Hello from Miami! I’m spending my last weekend for a while at home, and then this coming week am headed to Romania with Tiffany, which I’m very excited about. Not only should the trip be fun on the ground, but we’ll fly Turkish’s new 787-9 business class and Virgin Atlantic’s new A350-1000 Upper Class.
November will also be a month with lots of new product reviews, as I’m hoping to fly British Airways’ new A350 business class, ANA’s new 777 business class, and a lot more.
On the points & travel front, this week Qantas flew nonstop from New York to Sydney, Flying Blue had some great Promo Awards, SWISS temporarily grounded their A220 fleet, Marriott revealed the details of their global promotion, and more.
With that out of the way, here’s a recap of this week on the blog:
Featured Stories
Frequent Flyer Program Changes: Enough Is Enough
This past week United Airlines revealed some massive changes to their MileagePlus program, where we’re seeing them completely change how qualifying for status works.
Now you can earn status exclusively through spending, with no requirement to fly any distance or number of segments. Ultimately this is just the latest of the seemingly never-ending devaluations we’re seeing from airlines.
But I can’t help but feel like United has taken it one step too far here. I don’t have an issue with the new program as such, but rather I have an issue with the frequency with which these loyalty programs are being completely reworked, which seems entirely counterproductive.
So in this post I wanted to share some overall impressions about the developments we’ve seen to frequent flyer programs.
Review: Qatar Airways A350-900 Business Class
After a once in a lifetime trip, it was time for the long journey home.
We managed to all travel back on the same flight using miles, with what I consider to be one of the best award chart sweet spots out there.
Qatar Airways has my favorite business class product in the world, and there was award availability all the way from Cape Town to the US on our preferred date.
Flying Blue Promo: Transatlantic Flights From 11,000 Miles
Every month Air France-KLM Flying Blue publishes Promo Awards, offering discounted redemptions in select markets. These are typically released at the beginning of each month, and I write about them when they go live.
A few days ago I wrote about how they’d release a special version of this promotion shortly, and it’s now live.
But you’ll want to hurry, because the booking window is pretty short.
TIPS: Earning Miles & Promos
Virgin Atlantic Credit Card: 7 Reasons To Apply
Buy Hyatt Points With Up To 40% Bonus (Last Chance)
Premium Credit Cards With Waived Annual Fees
Marriott Choice Benefit 2019: Which Is Best?
Hyatt Credit Card $15K First Year Sweet Spot
Marriott Bonvoy “Unlock More” Promo: Register Now
Amazing Deals On Vancouver Hotel Stays
Buy United MileagePlus Miles With 85% Bonus
Buy Marriott Bonvoy Points For 30% Off (Last Chance)
NEW Amex Business Edge Credit Card Launches In Canada
Southwest Airlines Changes: New Companion Pass Requirements, Points No Longer Expire
Great La Compagnie Business Class Sale
The Six Fantastic No Annual Fee Credit Cards I Have
Great New Amex Offer For Marriott Stays
Save At Mandarin Oriental With Amex Offers
Earn Bonus Points On Air Canada With Amex Offers (Targeted)
TRICKS: Redeeming Miles
Flying Blue Promo: Transatlantic Flights From 11,000 Miles
Discounted Singapore Airlines Business Class Awards To & From The US
New IHG Pay With Points Feature: Is It A Good Deal?
Alaska Airlines Cuts Stopovers On Intra-Asia Awards
TRAVEL With Ben (Lucky)
Frequent Flyer Program Changes: Enough Is Enough
Reasonable Expectations For Hotel Chat Service?
Marriott Hotel Making Up Room Categories To Block Points Redemptions?
REVIEWS & Trip Reports
Review: The Silo Hotel Cape Town
Review: Qatar Airways A350-900 Business Class
Review: Qatar Airways Al Safwa Lounge Doha (Purchased Access)
NEWS & Updates
Air Canada Will No Longer Refer To Passengers As “Ladies & Gentlemen”
Climate Activists Want To Ban Frequent Flyer Programs
Lufthansa’s Controversial Flight Attendant Strike
United Airlines Pursuing Latin America Mega-Alliance?
American Airlines’ Tel Aviv Flight Now On Sale
Turkish Airlines Launching Flights To Vancouver
Flybe To Rebrand As Virgin Connect
Uh Oh: SWISS Grounds A220 Fleet Due To Engine Issues
IHG Credit Card Adds Cell Phone Protection
Amex Platinum Lufthansa Lounge Access Benefit Extended
Qatar Airways Platinums Now Get Al Safwa First Class Lounge Access
Alaska Lounge Portland Leaving Priority Pass
Etihad Airways To Create A Low Cost Carrier
New: American Airlines App Boarding Notifications
New $59 Annual Delta SkyMiles Select Program
Istanbul Airport Finally Gets Priority Pass Lounge
Airbus’ Surprising Plan For Operating World’s Longest Flight
New JetBlue & Norwegian Partnership: Sort Of Logical, Sort Of Surprising
Oh No: Global Ghana Airlines Delays Inaugural Flight
Asiana Forced To Suspend SFO Flights Due To 2013 Crash
American A321 Still Grounded Six Months After “Incident”
Marriott Boosts All-Inclusive Portfolio With Seven Barbados Resorts
Qantas Flying Nonstop From New York To Sydney Today
I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!
Hope to hear Tiffany's take on the trip. Nothing personal but, I like her writing style better.
Can't wait for the reviews! I'm flying TK's new 787 in Business in the end of December and returning on BA's and Virgin's A350. Would be awesome to see what that will be like.
@lucky where are you going to in Romania? My wife is from there.. i would be happy to give you some places to go. we will be there in December.