Issue #94  --  May 18, 2000

<< U P F R O N T >>

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The "Washington Post" Wants YOUR Story
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In last week's Crier, we provided readers an opportunity to contribute their stories to an upcoming Washington Post article on ways to earn miles. The response was good, and since there's still time we're posting the query again:

Hi, we are doing a piece at the Washington Post travel section on unusual ways to collect frequent flyer miles (Yes, the pudding man is our hero!).

Just wondering if you have any ideas that go beyond credit cards, car rentals and such.

Andrea
Washington Post
sachsa@washpost.com

Again, if you have a story that fits the bill, send it directly to Andrea at the above e-mail address, and include a phone number in case she has any follow-up questions.

<< M I L E S >>

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More British Airways Rumors
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Also in last week's Crier, we reported on a rumor to the effect that British Airways was contemplating joining the Delta-Air France global alliance.

This week's rumor: according to the Daily Mail, British Air is in discussions with KLM regarding a possible merger or alliance.

What is common to both rumors is BA's abandonment of the Oneworld alliance, of which they and American are founding partners. If true, this would amount to a significant change in the alliance landscape, and would be a blow to customers who have made Oneworld their preferred airline group.

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Three Roundtrips = 20,000 Bonus Dividend Miles
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Fly 3 full-fare coach class, first class or transatlantic Envoy class roundtrips that include a connection and earn 20,000 Dividend Miles through July 31, 2000.

Under this special promotion, upon registration, customers are eligible to earn 4,000 bonus miles for the first connecting roundtrip, an additional 6,000 bonus miles for the second such trip, and a 10,000-mile bonus upon completion of the third roundtrip.

With 20,000 Dividend Miles, US Airways customers can redeem a roundtrip coach class award for off-peak travel (Sept. 15 through Feb. 28) in the continental U.S. and Canada, with one Saturday night stay required. Bonuses will be posted within two weeks upon completion of each roundtrip. More than 1 award can be earned under this promotion.

Customers must register for this offer once prior to the first qualifying departure. To register, visit usairways.com or call 1-800-872-4738 and select Bonus Request Number 2239.

>> More <<
US Airways

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Double AAdvantage Miles for Swissair, Sabena Flights
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Fly Swissair, Sabena or codeshare partner, American Airlines transatlantic between May 31 and August 31, 2000, and earn double miles in the AAdvantage program.

Bonus is for full fare tickets on transatlantic flights operated by Swissair or Sabena. To qualify, AAdvantage members must register prior to travel by calling AAdvantage at 1-800-882-8880 and following the prompts: press 1, followed by #, then *(star) 26, then promotion code SRDBL.

Swissair flies transatlantic from the following U.S. gateways: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas (as of June 1) Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Sabena flies transatlantic from the following U.S. gateways: Atlanta (until August 5), Boston, Chicago, Dallas (as of August 6), Newark, New York and Washington D.C.

>> more <<
American

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WorldPerks Bonus for New Northwest Flights
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Northwest passengers can earn 2,000 WorldPerks Bonus Miles roundtrip by flying on Northwest's new daily nonstop service between Memphis, Tenn., and Charlotte, N.C.; Mobile, Ala.; Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; San Diego, Calif.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Des Moines, Iowa, between June 1 and August 31, 2000.

Northwest will inaugurate daily nonstop jet service between Memphis and Charlotte, Greenville/Spartanburg, Des Moines and San Diego beginning June 1. Jet service between Memphis and Mobile will commence July 1, 2000. And new service to Tallahassee will begin July 17 with WorldPerks Bonus Miles being offered through October 17, 2000.

To take advantage of the 2,000 WorldPerks bonus miles, members must register for the promotion at least seven days before travel and no later than August 24, 2000. To register, customers can call 800-508-2000 and enter registration number 1407* or visit http://www.nwa.com/features/newmemphis.shtml on the web. To register for the Tallahassee promotion, use registration number 2849 or visit http://www.nwa.com/cgi-bin/mem-tlh.cgi.

>> More <<
Northwest

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Bonus for Carlsbad, San Luis Obispo Flights
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America West is offering bonus miles for flights between Phoenix and San Luis Obispo, Calif., and between Phoenix and Carlsbad, Calif.

Travelers will earn 3,000 FlightFund miles with one roundtrip ticket on these segments of their itinerary. The triple mile bonus applies to tickets purchased by and travel completed by Sept. 30, 2000.

America West Express, operated by Mesa Airlines, has been providing service between Phoenix and San Luis Obispo and Carlsbad since April 4, 1999. America West currently provides 2 roundtrip nonstop flights a day between Phoenix and San Luis Obispo and 4 roundtrip flights a day between Phoenix and Carlsbad.

>> More <<
America West

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JAL 2001 Bonus
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Fly Japan Airlines one or more times this year and you'll earn a 21% JMB mileage bonus for all JAL flights taken next year.

To receive the bonus, you must register for the promotion by calling the JAL Mileage Bank service center at 1-800-JAL-MILE and citing promotion code 21A.

>> More <<
Japan Airlines

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Canadian Plus Changes Partners
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In the aftermath of Air Canada's acquisition of Canadian Airlines, the Canadian Plus program is being brought gradually into alignment with Aeroplan, resulting in a wholesale revamping of the Canadian Plus partner roster.

>> New Partners
Canadian Plus adds 3 new airlines: Air New Zealand (from May 1), British Midland (from June 1), and Ansett (from July 4).

>> Departing Partners
Here are the airlines which will no longer be participants in Canada Plus, with the effect dates of the changes:

                 Last Date              Award Travel
Partner         to Earn Miles           Completed By

British Air         5/31/2000              5/31/2001
Iberia              5/31/2000              5/31/2001
El Al               5/31/2000              5/31/2001
Qantas               7/3/2000               7/2/2001
Cathay Pacific       7/3/2000               7/2/2001
Lan Chile           7/31/2000              7/31/2001
Alaska Air          8/19/2000              8/18/2001
Finnair             8/18/2000              8/18/2001
Air Pacific         8/31/2000              8/31/2001
Japan Airlines       9/4/2000               9/3/2001

Also, after May 31, travel on Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Qantas will no longer count toward elite status in Canada Plus, due to Canadian Airlines' departure from the Oneworld alliance.

>> More <<
Canadian Airlines

<< S T E A L S & D E A L S >>

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Deal Alert from SmarterLiving.com
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Two hot deals from SmarterLiving.com...

>> Online Summer Sale from Delta

Delta Air Lines is offering sale fares from 27 departure cities starting at $64 round-trip. All travel must be completed by September 28. Fares are available online only and must be purchased by Thursday, May 25.

Tickets must be purchased at least 7 days in advance of travel. Blackout dates include September 1 and 5. One-way travel is available. Note that some travel
dates may not be available in some markets. Additional restrictions may apply.

For more details, go here.

>> Travel Between the East Coast and Los Angeles on Sale

America West is discounting travel between the East Coast and Los Angeles, with round-trip fares starting at $198. Travel is valid between May 22 and August 8. Fares are available online only and must be purchased by midnight CT on Sunday, May 28.

For more details, go here.

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Delta Rewards Biz-Class Pax with Palm VII's
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Delta is giving free Palm VII handhelds to U.S. customers who purchase their transoceanic BusinessElite or BusinessElite U.S. tickets online at the airline's Web site. (The VII is the high-end model of the popular PDA which offers wireless access to the Internet.)

To participate in this special online promotion, customers must purchase their tickets between May 15 and May 26, 2000. All travel must be completed by August 31, 2000. There is a limit of 1 Palm VII per customer. Complete terms and conditions are located at the airline's website.

>> More <<
The Delta Palm VII application can be downloaded here.

<< B U S I N E S S T R A V E L T I P S >>

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What to Bring and How to Bring It
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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."

>> Little Things Count

o Pack shoes in plastic bags to avoid soiling your clothes. (Use the ones supplied by hotel laundry services.)

o Two axioms to remember: "If you have to check it, don't bring it," and "Bring half as many clothes and twice as much money."

o Keep a roll of Scotch tape in your bag at all times. It can be used to quickly mend hems, seal bottles, or remove lint from those black outfits. Also, carry a prepacked travel sewing kit that includes a needle, thread, and a few buttons.

o If you are in a mad rush for the airport, don't fret about whether or not you have packed everything you could conceivably need. Remember that you can buy just about anything you may need at your destination.

o If there's no way you can carry on a valuable item, consider purchasing excess valuation insurance when you check your bags. It costs about $1 per $100 in declared value.

o Remove or secure the hook on your hang-up bag or any other handle or appendage that could get caught or snagged in the airline baggage-handling systems.

Chris McGinnis
Travel Skills Group
http://www.travelskills.com

<< I N D U S T R Y U P D A T E >>

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Delta Increases Luggage Space
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Following a similar move by Continental last year, Delta will increase overhead bin storage space in 80% of its fleet.

Overhead bin extensions are being installed in Delta's entire fleet of B-757 and MD-88 aircraft. Approximately 240 aircraft will receive the bin extensions. Installation has been completed on about 10 percent of the aircraft, with the remainder to be added within one year.

With the modification, Delta's B-757s will hold up to 4 22-inch roller bags, whereas the original bins only held two of the bags placed lengthwise. Modified MD-88's will hold 3 bags, whereas the original bin configuration only held 2.

<< R E A D E R R A N T S & R A V E S >>

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DFW Rental Car Facility #1
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I wrote a rant about a horrid experience at the new DFW rental car facility. Kevin Hutchens of Budget wrote a reply. Since Budget is my preferred rental company and the company I used that day, I took the opportunity to have a series of e-mails off-line with him.

As that e-mail correspondence comes to a close, I would like to give Kevin and Budget a tip-of-the-hat for taking the time to participate here and for addressing my concerns. As he noted in the response that was published, many of the problems I experienced were due to problems with the company which is providing bus service. The people at DFW were aware of that problem and many of the other issues I raised.

Six and a half miles is a long way to travel for a car rental, but if Kevin is any indication, the leadership is focused onto finding ways to make the new facility work, from new signs to new maps and many other infrastructure issues.

My basic warning still holds - until the bus vendor gets much better than they were on my last visit, travelers should allocate extra time for the process, both coming and going. In some number of months the new signs, better traffic control, and other changes should begin to pay rewards.

However, my main point in this e-mail is to give the praise due to Kevin Hutchens and Budget - for their participation in this forum, respecting us
enough to respond, taking the time to detail a number of issues with me in a back-and-forth exchange, and being constructive rather than defensive.

If only the airlines would take the same approach to our rants and comments as Budget has in this case.

 - Jay

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DFW Rental Car Facility #2
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Kevin Hutchens' letter in the May 11 FrequentFlier Crier, which defends the new rental car facility at DFW, insults your readers' intelligence. He states that:

   The two-story design of the structure eliminates rental/return
   cross traffic. Customers no longer have to wait for passengers
   to exit the bus before they can board.

No, now customers have to wait for passengers to exit the bus, wait for the bus to drive to a different level, and only _then_ can they board.

If this a "highlight" of the new facility, I'm curious what Mr. Hutchens considers to be a drawback!

 - Jol

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MCI Promotion Woes
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I wanted to give you this information regarding my experience with the 25,000 AAdvantage bonus offered last Fall by MCIWorldcom.

I switched from Sprint to MCI as my long-distance carrier last September when I had the telemarketer confirm with his supervisor that I could receive the 25,000 mile bonus for switching. After 2 MCI Worldcom Customer Service web contacts & 5+ phone contacts where I received a number of different stories, my request was denied & I was given only 10,000 miles @ 1,000/month (not yet completed). I noticed that the MCI customer service reps often recorded my complaint but not their promised solutions.

The best MCI could do was apologize to me & agree that telemarketers have been fired in the past for "giving false information" but that "since it had been so long" they couldn't even track down who had given me the false information. MCI would NOT take responsibility for what someone promised on their behalf.

They also went on about how their Special Partners team denied a request to amend my miles & that their agreements with the airlines prevented them from fixing the situation "since that deal wasn't even available" in my state.

Apparently, now when offered a mileage bonus, you should request an immediate email signed in blood by the person who gave the offer, along with signatures from their supervisor, along with being knowledgeable enough to know what details to ask about (is this available in my state?) & THEN, be prepared to receive only an apology if any of the information is false.

Of course, I'd already switched & been a customer the whole time I was trying to resolve this. I'll switch to another carrier as well as complain to the FCC & BBB, but somehow that's not as satisfying as the miles I'd been trying to save up for our trip to Asia to adopt.

Thank you,
 - Loretta

PS I always enjoy your newsletter!

<< F R E Q U E N T F L I E R F U N N I E S >>

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True (Funny) Travel Stories
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A lady was told that on her flight from Orange County to Oklahoma City that she would have to change in Dallas Fort Worth... called Reservations back and asked why she had to change her clothes in Dallas.

[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]

Until next week...