Bankruptcy Watch

On Friday last week, Aloha Airlines exited bankruptcy. With its newly negotiated wages and benefits and its lower expenses overall, the airline's chief David Banmiller called Aloha a "60-year-old start-up company with a low-cost structure."

Aloha filed for Chapter 11 in December 2004, making theirs one of the shorter recent bankruptcy stays.

Meanwhile, the friction continues to build between management and labor at both Delta and Northwest.

At last count, Delta was requesting annual concessions from its 6,000 pilots worth $315 million, to which the pilots counter-offered $115 million. The pilots have also taken exception to Delta's proposed severance plan, which would generously compensate top managers whose jobs were eliminated in the reorganization process just as most employees are taking huge salary and benefits hits.

The judge overseeing Northwest's bankruptcy has given that airline and its pilot and flight attendant unions until Friday of this week to resolve their differences amicably, after which he will rule on Norwest's request that the airline be allowed to impose contracts without further discussion.

Both unions have warned that they may strike if their contracts are voided. According to the chairman of the pilots union: "Management's arrogant and excessive demands are unacceptable and are putting Northwest's future in serious jeopardy."

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, bostonpilot is worried that Northwest might never emerge from bankruptcy: "I have been flying NWA almost exclusively since the late 90's. It was never a great airline, but it was our corporate airline at a previous job, so it was mandatory. Of course that led to silver elite in 1999 and then I was roped in. Well, I've been Platinum since 2001 and even though I have used a lot of my miles for international vacations, I still have 500,000 left.

"Here are my two dilemmas. First, I don't want to lose those miles and I won't be able (or want to) use them all up in the next year. Also, I'd like to transfer my status to another airline, preferably CO. But, I am losing my Platinum at the end of this month. I am bouncing back to Silver since I didn't travel near as much last year, and when I did, it wasn't on NWA. Any ideas?"

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, NoCoach lost elite status with Air Canada and doesn't expect to regain it anytime soon: "So I had no flights for a year on AC Aeroplan and my status dropped to 'nobody'. Now I'm back flying regularly again, and I'm told there is a new rule that I don't get status back until the February after the year in which I have enough status miles!!! So I will effectively have to wait almost a full year for my status. Is there any way around this?"

And much more. Questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

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American Discounts Dallas Award Travel

Between Mar. 2 and May 31, AAdvantage members can redeem fewer miles for award travel between Dallas (Love Field or DFW International) and Austin, San Antonio, Kansas City or St. Louis.

Discount applies to saver awards: coach awards are reduced from 25,000 to 15,000 miles; first class is lowered from 45,000 to 30,000 miles.

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Double ANA Miles Systemwide

Through Mar. 31, members of ANA Mileage Club will earn double miles for any ANA flight, international or within Japan. (ANA code share flights operated by other airlines are NOT eligible for the bonus.)

Registration is required.

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Delta to Offer Extra Awards for Top Elites

Beginning in March, Platinum Medallion members of Delta's SkyMiles program will be able to redeem their miles for 300 new travel and non-travel related awards, including electronics, home and garden items, outdoor equipment, and hotel stays.

Delta's announcement follows recent moves by American, United and Frontier to wean program members off free tickets by expanding award catalogs to include non-flight options. While United and Frontier also restrict the extra awards to their elite program members, Delta is the only carrier so far to limit them to their top-tier elites.

An evaluation of the value proposition represented by the new Delta awards will appear in a future Crier.

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Marriott Helps Members Track Award Progress

Marriott's new DreamRewards Tracker lets Rewards members establish award goals and then track progress as points accumulate toward meeting those goals. (That's likely to be either very fulfilling or sheer torture, depending on the rate of one's progress.)

Targeted awards can be hotel stays or partner offerings.

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Northwest Offers Bonus for Amsterdam Flights

Through Mar. 31, WorldPerks members can earn up to 10,000 bonus miles for roundtrip Northwest/KLM flights between Newark or JFK and Amsterdam.

Members earn 10,000 bonus miles for World Business Class roundtrips (J, C, Z classes); 5,000 in Y, B, M coach; 2,500 in H/K coach; and 1,500 in Q/L/T coach classes.

Registration is required.

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Priority Club Wants Your Opinion

Priority Club Rewards members who complete an online survey by Feb. 28 will receive 250 bonus points.

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Up to 15K Bonus United Miles for Australia Flights

Between Mar. 1 and Apr. 30, Mileage Plus members can earn up to 15,000 bonus miles on roundtrip United flights from the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, or US Virgin Islands to Australia.

Members earn 15,000 bonus miles for first class roundtrips (F booking class); 10,000 for business (C/D classes); 7,500 for coach (Y/B/M/H classes); and 5,000 bonus miles for discount coach (Q/V/W classes).

Registration is required.

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United Discounts Award Travel to China

Through Mar. 31, Mileage Plus members can fly from the U.S. to Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong for 45,000 miles. Normally, the restricted coach award is priced at 60,000 miles.

The $15 booking fee is waived for reservations made via United's call center.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) 18 Destinations in Asia for $1,299

With Cathay Pacific's All Asia Pass, you can fly roundtrip from the U.S. or Canada to Hong Kong and visit 17 other destinations in Asia for as little as $1,299. Travel is valid through May 18, and from Aug. 21 through Dec. 1; travel from May 19 through Aug. 20 costs an additional $350.

The All Asia Pass includes roundtrip airfare between New York (JFK), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, or Toronto and Hong Kong, plus 21 consecutive days of air travel between Hong Kong and any of the following 17 destinations: Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya, Indonesia; Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, and Tokyo, Japan; Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia; Karachi, Pakistan; Singapore; Seoul, South Korea; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Taipei, Taiwan; Bangkok, Thailand; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. There is a minimum stay of seven days and all travel must be completed by Dec. 8.

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2) Europe Sale Fares from $189

Winter flights to Europe are on sale from 1-800-Fly-Europe, a package tour operator. The sale starts at $189 roundtrip, and destinations include London, Paris, and Rome, as well as Dublin and Reykjavik.

Departures are valid through Mar. 15. Book tickets by Feb. 28. Fares require a Saturday-night stay, and the maximum stay is 30 days.

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Win 3 Million Marriott Points or Airline Miles

Enter Marriott's "Dream Destinations" sweepstakes by Sept. 30, 2007, for a chance to win 3 million Marriott Rewards points or 3 million airline frequent flyer miles. Second prize is another 3 million points/miles, an "instant win" prize. And there are 10 instant win third prizes of 100,000 Marriott Rewards points each.

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[Visit http://frequentflier.com/sweeps.htm for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

[The following is in response to coverage in last week's Crier of Marriott's MegaBonus promotion...]

"Please check the terms for the Marriott Bonus. I believe it's 5,000 points after each third stay. That's different from what you described. I enjoy receiving your emails." [Eric W.]

[To resolve the discrepancy between our information and Eric's, we checked with Marriott. They confirmed that while there was a "standard" version of the promotion, selected Rewards members might receive targeted offers which differed from the norm.

For whatever reason, Eric had been targeted to receive an offer that differed from the mainstream promotion, and that suffered by camparison. We suggested that he contact Marriott and "un-target" himself, in order to receive the better bonus. He did so, and reported back as follows.]

"I spoke to two lovely people from the Marriott organization who addressed my concerns. Marketing situations vary with particular consumer habits. I will still stay exclusively at Marriott. They've always provided excellent quality and service for my needs."

[Moral of the story: Customer service agents often have the authority to override program rules and policies. But you won't know if they can, or will, unless you pick up the phone and request an exception.]

"My father passed away recently. He had frequent flier miles at several airlines. A couple of the airlines (Delta and U.S. Airways) did not charge anything to transfer the mileage to my mom's account. However, some of the other airlines (American, United and Northwest) charge fees to transfer his miles to another account. The fees charged by Northwest are excessive ($25 plus $0.01 per mile). Is there a way to get his frequent flier miles transferred without paying these fees? Personally, I find it appalling to make money on someone's death, especially since the airlines are essentially holding his frequent flier miles for ransom." [Amit D.]

[See above. I've heard of airlines waiving such fees on a request basis. It's always worth asking.]

Until next week...