American Devalues Miles with New Expiration Rule

As, presumably, did millions of other AAdvantage members, I received an email on Saturday notifying me that American will slash by half the period during which program members must have activity in order to keep their miles alive.

Under the new policy, beginning December 15, 2007, program members with no activity during the preceding 18 months will lose all their accumulated miles.

When Delta and United changed their mileage expiration policies, it was a worrisome industry trend. American's move makes it official, and represents a new milestone in the ongoing degradation of travel rewards programs.

It's another in the programs' slow death by a thousand cuts.

American is the world's largest airline and the operator of the world's largest mileage program. More importantly, American has been a leader in loyalty marketing through the years. So it's especially disappointing that they followed other carriers in putting their balance sheet ahead of the interests of their best customers.

And the company's decision to announce the change on a Saturday -- in effect burying the bad news -- just added insult to injury.

No wonder the announcement was signed with a generic "AAdvantage Marketing Programs." Who wants to be the bearer of bad news, badly communicated?

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, ronald checks in with a slew of new offers from Northwest, including a 1,000-mile bonus for requesting a loan quote from LendingTree.

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, maverick83617 is looking for elite upgrades on overseas flights: "It seems only domestic award tickets are available for elite upgrades. Is there any airline where the upgrades for elite status are available for international flights as well as domestic flights?"

Questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

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Alaska Discounts Awards

Between June 1 and August 28, Mileage Plan members can book coach-class award travel on selected routes for fewer miles -- 15,000 miles instead of the normal 20,000 for roundtrips, 7,500 miles instead of the normal 10,000 for one ways. (See Alaska's website for eligible routes.)

Award bookings must be made online to qualify for the discount.

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Alaska Increases Price for Phone Bookings

Effective August 1, Mileage Plan members will shell out 25,000 miles for domestic coach awards if they're booked by phone. The 20,000-mile price for awards booked online remains in effect.

Since award itineraries which include a stopover can only be booked via the reservations center, travelers wishing to use those awards will automatically incur the increase -- ethically dubious, since they're being penalized for Alaska's failure to make stopovers available through its web-based booking application.

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Up to 40K Bonus Miles for AAdvantage Credit Cards

AAdvantage members who sign up for a new Citibank AAdvantage credit card between June 1 and September 30 can earn up to 40,000 bonus miles.

First, earn 20,000 bonus miles by charging at least $750 to the new card within the first four months.

Then, earn an additional 10,000 bonus miles by charging at least $10,000 during the first year.

And finally, earn 10,000 more miles by charging $10,000 during the second year.

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Delta Launches SkyMiles Online Auction

Lifting a page from Continental's playbook, Delta today launched its own auction site where SkyMiles members may bid their miles for merchandise, event tickets, and specialty travel packages.

There are a very limited number of items currently available for bidding, but that should change in time.

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United E-Upgrades No Longer Convert to Miles

Buried at the bottom of United's latest email to Mileage Plus members was the following terse note:

Mileage Plus program update
500-mile E-Upgrades expiring on or after June 1, 2007, will not be converted to miles.

This was news to us. Hopefully our subscribers are not reading about it here for the first time.

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More Miles for United Vacation Packages

Through October 31, Mileage Plus members can earn up to 20,000 bonus miles when booking United Vacations packages for travel to the U.S. and Canada.

Bonuses are as follows: 7,500 bonus miles for two packages; 12,500 bonus miles for three; and 20,000 for four or more.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Mexico Summer and Fall Fares from $238

Delta is offering Mexico sale fares for travel this summer and fall. Destinations include Los Cabos, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Mexico City.

Travel on most routes is valid through October 30. Book tickets by June 30. Fares require a Saturday-night stay, and the maximum stay is 30 days.

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2) Southwest Fares from $39 Each Way

Southwest has announced a new systemwide sale for travel starting in late July and running through early November. Fares start at $39 one-way or $78 round-trip, and destinations include Chicago, Orlando, New Orleans, and San Diego.

Travel is valid from July 31 through November 2. Book tickets by June 14.

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Win a Trip to Beverly Hills for 2

Through July 5, enter the Ponds "Fresh Start" sweepstakes for a chance to win a five-day/four-night vacation for two to Beverly Hills, including air, hotel accommodations, rental car, spa treatments, and a $2,000 Fred Segal shopping spree. Other prizes include local spa treatments.

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

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

We Stand Corrected

Last week, in response to a query from Beverly Z. regarding her AAdvantage miles, we advised that while she could redeem her miles to give award tickets to friends and family, she could not simply transfer her miles into their accounts.

As pointed out by several readers -- and as we should have known -- AAdvantage members can indeed transfer their miles into the accounts of other AAdvantage members, through American's shareAAmiles feature.

Along with buying miles and giving miles, this a revenue-generator for American. Which means it'll cost you: $50 to transfer 1,000-5,000 miles; $100 for 6,000-10,000 miles; and $150 for 11,000-15,000 miles. On top of that, there's a $30 "processing fee" and taxes.

A maximum of 60,000 miles per year may be transferred.

The costs involved make this a questionable deal at best. Unless there's a compelling reason not to, the better option would be to redeem miles for an award ticket issued in the name of the friend or family member.

Until next week...