American Promo: 30% Off Short-Haul Award Redemptions

American Airlines is lowering the cost of award redemptions by 30% - for all short-haul flights within the continental. U.S. and Canada. Routes 700 miles or less are eligible for the promotion. Award travel must be ticketed by August 31, 2010, for travel through December 15, 2010. For example, a one-way award ticket which normally costs 12,500 miles is available for 8,750 miles instead.

Related: United Airlines 30% short-haul redemptions

United Promo: 30% Off Short Haul Award Redemptions

For a limited time, spend 30% less of your United Mileage Plus miles for flights 700 miles or less in distance. For example, a roundtrip flight between San Francisco and Seattle which normally costs 25,000 miles, is now available for 17,500 miles. The 30% discount applies to tickets booked by August 31, 2010, for travel through January 7, 2011. These are pretty good deals particularly into regional airports, which are often costly to purchase. More details here.

Redeeming Miles for Award Travel Can Be Challenging

A piece from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution over the weekend highlights the challenges travelers face attempting to redeem frequent flyer miles for free flights. Specifically mentioned is Delta Airlines, recently rated 2nd to last out of 22 airlines, for award travel redemptions at the 25,000 mile level. Read more.

Delta Airlines Adds Min Stay Requirement on Some Award Travel

In yet another disappointment to the Delta Skymiles "useless miles" program comes a minimum stay requirement for certain award travel resumptions. Effective August 2010, customers who redeem award travel within 21 days of departure will now have a Friday or Saturday night minimum stay requirement. According to the Delta website certain elite members, Delta-branded credit card holders, and those willing to dish up extra miles for mid or high tier award travel are exempt from the fee.

A growing number of travel experts believe the Delta Airlines SkyMiles program has fast become the worst frequent flyer program in the U.S. due to mounting fees, strict policies, and lack of low-tier award travel availability.

United Site Now Allows Star Alliance Award Bookings

OK, at least partially. United frequent flyers will appreciate the latest Mileage Plus site update. When searching for award travel, other Star Alliance (domestic) carriers will appear in the search results. For instance, if you are trying to book an award seat from San Jose to New York, availability for United, Continental and U.S. Airways may be displayed in the results. Previously customers had to call United directly to book seats on other airlines - which is still the case for international flights.

Ends Soon: Get $300 in coupons for future travel with a qualifying hotel stay when you book on Expedia! - Expires 6/30/10

Strategies on Finding "Free" Award Travel

By Mike Grasso

You've spent months, perhaps even years flying around the country and throughout the world. In return, you've earned yourself a mountain of airline miles. Now it's time to redeem them for "free" award travel. It sounds simple, but rarely is. Consumers, now more than ever, complain the airline frequent flyer programs are limiting availability of "free" seats, forcing customers instead to purchase tickets or fly at inconvenient times. But for the motivated traveler, willing to dedicate time, "free" tickets can still be found. Here are some recommendations:

• If your airline has no award availability, ask them if their alliance partners have any. For instance, if your airline is part of the Star Alliance Network and you want to fly from San Francisco to Frankfurt, check availability on United, U.S. Airways, Continental and Lufthansa. You can even mix and match, such as United to New York-JFK, then Lufthansa onward to Frankfurt. A search for this type of routing and mixed carriers is usually not possible online, therefore you must call your airline to help build you an itinerary.

• Book as far in advance as possible. Many airlines allow award bookings up to 330 days before departure date!

• If at first you don't find award availability, keep on checking. People change their mind and cancel travel plans, which may open up an award seat when you least expect it.

• Be realistic. If you are a family of four and want to redeem tickets on the same flight, your chances are pretty slim. Consider booking two family members on one flight, the other two on a different one. Then, call the airline and ask for the last two family members to be waitlisted on the earlier flight; if seats open up, they can be automatically confirmed - and everyone in the family rides together. Oh Joy!

• Consider First or Business class cabins. People are amazed this is within reach to the masses. The key is to look at your airlines tier system for award travel. For instance, on Delta a "medium" level domestic award ticket in economy costs 40,000 miles, while a "low" level domestic award ticket in First Class can be had for just 5,000 miles more. Although the "low" first class awards are more capacity controlled (harder to find), they are out there, even when coach seats are priced at a premium.

Hopefully these tips are useful and you find a good use for those hard-earned miles.

By the way, the "free" in quotations is intentional. We have long done away with a truly free award ticket. At the very least, most airlines pass on a $10 government fee to customers. Some airlines pass all the taxes, fees and fuel surcharges, which can amount to hundreds of dollars. Nonetheless, it is at least a highly discounted way to travel.

Travel Tool for Star Alliance Members Booking Award Travel

By Mike Grasso

If you accrue miles with a Star Alliance carrier such as United or U.S. Airways, you probably have a goal at some point to cash in those miles. Today I'd like to recommend an amazing resource (hat off to the Flyertalk forums) I've used for quite some time enabling a quick and easy search for award seats.

First, a good reminder that you are not limited to redeeming with the airline you bank your miles with. Generally you can redeem with others within the alliance. For example, you have a mountain of miles with United Airlines which can be used on Singapore, Lufthansa, and Continental, to name a few. But how do you know award availability on these partner airlines? Often, your "sponsoring" carrier may have website limitations showing award availability of Star Alliance partners. So here's the workaround (other than just calling the airline):

-Join ANA's Mileage Club (free).

-Visit the award availability page.

-After logging in, select the "Use Star Alliance Members" button

From here, you can search award availability for most Star Alliance members worldwide. This is particularly useful when trying to build a complicated itinerary, or one in which you desire some creative routing's. This tool is good preparation, homework if you will, before contacting the airline directly to book your award ticket. Too often phone reps don't take the time to search all possible options (ie: something as simple as routing from Oakland, if no seats are available from San Francisco).

A word of caution though: Although results showing availability are generally accurate, there may be a few instances when they are not bookable. For an interesting, long discussion on this problem, read this Flyertalk forum on StarNet blocking. In sum, use the ANA award availability page as a tool in your award search, but realize occasionally availability and bookability may be slightly off from each other.

Full URL for award availability tool linked above:

https://aswbe-i.ana.co.jp/p_per/sky_ip_per_en/preAwdSearchLogin.do

Possibly the Best Airline Credit Card Offers Available

By Mike Grasso

It's new, it's hot, and it's all the buzz over in the Flyertalk and FatWallet forums. We're talking about British Airways Visa Signature Card from Chase - where you can earn 50,000 miles for using the card once, 100,000 for spending $2000 within 90 days. But, there are strings attached.

According to the offer, new BA Visa Signature cardholders will earn 50,000 British Airways miles upon first use of the card - enough for a free roundtrip ticket to Europe. Then earn another 50,000 miles when you spend atleast $2000 within 3 months of account opening - which scores you a second roundtrip ticket. Wowie wow!

And now the strings: As with most award ticket redemption's, the customer is responsible for paying all applicable taxes, fees and fuel surcharges. Unfortunately British Airways is notorious for being the "industry leader" in tagging these charges on. So be aware that your award ticket redemption may set you back up to $250 if flying British Airways. Also, British Airways offers limited service to/from the Bay Area, so availability for award seats, which are capacity controlled, may be slim pickins. Finally, keep in mind there is an annual fee on the card of $75.

But here's some good news: You can redeem BA miles on partner airlines, such as Japan, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific, from 50,000 miles. Or choose to use the miles for domestic trips on U.S.-based partners, American and Alaska from 25,000 miles, and the fees would likely be fairly insignificant compared to flying internationally. Something else to be all jazzed about: British Airways has a pretty robust search engine for searching award availability with partner airlines, which helps limit the need to contact the airline directly for bookings.

Overall, this offer impresses me, and may very well be one of the best deals out there. I just received my approval this week and will report back any difficulties. If you are interested in applying, do it soon as word has it the offer may be pulled by months-end.

United Discounts Award Travel to Europe and Middle East

United Mileage Plus members can now save 20% off award travel redemptions for flights between the United States and Canada to Europe and the Middle East. The discount applies to economy class tickets on United Airlines flights booked by October 31st, for travel between January 10 and March 15, 2010. For example: A roundtrip flight between San Francisco and Rome which normally requires 55,000 miles, can be had for just 44,000 miles.

Save 20% on United Frequent Flyer Award Redemptions

Monday is the final day to redeem miles at a 20% discount.

For the second time this year, United Airlines is offering customers a 20% discount off award certain award redemptions. This time around, United flights wholly within the continental U.S and between the U.S and Canada are eligible for the discount. For example, a flight between San Francisco and Boston which normally runs 25,000 miles, is available for 20,000 miles during this offer.

Ticketing period runs through October 19th for travel between January 10 and April 30, 2010.

Airlines Seek to Unload Frequent-Flier Miles

From the Washington Times Monday comes a story discussing why airlines, United Airlines in particular, are suddenly choosing to unloading miles from their "books" at an accelerated rate. For example, United recently offered discount award redemption's, and effective August 1, 2009 eliminated all "close-in" processing fees. Are United Airlines and other carriers putting customer service back into focus, or is there something more at play here? Read the full story here.

American Airlines Now Offering One-Way Award Redemptions

Beginning today, American Airlines customers will be able to redeem one-way award travel for half the miles of a round-trip. Currently, all other major U.S carriers permit one-way award travel, either by booking a one-way trip or simply not utilizing the return segment, but the airlines still charged customers as if it were a round-trip. Now, for example, a one-way flight from San Francisco to Boston is available for as little as 12,500 miles. 

Here are some benefits: 

-It's great for people who don't have a mountain of miles in their AAdvantage account, but have enough to cover mileage for one direction.

-You can opt to use miles for the direction in which airfare is high, then purchase a separate one-way ticket for the less expensive direction. 

-You can redeem miles to fly into one city, and redeem miles to return from a different city. 

(Example: San Jose-Dallas and Austin-San Jose). 

-You can mix and match classes of service and book multi-segments on a particular trip. 

Here is one drawback:

-There are fees associated with some award travel, which essentially could double if you book two separate one-way tickets. Those fees include close-in processing fees (booking award travel within 21 days of departure), and re-deposit fees should you decide to cancel your trip. 

Northwest WorldPerks Program Changes for 2009

In an email to subscribers, Northwest Airlines announced changes to Worldperks, the airlines frequent flyer program. Many of the changes rolling out over the next couple months are as a result of the merger between Northwest and Delta. Here are some of the key changes to the program:

First the good news: Beginning in February, Worldperks members who also have a DeltaSky miles account will be able to transfer base miles between the two accounts. Also, effective immediately, customers flying Delta-operated flights will earn you Northwest elite-qualifying miles.

And the not so good: On January 15, The airline will introduce a third mileage award level and synchronised award mileage requirements with Delta. The added level sits between the PerkSaver and PerkPass. For a standard domestic award redemption, for example, award requirements will be displayed as 12,500, 20,000 and 30,000 for one-way travel, based on a round-trip award ticket purchase. Availability will range from highly limited-capacity controlled up to unlimited availability on all flights - depending on the award tier you choose. In summary, the more points you want to spend, the more flight choices made available to you. Many industry experts feel the addition of the third tier will nearly wipe out award availability at the lowest award tiers.

The simply bad news: Northwest jumps on board with other airlines by instituting a close-in ticketing fee for award travel. Starting January 15th, the airline will charge between $75 and $150 if you decide to book any award travel within 21-days of departure date. Airlines claim award availability tends to open up near the departure date as airlines realize they cannot fill the plane with revenue passengers. Accessing this "last minute" (21-days or less) inventory will now cost you. 

These changes are in addition to previously announced 9-29% hikes in the miles required to fly certain routes that start January 15th. 

Alaska Airlines Award Redemption Sale - To Seattle

Great news for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members heading to Seattle: The airline announced a sale for award redemption's between Seattle and San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach. Instead of the regular 25,000 miles required for a free round-trip ticket, you pay only 15,000 miles. Discounts are available for one-way and first class travel also.

The offer is valid for flights between January 6, 2009 and March 19, 2009.

Frontier Airlines To Charge Fee for "Free Ticket"

Award redemption fee part of a package of changes announced
In a press release today, Denver-based Frontier airlines announced they will institute a $25 non-refundable redemption fee for travelers booking a free flight using Frontier EarlyReturns miles. Previously, members of their frequent flier program could redeem miles without being subjected to this fee.

Frontier also announced a 5,000-15,000 across the board increase in miles needed for a free ticket. Previously known as one of the best redemption options in the industry, 15,000 miles for a free, capacity controlled domestic ticket will now climb to 20,000 miles; still a relative bargain.

Other changes announced in the press release include adding a $75 fee for close-in redemption's - whereby travelers book award travel within 14 days of travel, and $75 bucks for redepositing miles for an unused award travel booking.

"We have always been incredibly proud of our EarlyReturns program, which offers one of the lowest redemption levels in the industry," said Frontier Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Distribution, Jim Young. "Unfortunately, with oil still nearly 50% higher than just six months ago, we had to review the current structure and revise elements that will afford our ability to remain both customer friendly and cost conscious. Even with the new fees and redemption levels, we still offer one of the most competitive programs in the industry."

The changes are effective September 15th. Some fees are waived for Frontier elite members.

Handy Mileage Award Calculator

With recent capacity cuts from the airlines, trying to find available seats when redeeming frequent flyer miles can be a daunting task. Seats for two people - painful. One piece of advice is to book tickets far in advance. So if you are trying to plan a trip to Europe for early next summer, and you want to redeem your miles, now is the time to start looking.

Booking tickets far in advance means finding award availability before it is picked through by the masses. So how far in advance can you book award tickets? Most airlines permit bookings up to 330 days into the future - a bit shy of a year. This simple tool allows you to determine how far out 330 days is, eliminating the need for human calculation (or in my case, human error) so you can focus on the more important task - namely, where in Europe you want those frequent flyer miles to take you.

Northwest Institutes 'Service Fee' On Award Travel

One of several new/adjusted fees and personnel reductions announced by the airline
Just two weeks after Delta Airlines announced they would slap a fuel surcharge on all award redemption's, Northwest Airlines jumped on board and confirmed they too will institute a similar fee.

Described in a Northwest press release as a temporary "service fee" to offset fuel costs, passengers redeeming Northwest Worldperks miles will soon pay a fuel surcharge ranging from $25 for domestic travel, all the way up to $100 for trans-Pacific flights. The fee will be charged for ticketed itineraries beginning September 15th.

That's not all. Changing your itinerary will cost extra too. Beginning today, changes to non-refundable domestic tickets will increase $50 to $150. Changes to International itineraries will be hiked by as much as $150 more than present fees, depending on class of service and other restrictions.

The airline is matching several other carriers $15 first checked bag fee for tickets being sold as early as July 10th. No more checking your bags in for free.

Playing Markets That Trade Miles

(New York Times)
ANY traveler who has tried to redeem frequent flier miles for an award seat, only to be thwarted by blackout dates or limited availability, knows that attractive alternatives are hard to come by. You could spend miles for magazine subscriptions, donate them to charity or, in a few cases, purchase merchandise in an exchange that often doesn’t quite add up (17,000 miles for a coffee maker?). Click here to read the rest of the article