ExpertFlyer Blog

Changes to Continental OnePass Program

Continental Airlines recently announced changes that are to take effect once it joins Star Alliance on October 27th.  Here's the breakdown:

• There will be no same-day change fees for Platinum Elite members for tickets purchased on or after Oct. 1, 2009.
• Reward travel will no longer require a Saturday night stay.
• Travelers will earn 100% Elite Qualification Miles and Elite Qualification Points on discounted fares regardless of where the ticket is purchased or issued.
• Elite bonuses will be based on the minimum mileage earned instead of the actual flight miles flown.
• Starting Dec. 15, Continental will charge $75 for non-elite frequent fliers to book a ticket less than 21 days in advance, as well as to redeposit miles or change a reservation. The fee is $25 for Gold Elite members, $50 for Silver Elite and no charge for Platinum Elite.
• Some mileage requirements for reward travel will change for travel booked beginning October 27, although coach tickets would continue to be available at 20,000 miles.
• Effective January 1, 2010:
  • All members worldwide will earn 125% base miles on F, C, J and D fare classes.
  • All members worldwide will earn 1.5 Elite Qualification Points when they purchase and fly in fare classes F, C, J, D, Z, Y and B on flights operated by Continental.  

AA - Double Elite Qualifying Miles

American Airlines is launching a double elite-qualifying miles promotion starting today through December 15. Any AA flight flown between now and then will earn 2x EQ points, just in time for those milage runs.

Also, American is offering rewards to AAdvantage members who reach an elite-qualifying level but won’t make it to a higher level. AA is offering extra upgrade credits, airport club access or bonus frequent-flier miles.

You have to sign up for the promotion which can be done on AA.com here.

4 New Airlines added to the Award & Upgrade Search tool

We're happy to announce the addition of 4 new airlines to the Award & Upgrade search tool:

China Southern Airlines (CZ):
First - Award (P)
Business - Award (I)
Economy - Award (O)

Brussels Airlines (SN):
Business - Award (Z)
Economy - Award (U)

Kingfisher (IT):
Economy - Award (R)

Hawaiian Airlines (HA)
First - Flex Award/Upgrade (P)
Coach - Flex Award (Q)

As always, the full list of airlines we have award and upgrades for can be found here.

Travel News: Southwest, JetBlue, Secure Flight, Twitter

This has been a busy week for travel industry news, here's the rundown:

• Republic Airways won an auction to acquire bankrupt Frontier Airlines over discount carrier Southwest Airlines.  Apparently pilot seniority was a major sticking point between Frontier and Southwest and lack of an agreement in time made the Southwest offer unacceptable. Full story here.
  
• Beginning Saturday, many air travelers will be asked their birth dates and genders when making airline reservations as part of the new Secure Flight program.  This means that the federal government, instead of the airlines, will be responsible for comparing passenger names against the "no-fly" list.  Full story here.
• JetBlue announced their "All-You-Can-Jet" Pass which allows for unlimited travel between September 8, 2009 and Thursday, October 8, 2009 for $599, taxes and fees included for domestic destinations.  You have until August 21 to buy it "while supplies last" and if you already booked travel between those dates you can pay the difference to upgrade to the Jet Pass.  You have to book the travel at least 3 days before the flight, however.
• New Twitter travel aggregator site wanderlisting.com launched today. The site contains the top travel Tweeters divided up by categories. You can follow them @Wanderlisting to see what the latest trending topics are in the travel twittersphere.

Delta and United Frequent Flyer Program Updates

Over the past couple days both Delta and United have made some very positive moves to their frequent flyer programs:

Delta - As the WSJ reported this morning, Delta has announced the "roll over" of extra elite-qualifying miles and credits in excess of what is needed reach a status level one year, to the following year.  We don't have to tell you how great this is for the frequent flyer, now all that extra travel you do this year can help you if you have to cut back next year to maintain your elite status. Finally, a customer centric change in frequent flyer programs. Get the full list of all the upcoming changes to the SkyMiles program on Delta's website.

United - According to United's press release, booking fees for last-minute frequent flyer awards (within 21 days of departure) will be eliminated starting July 30th. A first in the industry.  Currently the last minute award booking fee could be has high as $100.

Hopefully this represents a reversing of the recent trend in the industry to de-value the frequent flyer program, and by extension the airline's best customers. If other airlines follow suit and add more of these benefits, reward programs could truly be a rewarding experience once again.