U P F R O N T
Express Yourself, Help a Student
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If you have an opinion regarding airline food (and who doesn't?), Juline Mills, a Ph.D student at Purdue, is conducting a survey on just that topic. Specifically, the survey is an attempt to measure travelers' preferences when it comes to various fast-food suppliers which might be called upon to cater inflight meals.
The survey is online at http://courses.unt.edu/jclay/index.html. Juline has promised to provide us with a summary of the results when they've been tabulated.
O N S I T E
FrequentFlier Forum Topics
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As always, there's plenty of activity on the Forum...
Duane began a thread on "Your 3 favorite ways to earn miles." TomBrew alerted the group to an opportunity to earn an easy 500 Mileage Plus miles. Shara poses the ultimate question: Which is the best program? Chris is searching for United credit card deals. And Charisse warns that LookSmartLive no longer rewards question-answerers with ClickMiles.
Do you have questions? Do you have answers? Post them to the Forum!
>> More - The FrequentFlier Forum
M I L E S & P O I N T S
Amex Adds Membership Rewards Partners
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Amex has added new shopping and travel partners to the Membership Rewards network.
In the travel category, the new partners are Air France, Air Jamaica and All Nippon Airways.
For shoppers, Amex has added MilePoint.com and ShopAmex. MilePoint.com allows Membership Rewards members to convert points to cash that can be applied toward the purchase of merchandise from participating online merchants. And ShopAmex is an Internet shopping service. Membership Rewards members can use their points as a form of currency to purchase any product on the site. Now until Mar. 1, you can earn double Membership Rewards points on every ShopAmex purchase.
In addition, Amex has added the following retail partners to the Membership Rewards program: AutoMallOnline.com, Bose, Citarella, Crate and Barrel, Dell, 800wine.com, gifts.com, GORP.com, Lands End, Sony Music and The Sports Authority.
Bonus Miles for New Frontier Sign-Ups
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We reported on the launch of Frontier's new EarlyReturns program last week. Sign up online and fly between Feb. 1 and May 24, 2001 to receive an additional 1,500 bonus miles. And, if you make your reservations on the Frontier website and travel between Feb. 1 and May 24, your account will be credited with an extra 500 miles per ticket. The Frontier site is at http://www.frontierairlines.com.
Earn HHonors Points for Buying, Selling Homes
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Beginning Feb. 1, when you buy or sell a home through Delta Corporate Services, you will earn 2,500 HHonors bonus points for every $10,000 in the purchase or sale price when you work with a real estate agent in the Delta Corporate Services network.
For additional information on earning HHonors points for buying, selling, financing, or refinancing your home, call 1-800-774-3068 or visit the HHonors website at http://www.hilton.com/hhonors/points/points.html.
Aeroplan Gets Cars, Loses Phones
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Air Canada's Aeroplan frequent flyer program has added 2 rental car companies to its partner roster. Aeroplan members who rent from National Car Rental and Alamo will earn 500 Aeroplan miles for each qualifying car rental at participating locations.
On the debit side, as of Dec. 31, 2000, Bell Canada's TotalRewards program was no longer available. You have until Mar. 15, 2001 to convert your TotalRewards points into Aeroplan miles. The minimum TotalRewards points required to exchange is 20,000. And you'll earn 325 Aeroplan miles for every 10,000 TotalRewards points.
Double US Miles for Amsterdam, Brussels Flights
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To promote its upcoming services to Amsterdam and Brussels via Philadelphia, US Airways is offering double miles bonus for Philadelphia - Amsterdam flights between Apr. 11 and June 30, and for Philadelphia - Brussels flights between May 9 and July 31, 2001. Double miles offer is valid for J (Envoy Class), Y and B fares on nonstop or direct flights.
Register for this offer by calling 1-800-872-4738 and selecting bonus registration 2275 before departing.
AllAdvantage Falls Victim to Dot-com Implosion
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Apparently the latest victim of a business model that couldn't pass the test of real-world economics, pay-to-surf program AllAdvantage has gone the way of the pterodactyl.
Those of you who have earned credits in the program below a payout threshold are out of luck. Here's the official policy statement:
"As specified in the Viewbar Agreement, credits accrue for surfing and become payable only upon reaching the payment threshold. Given the deactivation of the Viewbar and incentive programs, no further surfing credits will accrue. Sweepstakes winners and members who have reached the payment threshold will be paid. Pursuant to the Viewbar Agreement, however, no payments are due for credits beneath the payment threshold." Ouch!
On the positive side, AllAdvantage has committed to maintaining the privacy of member data in its files.
With the demise of AllAdvantage and LookSmartLive (see Forum) fresh in mind, this might be a good time to review the financial health of any programs in which you participate.
AOL users click here
S T E A L S & D E A L S
Deal Alert from SmarterLiving.com
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This week's hot deals from SmarterLiving.com...
Coast-to-Coast Fares from $198 R/T
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Southwest Airlines is offering coast-to-coast savings, with round-trip fares starting at $198. Travel is valid between February 20 and June 8. Purchase tickets no later than Thursday, February 22.
For more details, go here.
Worldwide Savings from Northwest Airlines
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Northwest has released a sale on domestic and international travel to destinations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Purchase tickets by Friday, February 16.
For more details, go here.
I N D U S T R Y N E W S B I T E S
New Company Will Bid for TWA
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Phoenix-based Jet Acquisitions Group Inc. -- a newly formed company described, vaguely, as being comprised of investors and former aviation executives, and NOT including Carl Icahn -- has revealed its intention to bid almost $1 billion to purchase TWA and keep the carrier flying under its own name.
Dueling CEO's Debate Industry Future
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This week, US Airways' Stephen Wolf and Continental's Gordon Bethune testified before the Antitrust, Business Rights, and Competition Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee of the Judiciary (ABRCSUSCJ for short), staking out opposite sides of the consolidation debate.
Bethune made the anti-merger case, arguing that industry consolidation would harm competition and result in higher prices and lower service levels. In Bethune's own words: "If you thought last summer was 'airline hell,' buckle your seatbelts, because with these pending mega-mergers, you haven't seen anything yet. These mega-mergers will make last summer look like the 'good old days.'"
Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, Continental is reportedly in discussions with Delta regarding a buyout.
US Airways' Wolf, on the other hand, is singing a slightly different version of the "Let us merge" tune. In place of his previous argument (that a UA-US merger would result in a net positive for consumers), Wolf now claims that the very survival of US Airways depends on its being acquired by United.
"In today's competitive marketplace, there are only two platforms on which to operate an airline successfully," Wolf told the Senate panel. "There is the low-cost, low-fare business model, represented by carriers such as AirTran, America West, JetBlue and Southwest, and the fully mature, full-service, network carriers, such as American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United. US Airways is neither and there is no place for a 'neither.' This is simply an economic reality."
Legend, the Final Chapter
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Dallas-based Legend Airlines this week announced plans to move from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7. Legend filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and suspended operations in December, promising to reorganize and return to service.
A Chapter 7 filing would put Legend into liquidation mode, allowing the airline's assets to be sold and signaling, unequivocally, the company's demise.
R E A D E R R A N T S & R A V E S
Sound Off: The Great Consolidation Debate
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[Editor's note - Thanks to the many Crier readers who have weighed in on the Great Consolidation Debate. It's not possible to print everyone's comments (without bloating the newsletter). So what follows is a representative sampling.]
"First off, let me say I agree with you. Consolidation is put across by the airlines as a great way for the consumer to get "seamless travel" experiences. I'd rather have seams, and competition for the better fares. In the case of US Airways, their own CEO and Chairman have made it sound like "death for the airline" without the merger. With Gangwal at the helm, that may be true, but Stephen Wolf had built a respectable airline before Gangwal took over. With an alliance, US Airways could be a great airline. Pronouncing it dead without the merger is an insult to its 40,000 employees, even the mean ones in Philly. (sorry, I don't like that hub). The bottom line of this merger is money for the directors, and money for UAL. The passenger will pay dearly.
"Second, I have to vent regarding change fees. Does ANYONE besides myself think that this is nothing short of USERY? Why is this legal? How does it cut the airlines' profitability that much to allow changes? I recognize that there are people who want to change all the time and that it makes it difficult to manage inventory. But here's an example: I changed a ticket last week on US that resulted in an additional collection of $425, taking me from a K-NR fare to a B. The original ticket was worth $209. They STILL wanted to charge me a (then $75) change fee - to GIVE THEM 200% more money!! As a gold preferred flier, I asked them to wave the fare "just this once" and they agreed. But this is out of hand in my opinion.
"I'll post more on the bulletin boards and maybe someone who has the answer can help me understand what these fees are about, other than price gouging."
- Stephen
"I guess I don't understand why saving the airlines isn't as big a deal as saving Chrysler Corp. I would say that air travel has become as much a part of the ordinary citizen's life as the auto industry has been for years; albeit, not everyone owns and flys a plane, but most of us sure do fly in them from time to time.....some of us have to fly to keep our businesses going and the industry is very much a part of this country's economic engine. Why doesn't this business friendly congress see a path for their input into saving an airline that is well worth saving?"
- Ginger
"Here's a brief note from a reader who would definitely be in favor of the UAL-USAIR merger for one simple reason relating to frequent flyer programs. I do 90% of business flying on United but in late 1999 I was on business in Florida and accumulated about 7,000 USAIR points on 7 R/T flights within Florida. I will NOT likely ever fly USAIR again, so I am looking forward to being able to transfer these points (worth about $80) to United mileage plus where I earn awards on average twice per year and can actually use the USAIR points. Nearly all my travel is on business, so it doesn't matter to me that mergers might reduce competition and increase fares. I'm sure that there are lots of babyboomers out there in my situation or something similar."
- SFKCDEfavs
Until next week...
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