United Airlines A319 First Class Lunch / Dinner

Even the flight attendants are excited about the shrimp salad.  It’s also the most consistent offering for lunch or dinner, so you won’t be surprised like with strange looking wraps.  I was flying from John Wayne to Denver around lunch on a United Airbus A319.  The first class lunch offerings on the two hour flight were a warm wrap or a cold shrimp salad, both came with soup.  I went for the salad.  It has six peeled shrimp on a large collection of lettuce and other salad parts.  It is a filling portion size and fairly colorful and diverse.  It came with two vinaigrette dressing cups, croutons, small side of fruit, roll, and a delicious gumbo soup.  United’s soup is superb and the gumbo, Cajun something at least, is the best yet. 

United Airlines First Shrimp Salad Lunch

The flight was fairly bumpy once we got over Colorado.  The crew made a quick and friendly service in the 8 person first class cabin.  Once the turbulence started, everyone took their seats and buckled in tight.  We also had an aborted landing due to unfavorable winds.  On the glide in, the engines suddenly wound up and we gained altitude and made a 90 degree turn.  We landed on the second try and the cabin applauded (this was more unsettling for me than the textbook go around just executed).  The cockpit crew explained what happened once we pulled onto the taxi way and made this irregular operation seem commonplace.  The professionalism of United’s pilots is second to none.  

Priority Club Visa, No Thanks

Priority Club mailed me (I do enjoy direct mail) an offer for 80,000 bonus points for signing up for their Chase issued Visa.  Three years ago I would have jumped on the offer (www.priorityclub.com/visa), but not today.  Priority Club recently devalued their award chart by letting Intercontinental hotels go for up to 50,000 points, up from a cap of 40,000.  Crowne Plazas are more expensive now too (my ‘if all else fails’ chain of choice, not bad really and nicely scatted around Europe).  IHG hotels were my backup chain up until awards went up in price (Hilton is now #2).  I also had some poor experiences at some of their flagship properties.  A new Holiday Inn Express will still be a good stay, but I can't get excited over earning points with them now.  I still have 150,000 to burn, so I’ll have 3-30 nights (award nights range from 5k to 50k) before I’m broke and thinking about their credit card.

The Craptastic Intercontinental Santiago Chile

What is a Point or Mile Worth?

What is a point / mile worth?  It’s a simple question with a complex answer.  A mile or point in every program will have a different value too.  Also, miles might not have any value until a certain number are collected.  Ultimately the value is different for each person, but here are my answers and how I got to them.

Jets Lined Up at FRA

Miles and points are a currency that can be exchanged for goods and services.  These goods can also be purchased for cash, making it a simple equation: Total Value / Total Points = $x.xx per point.  If a flight to Europe is $1,000 or 50,000 miles, then each mile is worth 2c.  The denominator will always be known, but the numerator gets fuzzy when you are buying awards that you would never buy with cash.  A first class trip to Europe costs $13,000 or 135,000 miles; yielding almost 10c per mile in value!  But I would never pay $13,000 to fly to Europe, so what is it really worth?  Priceless is the best answer, but it doesn’t help with the math.  I just total the perceived value of the experience and that’s the value.  The means a first class award is more like 3-6c in value; still a good deal.

Do the math for yourself and use your answers to decide if to spend miles or cash.  For example, I would use miles to book a $450 domestic round trip, but use cash for a $300 ticket.  It’s a gray area for borderline redemptions.  I’ll lower my threshold if my balance still has a large number of miles.  Also, if your credit card doesn’t earn at least 2c in value for every dollar spent, just use the fee free Fidelity Amex. It has 2% cash back on every purchase and cash is accepted by any airline.

Sun Rise at ORD

SPG – 3c

Starwood Hotel (SPG) points are my favorite.  With the Cash & Points redemption option, SPG points are consistently worth about 4c each, while full points awards run 2-3c.  The SPG Amex (business card has the better sign up bonus) earns one point per dollar and two points for spending at SPG hotels.  Points can also be transferred to about 30 airline programs with a 25% bonus for every 20,000 points transferred.  This makes the SPG card better for earning American or Delta miles than the airlines’ own credit cards.  SPG is my favorite program and currency because of its high value and flexibility. 

W South Beach Miami Hotel View

Drawbacks: There aren’t SPG hotels everywhere and the top level hotels cost too many points to have any value.  The cobranded credit card is an Amex and not everyone takes those (like my local liquor store).  Mile awards with United and Southwest are poor value. 

Minimum balance of 4,000 needed to achieve top value.

United – 1.75c

United miles are the best in the air.  They are part of the Star Alliance (25 airlines and growing) and have a few other strategic alliances for miles redemption (Aer Lingus has great availability to Europe).  Their reservations people are very good and the website can be used to find and book complicated award trips.

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

United Airlines Jets at EWR Sunrise

American – 1.5c

American is a oneworld partner and doesn’t charge excessive fuel surcharges on awards.  They allow one way bookings and have a decent award chart.  American availability, coach and first, to most places not over the Atlantic, is second to none.  Good off season discounts and a cheap oneworld partner chart (80,000 miles in first London to Australia).  oneworld coverage is spotty and fuel surcharges pop up on European carriers.

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

Delta – 1c

Delta has a three tier award chart and every time I want to redeem, my flight is in the second or third tier, destroying the value of my miles.  They are a Sky Team partner and Virgin Australia partner, so It’s best to redeem miles with Air France/KLM or Virgin Australia.  I wound up cashing in my miles for Economist subscriptions, 3,200 for a year or 3c in value.  Not bad considering my options.

Minimum balance of 25,000 needed to achieve decent value or 3,200 for a year of The Economist.

Not Every Trip Is Glamours

Alaska Airlines – 1.6c

I credit my Delta and American flights to Alaska.  Alaska isn't part of an alliance, but are partners with most airlines you would want to fly not in the Star Alliance.  The award chart is downright cheap in places too.  The flexible earning and redeeming of miles makes Alaska a great program to have miles in.  One ways are allowed and there is a cash and points option.  Partner awards have to be a single carrier plus Alaska to get you to the gateway city.  Not Star Alliance good, but close.  Other than flights and credit card spend (not a good deal), it’s hard to earn miles with them (SPG transfers mostly).

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

US Airways – 1.7c

Star Alliance member with a reasonable award chart (more reasonable than UA to Asia in business).  Only allow round trips.  Can’t book partner awards online, so be prepared for an hour long call with reservations.  Great deals on off peak awards.  The Mileathon promotion runs annually and is a great way to stock up on miles.  US Airways also runs frequent mileage purchase promotions.   I constantly fear award chart devaluation. 

Minimum balance of 25,000 needed to achieve good value.

Use BA Miles to Fly LAN Around South America

British Airways - .5c or 2c

BA is great for short one segment trips on American or LAN.  BA has a distance based award chart, allows one ways, and has partner booking online.  For long flights (less generous pricing), connections (each segment is charged, not total distance), premium cabins (x2 for business, x3 for first), or trips in Europe (steep fuel charges) don’t bother.  Good deals are found mostly in the America’s. The scary high fuel charges take the value out of any BA, Iberia, of Finnair award.

Minimum balance of 4,500 needed to achieve decent value.

Other Carriers – 0-10c

Southwest will sell any seat at 60 points per dollar so they have a fixed value of 1.67c per point (not bad really).  Other airline programs can be anywhere.  My Frontier miles might only be good for a magazine subscription.  Foreign carriers could have no value or tons of value, depending on if you need to use those airlines.  If you are going somewhere only Emirates flies, then those miles will be worth much more.  It’s too subjective for me to give a definitive value.

Southwest and US Airways Jets at ABQ

US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles

US Airways is selling miles with a 100% bonus again.  A trip to Asia in business class (or around the world award) is only $1,575.  That’s cheaper than the coach fare in some cases.  Great way to stock up on miles, but don’t sit on them too long.  US Airways has been selling miles like mad for the last few years, so this may be a prelude to an award chart change (the price of purchased miles has increased, so that may delay the points inflation).  Or they could be laughing all the way to the bank if Star Alliance awards cost them less than what they sell miles for, but only they know that.  This move also generates liquidity, so not a bad way to stay out of the bond market.

US Airways Airbus Tails at Phoenix

Offer good until June 30, 2012.  Maximum of 50,000 bonus miles can be earned with the promotion.  You need to make a Dividend Miles account before purchasing.

$60 Off a Lufthansa Flight

My colleague Justin sent me a link for $60 off a Lufthansa flight.  It's good for travel from August 12 to September 12 and must be redeemed by the end of May.  Good on Lufthansa and their code share partners United, Air Canada, and Austrian.  Travel must originate in the USA. 

Lufthansa A319 at FRA

Star Alliance Transfer Passenger Survey at EWR

The Star Alliance wants to know about your international transfer experience.  They are not interested in anything else (at least at the moment).  The Star Alliance has been trying to simplify global travel for passengers on member airlines for the last 15 years and they have become very good at it (long queues at LHR aside).  It’s a good sign that they are collecting passenger feedback about the process.  The questions were all multiple choice for international transit customers.  An interesting find at EWR; way better than the Met store clearance table.

Star Alliance Survey Machine

Star Alliance Survey Display

Why Fear of Overbooking?

The Sydney Morning Herald (I’ve been hooked on it since first reading it in Sydney) has one of the best travel sections in the world; much better than travel magazines or the NYT.  I enjoy taking a read though their articles and sometimes browsing reader comments (unlike any story remotely political, there is some decent information to glean).  One story talked about how Southwest doesn’t suck as much as other US carriers.  I disagree, but will save that for a later time.  The interesting bit was the comments.  There was an engaging discussion on which US airlines frequently bump passengers and suggestions to avoid them.

US Airways A321 Spending the Night at PHX

Why are people so afraid of bumping?  I understand the obvious, missing the flight and having travel plans thrown in a blender, but it shouldn’t be a large enough concern to avoid airlines that do it frequently (they all do it to some extent).  Also, flight delays or cancellations happen, so it is best to add some padding to travel planning if that were to happen (always fly in the day before your cruise ship departs).  This padding will also help mitigate the impact of an involuntary displaced boarding (IDB or bump).

United Jets at EWR

Bumping can be very lucrative if travel plans are made with padding.  United offers $400 in travel vouches for volunteering for a bump; US Airways gave me $250 for a 90 minute delay.  They will rebook you, sometimes in paid first (bonus miles), provide a meal voucher if the delay is long enough, and buy a hotel room if it is an overnight delay (Westin LAX for me).  These vouchers can add up to several thousand dollars in value if you are bumped several times in a year.  Other airlines provide different amounts of compensation, but they all make it worth your while to take the later flight.  Bumps can be a great way to extend your travel budget and add variety to routine flying.