilized building our site, working on partnerships, and launching it this quarter! However you can expect our blog posts to resume a normal schedule as we get closer to launch. Thanks for your patience.

The issue we are talking about today must be covered in our blog because it deals with saving human lives in Haiti. Many of you have frequent flyer miles that aren’t being used and perhaps never will be so we are asking you to please consider donating them to the Haiti relief. We’re happy to report that many of the top airlines and hotels are making it very easy to do so - and sometimes even throwing in an incentive to boot.

There are a ton of different options for donating points and I am going to briefly go over all of ones we have found. Click on any of the links for more information on each offer.

United Airlines is allowing Mileage Plus program members to donate any number miles to Red Cross. As of 2:30 P.M. MST today, members have donated 1,122,500 miles! Awesome.

Furthermore, the United Airlines Foundation has committed to matching up to $50,000 that is donated to the American Red Cross by UA customers and employees though its International Response Fund.

American Airlines is offering a pretty sweet kickback of 250 bonus miles frequent flyer miles for every cash donation of $50 or 500 bonus miles for donations of $100 or more to the Red Cross. (Side note - they ARE NOT offering free flights to Haiti, despite Twitter rumors).

Starwood’s Preferred Guest (SPG) program is letting customers donate miles in the form of cash to Red Cross. Here’s the breakdown:

4,000 points is $50
8,000 points is $100
12,000 points is $150
6,000 points is $200

Marriott has a standard donation policy in place through the Red Cross using Marriott Rewards points. Here is their breakdown:

18,000 Points: $50 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque
33,000: $100 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque
60,000: $250 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque
180,000: $1000 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque

US Airways, Continental, Delta, Hyatt, Wydham, and many others also let members donate to a variety of charities including the Red Cross, so just go to the ‘use miles’ section of their website to find their charities and see what they’re offering.

Last but definitely not least, Spirit Airlines is actually running a giveaway that awards the first 200,000 people who donate $5 or more to Yele Haiti, UNICEF or the American Red Cross with 5,000 bonus miles - enough for a FREE flight! This is definitely the best offer I’ve seen and I commend Spirit Air for taking such an aggressive stance in their relief efforts.

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For those of us who don’t have enough miles to donate in any program or just can’t bare to part with them (you know who you are), there is a VERY SIMPLE way to donate $10 to the Red Cross right now. Simply text ‘Haiti’ to 90999 to donate. You will receive a response to text YES to confirm your donation. It charges $10 to your phone bill automatically (pretty slick) and literally takes 10 seconds.

Business Travel is Booming in 2010! Well, Sort of...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:34:00 -0600

It looks like business travel is expected to grow…a little bit…in 2010. The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) just released its 2010 Business Travel Buyers Cost Forecast which predicted a conservative increase in business travel. Seven out of ten business travel managers surveyed expect business travel to grow while about a third see spending remaining the same.

The study also looked at average travel expenditures for airfare, hotel, and car rental and predicted changes in 2010. Average airfares in 2009 were $299 (I feel like I was on the high end of that average, but oh well) and are forecast to grow by 3% next year.

Hotel rates per night averaged at $136 this year and are expected to drop up to -9% next year. Car rentals sat at an average of $46 this year and will also drop by -1 to -3% in 2010.

The decline in two major travel categories will help businesses rationalize increasing their corporate travel, and thus is predicted to result in an increase in travel expenditures.

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY (who am I fooling? This is the first one I’ve ever asked.)

QUESTION: What is the most profitable US Airline?

ANSWER: Allegiant Air (who?)

Allegiant Air just announced their 27th CONSECUTIVE profitable quarter (for those non-mathematicians, that equals 6.75 years). Why Allegiant, you ask? Allegiant Air doesn’t consider itself a mere ‘airline.’ In fact, it calls itself “Allegiant Travel Co.” because it has identified and seized the opportunity to push ancillary products and services out to customers. In fact, Allegiant makes, on average, $32.36 over the cost of each ticket from a variety of fees as well as hotel room sales, car rentals, and other extras. Bravo, bravo. Now if I could just figure out who these guys are…

Jet (Blue) Around in September for $599

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:39:00 -0600

Jet Blue announced a pretty crazy deal that will allow you to JET around to over 50 destinations on an unlimited All-You-Can-Jet flying pass for $599. The dates of use are from September 8^th to October 8^th and you have to be a member of TrueBlue to get the pass.

Bravo to my friends at Jet Blue for coming up with a promotion that is truly unique. It makes sense as well because travel is always down between Labor Day and Thanksgiving as families finish up summer travel and hunker down until the holidays.

This also provides TrueBlue members with an awesome way to rack up substantial points in the program over the month of September, particularly useful because this fall Jet Blue is totally revamping their program to make it way more user–friendly and flexible.

There are a few details to consider before you throw down the cash and start figuring out how to take a leave of absence in September:

You must buy it by August 21^st
You can’t buy it online (Whaaa?) Yep, go ahead and pick up the phone and dial (800) 538-2583 and hit Prompt 4 to be fast-tracked to an agent
There are a limited number of passes available (Jet Blue isn’t releasing how many) so act quickly if you want one
Taxes and fees are included for domestic flights (nice touch) and you can change plans without fees anytime before three days of departure
There are no blackout dates – if a seat is open, you get it
There are no max number of pass holders per flight. So you might be sitting there with a bunch of other fly-happy travelers that are going somehere just because they can.

Overall, I think this is a pretty killer deal and I seriously considered using the money I set aside for a ski pass to go jetting for a month. Then I remembered I’m starting a travel company so I don’t have the money or time to travel. Bummer.

That being said, my major concern is whether or not I would actually be able to get seats at the times I want to go to the places I want to see. I guess it’s not quite like flying standby because they book you on a flight, but if the excitement in the Twitterdom is any measurement of the perceived popularity of this promo, my luck would have it that EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD buys this pass and then we all dual it out for a limited number of seats in September…

I digress. Depending on how smart Jet Blue is going to be about the number of passes they sell versus the load capacity on their flights, it could be a pretty affordable way to have a very interesting September…and set yourself up with enough points to redeem them next year for free flights.

P.S. If you haven’t done it already, follow Jet Blue’s “Cheeps” and United’s “Twares” on Twitter. I know, it sounds like I am speaking in tongue. But really they are just cute names for deeeply discounted fares available only to their Twitter followers.

P.S.S. Southwest lost the bid to acquire Frontier in bankruptcy court yesterday. Their bid of $170M didn’t cut the mustard because the carrier wouldn’t drop the requirement that its pilots and Frontier’s work out an integration before the deal closed. Republic bought Frontier for almost $108.8M. If you are wondering how I feel about this, go here.

Southwest, Please Buy Frontier!

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:15:00 -0600

Southwest announced Friday their intention to bid on acquiring Frontier in an aggressive move that would make huge inroads in its attempt to become a formidable competitor in the Denver market. Although some analysts say that Frontier has made things ‘miserable’ for Southwest in Denver, I happen to think they HAVE started making a dent in Frontier’s business. Case in point: me. I have always been a loyal Frontier frequent flyer but recently I started changing my behavior in response to Southwest’s low airfares, FUNNY flight attendants, and shameless wall-to-wall advertising all over DEN. In fact, I flew Southwest this weekend from Denver to Chicago and enjoyed every minute of it. Two years ago it wouldn’t have even dawned on me to search for Southwest airfare flying out of Denver.

Sources say Southwest has filed its intent to bid at least $113.6 million for Frontier, which may start a bidding war with Republic Airways Holdings, a parent company of several regional carriers that has already placed a bid on the airline.

The auction will take place on August 11, and if Southwest wins it will likely be able to hire all of the 5,000 employees currently working at Frontier. I am sure Frontier’s EarlyReturns frequent flyer program will be rolled into Southwest’s Rapid Rewards, which would be way cool. I am really hoping this deal goes through — because if we have to say bye bye to Frontier, Southwest is the best airline to have in the Colorado market.

United Throws a Bone to Frequent Flyers

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:25:13 -0600

We got this email yesterday. Whoopie!!! It looks like United is truly providing some value to frequent flyers. Historically last-minute award bookers (like me) were fined a hefty $75 fee if they booked award travel 7-20 days prior to travel. The fees jumped up to $100 for award travel booked six days or less. Obviously United is hoping to fill those last-minute (EXPENSIVE) seats with revenue customers but it looks like they are easing up a bit and recognizing that keeping frequent flyers happy will make them more money at the end of the day anyway.

Effective July 30, 2009, the fee will be eliminated.

Top Five Silly Airline Cost-Cutting Measures

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:52:00 -0600

Many travelers think the airlines have stooped to new lows over the past year as they relentlessly announce one cost-cutting measure after the next to counteract an ailing economy and raising gas costs (again). But honestly, nobody ever gives the airlines due credit for the creativity and courage that goes into developing and announcing their money-saving ideas. Some of these gems are so incredibly imaginative and ~~dimwitted~~ witty, you almost feel like they deserve a medal. So I’ve taken it upon myself to designate awards to the top five silly cost cutting measures the airlines have enacted over the years. In descending order of fantasticness:

First Runner Up: Slow It Down
1. Airlines started putting on the brakes several years ago to save on fuel. Now this actually isn’t as crazy as it first sounded (which is why it only gets runner up) but it did seem a bit ludicrous at first. I mean, we are PAYING the airlines good money to perform a service that gets us from point A to point B quickly, and they are lallygagging in their execution to save a couple of bucks. The truth behind this measure is that it actually saves them a boatload of cash. United Airlines estimates savings to be around $20 million a year just by slowing their aircraft down a bit. Jet blue adds a mere two minutes to each flight, saving $13.6 million per year.
Second Runner Up: Fat Up-charge
- United took the plunge in implementing a fat tax policy back in April when they announced that passengers who could not fit into their seats, buckle their belts (with an extender), or put down their armrests would be charged for an additional seat. Now, Ryanair is considering implementing an excess weight fee for obese customers in response to an outcry of support (over 30,000 people are in favor of the tax) when they posed the question on their website. I listed this in the runner up category because while it seems a bit unnecessary and cruel, it’s also cruel to the person sitting next to you when you are literally pouring over into their seat with excess folds of skin. Sitting in an airline is cramped as it is even with normal size people. An overweight person seriously throws the scales off (in more ways than one) and pretty much guarantees that all involved parties will have a miserable flying experience.
Bronze Medal: Standing-Room Only
- Spring Airlines, our friendly airline out of China, figures it can cut 20% of their costs while allowing room for 40% more passengers if they sell standing-room only tickets to passengers. The plan literally calls for passengers to be offered a sort of stool to perch on with a seat belt around their waste. If it’s not making sense to you, try this explanation on for size: The president of Spring Airlines compared the experience to “catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water.” Wow.
Silver Medal: Pay to Pee
- Another Ryanair idea – and not a big surprise since this airline is notorious for being cheap and cutting corners mercilessly and with a certain amount of glee. It was reported earlier this year that RyanAir’s CEO, Michael O’Leary is considering charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, by installing a coin slot on the doors of the airline’s lavatories. Nothing tangible has come into play following this announcement and a spokesperson for the airline grudgingly admitted that O’Leary might have just been “taking the p*ss” with his comment. I still think it deserves a second place medal just because O’Leary had the guts to suggest it.
Gold Medal: Hold the Olives
- First place goes to American Airlines for the brilliant, yet simple cost cutting measure they implemented back in 1987. The airline was able to save $70,000 in 1987 by eliminating just one olive from each salad served in first class. ONE OLIVE. Heck, I don’t even like olives. Now these are the types of changes that I think airlines need to start considering again. Nobody is going to notice a missing olive on their salad, but everybody is going to go nuts if they have to pay to check a freaking bag. I hereby award American Airlines first place in creativity, execution, the ability to save money without upsetting passengers, and the ability to think outside the box. Unfortunately this happened 22 years ago. Let’s bring some of those smart folks back again and get the creative juices flowing in this struggling industry. Where did they all go? Google?

Recession Drives More Mileage Redemptions

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:00:00 -0600

Just as we predicted, the recession is heightening activity in frequent flyer programs as travelers try to find ways to save money on trips instead of forgoing travel altogether. In fact, according to a study released by Deloitte, nearly two-thirds of the respondents (64%) are taking a summer vacation this year, although half of them are going to cut down spending due to economic concerns.

One very obvious way to do this is to start cashing in miles and points in return for award fares and free room stays. Airlines and hoteliers are seeing substantial boosts in award redemptions as travelers increasingly trade them in for family trips and weekend getaways in lieu of expensive international forays. United Airlines reported a 12% increase in 2008 over the previous year, and I would suspect the difference to be even greater in 2009.

Business travelers in particular collect hundreds of thousands of miles/points on company-sponsored trips and don’t have the time or motivation to use miles effectively in a good economy. But now as companies cut travel benefits and money becomes tight, business traveles are taking the time to become re-engaged with their programs, particularly on the hotel side (which tends to be underutilized in favor of airlines).

For instance, Intercontinental Hotel Group has seen a 15% increase in Priority Club redemptions in the first quarter of 2009 compared to last year. Best Western has experienced even more extravagant growth in their redemptions, which are up 30% year over year thus far in 2009. Dorothy Dowling, the senior vice president, attributes the economic meltdown as part of the reason for this increase.

“We’ve never seen this kind of redemption activity in the past. Consumers today want a vacation. They want to do it closer to home to save on expenses. They’re looking at harnessing every way they can to make that vacation happen.”

I Want to go to Cuba

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:31:00 -0600

I ran across a pretty interesting Orbitz initiative yesterday that I totally support and would like to share with our readers. In response to Barack Obama’s administrative decision to lift travel and communication restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to see their families or send money to the island, Orbitz recently launched “OpenCuba.org” to encourage Americans to petition for the right to TRAVEL to Cuba.

To provide a brief background, U.S. policy has held an embargo against Cuba since 1962 when Kennedy increased restrictions originally imposed by the Eisenhower administration to ban almost all trade with Cuba. A year later Americans were banned from traveling into Cuba and the embargo has more or less been upheld by every President thereafter.

From early on in their administration, the Obama posse demonstrated a different approach to foreign relations and a willingness to open lines of communication with rogue dictators and communist regimes. This remarkable change of behavior represents what I consider to be the biggest opportunity in 50 years for us to fight for our rights as American citizens to travel to Cuba. Orbitz has taken this idea to the next level by creating a petition that will get sent to Obama, Biden, and the House of Representatives.

Please Sign it today and pass the word along if you believe in the cause…and would like to experience a street market in Old Havana, the colonial elegance of Cienfuegos, the Carnival in Trinidad, or the beautiful beaches in Varadero.

Suprisingly, tourism is Cuba’s second largest source of foreign income, behind nickel production. Canada makes up 35% of all foreign visitors, followed by Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia.

C’mon fellow travelers, let’s work on getting the United States added to that list!

Frequent Flyer Promo For Coloradans!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:41:00 -0600

As a native Coloradan, I feel lucky to have grown up in such a beautiful state and I continue to experience all that it has to offer on a daily basis. Well, now I can add one more thing to the list: double frequent flyer miles to (and from) Colorado!

Frontier yesterday launched “Frontier’s Colorado Club” to celebrate our state (and their hub). Frequent flyers earn 1,000 bonus miles when they refer someone who joins the club and flies to Colorado, and anyone earns double miles when they fly TO Colorado (Aspen, Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, or Grand Junction).

United, as expected, quickly rolled out a similar promotion that includes the ability for frequent flyers to earn bonus miles to and FROM Colorado to any other destination. This is obviously the more attractive deal for Colorado residents since we do most of our flying outbound, so it’s unfortunate that Frontier couldn’t match the attractiveness of United’s promo. At the same time, kudos to Frontier for dreaming up the Colorado-focused promo in the first place!

The Frontier and United offers have identical terms: book before June 30, 2009 and complete your travel by September 30, 2009.

How’s that for a Rocky Mountain hiiiiigh?!

We {Heart} Airlines More This Year

Fri, 29 May 2009 04:49:00 -0600

I’m writing this blog post from the LAX airport en route to Hawaii for a wedding. This morning en route to the Denver International Airport, I received a phone call from United informing me that my 8:30 AM flight to LAX had been canceled due to mechanical problems and I had been re-booked on the same flight tomorrow. The wedding, coincidentally, is tomorrow, so this was NOT AN OPTION. A series of phone calls later, United customer service provided the general consensus that every flight to LAX was booked until tomorrow. At that point my fate seemed sealed and it appeared as though I would have to teleconference into the wedding. In the flash of a 747 jumbo jet, an airline agent finagled me onto a full waitlist and I was hustled onto an earlier flight seconds before the doors closed. THANK YOU UNITED.

Before my gratitude wears off, I thought I would use this opportunity to share some good news with you regarding the airlines’ ability to service their customers. Apparently I am not the only one who feels satisfied with the airlines’ service from time to time (like today). New data provided by the American Customer Satisfaction Index indicates that passenger satisfaction with the airlines went up this year for the first time in SIX YEARS. The study, developed at the University of Michigan, reported a gain of 3.2% to 64 (on a scale of 1-100), “ending a downward slide that, with few interruptions, began in 1994,” the report concluded. Here are the cliff notes from the findings:

American wins the award for the least progress with a drop of 3% to 60.
Southwest, the darling of the airline industry, leads the charge for the sixteenth straight year, with a gain of 3% to 81. They also hold the record for being able to get passengers from A to B with their luggage intact (SIDE NOTE: Southwest lost my luggage in April on a flight from DEN>SFO. They did, however, apologize profusely and issued me a $50 voucher so all ill wills were forgiven).
Continental improved 10% to 68, Delta is up 7% to 64 and US Airways crawled over the halfway mark with a gain of 9% to 59.
United reported no gains or losses, which secured them a solid LAST PLACE FINISH at 56 (and to think I tried to throw them a bone just several sentences ago! ;)

Arguably these gains may be due in part to shrinking passenger loads, which naturally results in shorter lines, fewer pissed off patrons, less grumpy staff, and an overall better experience. Airlines as an indsutry still placed at the bottom of the totem pole, beneath full-service restaurants, which secured the high score of 84, or hotels at 75. But honestly, improvements in airline customer service are always worth a blog post. Keep it up!

Redeeming Miles on American Just Got Easier

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:22:00 -0600

American Airlines this week launched One-Way Flex Awards, which allows members of AAdvantage to book a one-way trip using miles. the cost of one segment equates to half the number of miles of a round trip award redemption (starting at 12,500 miles for travel in the U.S.) Travelers can also combine several different types of one-way awards to make up a round trip, such as booking a MileSAAver award with AAnytime awards, or flying one way in economy class awards and the other in First or Business Class awards.

The ability for frequent flyers to use miles on one leg provides several benefits to travelers:

Lowers barriers to entry for AAdvantage members. Now frequent flyers can utilize account balances as low as 12,500 to get free travel, rather than waiting until the 25,000 mark for miles to be useful.
Increases opportunity to redeem miles for award seats because frequent flyers can now book round trip flights by mixing and matching levels of service, unrestricted and restricted flights, and cash/miles combinations.

Awards have historically been offered by most carriers only on a round-trip basis. Air Tran and U.S. Airways (by phone call only) offer segment-based redemptions, but not with all of the options and features that American’s new program boasts. Let’s hope that other airlines (United, please take note) follow suit.

Don't Let The Swine Flu Steal Your Vacation!

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:23:00 -0600

The initial Swine Flu alarm, exacerbated in part by the media, has died down as businesses in Mexico reopen and the United States officially reverses a mandate that required schools with even one infected student be shut down. It appears now that the “H1H1” virus may not be nearly as potent and is less likely to lead to a pandemic (infecting up to 2 billion people worldwide).

The newest numbers report total global deaths at 53 —- 48 in Mexico, one in Costa Rica…and three in the U.S. To put that in perspective, each year about 36,000 people in the U.S. alone die from the regular flu.

However, as President Obama echoed in a recent speech, “We’re not out of the woods yet.” Health experts from the World Health Organization caution that the virus is capable of evolving into a real killer as we move into flu season this Fall.

The swine flu has definitely made travelers nervous, particularly while captive in the confines of airline cabins. In fact, I was just in LAX last week and experienced a bit of anxiety myself when I saw dozens of people donning face-masks to protect themselves from this human-to-human transmitted disease.

That being said, we think it’s premature to encourage travelers to push the panic button and stop flying altogether, but it’s important to stay on top of the latest threats and to particularly know your options when flying to Mexico (although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that only 10% of Americans with Swine Flu contracted it on trips to Mexico).

First and foremost, be sure to keep up with the latest information releases from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Currently, the WHO is not recommending any travel restrictions related to the swine flu, although it has been confirmed in 30 countries.

If you have booked a ticket to Mexico already, most of the airlines have released lenient policies for exchanging/canceling/postponing plans that waive the change fees. Most of the major hotels (including Starwood, Marriott, IHG and Hyatt) are also waiving cancellation or change fees. Pay special attention to their date restrictions because they vary by supplier:

Air Tran
American
Continental
Delta
Frontier
United
US Airways

On the bright side, corporate travel is picking up despite the flu scare, according to Andrea Shpall, President of Polk Majestic Travel Group, which specializes in corporate travel. She predicts that travel will be much better in the second half of this year because corporations are realizing that travel is good for business. We couldn’t agree more. So get out there and take a vacation….just remember to cover your mouth when you cough!

Up to 10% of Passengers Fly For Free!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:47:00 -0600

There are currently more ways than ever before to accumulate frequent flyer miles and points. Airlines have dedicated a plentiful amount of time and effort into expanding their network of partners - and now virtually any business can buy and resell miles from the airlines; from Chase Manhattan to the mom-and-pop florist down the street.

However, when it comes to actually putting those hard-earned miles to use, it’s a common perception among travelers that the airlines are trying harder than ever to make it impossible to redeem them for seats in a plane.

Even to ‘industry insiders’ the strategy behind award seating designation remains a mystery at best. Although we know that airlines generally release award seats 330 days prior to departure, we have no idea at what point they withdraw them from public consumption and how they decide when to reissue them based on demand, cancellations and excess inventory.

Fortunately the airlines are mandated to provide some level of aggregate award data to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Department in their annual 10-K reports. Although they don’t divulge the number of seats they make available for award redemptions, they usually provide the percentage of passengers who flew on awards. The information from last year is pretty compelling and provides proof that the airlines aren’t nearly as tightfisted with their award seats as one might imagine.

American Airlines reported that 3.1 million miles were used in 2008 for award travel, or about 9.7% of the total number of passengers flown. This is the single highest number of awards to be given out by any airline in the long history of frequent flyer programs! Put another way, approximately 1 out of 10 American Airlines passengers in 2008 was flying on miles – and this doesn’t include upgrades or award tickets issued with partner airlines.

United Airlines Mileage Plus passengers redeemed 2.3 million miles last year, which accounted for 9.1% of total passengers flown. Continental issued 1.6 million miles to members, representing a 6.6% increase from 2007 and 8.5% of passengers flown. All of the legacy airlines increased their award redemptions in 2008, and not a single airline saw their redemptions decrease. The low-cost carriers issued less awards as an overall percentage of passengers, but this could be in part due to the fact that their loyalty programs are much younger and don’t have quite the reach that a loyalty program like AAdvantage can boast (that, by the way, issued 196 BILLION miles miles last year, half of which went to partners like credit cards).

My beautiful chart below illustrates the percentage of passengers flying on awards in 2007 and 2008 for each reporting airline. It may come as a shock to you how many people were actually flying for free last year! I think this demonstrates that although awards are out there, it’s still awfully hard for the average frequent flyer to obtain them. It takes persistence, planning, and a lot of patience. And with the economy in the gutter, people are even more desperate to put those miles to use. We know TravelFli will be a huge help to all the travelers out there with this problem, but until then keep your head up and remember that there are awards to be had - you just gotta be smarter than the next guy to get them!

***Thanks to the folks at InsideFlyer for compiling a lot of this info in the April, 2009 issue.

Achieving Elite Status Is Easy...Right Now

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:23:00 -0600

Spring season usually signals the end of many airline frequent flyer promotions and bonus offers as the carriers prepare for a busy summer season of flying. This year is markedly different and is shaping up to be a banner year for achieving elite status in any major program.

American Airlines started the elite-qualifying mile bonus frenzy with an exciting promotion that changed the status quo this year. Upon registration, AAdvantage members receive double elite qualifying miles on any flight flown from March 18 through June 15 on American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection flights.

In fear of losing elite flyers (the industry’s most profitable customers), United and Continental quickly matched AA’s offer. United’s program runs from March 19 to June 15 and is offered only on United and United Express flights. Members must register online to earn double qualifying miles during the period. Continental’s program runs from March to June 15, registration is required, and EQMs are only valid for elite qualification and cannot be redeemed for award travel.

Delta stalled for a few days and came out with a promotion that at first glance, seemed to outflank their competitors with a TRIPLE mile offer towards elite qualification. After reading the small print, however, it is clear that the triple offer is only eligible with first class flights, while the mid-priced coach flights earn double miles. Deeply discounted fares (the ones many of us purchase for leisure travel) don’t even earn a bonus. Boo, Delta!

US Airways launched an equally complicated promo that provides just as little value to the typical traveler. The promotion runs from April 8 to June 30 and the “bonus” doesn’t even kick in until after the fifth round trip flight is completed. At that point, a Dividend Miles member will earn 5,000 bonus miles (1,000 per trip), and continue to earn on average 1,250 miles per trip until they reach 10 round-trip trips and 25,000 bonus miles.

The airlines say these bonus programs are a defensive mechanism to prevent their customers from switching to a low-cost carrier during a bad economy. However, the low-cost guys aren’t just snoozing at the wheel (or shall we say the control stick). Southwest just launched their own bonus program, which runs between April 2 and June 15. Rapid Rewards members can earn A-List elite status by flying five round-trips on Southwest, when normally it will take 16 trips in a 12-month period.

If you don’t already enjoy elite status and think flying sucks, then take advantage of some of these offers. Having elite status with a major airline greatly reduces many of the pains associated with travel. Perks include free upgrades, reduced or waived fees (including baggage, changing flights, etc.), quick security lines, priority check-in and boarding, and access to airport lounges.

Frequent Flyer Sues Continental

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:23:00 -0600

We’ve heard a lot of grumbling in response to the changes airlines are inflicting on their frequent flyer programs to make it more costly to redeem miles for award seats. But one guy took his frustrations to a whole new level by deciding to SUE Continental Airlines for failing to honor it’s OnePass frequent flyer program guidelines.

Apparently it all started when David Simon tried to book a flight between Cleveland and Los Angeles for 25,000 miles. The airline required him to either spend 50,000 miles to get the ticket or pay $75 for booking within three weeks of travel with a partner airline.

David filed a class-action lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages for those who were charged more miles or fees for using Continental’s OnePass program.

I commend this guy for trying to stand up to the airlines, but I don’t think he’s got a case. Continental clearly states that it’s awards may be subject to capacity controls and are limited in availability - so just because some routes may be available for 25,000 miles, it doesn’t guarantee anything. Moreover, it lists the additional charges on it’s site for members who book award travel within 21 days of the departure date. All of the information was there if David had dug a little deeper.

I think the bigger issue here is how hard it continues to be for airlines to effectively communicate complex program guidelines to their members. I don’t think Continental was trying to deceive David, but perhaps if there had been a better way to share this information with him then he wouldn’t have ended up feeling so mistreated.

Until there is a better way (which we’re working on), it’s up to you to keep up with the news surrounding your loyalty programs. Here are a few tips to follow so you don’t end up frustrated and in court like David!

Set up news alerts with Google Alerts or (even better) Filtrbox, so information from your program is sent to your inbox each day. You can enter keywords such as the program or airline name, and you will be able to quickly scan updates about your program each day. This is also a great way to learn about bonus deals.
Engage in FlyerTalk, the largest frequent flyer online community in the world, with over 11 million posts! You can learn a lot from these fanatic elite travelers, as they post detailed information on everything you could ever want to know about programs, rules, deals, etc.
Visit your program’s sites. It’s all there and if you make an effort to stay informed about recent announcements, you will know when new fees are added or mile requirements change. Make sure you update your email and sign up to receive newsletters and other program information.

It will be interesting to see how the courts rule on this case. Good luck, David!

Watch Out TripAdvisor...Here Comes TravelPost!

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:17:00 -0600

TripAdvisor recently announced the launch of a flight metasearch engine, which effectively positions it directly in competition with Kayak. And from what we can tell, TripAdvisor is prepared to give Kayak a run for it’s money. Although the flight search product is still in beta, it flaunts several features that Kayak doesn’t already have, including a fee estimator that helps users determine the true costs of a particular fare. It calcualates the hidden costs of a fare after asking a few simple questions, such as how many bags you’ll be checking, if you’re a member of the frequent flyer program, or even if you’re going to splurge for an alcoholic bev on the plane (a rule of thumb I always follow). TripAdvisor also has the advantage of being MASSIVE, with over 8 million U.S. visitors a month.

As soon as TripAdvisor dropped it’s bombshell, rumors started flying that Kayak had a “competitive comparable” up it’s sleeve, which would be announced fairly quickly. Sure enough, last week Kayak detailed plans to relaunch TravelPost, a hotel review site that was part of the acquisition of Sidestep back in 2007.

We were excited to hear the news that Kayak is going head-to-head with TripAdvisor using the revamped TravelPost product. Why? Because our very own VP of Engineering, Jim Donohoe, was the lead developer on the site and worked closely with our friend Sam Shank, the founder and CEO of TravelPost, until it got acquired by Sidestep in 2006. Sam and Jim obviously did a lot of things right because they were able to top over 700K unique visitors, reach profitability, and build the second largest hotel reviews site on the web (behind TripAdvisor, obviously).

Kayak is applying the same metasearch model it uses to aggregate fare results from all over the web to expand the reach of TravelPost’s reviews. The site will relaunch this Tuesday, March 24th as a hotel search engine that will pull 1.4 million guest reviews from over 200 websites and room rates from five to ten websites. It will also allow users to search by demographic data so you get reviews back from people who are your age, share your same interests, etc. IMHO, this will be a huge advantage because it’s absolutely mind-numbing to sift through the hundreds of thousands of reviews on TripAdvisor without having a way to filter them out.

It will be interesting to see if Kayak can influence a shift in behavior, as most people habitually check TripAdvisor for reviews. However, we’ve seen the aggregator model work in fare searches, and Uptake’s strong executive team has already taken an solid stab at lodging and activities. Kayak entering the fray intensifies the battle for market share in an exciting space.

Check out Sam’s article for his two cents on the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for Kayak in their quest to bring down the behemoth!

Attn CEO's: Jet Blue To The Rescue!

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:58:00 -0600

Jet Blue released a series of funny videos poking fun at CEOs for falling on hard times and having to trade in their cushy, private jets for travel with ‘regular people’ on commercial airlines. The videos are aimed directly at the CEO’s and are a mix of self-promotion (free snacks, leather seats, private entertainment system) and sattire (checking in is easier than writing off a toxic asset!)

I think this campaign is a pretty brilliant way to make light of an otherwise depressing economy right now and I hope people will appreciate their humor. I know I did.

Delta & Midwest Link Frequent Flyer Programs, Pose Risk to AirTran?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:55:00 -0600

Delta announced yesterday a new partnership with Midwest Airlines that will permit frequent flyers to earn or redeem miles through Delta SkyMiles, Midwest Miles and Northwest WorldPerks, due to the acquisition of NWA by Delta last October.

The partnership will benefit Midwest frequent flyers by giving them access to the largest flight network in the world. It will also expand the existing Midwest-Northwest airport club membership agreement to include Delta Sky Clubs.

It will be interesting to see what kind of competitive advantage this will give Midwest over AirTran, the other regional carrier that has been biting at Midwest’s heels since their hostile takeover bid in 2006. AirTran aggressively fought for ownership of Midwest’s Milwukee hub, increasing their bid several times from $78 million to $445 million - only to be rejected each time. Midwest ultimately managed to fend them off by selling to TPG Capital, a private equity fund, for $450 million in August 2007.

It’s been a rocky ride for Midwest since the sale, judging from announcements in September that it would shed most of it’s fleet and cut routes. AirTran has scrambled to fill the void by announcing the expansion of flights into Milwaukee by 40% and new service to Denver, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Branson, Mo. AirTran predicts their entrance will result in a fare drop by as much as 60% on some of the new routes. This will only add to the pain Midwest is already feeling.

However, this new partnership with Delta helps Midwest’s value propostion and may help them rebuild the small airline and secure Milwaukee once and for all. A Midwest spokesperson explained that Delta had a choice as to whether or not they wanted to partner with Midwest. “What makes this unique is that as Delta was acquiring Northwest they had to make new, separate decisions as to whether they wanted to be a partner with Midwest.” He says the carrier’s Milwaukee hub was part of the attraction. “We have a larger customer base here, so, in a way they are expressing optimism about the future success of the airline.”

Perhaps, but not if AirTran has anything to do with it!

Travel in 2009: It's Not All Bad

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:12:00 -0700

The recession has certainly affected travel. But just what kind of influence are we talking about? Every day media reports that airlines continue to reduce routes and lay off employees, hotels clamber with dropping occupancy rates, and cruises continue to slash cabin prices to fill their ships. It’s easy to assume, given these facts, that people aren’t traveling anymore. But after taking a closer look, we’ve found that people just aren’t traveling THE SAME WAY anymore.

Let me explain.

Google and Compete just came out with a study that had some interesting findings for travel in 2009. They surveyed a sample of Compete consumers who had completed leisure travel in the past 6 months or planned to do so within the next 6 months.

One of the questions in the survey asked how much they planned on traveling for leisure in 2009. Surprisingly (to some), only 15% of the travelers surveyed said they were planning on cutting back on travel, and a much greater portion (85%) said they were planning on traveling the same or more this year.

So maybe it’s not a case of people not traveling period, but rather a behavioral shift that comes with a poor economy.

According to a recent report by the Associated Press, people are seeking out smaller, less expensive cities for destination travel and going back to the basics. So for instance, instead of taking a two week vacation to Europe or a 10 day ski trip to Aspen, families are seeking out National Parks and other more affordable, closer-to-home vacation spots.

Second tier cities like Tucson, AZ, Fort Myers, FL, and Charleston, SC are experiencing major growth as travelers take advantage of affordable domestic airfare and schedule shorter weekend trips. Many amusement parks are offering affordable family package deals that include accommodations, admission into park, and a free night’s stay.

In fact, travelers today are much more receptive to add ons, extras, or the use of awards/points/miles for travel. Value-adds will do a much better job of converting lookers into buyers when money is tight and travelers are looking for deals. In the Google survey, freebies, add-ons, and other non-rate incentives had wide appeal across the board.

In closing, it is clear that people will continue to travel - even in a bad economy. However, travel businesses that can adapt to their changing travel patterns in 2009 will emerge as leaders. There is still plenty of travel business to be had, it’s just becoming more important to understand your consumer and deliver deals that are in line with their new-found priorities and interests.