U P F R O N T

One New Program Launched; 2 Old Programs Upgraded
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This week, we report on substantial changes to both Marriott Rewards and Qantas Frequent Flyer. While the changes are evolutionary and incremental, rather than revolutionary, they underscore the continuing importance of loyalty programs (and, yes, the revenues generated by their members) even now, 20 years after their inception.

Speaking of the programs' 20th anniversary, look for USA Today's coverage of the milestone in their Friday, Apr. 27 issue.

Closer to the "new under the sun" end of the spectrum is uPromise, which mixes the look and feel of a traditional travel program with a tax-advantaged college-savings account. If saving for college is on your to-do list, uPromise should be as well.

O N S I T E

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

Jean has an update on the airline/hotel moving and shaking in Europe. Julianna is looking for a source of discounted hotel rooms. Wes is going to try to qualify for the NW 10K-mile promotion in 5 days. Chris has info on the Starwood 10K mile bonus. Susan didn't earn miles for an off-airport car rental and wants to know why. And much more...

Do you have questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

> More...

M I L E S & P O I N T S

Marriott Tunes Up Rewards
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Marriott this week announced a package of changes to the Marriott Rewards program. Highlights:

> "Stay Anytime" awards
All frequent flyers are familiar with "Anytime" awards -- for twice the normal number of miles, typically, the frequent flyer program member can book an award flight with no blackout dates or capacity restrictions. Marriott applies that surcharge concept with its new "Stay Anytime" awards, which allow Rewards members to book award nights free of blackouts or other restrictions by redeeming an extra 50% of the normally required points. Anytime awards can be combined with regular awards for multi-night stays.

> Revised awards chart
The Rewards hotel award chart has been simplified, with 7 hotel categories and a range of points requirements varying by category and number of nights. For example, a category 2 hotel (of which there are almost 600) requires 10,000/19,000/27,000/35,000/43,000 points for 1/2/3/4/5-night stays. The lowest-level award, 7,500 points for 1 night at a category 1 hotel, has increased from 7,000 points. Through July 31, members can redeem from either the old or the new award chart.

> New rewards.
Marriott has added new adventure-travel packages to the awards catalog.

> Extended SkyMall awards.
SkyMall merchandise awards are now available year-round, rather than just seasonally.

> More...

Qantas Overhauls Frequent Flyer
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Qantas has made a number of long-overdue changes to its loyalty program, Frequent Flyer.

First and foremost, the program has adopted, effective Mar. 15, 2001, the increasingly standard (and customer-friendly) activity-based mileage-expiration policy: any account activity -- earning or redemption -- extends the life of all miles in the account for an additional 3 years.

Another change which took effect Mar. 15: No more fees (at least for those outside Qantas's primary sphere). Qantas was one of the very few programs which assessed its members fees, both an initial sign-up fee, and a service fee for accounts with sub-par activity. For members outside Australia/New Zealand, the enrollment fee no longer applies. And the service fee is waived for all members, regardless of country of residence. Unfortunately, if you're a resident of Australia/New Zealand, you will still be charged 82.50 Australian dollars or 50.00 New Zealand dollars to join.

The following changes take effect Sep. 15, 2001:

- Full credit will be earned for discounted economy fares. (Previously, Qantas awarded .7 miles per flown mile for discounted coach.)

- A minimum of 1,000 miles will be credited for every flight.

- Miles can be redeemed for international Qantas upgrades (previously limited to domestic upgrades).

- Bonus miles will be awarded to elite members on Qantas flights (25%/50%/100% for Silver/Gold/Platinum).

- Frequent Flyer's new basic unit of measurement will be miles instead of kilometers. (There's no inherent advantage to one over the other. But it makes for consistency with other programs, almost all of which denominate earnings in miles.)

> More...

uPromise: How to Save for College
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The frequent flyer program model has given rise to yet another hybrid, uPromise (http://upromise.com), which rewards loyalty with rebates applicable toward the cost of college. Here's how...

Register for uPromise and establish a 529 college savings plan. (A 529 plan is an IRA-like account, in which savings are invested in your choice of mutual funds, and grow tax-deferred until withdrawn to pay for college expenses.)

Once registered, purchases at participating retailers (big names, too many to list) earn rebates, which are automatically deposited into your 529 account.

Unlike one-to-a-customer frequent flyer accounts, uPromise earnings from different people can be pooled into a single account. Friends and family (and the milkman, for that matter) can register with uPromise to have their rebates applied to your account, for the future benefit of your child.

See the FrequentFlier.com website for a feature-length article on uPromise.

> More...

New: Dividend Miles Online Rewards
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US Airways' new Online Rewards program allows Dividend Miles members to earn miles for shopping at 70-plus online retailers, including Amazon.com, Sharperimage.com, Allpets.com, and Babyuniverse.com. In most cases, you earn 1 mile for every $1 spent.

After registering at http://www.dividendmilesshopping.com, members can either click through the Dividend Miles shopping mall directly to a participating e-retailer, or activate the optional Dividend Miles Bonus Bar (currently available to Internet Explorer users only).

Starwood Offers "Free Weekends Worldwide"
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Members of Starwood's Preferred Guest program who use their American Express cards to charge 5 nights at participating Starwood hotels earn 2 free Friday-night stays. Charge a second 5 nights to earn 2 free Saturday-night stays. So by charging 10 nights, you'll earn 2 free weekend (Fri/Sat) stays.

The earning period is May 1 through Aug. 31, 2001, and free nights can be taken from June 1 through Sep. 29, 2001.

Register here.

Midway Partners with WorldPerks, OnePass
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On May 1, Midway Airlines becomes a partner in both Northwest's WorldPerks and Continental's OnePass programs.

Members of either program can begin earning miles for Midway flights from the start date, but will have to wait until June 1 to redeem miles for award flights on Midway.

Midway operates 274 flights per day to/from its Raleigh-Durham hub.

Southwest Extends Double Credit Offer
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Southwest, which already books 36% of its business on its own website, wants to further increase online bookings.

To that end, Southwest has extended its online booking bonus, awarding Rapid Rewards members double credit for ticket purchases at http://southwest.com. Offer applies to tickets purchased and flown by Dec. 31, 2001.

Bonus AAdvantage Miles for Boston Flights
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AAdvantage members who fly between Boston and either Austin or Baltimore, May 1 through July 31, 2001, earn double miles for each segment.

To register, use promo code AUSDB for Austin flights and RJBWI for Baltimore flights. Offers are restricted to U.S./Canadian members.

Amex Severs TWA Ties
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Here's the announcement from Amex detailing the much anticipated end of TWA's participation in Membership Rewards:

"As of midnight EDT on July 3, 2001, TWA will no longer participate in the MEMBERSHIP REWARDS program due to its transaction with American Airlines. This means that you may continue to redeem MEMBERSHIP REWARDS points for miles in the TWA Aviators(R) Program through July 3, 2001.

"After July 3rd, you can still redeem MEMBERSHIP REWARDS points for travel on 24 participating airlines that fly to hundreds of locations around the world, as well as for hotel stays, retail merchandise, shopping and recreation gift certificates, and charity rewards."

[Thanks to DJHerm for posting this on the Forum.]

MWE Promotes Big Easy with Big Miles
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Midwest Express is offering double miles for its newly launched New Orleans flights between Apr. 23 and Aug. 31, 2001.

And on the award side, also through Aug. 31, Frequent Flyer members can redeem 25,000 miles for 2 award tickets to New Orleans from either Kansas City or Milwaukee. Both passengers must travel together, on the same itinerary. Use promo code MSY01 when booking.

> More...

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...

United's Internet Sale: Domestic and Int'l Fares from $75 R/T
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In celebration of its 75th anniversary, United has released sale fares for domestic and international travel. Purchase tickets online only and no later than Friday, May 4.

> More...

Savings on Spring Travel to Europe from $298 R/T
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Several airlines, including American, Continental, Lufthansa, Air France, and Icelandair, are offering sale fares to Europe for travel this spring, starting at $308 on American and $298 on Icelandair.

> More...

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

Air France, Alitalia to Ally?
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In the next few days, look for definitive confirmation (or not) of an alliance between Air France and Alitalia.

According to persistent rumors, the partnership would include code-share flights and reciprocal investments. Although the subject hasn't been broached, the get-together would also pave the way for Alitalia's inclusion in the Delta-led SkyTeam global alliance.

Cancelled: iVillage Travel Newsletter
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iVillage, the online publishing venture targeting women, sent out its travel newsletter last week with the subject header: "Happy Trails! The Final Issue of Travel on iVillage.com."

It was a newsletter which consistently failed to live up to my expectations, never evolving much beyond an e-mail advertisement for the iVillage website. Still, in this period of endangered content producers, it's sad to lose anyone, even an underperformer.

Until next week...