Issue #102  --  July 13, 2000

<< O N S I T E >>

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New Alliance Article
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The second in a 3-part series of alliance articles is up in the "Articles" section of FrequentFlier.com.

If you're a regular international traveler, the benefits of sticking with a group of airlines working together under the umbrella of an alliance can be compelling. However, if your travel is mostly domestic, the benefits are few and far between.

>> More <<
Alliance Article

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

John wants to know why his application for a MilesOne credit card was declined. Traveler has a beef with E*Trade. Natalie is looking for "Lots and lots of free miles." Becky wants to earn miles for house payments. And Chris started an interesting thread regarding Priceline.

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

>> More <<
The FrequentFlier Forum

<< M I L E S >>

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Redeem Membership Rewards Points Online
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Members of the American Express Membership Rewards program can now redeem their Membership Rewards points online--day or night, seven days a week--at the Amex website.

The site also features a search function, allowing users to generate a list of awards which meet their requirements. Rewards can be searched by category (airline miles, vacation packages, merchandise, etc.) and point level.

Also this week, Amex launched Offer Zone, a new section on their website featuring special offers for Amex cardholders, ranging from free shipping and handling and savings of up to 20 percent, to gifts with purchase and bonus Membership Rewards Points. Merchants include Barnes & Noble.com, Dell, FTD.Com, gap.com, OfficeDepot.com and priceline.com.

>> More <<
American Express

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Cash In AAdvantage Miles for Polynesia Flights
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Effective July 25, AAdvantage members may redeem miles for travel on Air Tahiti Nui on the carrier's three weekly flights from Los Angeles to Papeete.

For now, this is a redemption-only relationship--i.e., mileage may be redeemed for travel but no mileage may be accrued by AAdvantage members while traveling on Air Tahiti Nui.

>> More <<
American

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Continental Adds Partner: Emirates
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Beginning August 1, 2000, OnePass members can earn a minimum of 500 miles or actual miles, whichever is greater, on Emirates, the international airline of the United Arab Emirates, serving over 50 destinations worldwide.

OnePass members also receive a 25% mileage bonus for flying business class and a 50% mileage bonus for flying first class.

Continental customers can connect to Emirates flights at common gateways in Europe including Manchester, London, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan and Rome. Connecting passengers can take advantage of one-stop check-in, which allows for seamless luggage transfer and for customers to receive seat assignments and boarding passes through to their final destination.

>> More <<
o Continental
o Emirates

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Delta Discounts Summer Travel Awards
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Having trouble finding award seats for summer travel?

Through October 1, 2000, Delta is lowering the number of SkyMiles required for award travel between Boston and Los Angeles. Which suggests there ARE award seats available--on this route, at least--even in the midst of the summer travel crush.

The discounted awards are as follows:

o For economy class: 20,000 (reduced from 25,000) Award Code D915
o For BusinessElite: 30,000 miles (reduced from 40,000) Award Code D925

>> More <<
Delta

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Bid Dividend Miles for Cruises
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Members of US Airways' Dividend Miles program can bid their miles in any of 3 different auctions, each offering a 10-day Renaissance Cruise for 2 in the South Pacific.

Minimum bids range from 100,000 to 200,000 miles, depending on the size and location of the cabin. All packages include 2 roundtrip first-class tickets on US Airways to Los Angeles, and 2 roundtrip business- or economy-class tickets on a charter airline from Los Angeles to Papeete, Tahiti.

At any time, you can check the highest current bids on the US Airways website.

>> More <<
US Airways

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Star Alliance Adds Partners
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British Midland and Mexicana Airlines joined the Star Alliance on July 1, bringing to 15 the number of airlines in the global network.

>> More <<
Star Alliance

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Mobile Access to NW Flight, Mileage Info
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Sprint and Northwest have teamed up to offer real-time access to Northwest's flight and WorldPerks member information via the Sprint PCS Wireless Web.

The data can be accessed within the Travel category of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web menu on the minibrowser of Sprint PCS Internet-ready phones.

>> More <<
o Northwest
o Sprint

<< 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...

>> Summer Fare War!

Delta has released a fare sale starting at $72 round-trip for travel completed by November 14. Tickets are available online only and must be purchased by Tuesday, July 18. Other airlines are also offering end-of-summer fare sales.

For more details, go here.

>> System-Wide Sale from Southwest

Southwest Airlines has released three fare sales, including round-trip travel from coast-to-coast starting at $198, to/from Florida starting at $78, and within California starting at $88.

For more details, go here.

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

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Traffic Up; Comfort, Awards Down
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Last week, the U.S. airlines reported their load factors for the month of June, and they were very high indeed.

Load factor is the percentage of seats occupied. And high load factors can be good or bad, depending on your perspective.

o If you're a passenger, it means you likely won't have the luxury of an empty seat next to you. Nor will there be room in the overhead bin for your bag.

o If you're a frequent flyer looking to redeem miles for an award ticket, high load factors are bad news, obviously, since fewer available seats overall means that award seats will be scarcer still.

o If you're a stockholder, higher load factors tend to correlate with higher revenue, profit and share price.

How high were June's load factors?

                                  Year
                         2000               1999
American                79.6%              73.8%
Continental             80.0%              76.0%
Delta                   80.7%              76.4%
Northwest               82.8%              79.7%
United                  79.9%              74.2%
US Airways              77.5%              74.5%

The above figures are systemwide averages. For transatlantic flights, the situation was worse (from a consumer standpoint): American's flights were running 91.0% full, Northwest's were 88.4%, and United's 86.9%. Latin America flights were better: American was at 67.8%, Delta at 69.9%, and United at 72.8%.

With the above in mind, and assuming that loads will continue heavy throughout the remaining summer months, if you are considering a July or August getaway using a frequent flyer award, Latin America looks like a better bet than either the U.S. or Europe.

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

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Getting to and from the Airport
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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."

>> By Car Services
Sometimes limo companies offer car services--a sedan-sized version of their usual stretch offering, also known as black-car service." Car services are most prevalent in New York City, but they are spreading to other cities. They represent a good value because they set a flat fee. Unexpected traffic delays can sometimes hike cab fares, which are usually based on an equation of distance traveled and time.

In 1997, car service companies in New York City charged a variety of different fares for a car. Depending on the stature of the company, the make and model of the car, and the time of year you plan to rent, prices range between $20 and $110 for a trip between the airport and the city. All companies charge their fee, plus standard $3 to $5 tolls. (Remember that we are talking about New York City here, so don't forget to tip the driver.)

To book a car service, ask your travel agent, or call from home before you leave.

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 >>

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Class Action Lawsuit Against American
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I am hoping you might have information on this recent settlement or know whom I contact regarding my participation in the class so that I may receive benefits which I believe I am entitled to from the recent settlement on this American Airlines suit over their previous practice of letting flyer miles expire after a certain number of years. I received some information in the mail from the attorneys handling this settlement, but unfortunately misplaced it.

I've been searching all over the web for this info and happened upon your site. You seemed like a terrific possible source for such info. I would appreciate any help you can offer.

Thank you,
 - Lona

           > ---------- reply ----------- <

Lona--

To participate in the class action, or to exclude yourself from the class, you can contact the attorneys for the plaintiffs, as follows:

  Gilbert Gordon
  Spencer Marks
  MARKS, MARKS & KAPLAN, LTD.
  120 N. LaSalle Street
  Suite 3200
  Chicago, IL 60602

  Michael Hyman
  MUCH SHELIST FREED DENENBERG AMENT & RUBENSTEIN, P.C.
  200 N. LaSalle Street
  Suite 2100
  Chicago, IL 60601

[Editor's note. We include the above dialogue because we've received similar queries from other Crier readers. And I have to assume that yet other readers have received materials related to the American class-action suit and thrown them away, thinking the envelope contained junk mail. You are potentially a member of the class represented by the suit if the following applies to you:

"All persons with a mailing address within the fifty United States and the District of Columbia or a Military Post Office Address, as shown in American's records, who meet all of the following criteria: a member of American's AAdvantage Program as of December 31, 1993 who (a) redeemed 25,000 AAdvantage Mileage Credits for a P50U award with any New Miles earned between January 1992 and December 1993; and/or (b) had between 4,700 and 24,999 New Miles in his or her account as of January 31, 1993 (excluding miles earned before January 1, 1992) and did not redeem such New Miles for any award.

"As used in the above Class definition and elsewhere in this Notice, "New Miles" means AAdvantage Mileage Credits received on or after July 1, 1989."

If the above describes you, and you didn't receive (or think you may have received and jettisoned) a Notice and Release, you may wish to contact one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.]

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MCI Rant (continued)
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I guess I can't resist adding my story to the growing archive of MCI horrors.

I had been given a certain rate for calls to Luxembourg and then was repeatedly billed more. Each month I had to call customer service when the bill came and get the cost adjusted. Of course no change was made to the billing, so this kept happening. The problem is that each time I phoned I was put on hold for a very long time.

That last time I was on hold, I turned on a baseball game as I made the call. I watched the entire game on hold. It ended in the 14th inning and shortly after that my call was finally picked up. I corrected the billing and, after making sure the correction was actually made, I changed my long distance carrier. Every time I get a phone call trying to persuade me to change back to MCI I explain that no bargain rate could ever compensate for the lack of customer service.

 - Toukan

           > ---------------------------- <

Adam (who got the huge and unjust MCI bill) and some others do have one option, at least concerning the money:
 
DO NOT PAY THE BILL!
 
Write to them and tell them what happened, that you do not owe it, and you will not pay it.
 
They may threaten you with "ruining" your credit rating. Tell them they risk legal action. Also, one negative entry does not spoil a good credit rating. Furthermore you can pull your record very cheaply, in several ways, and you can write a rebuttal to a negative entry.
 
Write a certified letter to the president of the company. Tell them what happened. Announce that you will not pay.
 
I have a small business and I regularly decline bills I do not owe. My credit record remains excellent. The bottom line is, no one has to pay an unjust bill!. Just say NO!
 
 - Steve

[Editor's note. This would probably be a good time to reiterate our "Rants & Raves" policy. Within the bounds of my own admittedly subjective sense of propriety, and space permitting, I try to include all reader comments, unedited and without fear or favoritism. Do be aware, however, that we neither necessarily agree with nor endorse our readers' comments and suggestions. It's a mixed bag--sometimes we agree, sometimes not. In particular, Steve's suggestion that dissatisfied customers not pay their bills caused me some discomfort. While I sympathize with the frustration he and others experience when customer service founders, I would stop short of suggesting a response which might result in litigation and other unpleasantness.]

<< 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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Reported comments to a reservations agent...

"My last flight with you people was 20 minutes late. Please indicate on my ticket that I want an on-time flight."

[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...