United has offered up an innovative new spin on cashing in frequent flier miles: “Weekend Saver” discounts. But is it worth spending your miles on this?
The concept is essentially the same as their e-fares: For last-minute reservations on flights from their hub cities, you pay less than the normal walkup rate. Your travel dates are limited, and you never know more than a week or two in advance which cities will be in the mix. It’s all determined by supply and demand.
For cash fares, this can be a good deal if your travel plans align with the e-fare rules (typically a Saturday departure and a Monday or Tuesday return). But for fares “paid” with miles, the discount isn’t as enthralling. You’re getting a discount on the mileage cost, but the product you’re buying is already discounted.
For example, the e-fare for Chicago to Los Angeles this coming weekend is $135 each way, plus taxes. (That comes to $291.40) The Weekend Saver fare: 19,000 miles, instead of the typical “saver” rate of 25,000 miles. That comes to about 1.5 cents per mile. That’s better than the 1.1 cents per mile you’d be getting if paying 25k miles, but it’s still not great value. But if you’re in a gotta-go, low-on-cash but miles-rich state, this could come in handy.
Nonetheless, it’s nice to see an airline offering discounts.
Hourly rentals are no longer just the domain of Zipcar and their ilk. BMW has launched hourly rentals in its home city of Munich, with the intent of expanding the service to other cities in Europe.
This is not quite the same as fellow German luxury carmaker Daimler-Benz’s service car2go. Car2go focuses on renting small (cheap) cars, such as the Smart fortwo. Rather, BMW is offering up its luxury car fleet, so you can rent that M6 coupe for a few hours, if that suits your fancy.
The new program, “BMW on Demand,” is only available at the BMW World center in Munich, and not, say, at neighborhood rental locations throughout the city.
Obviously the rate per hour will be higher than your typical carsharing. Rates range from 16 at 32 euros per hour. That’s a hefty premium, but I supposed you’re renting a BMW, after all, not a Kia.
But there are also some other differences in the contract:
In a key difference between BMW on Demand and many car sharing providers (Zipcar as well as smaller, regional organizations), however, BMW will have users pay for fuel on top of their rental fee. Whereas Zipcar users are charged for the full reservation period regardless of an early return, BMW on Demand says users will only be charged for the actual use period.
Insurance is included, but if you have to invoke it, you’re on the hook for a 750 euro deductible. (And if the car is considered a luxury vehicle, your credit card may not cover you, either. Read the fine print or call your card issuer.)
Click on the image to see a larger screenshot of cars available and rates.
Downgraded: 787s on Delta
For those who thought that Delta would soon by flying the Boeing 787, thanks to their takeover of Northwest, prepare for a decade of disappointment. Northwest was an early buyer (in May 2005) of the 787 and was originally scheduled to take delivery between 2008 and 2010. Thanks to delays, that delivery timetable is over two years out of whack. But now Delta has pushed the delivery back even further: Now, Delta will receive the planes between 2020 and 2022. That’s a long deferment.
Upgraded: Ideas for bad Hollywood movies
Downgraded: Congolese carry-on inspections
Headline: “Crocodile on plane kills 19 passengers“… I immediately had visions of a crocodile biting its way through the passenger list. But the truth is more unfortunate. A crocodile hidden in a carry-on bag gets loose, people panic, plane goes out of balance, aircraft crashes. Very sad. And preventable.
Downgraded: Cruise ship pricing
The cruise ship lines are taking a page from the airlines and going a la carte with their services, slowly but surely whittling away at the “all-inclusive” pricing plans that were the hallmark of cruising. Sure, there have been upcharges for shore excursions, but now you have to pay up for certain meals, services, and options. Looks like easyCruise‘s fully-a-la-carte model may not be so farfetched after all. (Thanks, Bill!)
Upgraded: Cross-selling of Hotwire inventory on Expedia
Expedia is now widely selling Hotwire’s hotel inventory as “unpublished rates.” Like on Hotwire, the hotels won’t be listed by name, just by star-level and city zone. Since Expedia and Hotwire are part of the same parent company, I’m surprised it’s taken this long.
Upgraded: The last frontier of domestic inflight wifi
Aircell’s Gogo service has launched inflight wifi within the state of Alaska, for those traveling on Alaska Airlines. For now, the service only exists between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and Alaska Airlines is giving it away for free. It’s slated to be complimentary until the entire state is blanketed with signal availability.
Upgraded: Traveler seat-selection stereotypes
The folks at Hunch have found significant personality and life-experience differences between those who prefer aisle seats vs. window seats. It’s based on poll data. ME, I prefer the window seat, not just because it makes napping easier, because I never tire of looking out the window and staring down from 35,000 feet. And yet, my vita reads much more like the aisle passenger’s. Call me an outlier.
Back in September, I posted about the amazingly huge mileage bonuses which Citibank was offering new American Airlines AAdvantage Visa and Amex cardholders. For no annual fee in the first year, you could get 75,000 or 100,000 miles for reaching spending thresholds.
I opted for a personal Visa card that offered up 75,000 bonus miles after just $1500 in spending. I quickly reached the threshold, and the bonus appears on my current statement (screenshot above). The miles were reflected in my AA account the next day.
Echoing Gary Leff’s comments on this subject, these bonuses are among the best credit card mileage offers that have ever been made available. If you’re feeling particularly frisky, sign up for one personal card and one business card. If you’ve got a partner, have the partner do the same. This is an easy way to rack up a boatload of miles in one of the best programs out there, a program that actually has solid award availability.
The mega-offers run out on October 31, 2010, so act fast.
Here are the links again.
75,000 miles after $1500 in purchases within 6 months, no fee the first year:
- 75,000 mile bonus: Visa
- 75,000 mile bonus: Visa Business
- 75,000 mile bonus: American Express (issued by Citi, not Amex)
100,000 miles: 50,000 miles after $750 in purchases within 4 months, and another 50,000 miles after $10,000 in purchases within 12 months, no fee the first year
Downgraded: Hotel call screening
An ESPN reporter was cruelly phone-pranked into believing her hotel was on fire during a recent stay at a Hilton Garden Inn in Florida. The source of the prank was apparently an online community of jackasses who target hotel guests for prankings, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars of damage to properties. And today I learned that Hilton Garden Inns are favorite targets, because of their “lax call screening procedures.” I don’t have a good solution to propose, except unplugging the phone.
Upgraded: Hilton spas
Hilton is relaunching their hotel spas globally under a new name: “eforea.” Hilton guests will be able to find a common menu of spa services at about 80 spas around the world, beginning with the first property in Short Hills, New Jersey. (All that mall-walking is very taxing, apparently.) With its titular riff off the word “euphoria,” I hope the experience lives up to the name.
Upgraded: SkyTeam
SkyTeam will get a South American member if the planned accession of Aerolineas Argentinas goes through. South America has been a gap in the alliance’s route map, so this is a plus.
Upgraded: Life chances of the Tonga Room
Back in May, I posted about San Francisco’s storied Tonga Room lounge, which faced closure. It may be rescued, but it won’t be in the same place. The hotel has a letter of intent “with a local successful restaurateur who will buy the Tonga Room and move it to a new, as-yet-undetermined site,” said Sam Lauter, a consultant for the Fairmont San Francisco. That’s not exactly preservation, but the ur-kitsch of the place will live on, I suppose.
Reader and friend of the blog Bill writes in:
A friend of ours doesn’t think she’ll be traveling anymore and wants to give us (insert drumroll here) 300,000 USAir Dividend Miles. I looked on their website and their transfer page has a dropdown that only goes to 50,000 and has a charge of $500 (Plus 7%) for that. That would mean it would cost about $3300 to transfer 300,000 miles, which would be about the same as just buying the tickets in the first place. Surely I’m misunderstanding this. If not, why don’t they just say “you can’t do that”?
You’re not misunderstanding this, Bill. Transferring miles comes with limits, and with high price tags. Airline-internal programs (between friends) and the points exchange offered by Points.com (between strangers) are both pricey.
At those prices, you’re frankly better off buying miles outright from US Airways. (I generally don’t recommend that either, given the high price, but US Airways has a 100% bonus running right now through November 15, 2010, for you to consider. Anyway…)
So what’s the best way to transfer miles to another person for award redemption?
Simple. Don’t do it.
Your very generous friend should just book the tickets for you, rather than transferring miles to your account. This is perfectly legitimate, according to the US Airways Dividend Miles program rules:
Transferring awards
1. You may redeem your miles for award tickets for use by any person you designate. Simply provide the passenger name(s) at the time reservations are made.
2. Name changes are not permitted. If you or the person you designate are unable to travel, you may redeposit your miles into your account for a redeposit fee.
Of course, you’ll want to pay your friend for the cost of any taxes and fees incurred. She will be stuck with those costs when she books the ticket, so stay on her good side and reimburse her quickly.
One other warning/recommendation: There have been reports of travelers being questioned by airline staff when the travelers aren’t the ones whose mileage account paid for the tickets. Some folks with high frequent flier miles balances have sold their awards, which violates the program policies. So, to avoid a hassle, make sure your friend writes a short note on your behalf. The note should simply read something like this:
To whom it may concern,
I have given Bill a gift of this ticket, issued with miles from my account [number]. Bill has not paid me anything for these tickets. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [phone number].
Sincerely,
[Bill's generous friend]
Good luck getting the tickets you want. And consider yourself lucky to have such a generous fiend.
Related:
- Reader mail: Can I transfer points from one airline to another?
- Is a new frequent-flyer point exchange a great opportunity or a new ripoff?
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