Issue #91 -- April 27, 2000
** CONTENTS **
Marriott Expands Elite Benefits ~ Delta Auctions SkyMiles Awards ~ US Airways Offers E-mail Option ~ Virgin, Air Jamaica Link Programs ~ Reclaim Expired Flying Club Miles ~ Canadian Severs Ties with Amex ~ Deal Alert from SmarterLiving.com ~ Study Ranks Airline Reputations ~ Choose the Best Luggage ~ Frequent Flyer Data ~ Spirit Baggage Blues ~ True (Funny) Travel Stories ~ Virgin.net "Resort Finder"
<< M I L E S >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Marriott Expands Elite Benefits
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Marriott Rewards announced today the addition of new elite levels of membership, designed to offer its most frequent travelers exclusive benefits and perks at 1,800 Marriott hotels worldwide.
Effective June 1, 2000, members will earn equal credit toward elite membership levels for each night spent at any Marriott Rewards participating hotel, including:
* Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites
* Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites
* Courtyard by Marriott
* Fairfield Inn by Marriott
* SpringHill Suites by Marriott
* Residence Inn by Marriott
* TownePlace Suites by Marriott
* Marriott Conference Centers
* Marriott Vacation Club International
Qualification for the new 3-tier elite program is based on paid room nights during a calendar year, as follows:
* 15 Nights - Silver level membership and benefits
* 50 Nights - Gold level membership and benefits
* 75 Nights - Platinum level membership and benefits
The new elite scheme replaces the Club Marquis, Courtyard Club and Fairfield INNsiders Club programs, previously found only at Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites, Courtyard and Fairfield Inn, respectively. Members of any or all of the discontinued programs will automatically receive elite status and benefits at the same or higher level than previously experienced.
>> More <<
Marriott
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Delta Auctions SkyMiles Awards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SkyMiles members can bid miles to receive any of a number of package tours, ranging from a flight in a Soviet test jet in Star City, Russia (minimum bid: 250,000 miles) to a tour of the Korbel winery in Sonoma, California (minimum bid: 75,000 miles).
To bid, you have 4 options: (1) inflight, dial *-B-I-D toll free via Airfone; or (2) call toll free 1-877-BID-MILES (1-877-243-6453); or (3) complete a form and fax it to 1-877-243-2266; or (4) e-mail your bid to delta.bids@delta-air.com. All bids must be received by midnight on Sunday, June 11, 2000.
>> More <<
Delta
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
US Airways Offers E-mail Option
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
US Airways Dividend Miles members now can sign-up online to receive monthly Dividend Miles statements and special offers from US Airways and its Dividend Miles partners via e-mail.
If saving trees isn't incentive enough, members who sign up by June 30, 2000 to receive their statements by e-mail will receive a special one-time 500-mile bonus.
To begin using the new e-mail service and receive the 500-mile bonus, members must log onto their Dividend Miles account at usairways.com.
>> More <<
US Airways
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Virgin, Air Jamaica Link Programs
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Beginning May 1, 2000, members of Virgin's Flying Club program can earn and redeem miles on Air Jamaica. And members of Air Jamaica's 7th Heaven program can earn and redeem miles on Virgin Atlantic flights.
To promote the new partnership, Air Jamaica is offering double miles to all Virgin Flying Club members on all Air Jamaica flights between May 20 - July 20, 2000. In addition, every time passengers take a return trip on Air Jamaica during this period, they will be entered in a prize drawing to win 1 of 4 vacations packages to Jamaica and Grenada. Winners will receive a trip for 2 to either Round Hill Hotel and Villas in Jamaica or Rex Grenadian in Grenada, with roundtrip airfare on Air Jamaica.
>> More <<
o Air Jamaica
o Virgin
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Reclaim Expired Flying Club Miles
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you're a member of Virgin's program with miles that expired during 1999...
Purchase an Upper Class or Premium Economy ticket and travel between April 1, 2000, and June 30, 2000, and your expired 1999 miles will automatically be re-credited to your Flying Club account. Re-credited miles will be valid through March 31, 2001.
All travel must be completed by June 30, 2000. One-way bookings are allowed.
>> More <<
Virgin
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Canadian Severs Ties with Amex
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Effective April 24, Canadian Plus members can no longer import Amex Membership Rewards points into their Canadian accounts.
Award travel already booked and ticketed is not affected.
>> More <<
Canadian
<< S T E A L S & D E A L S >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Deal Alert from SmarterLiving.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Two hot deals from SmarterLiving.com...
>> American offers Caribbean Sale Fares from $269 R/T
American Airlines is offering sale fares to the Caribbean, with round-trip fares starting at $269. Departure travel is valid through June 12. All return travel must be completed by June 15. Tickets must be purchased by May 8.
AAdvantage members can also earn double miles with these flights.
For more details, go here.
>> Sun Country's Spring Fever Sale
Sun Country has put travel between Minneapolis and 17 different cities on sale, with all round-trip fares starting at $125. Travel is valid between May 1 and June 8.
For more details, go here.
<< T R A V E L O N L I N E >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Study Ranks Airline Reputations
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
By measuring the attitudes of over 20,000 consumers, the Airline Reputation Quotient (RQ) study rates domestic and foreign airlines on issues ranging from safety and trust to customer service and food. The RQ study was designed and conducted by the Reputation Institute, a private research organization dedicated to advancing knowledge about corporate reputations, and Harris Interactive, a global Internet research firm.
Using Harris Interactive's database of online respondents, 20,867 U.S. adults were asked to rate 25 airlines on over 20 items. According to their RQs, the top-ranked domestic and foreign airlines are:
1 Southwest Airlines 75.0
2 Delta Airlines 70.0
3 AMR Corp. (American) 69.5
4 UAL Corp. (United) 67.2
5 Continental Airline 66.0
6 Northwest Airlines 65.9
7 America West Holdings 64.8
8 Trans World Airlines (TWA) 63.3
9 US Airways Group 62.9
10 Alaska Air Group 61.6
Foreign Airlines RQ
1 Singapore Airlines 80.3
2 Deutsche Lufthansa 74.7
3 Scandinavian Airlines System 74.4
4 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 74.1
5 Qantas Airways Limited 73.1
6 British Airways 72.5
7 Virgin Atlantic Airways 72.3
8 SAirGroup (SwissAir) 72.0
9 Japan Airlines Company (JAL) 69.6
10 Air Canada 68.8
11 All Nippon Airways Co. 67.6
12 Societe Air France 65.9
13 Alitalia 64.5
14 Iberia 60.3
15 Korean Air Lines 54.5
<< B U S I N E S S T R A V E L T I P S >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What to Bring and How to Bring It
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The following is part of a continuing series of business travel tips from Chris McGinnis's "The Unofficial Business Traveler's Pocket Guide--165 Tips Even the Best Business Travelers May Not Know."
>> Choose the Best Clothing
o The key word is black. It is classic and works well in almost every situation. Just don't forget your lint brush.
o Bring clothes that you can mix and match. If embarking on a longer, two- or three-suit trip, try to bring all outfits with the same general color scheme. Blacks, grays and khakis work well. Don't bring anything that you can't mix and match.
o Although hotel valet and laundry services are expensive, they're well worth it if you don't haul around more clothes than you need.
o These days, business travelers have two options when it comes to raincoats: the traditional water-repellent, all-cotton trench coat styles or the new and increasingly popular anorak styles made of polyester microfiber. Microfiber coats are more water-repellent and lighter and they don't wrinkle. London Fog's "Packable Traveler" runs from $119 to $129.
Chris McGinnis
Travel Skills Group
http://www.travelskills.com
<< R E A D E R R A N T S & R A V E S >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Frequent Flyer Data
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tim:
We received United's results today, as follows:
1999 Mileage Plus Awards
United award tickets 2,240,336
Mileage upgrade awards 362,123
Partner airline tickets 811,105
TOTAL 3,413,564
May I suggest that you put these statistics from the various airlines on your website, and attempt to make some sort of airline-by-airline comparison, and to correlate FF seats with total seats. That might be a big factor in choosing ones primary FF plan.
As always, thanks for all the great info!
- Stephen
[Editor's note - As usual, Stephen makes a good point. Unfortunately, the comparison he wants, and which we would be happy to provide, won't be meaningful until the airlines agree on a common set of reporting metrics. As I noted in my reply to Stephen, the airlines have chosen to report so many different and incompatible measures of frequent flyer program performance that it's tempting to suspect they have conspired to prevent consumers from making apples-to-apples comparisons. For more on this issue, see the article on the site at http://frequentflier.com/ff032200.htm]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Spirit Baggage Blues
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On a trip from NYC to WPB I was forced to check a carry on bag (that fit very nicely into the overhead on the return trip, as I knew it would, it having been many places in many planes). The trained apes managed to destroy the bag, damaging one of the wheels irreparably. It was reported to the baggage claims dept. immediately on retrieval from the carousel & I was given a form to fill out and told to obtain an estimate for repair and send it in. After much travelling around to luggage stores I found a place that didn't charge a exorbitant fee merely to look at the bag and ship it out for an estimate and repair. The form and estimate was submitted. In return I received a form letter stating that the claim had to be made within 4 hours of arrival (it was) & that damage to wheels, etc was excluded; I should read the contract of carriage printed somewhere (I still don't know where & apparently the baggage claims dept. @ WPB doesn't know about it either). I complained about this response by letter to the president of the airline (SPIRIT - remember that name)with a copy to the VP in charge of customer relations. In answer to my second letter comes another moronic response that the claim had to be made within 4 hours of arrival (again, it was) & that damage to wheels, etc was excluded and that I should have read the contract of carriage printed somewhere. I'm leaving out the part about the 5+ hour delay in 20-30 minute increments at the WPB airport for the return trip & the promised $50 voucher by the gate agent for every one that never arrived (Not that I think I would ever use it).
- Jerry
<< F R E Q U E N T F L I E R F U N N I E S >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
True (Funny) Travel Stories
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A travel agent got a call from an irate customer who didn't like his seat assignment. He continued to complain, and ended up saying, "Besides, the flight's almost empty!" After a pause, the agent asked, "Sir, are you onboard?" "Yes," he replied, "I am calling you on the Airphone," sounding even more annoyed. Thinking quickly, the agent asked, "Sir, do you see an open seat that you like better?" When the customer replied that there was an open exit row aisle seat at 19C, she told him, "Just go ahead and take that seat. I'll make the change for you in the computer right now!"
[FrequentFlier Funnies are true stories told by pilots, reservations agents and other travel industry professionals, from William Joric's "Air Sick Humor." The book can be purchased at the FrequentFlier Bookstore at http://frequentflier.com/ffp-books.htm]
<< S I T E 2 S E E >>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Virgin.net "Resort Finder"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you're thinking "resort" for an upcoming getaway, here's an online guidebook which is light on fluff and heavy on critical evaluation.
It's the "Resort Finder" section of Virgin.net (part of the Richard Branson network, but separate and distinct from the Virgin Atlantic airline website), produced by the OAG group. Promising "The raw facts on 11,000 places to stay in over 650 resorts," it delivers uncompromising reviews of many of the world's more (and less) popular leisure destinations.
>> More <<
Virgin.net
Until next week...
|
