Issue #71  --  December 9, 1999

<< U P F R O N T >>

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Shop for Gifts, Shop for Miles
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Given the season (shopping) and our mutual passion (earning miles), I would be remiss if I didn't remind you to earn, earn, earn while you shop, shop, shop.

At the very least, use your mileage-earning credit card for as many of your gift purchases as possible. As long as you pay off your balance completely, there's no cost penalty for earning the miles.

In fact, if you're using your Amex card, you may be able to actually save money while earning Membership Rewards points. Amex has a holiday shopping section on its website where members can choose from 60 special offers on all manner of services and merchandise. Offers range from free shipping and handling to discounts to bonus points, from retailers such as Banana Republ;ic, Amazon, Nordstrom and Toysrus.

To really maximize your miles, use your affinity card for purchases at retailers who themselves award miles for purchases, over and above the miles from the credit card company. While some retailers award miles independently, it's probably more efficient from a consumer standpoint to deal with a large, multi-brand distributor, or with a network of retailers.

For example, the ClickRewards program is a group of online merchants, all of which award ClickMiles for purchases at their websites. The ClickMiles can be converted into miles in 10 different airline programs. (See article in the "Miles" section on new ClickRewards retailers.) Use your affinity card to buy from a ClickRewards merchant and you earn miles both from your credit card issuer and from the merchant.

If you're a member of Delta or United's programs, both have miles-for-shopping programs which award between 1 and 5 miles per dollar spent at participating retailers, both on- and offline. (See my article on the Smarter Living website for more on these 2 programs.)

Another option is Shop at Home, which offers 2 miles (American AAdvantage or Northwest WorldPerks) for each dollar in purchases. Shop at Home claims to have over 500,000 products for sale, at discounted prices.

>> More <<
o American Shop at Home
o ClickRewards
o Delta SkyMiles Shopping
o Northwest Shop at Home
o United Mileage Plus Shopping

[Note. For details on Shop at Home, both American and Northwest direct you to the Shop at Home website, referenced above. Every time I tried to log onto their site, I received a "Server Too Busy" message. Let's hope that either Shop at Home upgrades their server, or American and Northwest find a new retailer partner.]

<< M I L E S >>

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Hyatt Adds Online Functions for Gold Passport
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Members of Hyatt's Gold Passport frequent guest program can now check award availability and book award stays directly on-line. In addition, members booking award stays no longer need to request and redeem paper award certificates.

Booking Award-Stays On Line

When members log on to the goldpassport.com website, they are now able to check the availability of an award stay and book that stay on-line. The necessary points will automatically be deducted from members' accounts within seven days of booking. The new goldpassport.com enhancement will also allow members to request a points-to-miles conversion. Members can convert their Gold Passport points to airline bonus miles with one of Hyatt's participating airline partners at a ratio of three points to one mile.

Booking Gold Passport Awards - Now Paperless

Members no longer need to request a paper award certificate whether booking by phone or on-line. Members must present a photo ID and a credit card or cash deposit for incidentals.

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Hyatt Gold Passport

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Marriott Looks to 12 Million
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Within the next few weeks, Marriott Rewards will welcome its 12 millionth member by awarding one million points to the new enrollee and donating $12,000 to the charity of his or her choice.

When signing up either online via marriottrewards.com, over the phone, or at the front desk of any of the more than 1,700 participating hotels worldwide, the 12 millionth member will learn immediately of his or her fortune.

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Marriott Rewards

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ClickRewards Adds Retail Partners
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The ClickRewards Shopping Network has 8 new retail partners.

ClickRewards' 2.6 million members will be able to earn ClickMiles while holiday gift shopping online at the following e-retailers:

o American Hand Art: offering art and handmade gifts from across the U.S.

o Bluefly.com: a full-service Internet outlet store for designer fashions

o The Children's Place: a specialty retailer of apparel and accessories for children, newborn to 12 years of age, online at childrensplace.com

o Fossil.com: an Internet resource for fashion watches and other accessories

o iGo.com: an online provider of model-specific accessories for mobile products including batteries, adapters and chargers to outfit thousands of models of laptops and cell phones

o Laptop Travel: domestic and international mobile computing products and information

o TheKnot.com: an online wedding resource

o Petstore.com: pet stuff. Petstore.com and ClickRewards have also launched a "Million Millennium Miles" sweepstakes that will allow shoppers to enter to win a grand prize of 1 million ClickMiles for their future travels. Secondary prizes of 5,000 ClickMiles will also be given away each day during the contest, which ends January 1, 2000.

The new additions bring to 93 the number of merchant sites in the ClickRewards network.

>> More <<
ClickRewards

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Aero California Will Quit AAdvantage
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Effective May 1, 2000, Aero California will no longer be an AAdvantage partner.

All mileage-earning and award requests must take place before that date.

>> More <<
American

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

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Limo Service for Virgin Upper Class
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Travel roundtrip to London in Virgin's Upper Class and get a free limousine transfer to and from the U.S. departure/arrival airport. The service is offered in 19 states within driving range of Virgin's 9 U.S. gateways.

In addition, Virgin will now drop off and pick up Upper Class passengers within 150 miles of Heathrow and Gatwick, or within 40 miles of select U.K. regional airports when connecting from a Virgin flight. (Regional U.K. airports include: Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and Teeside.)

The airline recommends booking the limousine service no later than 24 hours prior to departure.

>> More <<
Virgin

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"Millenium Madness" Giveaway at TRIP.com
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TRIP.com online travel agency and services site this week announced the launch of its Millennium Madness giveaway, offering up to $400 in TRIP.com travel vouchers to 10 winners each day through December 31, 1999.

To register for the Millennium Madness airline ticket giveaway, participants can either purchase a ticket through TRIP.com or visit TRIP.com and complete a registration form. Winners of the giveaway will be listed on the site, in TRIP.com's weekly newsletter beginning December 7, 1999.

>> More <<
TRIP.com

<< I N D U S T R Y N E W S >>

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Virgin Plans Alliance, Low-Fare U.S. Airline
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We reported in last week's Crier that Virgin had announced plans to launch a low-cost carrier in Australia. This week brings more news from feisty Virgin, including plans to join one of the global airline alliances and to roll out a discount carrier in the U.S.

While no details of the alliance plan were disclosed, the most likely candidate would be the emerging Delta-Air France grouping, which is partner-poor compared to the Star and Oneworld alliances.

The Sunday Times said Branson was speeding up his plans to launch a U.S. low-cost airline, after launching an Australian service last week.

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Virgin

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Anti-trust Immunity for Northwest-KLM-Alitalia
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The Northwest-KLM-Alitalia global alliance has been granted anti-trust immunity by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The anti-trust immunity allows the 3 airlines to coordinate their schedules and fares--practices which would be considered collusion and in restraint of trade under normal circumstances. Northwest and KLM were the first two airlines to gain anti-trust immunity in 1993 and have the most integrated alliance in the industry. KLM and Alitalia have also developed an extensive alliance for both passenger and cargo services.

Northwest and Alitalia will offer reciprocal frequent flyer programs in the near future, including the opportunity to earn and redeem travel awards on flights operated by both airlines. Northwest and KLM already have reciprocal frequent flyer programs, as do KLM and Alitalia.

>> More <<
o Alitalia
o KLM
o Northwest

<< T R A V E L O N L I N E >>

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Priceline, Travelocity, Preview Do It Together
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Priceline.com, Travelocity and Preview Travel today announced a marketing alliance under which the companies will "leverage their combined user base of more than 20 million travelers, offering seamless access to each other's air products and services on their Web sites and through their affiliates. In addition, the companies will generate incremental revenue each time they facilitate the sale of each others' products under certain conditions."

Marketing gobbledygook aside, this is all about scale and breadth. The combination of Travelocity and Preview (which will merge early next year) is far and away the largest of the traditional online travel retailers. And priceline.com is the largest distributor of distressed airline inventory (i.e., unsold seats discounted to attract the most price-sensitive buyers), already accounting for over 2% of leisure airline tickets sold in the U.S..

When the deal is enacted, Travelocity/Preview customers will be able to use the "name your own price" shopping model to access Priceline's discounted seats. And Priceline customers (presumably those who have failed to secure a cheap ticket) can elect to purchase tickets at published fares through Travelocity/Preview.

The big get bigger...

>> More <<
o Preview Travel
o Priceline
o Travelocity

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

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Things to Know Before You Go
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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."

>> Sign Up for Special On-Line Discounts

Airlines are constantly faced with the "brown banana" problem. Their unsold inventory "spoils" every time a plane takes off with empty seats. Enter the all-powerful World Wide Web--the ideal place to unload this potential spoilage. The tool: Internet-only sale fares and auctions. There are variations among the airlines, but in general, the deeply discounted Internet-only fares (to cities of the airlines' choosing) are posted on airline sites or automatically e-mailed on Wednesday for flights departing the following Saturday and returning that Monday or Tuesday, These restrictions make it hard , if not impossible, for business travelers to use. But if you're looking for an inexpensive weekend getaway, you won't find a better deal anywhere.

Chris McGinnis
Travel Skills Group
PO Box 52927
Atlanta, GA 30355
http://www.travelskills.com

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

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Curt's Complaint (cont)
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I want to take one opportunity to respond to pilot Steven's response to my complaint about Delta, and it is my sincere hope that this does not incite a war. First, to clarify, it is my observation that about 30% of business travelers utilize the 20-30 minute boarding time to complete some work before the door closes, at which time all electronics must be stowed for takeoff (and landing). I have always complied with all flight attendant requests, as do most passengers, including remaining seated while the seatbelt sign is lit, even when others are up and around, and flight attendants do nothing.

However, my biggest complaint was with the way the situation was handled by the flight attendant. Her rude, discourteous approach and threat was absolutely uncalled for. Whether there is a Delta policy that is different than the other airlines have or not is irrelevant. It would seem like it wouldn't take much effort to say 'please' and to smile, particularly when the plane is on the ground, while clearing the confusion between policies. It seems that more and more airline employees appear 'burned out', or are in their jobs for the wrong reasons, and take out their frustrations on passengers. I would be cautious about fining passengers "on the spot" for either airline or other policies which are not consistently published or enforced, and remember who the major source of revenue is for most airlines: the high-fare paying, laptop-using business traveler. To educate your passengers may be one things, but to alienate them is totally another.

Finally, if there truly is a danger from e-waves interfering with equipment while the plane is on the ground, then the FAA should, indeed, make a decision prohibiting the use of all electronic devices such as phones, laptops, cd-players, anytime the aviation equipment may be in jeopardy, and all passengers should comply.

 - Curt

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Virgin Down Under
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Tim, I can report further on this [Last week's report on Virgin's plan to launch a low-cost airline in Australia]. This was extensively reported in Aust, and the news wiped several hundred million from Qantas' share value. What I haven't seen reported in this context is the early November announcement below from Ansett. No points for Global Rewards members on other Virgin Atlantic flights.

Now, are Ansett and Virgin in cahoots, has Ansett been double point dudded, or is it all a feint as part of a Branson takeover bid for Ansett? Very interesting stuff.

 - Owen

[Owen included an announcement from Ansett that, beginning December 1, Global Rewards members can earn miles for Virgin flights, but ONLY on the Hong Kong-London route. And between January 11 and March 31, Virgin is offering double miles. More at http://www.ansett.com.au/corp/hot_fm.htm.]

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Tax on Sprint Miles
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I hope this is the right email address to send a Rant and Rave?

I am a Northwest FF member, and have been getting miles from them for Sprint long distance service. I recently disconnected that phone, and then later
received a bill from Sprint for "frequent flyer excise charge". I called Sprint and they said this was a federal tax on frequent flyer miles awarded. Northwest said they didn't know much about it, except that it began November 1.

Anyone know about this?

 - Gary

[Yes, this is the 7.5% excise tax on frequent flyer miles. It was part of the so-called Taxpayer Relief Act enacted in 1998. Sprint is simply passing along this cost to its customers.]

<< S I T E 2 S E E >>

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Bidtripper Auctions Rooms @ Independent Hotels
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It's easy to check prices and book rooms in the chain hotels, either on their own sites or through online travel agency sites. More challenging has been finding and booking nights at smaller independent hotels, which may not be included in the computer reservations systems. Newly launched Bidtripper.com doesn't solve the problem, but it's a step in the right direction.

Bidtripper.com is an Internet travel auction website created by resort owners that enables small, independent hotels, bed & breakfasts, vacation rental owners, and tour operators to sell unsold inventory to travelers around the world.

Bidtripper currently features more than 300 live auctions at over 200 properties including chateaux, castles, country houses, hotels, inns and resorts in 28 countries on five continents.

With Tripspotter, would-be travelers complete a profile that details preferences for dates, destinations, price and activities (hiking, sailing, museums, etc.). Acting as a virtual travel agent (without the booking fees), Tripspotter automatically sends an email when an auction meeting a traveler's criteria is available. People can be as general or as specific as they like in their profiles, and can create as many different profiles as they can dream up. If Tripspotter identifies a number of travelers looking for a similar getaway, Bidtripper will automatically notify the site's database of hotels and vacation properties so they can respond to the potential traveler with a vacation meeting their needs.

To promote its launch, Bidtripper is holding regular drawings now through the end of December, giving away a free trip to a different destination each week. To be eligible, a registered member must tell a friend about the service. He or she is then entered in the sweepstakes each time a friend registers.

While they will have auctions on properties all over the world, the current focus is the Caribbean, with 68 active auctions underway when I visited the site, and New Orleans, with 14.

>> More <<
Bidtripper

Until next week...