U P F R O N T

Express Yourself, Win a Palm V
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The following is from friend-of-the-Crier Joel Widzer:

Please take the time to complete a survey aimed at identifying Attributes of Loyalty among Business Travelers. This information is being collected for a doctoral dissertation and should only take 20 to 25 minutes to complete. At the completion of the survey you will have an opportunity to enter the drawing for a chance to win 1 of 3 Palm Pilots V's or 1 of 10 autographed copies of Joel Widzer's book, "The Penny Pincher Passport To Luxury Travel."

The survey can be found here.

Joel promises to share the results of the survey with us. Incidentally, this is NOT the same survey we mentioned in last week's issue. It's just a coincidence that we're mentioning 2 surveys in back-to-back issues.

O N S I T E

FrequentFlier Forum Topics
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As always, there's plenty of activity on the Forum...

Meltdownman is searching for miles-for-mortgage-payments. Karen is wondering how looming airline strikes might affect her spring award trip. There are separate threads on Deltaclick, Milesbar, IGOUGO, FreeAirMiles, Mypoints, etc. And Lauraem is (was) looking for a site where she can redeem miles for merchandise.

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

Avis Joins US Air Program
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Avis Rent A Car joined the US Airways Dividend Miles program beginning Feb. 15, 2001.

Dividend Miles members can now earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on qualifying corporate and government Avis rentals, or 2 miles for every $1 spent on other qualifying rentals. A special double-mile bonus is offered to promote the new partnership through Apr. 30, 2001. Rentals must be picked up during the promotional period at participating airport locations and customers must provide their Dividend Miles membership number at the time of rental.

WorldPerks Adds Philippine Air Partner
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Beginning Feb. 16, WorldPerks members can earn and redeem miles on Cebu Pacific's flights in the Philippines.

WorldPerks members will earn a minimum of 250 miles or the actual miles flown on Cebu Pacific flights between Manila and 10 destinations in the Philippines. Cebu Pacific is the Philippines second largest carrier and offers service between Manila and a variety of destinations including Cebu, Davao, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Kalibo, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Tacloban, Roxas and Bacolod.

Delta Bonuses for Shuttle, Japan & SkyTeam Flights
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Delta is squarely on the bonus-mile bandwagon this week, with no fewer than 3 new offers--

> Shuttle Flights
SkyMiles members will earn double miles for all qualifying Delta Shuttle flights between New York's LaGuardia, Boston's Logan International and Washington's Reagan National airports between Feb. 1 and Apr. 30, 2001.

> Japan Flights
To promote its new Japan services beginning Apr. 1, Delta is offering bonus SkyMiles for nonstop flights between New York and Tokyo or Los Angeles and Nagoya. SkyMiles members earn double miles in economy class (excludes S, T and U classes) and triple miles in BusinessElite (excludes I class, which earns double miles) from Apr. 1 through June 30, 2001. You must register for this offer, using promotion code 1006.

> SkyTeam Flights
Fly first class or business class with SkyTeam partners Delta, AeroMexico, Air France and Korean Air and earn bonus SkyMiles through Apr. 15, 2001. Offer also applies to Czech Airlines, which joined SkyMiles in December and will become a SkyTeam member this spring. Bonus depends on the number of segments flown in first or business class, as follows--

- Fly three paid SkyTeam or Czech Airlines international first class or BusinessElite/business class segments and earn 10,000 bonus SkyMiles
- Six segments earn 20,000 bonus miles
- Nine segments earn 30,000 bonus miles
- Twelve segments earn 50,000 bonus miles

Bonus applies to all valid first and BusinessElite/business class accrual classes except I. Register using promo code 1900.

Kellogg's Offers Miles-for-Breakfast
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Kellogg's has decided (wisely) to replace its previous sweepstakes-style promotion with an old-fashioned miles-for-purchases offer.

For every 5 certificates on the backs of specially marked boxes of Kellogg's cereals, consumers receive 500 American AAdvantage miles.

Participating brands: Kellogg's Healthy Choice Low Fat Granola with Raisins, Healthy Choice Low Fat Granola without Raisins, Healthy Choice Toasted Brown Sugar Squares, Healthy Choice Almond Raisin Crunch, All-Bran, All-Bran Bran Buds and All-Bran Extra Fiber, Complete Wheat Bran Flakes, Complete Oat Bran Flakes, Just Right, Mini-Wheats Raisin, Strawberry, Apple Cinnamon and Blueberry, Cracklin Oat Bran, Product 19 and Muselix Raisin and Almond Crunch.

Offer expires Nov. 30, 2001, or when supplies of Kellogg's participating brands are exhausted. For more info: http://www.kelloggs.com/

Bonus Miles for Multiple WorldPerks Transactions
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Use WorldPerks' non-airline partners to earn bonus miles and a chance to win 1,000,000 miles.

WorldPerks members who use 5 participating non-airline WorldPerks partners between Feb. 4 and Apr. 30, 2001 will receive 10,000 bonus miles.

And when you register for the promo, you will be entered automatically in the Fly Free Faster Sweepstakes, giving you a chance to win 1 of 7 1,000,000-mile prizes. Plus, when you use a participating non-airline WorldPerks partner, you will receive another entry in the sweepstakes.

For more information and to register, go here.

WebMiles Partners with Smith's Food & Drug
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You can now earn WebMiles for purchases at 18 Smith's Food & Drug Stores in Las Vegas.

This partnership extends an existing relationship between WebMiles and San Diego-area Ralphs stores. Smith's and Ralphs are both owned by Kroger.

By enrolling in the WebMiles program before Mar. 31, Smith's Las Vegas Fresh Values cardholders will earn double miles for the first 30 days when shopping at participating stores. After the introductory period, members earn 1 WebMiles reward for every dollar they spend.

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...

European Travel Sale from American
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American has launched another round in the European fare war. Its new sale is for departures through Mar. 31, with round-trip fares from $208. Purchase tickets by Sunday, Feb. 25.

For more details, go here.

$50 Off Round-Trip Airfares on Northwest
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Northwest Airlines is offering a $50 discount on round-trip fares of at least $200 in select markets in the Midwest and West for travel through June 8. Purchase tickets by Monday, Feb. 26.

For more details, go here.

I N D U S T R Y N E W S B I T E S

Strikes Loom Large on Travel Horizon
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Labor relations in the airline industry are as precarious as they've ever been, with no fewer than 4 labor groups currently threatening strikes or other service disruptions.

o Delta's pilots have voted to authorize a strike if contract negotiations with management are unsuccessful. Apr. 1 would be the earliest strike date.

o Flight attendants at 2 US Airways feeder carriers, Piedmont and Allegheny, have threatened to strike if not agreement is reached on salaries and terms of the proposed United-US Air merger.

o United's flight attendants are also strike candidates.

o Northwest's mechanics have set Mar. 12 as their strike date, if there's no settlement in the interim.

DOT Gives Airlines Mixed Review
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This week, the Department of Transportation released its "Airline Customer Service Commitment" report, assessing the airline industry's progress in addressing the operations and service deficiencies which almost precipitated a Passenger Bill of Rights in 1999. Here's an excerpt from the report's summary:

"Overall, we found the Airlines were making progress toward meeting their Customer Service Commitment and that the Commitment has been a plus for air travelers on a number of important fronts...

"Notwithstanding progress by the Airlines toward meeting their Customer Service Commitment, we continue to find significant shortfalls in reliable and timely communication with passengers by the Airlines about flight delays and cancellations. Further, we find the Airlines' Commitment does not directly address the most deep-seated, underlying cause of customer dissatisfaction-flight delays and cancellations, and what the Airlines plan to do about them in the areas under their control in the immediate term."

The full report is online at http://www.oig.dot.gov/audits/av2001020.htm

Until next week...