U P F R O N T

Alliance Chatter
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While regulatory hurdles remain to be overcome, the Air France-KLM link-up is finally set to move forward. Briefly, the 2 carriers, Europe's 2nd and 4th largest, will be merged under the ownership of a holding company, Air France-KLM, displacing British Air as Europe's largest airline. While the 2 carriers will have a common owner and be intimately linked operationally, they will maintain separate identities.

Equally important from a consumer standpoint, the deal calls for KLM to join the SkyTeam alliance, co-founded by Air France and Delta, and also including Aeromexico, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, and Korean.

It is expected to be 6 - 9 months before the alliance benefits -- including frequent flyer program reciprocity -- take effect.

To put this in context, we couldn't do much better than quote Delta's chief, Leo Mullin: "Today's development is a watershed event for the SkyTeam alliance, which has gained increasing momentum since the Delta-Air France launch in 1998. Despite some early skepticism about SkyTeam's ability to compete with Star and oneworld, industry experts now generally acknowledge that SkyTeam has rapidly caught the competition and is on a clear path to alliance leadership."

Partisan puffery aside, Mullin has it basically right. In the alliance realm, bigger is better. And SkyTeam is poised to get bigger and better, fast.

Currently, in terms of market share, the alliance breakdown is as follows: Northwest-KLM, 6%; SkyTeam, 12%; oneworld, 19%; and Star, 26%. The addition of the Northwest-KLM duo would put SkyTeam neck-and-neck with oneworld. And the further addition of Continental will power SkyTeam within striking distance, if not ahead, of Star.

M I L E S & P O I N T S

American Bonuses New Flights
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On Nov. 1, American will launch new flights from Ft. Lauderdale to both Santo Domingo and Port au Prince, and between Dallas and Buenos Aires. Through Dec. 15, AAdvantage members will earn bonus miles when flying the new routes as follows:

a) Double miles for nonstop flights between Ft. Lauderdale and Santo Domingo or Port au Prince;

b) 10,000 bonus miles for roundtrip DFW-Buenos Aires flights in business class, 5,000 miles for selected coach fares (excluding N fares)

Register at http://www.aa.com/offers.

America West Bonus for Hilton Stays
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Between Sept. 15 and Dec. 15, FlightFund members will earn triple miles for stays at participating Hilton HHonors hotels in California.

Request Plan Code H7 at participating Hilton or Hilton Garden Inn Hotels, or Plan Code HH7 at participating Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, or Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotels.

> More...

Dollar Doubles Miles
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Through Dec. 14, Dollar Rent A Car is offering double miles/credits in any of 11 airline programs for rentals of a compact or larger car for 2 or more days.

To qualify for the bonus, rentals must be booked online at dollar.com using promo code DBL5.

> More...

United Miles for Gateway Purchases
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Through Dec. 31, residents of CA, IL and CO can earn 1 Mileage Plus mile for every $1 spent, plus 500 miles on the first purchase, at Gateway stores, 1-800-GATEWAY and gateway.com.

There's a similar offer for OfficeMax purchases, limited to residents of IL and CO.

To earn the miles, register a credit card with Mileage Plus Shopping at the below link.

> More...

Double Dining Miles from United
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Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30, Mileage Plus Dining members will earn double miles -- up to 20 miles per $1 spent -- for the first 2 qualifying dines.

Note the restrictions, though. First, the offer is only valid for new Mileage Plus Dining members, or for current members with no dining activity so far in 2003. I.e., this is a sign-up/reactivation promo.

And secondly, only the first 2 qualifying transactions during the promo period earn the bonus.

Register by Nov. 30. The bonus miles will be posted 4 to 6 weeks after the promotion ends.

Promotion Code: MPR 113.

> 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...

International sale from $198
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United and Lufthansa are offering an unusual deal with savings to cities that aren't typically on sale, including destinations in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The lowest fares are for departure from Oct. 30, 2003, through Apr. 4, 2004; you can also fly between Oct. 7 and 29 at higher prices. Book tickets at least 7 days in advance and by Tuesday, Oct. 21.

> More...

Fly to New York this fall from $126
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It's easier to get an airfare deal to New York than to many other cities. Why? Unlike other metropolises, there's no shortage of small airlines in the big airports of Gotham. And these low-cost carriers, such as JetBlue and Song, are often the ones with cheaper fares than the goliaths of the industry like American or United.

> More...

S W E E P S & F R E E B I E S

From Avis: Million-Air Sweepstakes
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Grand prize in the new Avis sweepstakes is 1 million airline miles. Plus, there are 10 prizes of 25,000 miles each.

There are 2 ways to enter.

1) Register and complete a qualifying Avis rental of 3 or more days that includes a Saturday night stay, between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31, to automatically receive 1 entry.

2) Mail in an entry (details at the link below).

> More...

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

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

This Week's E-Mailbag
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"Other things that make us think 'How dumb do they think we are?!'

"British Airways and Southwest (and a few others) which list their fares as cheap and then they turn out to be ONE-WAY. Do they really think we'll book it and then realize - oops, I have to come back too. It should be turned in to a Better Business Bureau as a 'bait and switch'. Carnival Cruise Lines - big one day sale in which you get one cabin upgrade for booking on that one day - Then it turns out - it must be within the same cabin category ( inside to inside, outside to outside, balcony to balcony, etc) That's kind of like an airline saying that if you book on a certain day, they will give you an upgrade (aisle seat to aisle seat, center seat to center seat, etc.) when you would expect to be an upgrade from coach to first class or business."

- Marcia

Until next week...