U P F R O N T
SkyTeam On Verge of Major Expansion?
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Reuters is reporting that KLM is close to a tie-up with Air France. That, together with the recent 3-way partnership linking Continental, Delta and Northwest, sets the stage for a quantum leap forward by the SkyTeam global alliance.
SkyTeam -- which is co-anchored by Delta and Air France -- has been a perennial also-ran compared with the Star and oneworld alliances. But a SkyTeam with the addition of Continental, Northwest and KLM... that would be an alliance worthy of the name.
From the Chicago Trib: "United's Rhapsody of Blues"
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The Chicago Tribune has brought the full force of its journalistic resources to bear on the saga of its hometown airline, United.
United's undoing is not the story of 9/11 and a weak economy, the Trib argues. Rather, "United's downfall is a chronicle of self-interest, self-delusion and self-inflicted wounds."
This is a 4-part series fleshed out with multimedia, timelines, old posters, charts, graphs and a message board. Highly recommended.
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Airlines' Q2 Financials
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American kicked off the airline earning reports by announcing a loss for the 2nd quarter (Apr. - June) of $357. Bad as that is, it's a giant step forward from the $495 million loss for the year-ago quarter.
Look for a full quarterly results summary in next week's Crier.
M I L E S & P O I N T S
American, Others Match United's Fly-1/Get-1-Free
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United's buy-1/get-1-free offer, as reported last week, has been matched by American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and US Airways.
To recap, United is offering Mileage Plus members 1 free coach ticket for every United international first or business-class roundtrip taken between July 9 and Sept. 14.
The freebie is valid for international roundtrip coach travel on United or any of its Star Alliance airline partners. Award tickets are transferable and must be used between Sept. 15, 2003 and Mar. 31, 2004. There's no limit to the number of free tickets that can be earned. Registration is required.
While the offers are essentially identical on the qualifying end, there are differences on the award side that clearly increase the value of some promotions over others. Specifically, whereas the free ticket in United's promo may be issued for travel on any Star Alliance airline, award tickets in some other offers are for travel only on the airline hosting the promo.
Here's a summary:
So, the free tickets in United's offer -- which allows travel to virtually anywhere in the world through the Star Alliance carriers -- or in American's, for travel on any AAdvantage partner, clearly have more potential value than, say, the Delta freebie, which is restricted to travel on Delta's relatively limited overseas network.
Caveat emptor.
Up to 10,000 AAdvantage Miles for Chicago-London
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AAdvantage members who fly roundtrip between Chicago and London between July 14 and Sept. 30 will earn 10,000 miles for first class and 5,000 bonus miles for business class travel.
This is a 1-time bonus and applies exclusively to flight numbers 66, 67, 90 or 99.
Registration is required, at http://www.aa.com/offers or by calling 1-800-882-8880, promotion code ORDGB.
AT&T Offers 10,000 Airline Miles for Wireless
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AT&T is offering 10,000 miles in the programs of Alaska, American, Continental or Delta for newly activated wireless accounts worth $59.99 per month or more. And customers who commit to a 2-year contract will earn 1 mile for every $1 in monthly phone charges.
Offer is in effect through the end of Sept.
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MileSpree Folds Its Tent
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MileSpree -- an online miles-for-buying program which once boasted "the fastest free travel on the net" -- is a goner.
On the MileSpree website today, the puffery has been replaced with this:
"MileSpree is no longer offering the opportunity to earn Reward miles. If you have 25,000 or more valid miles in your account as of midnight, July 7, 2003 you can redeem them for a free ticket between now and midnight August 7, 2003.
"After that date no redemption requests will be honored.
"If you have less than 25,000 valid miles in your account as of midnight July 7, 2003 we regret that no awards are available."
If you have a MileSpree account with more than 25,000 miles in it, bear in mind the Aug. 7 deadline for redemption.
Shangri La Offers Free Nights
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Through Aug. 31, members of China Southern's Sky Pearl program will earn 1 free night after every 3 nights at the same Shangri La or Traders hotel in China.
In addition, members holding a China Southern boarding pass will receive a 40% discount on room rates and free daily breakfast.
> 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...
Fall sale fares to Hawaii starting at $289
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Now's a good time to book a fall vacation to Hawaii, particularly if you live on the West Coast, with sale fares from Aloha and Hawaiian starting at $289 roundtrip.
Hawaiian's fares are only for nonstop flights to Honolulu, while you can fly to Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai, Kona, or Maui/Kahului on Aloha. The sale fares are available from major cities in California, as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and Vancouver, Canada.
> More...
Fall airfares to Ireland from $328
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Start planning your fall trip to the Emerald Isle now with Aer Lingus' sale fares. At the listed prices, you can depart from Sept. 1 through Oct. 15, and stay for up to 6 months. No advance purchase is required. However, we found that if you depart after Oct. 15, fares are as low as $328 roundtrip.
Aer Lingus' advertised sale fares are the lowest available for fall travel if you're flying from Chicago or Los Angeles to Dublin. For trips from other cities that begin after Oct. 15, you can find fares on US Airways and Aer Lingus that are $70 lower.
> More...
S W E E P S & F R E E B I E S
To Win Avis Contest, Try Harder
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In this section, we normally feature sweepstakes rather than contests. In the former, winners are picked at random; in the latter, you win by actually doing something better than other entrants.
To win the Avis "Who Tries Harder?" contest, submit a story describing a situation in which an Avis employee "tried harder." (This is the 40th anniversary of the "We Try Harder" tagline.) Entries must be 200 words or less and received by Sept. 2.
Grand prize is a full year's use of a Chevy Trailblazer. You could also win 1 of 40 weeklong car rentals.
> More...
R E A D E R R A N T S & R A V E S
This Week's E-Mail Bag
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"As you can see from this link, MileSpree has discontinued redemption of its reward program.
"Initially, several years ago when I started with the program, all you had to do was visit web sites to accumulate up to 25,000 'miles' to redeem for a free airline ticket - any airline, anywhere in the US. About a year ago, they changed the rules to 7,000 'click miles' and the remaining 'miles' needing to be earned from purchases. Sometime within the past two weeks they discontinued the program with no email warning (I had about 22,000 'miles').
"Seems to me there were probably a number of other people in the same predicament, with no recourse and hours of time spent online accumulated 'click miles.'"
- Pam
In reference to last week's report on Northwest's mileage-transfer program: "This is not a very good deal, since one figures that miles are worth an average of only two cents a mile. I'd say it's only worthwhile if you have miles that the donor has to get rid of because they are going to expire, or the donee only needs a relatively low number of miles."
- Howard
Until next week...
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