Poll: Award Seat Availability? The Results Are In

We recently asked subscribers to this newsletter and SmarterTravel readers to tell us whether it was easier or more difficult to redeem their frequent flyer miles for free flights. No fewer than 548 travelers took time to share their experiences, and the results are eye-opening -- especially if you assumed that airlines were taking advantage of emptier flights to make more award seats available to their best customers.

:: Poll Results

"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blog posts:

• Delta, Northwest Discount International Awards
  With the new Delta-Northwest promotion, free overseas trips are on offer for up to 25% fewer frequent flyer miles.
• The Top Five Award Destinations for April
  Got frequent flyer miles? This month's best bets for award travel include Memphis, Canada, the Caribbean, London, and Europe.
• Fed Up With Those Pesky Fees? Sue the Airline!
  In new frequent flyer lawsuit, the legal system is on trial.

The FrequentFlier Forum - Hot Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, hiho322 relates his experience trying to convince Continental to match JetBlue's price: "I noticed that JetBlue had lowered their flights to $333.55, including taxes, and immediately went to the Continental site to see if they'd matched the price. They had, so I called, hoping that they'd honor the new price and reimburse the difference... When I spoke to a representative, she wasn't very helpful, so I asked for a supervisor. She was pleasant enough, but told me at first that their policy was not to honor price differences. We talked further and I gave her a good argument why she should: brand loyalty, goodwill, other airlines' policies, etc. She finally relented -- a tad -- and told me she'd make an exception, but would have to charge me a rebooking fee of $150. That was laughable, since I was taking the same flights anyway - and with that extreme a re-booking fee, I wouldn't be saving, I'd be paying extra! Finally, she said that she'd honor the price difference by only charging a $50 fee, and the rest of the difference would be in a travel voucher. So I'd go through all this trouble for a mere $30 -- in a travel voucher, for a future flight!!!"

And in the "Other Loyalty Program Topics" Forum, the Swagbucks conga line is in full swing. (With 37 replies, this is one of the most active FrequentFlier Forum threads ever.)

Questions, answers, opinions? Post them to the Forum!

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Double Dining Miles from American, United

Through June 30, members of the programs of American and United can earn double miles when dining at participating Rewards Network restaurants on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

:: American
:: United

Delta Matches Bonus for Full-Fare U.K. Flights

Matching similar promotions from American and British Airways, Delta is offering SkyMiles members up to 50,000 bonus miles for round-trip flights to or from London (Heathrow or Gatwick), Manchester, or Edinburgh.

The catch: As with the other airlines' promotions, Delta's only applies to full fares. The 50,000-mile bonus is for business class (fare classes J/C/D/S/I on Delta-coded flights, J/C/I/Z on Northwest-coded flights); the 25,000-mile bonus is for premium economy (fare classes Y/B/M on Delta-coded flights and Northwest-coded flights).

Registration is required.

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Southwest Offers Fast Track to Elite

Between April 2 and June 15, Rapid Rewards members can earn A-List elite status by flying five round-trips on Southwest. Normally, A-List status is earned by flying 16 round-trips within a 12-month period.

Elite benefits on Southwest are limited to "most likely" receiving an "A" boarding pass, allowing the passenger to be among the first to board, and access to "Fly By" airport security lanes where available.

The promotion is in response to double elite-qualifying offers from American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways.

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Earn United Miles for SuperShuttle Transfers

Effective immediately, Mileage Plus members can earn 50 miles each way for SuperShuttle airport van transfers, or 150 miles each way for ExecuCar private sedan transfers. Rides must be booked online to earn the miles.

Through July 14, to promote the tie-up, the miles are doubled.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Europe Sale Fares on Delta From $298

Spring flights to Europe are on sale from Delta. Fares start at $298 round-trip for travel to Budapest, Frankfurt, London, Pisa, and more.

Travel is valid Mondays through Thursdays from April 9 through June 26. Book by April 13, 11:59 PM ET.

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2) Domestic Sale Fares on United From $88

Domestic flights are on sale from United. Fares start at $88 round-trip, and destinations include Miami, Orlando, Palm Springs, and Santa Barbara.

Travel is valid on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from April 7 through June 18. Book by April 10, 11:59 PM ET.

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Win 365 Free Hotel Nights, 1 Million Airline Miles

Enter Hyatt's "The Big Welcome" contest by May 13 for a chance to win the grand prize of 365 free Hyatt room nights, plus 1 million airline frequent flyer miles. Note the word 'contest' -- this requires that entrants write up and submit their responses to the following question: "How would you spend 365 free nights at Hyatt to create an unforgettable experience?" The winner will be the person whose answer is judged to be the best.

There is also an associated sweepstakes that can be entered without writing an essay. But the prizes for the sweepstakes are quite modest: one free hotel night per winner.

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

We welcome reader feedback on issues related to travel generally and frequent flyer programs in particular. Please use this link to submit comments.

Booking Continental OnePass Awards Online

"Here's another 'good news' story about redeeming miles, especially at the minimum level.

"With flexible dates using Continental's OnePass but on code-share partners to cities CO doesn't fly, at first it appeared nothing, or very little, was available on a domestic search this week.

"Turns out, the problem was in relying on the posted color-coded calendars on the selection panel. In ignoring those, and simply putting up various dates, all sorts of choices on most any day were available. Some of the routing was pretty goofy, but the seats were there at the minimum mileage level. Even near-exact availability in a point-to-point monopoly market was easily found.

"So, toss the calendars and go!" [Ed N.]

Fear of Flying?

"Before I say anything, I want to thank you for having assembled such a great resource online. I really enjoyed your site and I wish I would have found it sooner, you have some great information about anxiety, which is something I can relate to.

"Several years ago I had a severe fear of flying, I flat out wouldn't get on a plane. Thankfully, I was able to successfully overcome my fear and now don't have a problem with it anymore. I still stay active in the fear of flying / anxiety community since it's something I'm still passionate about (you don't really forget how powerful a phobia is), and several years ago began assembling a free resource for those still having trouble flying. I interviewed various flight crew, including pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and others and asked them to answer fearful fliers most common questions. It's something I'm very proud of, and I was hoping you could take a look at it and if you thought it was provided value, perhaps you would consider adding a link to it on your site? It's really grown into something I think you'll find interesting and beneficial, and like I said, it's totally free for anyone who wants it. I think you'll find your visitors who struggle with this fear (one in four people do) will find it useful...

"My site is www.FearofFlyingPhobia.com." [Rich P.]

Expired Aeroplan Miles

"I had accumulated 70,000 points over a nine year period in Air Canada's Aeroplan reward program. In early December of 2008 they claim that they sent an email alerting me that my points would cancel unless I showed some activity in the program. That was the only notification that they say was sent. The problem is that at that exact time, in early December, I changed email service from Earthlink to ATT. The email was sent to Earthlink, even though Aeroplan was notified during that time frame that I had a new email address and it reflected in my profile under my Aeroplan number. I never received their email. In February of 2009 all of my points disappeared.

"I contacted Aeroplan and talked to three different people on three occasions within two days of determining in March, on my own, that they had canceled my points. I told them that I never received their email. I asked them to reinstate the points for as little as 30 days, so I could show some activity. Their reply was a flat 'no.' I asked if their was anything that I could do to get my points reinstated. Their answer was, unless I could document that there was activity in the program that they had failed to recognize, then there was nothing that could be done.

"I retired at the end of 2007, so I am no longer traveling in Canada two weeks a month, which I did for eight years. The bottom line is that Air Canada's program and the people running it appear be very rigid, with no room for any deviation from their rules, even when there is cause to revisit a situation where maybe they had something to do with the outcome." [Richard E.]

Until next week...