No, really, we included a credit card link in the show notes today! Of course, ours is not an affiliate link and I actually don’t think it is the one you should use, but we’ll get to that in a minute…
And now, on to the topics of discussion in this week’s episode:
- American Airlines and AwardWallet have reached an agreement whereby AAdvantage account information is back online in the AwardWallet interface. American even went so far as to put out a press release announcing the news. That’s great news for AwardWallet users and AAdvantage members. And, while I wish I could say I’m happy that American realized they needed to be more customer friendly and that’s all that was involved in this decision I know that’s not the case. It turns out that AwardWallet has “entered into a commercial relationship” with American. In other words, they’re buying access. Yeah, it isn’t a lot of money, but it is more than just AA wanting to be nice to customers. Which brings me back to the opening line of the post. If you’re going to use an affiliate link for the AmEx SPG 30K signup bonus take a look at what AwardWallet has on their site. I’m pretty sure they’ve got the links and this is the sort of move/investment that I wholeheartedly support in making the game easier and moving things forward for us.
- “Transcon Wars” are coming in the premium cabins and it is going to be an interesting couple years ahead. JetBlue is putting in the longest flat beds in the market, some of which will have sliding doors in a mini-suite layout. Delta is going to be installing the same seats as United and American. And then there’s Virgin America, hanging out at the back of the pack and wondering just how long they will survive. It will be another 9 months or so before everyone is in position to run their new fleets in these updated configurations but it is coming and it is going to be very interesting to watch.
- Two bits of news about Starwood are out this week as well. First up is the 30K sign-up bonus for their AmEx card noted above. Also, the hotelier has announced their fall earning promo, offering unlimited double points on all stays from September 1 – December 15, 2013. There will also be a 2,500 point bonus for every 5 nights, up to a maximum of 10,000 points/20 nights. As always, be aware of the somewhat lengthy list of properties which are not participating in the promo.
- Finally, for folks with smaller balances in their Emirates account and no idea where they’ll ever be useful our faithful Producer has done some research about an alternative redemption option: Football (soccer to those of us in the USA) tickets. Emirates sponsors a ridiculous number of teams around the world and the points can be used to get seats at many games. Some are easier than others to acquire but the option is there.
I’m sure there were some other ramblings mixed in as well, but those are the important bits.
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Virgin posted a profit for the last quarter. Nothing spectacular, but maybe they’re doing something right. Cranky Flier had a good analysis of their results. Also, the limit for transferring Starpoints to miles is 79,999. I wonder why..
Feature request.
I don’t know if you take requests for topics, but if you do, then I would like to know what Seth is planning to do with airline status next year.
We can put that on the agenda, Carsten. Might not be until the early September episode but it is getting to the time of year where that discussion is relevant.