Frequent Guide - Guide to make most of Frequent Flyer Travel for Frequent Flyers

Frequent Guide

frequentguide — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:13:05 -0700

Welcome to Frequentguide.com

In order to achieve my passion for travel, I've found by being smart about how you travel, will get you "where you want to go", hence the nickname of frequentguide.com. Simple things like using airline and hotel loyalty programs, taking advantage of low priced opaque bidding sites, and knowing which hotels and which airlines looking at the top airline frequent flyer programs to fly and how to book these will all help you make your $$$ go further. I explore these on the left under my Hints and Tips section.

Podcasts: My travel podcasts will help you learn more about your destinations and how to plan your techniques to get the most out of travel. Access the latest frequentguide.com podcasts, download the MP3's or subscribe to our RSS feed (this can also be done on iTunes). Learn from what to do in Bali, Visiting the Greek Islands, Where to go in Barcelona and even what to do in Australia's Red Centre - Ayres Rock. Learn more now - Travel Podcasts

Amsterdam Netherlands Hotels Podcasts - My other website Amsterdam Netherlands Hotels will slowly become a site for all things Amsterdam, you'll find heaps of really useful info, reviews plus podcasts on all subjects Amsterdam - great to download and take along with you on your next trip to Amsterdam or when planning your trip.

I have also just recently launched a new website, Praslin Island Hotels is where you can book hotels online through a white label hotel booking platform. It links through to the Yep Hotels . com business but will be built out eventually. Praslin Island Hotels has details on hotels specific to Praslin Island - the second largest Island in the Seychelles. It will also feature heaps of content on things to do in Praslin Island.

I have a a few places which I'd suggest you visit, these are:

Bryson City Hotels - great place to learn about Bryson City - a town in the US, there are a number of hotels there and this is the best place to find hotels in Bryson City

Konakli Hotels - Konakli Town is located 10km west of the world famous holiday resort Alanya, in between the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea on the South & Taurus Range Mountain - a town in the US, there are a number of hotels there and I ended up building this place to find hotels inKonakli

Bird in Hand Hotels - have you heard of this small town in Pennsylvania? Well this site has the best information on this town, plus you can also book hotels from this site and find hotels in or around Bird in Hand, PA

Fasano Hotels - located in the Brescia area of Italy this town is famous for it's stunning Coastline and even more stunning hotels such as the Eden Hotel and La Sorgente, all of this are bookable through this site. I love Fasano and want to stay here again in the future. There are even nice bed and breakfasts you can stay in too which are highly rated such as on Tripadvisor.

Pasay Hotels - within the greater Manila metropolis, Pasay is famous for it's Asia World shopping centre and boats and connections to downtown Manila - there are some big name chain hotels here as well, such as Sofitel and Hyatt and hence when I visit Manila, I choose Pasay, Philippines as my place for accommodation.

Busselton Hotels - i've visited Busselton many times as a kid - it has the world' longest jetty and it was voted Western Australia's best town for tourists THREE TIMES in a ROW! There are also some awesome resorts and hotels here. I put together a full run down and things to do there - so make visiting and staying in Busselton high on your agenda things to do in the future.

Fiuggi Hotels - a beautiful Italian town steaming with excitement and enchantment in the Campagna area of Italy. There are a bunch of hotels there and although i've never visited Fiuggi, i think i will one day!

Anjuna Hotels - located basically in the Goa area of India - one of the if not the most popular tourist and leisure destination in India, at this site you will find hotels in or around Anjuna

Bayfield Hotels - there are a bunch of Bayfields all around the world, in fact sounds good enough to be a brand name of a hotel, there is Bayfield in Wisconsin, Bayfield in New Brunswick and quite a few Bayfield's in Canada. Bayfield Hotels sums up all of these places and the Hotels in Bayfield.

Pokolbin Hotels - this place has the best information on the Hunter Valley's leading town and it features great reviews and allows you to book hotels in Pokolbin including places like the Cypress Lakes Hotel and Golf Resort, it where I last booked my hotel in Pokolbin so don't forget to check it out!

A Little About Me: Well... i've been using the internet since 1989 and well that was back in the days of Unix, elm, pico, gopher, IRC, news (nntp) and all those other fun Unix based environment things - even ytalk! (remember that!). Then this weird thing came across me in 1992.. it was called the "World Wide Web". Some program called "Mosaic" was all the rage. So I ended up creating my faculty and college's website back in those days.... Since then, I've finished University and landed three qualifications later, including a postgrad in Law, For the last ten years i've worked in senior roles in the telecommunuication, IT, law and financial services in Australia. More recently I moved to the UK where I held a senior role directorship at Barclays as their Head of Online in their Wealth Management division. Today I now work for Expedia in the travel industry in their Distribution division.

I still however, manage to find the time to travel, and boy do I enjoy it. My latest hobby (well since 2005) - Podcasting. How cool is that? It brings me back to early days of the WWW.... where corporations didn't dictate what we saw, rather, us, as consumers as the everyday folk are the content producers. This site, is my return back to all that the internet has given me over the last 20 years!

If you have some time, why not also visit my other websites where you can book discounted hotels:

Amsterdam Netherlands Hotels

Praslin Island Hotels

Free Subscription: So come with me, and enjoy this website, please tell your friends, and most of all, please do click on the "Subscribe" link at the top right corner and become a member, it costs you nothing, and i'll keep you updated on all the latest happenings at frequentguide.com. Alternatively, just send an email to: subscribe @ frequentguide.com with the words "Subscribe" in the subject line and you'll be set.

Donations Welcome: If you feel so inclined, you can choose to make a PayPal donation. Hosting this site is unfortunately not cheap. So anything you can do to assist along is certainly not required, but is very much appreciated. Just click on the Paypal Donate button above.

Warm regards, Bryan.

Editor, Owner & Travel junkie, @ frequentguide.com

email: bryan@frequentguide.com

frequentguide — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 13:24:01 -0800

Need some help with frequent travel and loyalty programs?

I'm a UK based international executive with 10+ years internet industry experience in a range of sectors including travel, banking, broking and telecommunications. Worked for a range of organizations from startups to Fortune 100 companies including directorship and head of roles. I have cut deals and negotiated at senior levels with some of the world's largest organisations such as:

How could you get some help from me?

* Marketing: Marketing communications, advertising, CRM, brand strategy, planning and tactics, budgeting and analysis

* Creative: Agency management, website design and concepts, content and layout. Copywriting: and ideas for print and banner advertising

* Management: Leadership, team building, project management and personal development

* Legal: Qualified lawyer, contract negotiation, drafting and dispute resolution.

* Information Technology: Search marketing and optimisation and website management, usability and design.

Where Bryan is quoted:

Bryan has been quoted in various articles, including:

* Yahoo! Search Marketing - "According to Bryan Lip, “Yahoo! Search Marketing’s Sponsored Search is like the Holy Grail of advertising. In my experience at E*TRADE, dgm and Yahoo! Search Marketing have effectively worked together to enable a higher level of return on investment and new customer acquisition rates.” - Yahoo! Search Marketing (global)

* E*TRADE - An accomplished presenter, articulate in every way - having presented to over 50,000 people. "Bryan has been involved in a range of E*TRADE initiatives including the development, deployment and communication of a wide range of E*TRADE products, services and feature" - E*TRADE's Asia Pac's Key Seminar Speaker

* Messenger Marketing - "...E*TRADE a couple of times on Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad tours of Australia. Lisa is a strategic thinker and understood the needs of us and the corporate needs of Robert..." - Messenger Marketing

* WebQEM - "Underpinning our growth has been providing a market leading product with a range of investment choices for customers. Over the past couple of years we’ve revamped our active trader products - Power E*TRADE and E*TRADE Pro, introduced our conditional orders service which assists in providing more discipline in share trading, online options trading, SMS alerts and our recently launched Contract for Difference (CFDs) service. This coupled with successful and valuable alliances including ANZ, Qantas, Bendigo Bank and Yahoo! has helped grow our customer base and build awareness with the Australian public." - WebQem's Web-Brief

* Money Magazine & Expo - "Having run exhibitions around the world I am used to shortcomings. The Money Expo was outstanding for ..." - Money Magazine

Where to from here?

Just contact Bryan at: bryan@frequentguide.com or call UK +44 (0) 773 069 4799

frequentguide — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 13:10:26 -0800

Boston Travels and Ideas...

frequentguide — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:02:08 -0800

Well it is the 20 November 2005 and i've completed a grueling day in Boston, taking in much of the famous sights - this insight may give you a bit of an idea of what you can do when you plan your trip to Boston....

I got to Boston taking the Chinatown Buses from New York's Chinatown - they are all US$15 each way, and no tip is necessary.

They stow your bags below and the trip is typically about 4-5 hours in length, never less than 4 hours, never over 5 hours and this includes a stop at the local fast food place (which ever is offering the best deal to the bus driver - ie plenty of free big macs, etc!). This time it was "Roy Rogers". We stopped for about 20 mins.

I took the "Lucky Star" bus. I felt like a star with an empty seat next to me! - unlike the crammed Bus to DC last time I took a NYC Chinatown Bus!.

I was planning on taking the Fung Wah bus lines, the biggest, but I was running late and grabbed any bus I could jump on... Fung Wah was too hard to find.

There is one other bus operator - Boston Deluxe but they aren't as regular as Fung Wah and Lucky Star (try your luck!)

Boston is a beautiful city, I have been to a number of American cities and Boston comes across as a very liveable, enjoyable city, with the exception of the drivers and pedastrians - it's nuts! But i'll talk about that another time, it is a quaint area and I learn't alot of History about it today from an ex-pat Aussie living in Boston now.

Bit of a background on Boston -

Population - approx 600,000 in the proper boston area, but in the greater Boston surrounding area - we're talking 2-3 million total. Parts of Boston and north of Boston were reclaimed from the water (ie built on land fill) which actually is not uncommon (much of downtown San Francisco is actually built on landfill - including I believe (?) the TransAmerica Pyramid (the tallest building in SF and famous for it's tall, but pyramid like structure / design).

There is a subway network in Boston metro area called the "T" - it includes trains, but also buses. It's not as enviro friendly as say SF, but some buses do use electric overhead cables. The train network closes at midnight. Boston will uses the antiquated "token" system - like the NYC subway used to use until recently. You basically buy a token for US$1.25 and it gives you entry through a turnstile, and when you exit - you just come right on out.

The train system runs of 3-4 different lines and each train on each line is different in terms of it's width, etc so they can't interchange on tracks.... interesting fact! Another interesting thing I found about the trains was they have alot of tear off coupons on the ads - kind of a funky, interactive, engaging idea.... good for a direct / response marketers dream! We should do this down under!

Anyhow, where am I staying? Out in Medford (nearest station is on the Orange T line) to Wellington Subway station. It's a suburb of Boston to the north. About 3 miles from downtown boston, not far. There is a free shuttle to the Wellington subway station provided by the hotel - When staying you rates vary but are usually very very low - typically about US$60-90 on their site amerisuites.com, US$40-60 on Hotwire.com or 3,000 Gold Passport points if you have some spare hanging around. 3,000 points is not alot and is probably one of the most generous awards of all hotel loyalty programs. Check the "Hyatt Gold Passport" section on the left navigation or use the search facility for more information on that hotel program on frequentguide.com.

I've stayed at 3 different Amerisuite properties in the US so far, and they are like McDoanlds - virtually identical, right down to the bathroom sink (not kidding you!). They use the same bathtubs, showerheads, desks, lounges, bed spreads, cutlery, plates, granite on the floors of the elevators, elevators, prefabricated cement walls, signage,

...breakfast sausages, waffle machines, door locks, lamps, etc etc! So you know what you'll get each time and I have to say - they're great, I always know what to expect (ie a large Hilton Garden Inn room), free hot breakfast daily, free popcorn and tea/coffee at night and during the day, free parking, daily room service, and a pretty good rate. The top 2 amerisuite properties in terms of value in my books are:

1/ Secaucus Meadowlands New Jersey - only a 12-17 minute bus ride on the NJ transit (bus 320 - see www.njtransit.com for more info and search for bus route 320 there is a PDF you can download with timetables, fares, etc) and best of all it costs just US$2.85 each way to 42nd St Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square! (buses run till 1am daily and resume at 6:30am-7am). So this is a great option - without paying through the nose for hotels in NYC and NYC prices (read US$140-200 for a crappy hotel and US$400-450 for a reasonable 4.5* hotel, go figure - even priceline.com and hotwire.com you'll be lucky to find something sub US$170/night depending on season). There is also free parking at the property, free breakfast and you get a huge suite! (you could really basically fit 6 people in the suite if you really wanted and each could get a great breakfast (read 6 backpackers, great deal here!! at US$15 / night including hot brekkies!

2/ Las Vegas Paradise Road Nevada Amerisuites - well this isn't "on the strip" it is actually a solid 15-20 minute walk up to the strip, it is opposite (diagonally) the Hard Rock Cafe/Hotel. Next to a big German beer house (very cool!). It's close to the airport - but best of all they offer a free shuttle to the Aladdin (on call - no tip necessary and free chilled bottled water) and free pickups/drop offs at the airport. This is particularly good when trying to get a fri/sat night on the strip (never expect anything cheap on fri/sat nights - yes on other nights not these tho).

So i digressed, but I wanted to point out Amerisuites - superb, love 'em!

Back to Boston.....!!!

So I arrived in Boston in the evening (well about 4:30pm which is pretty much starting to get dark - did a little look around the city then went to Harvard / Cambridge to look there

...and also grab some dinner at a popular Mexican Restaurant (I mean REAL popular - ie 2 hour wait) called Border Cafe

So, today (20 Nov), what did I do:

Woke up, enjoyed my free breakfast - featuring sausages (basically like McDonalds Sausage & Egg mcmuffin paddies) with scrambled eggs in a paddy shape, waffles, yoghurts, fruit compoete, bagels, muffins (including blueberry - my favourite - with real blueberries inside - abundant in the US, an absolute luxury in Australia (A$8 or US$6 per punnet, SMALL punnet - yike! - I saw a punnet which was the equivalent of 6 aussie punnets in downtown (expensive Boston) for US$1.99! - woh). You can pick (not recommended) blueberries in the forests here they are so abundant --- or so i've heard! And of course they have cerals, fruit juices, boiled eggs, toasts, etc.

After breakfast, went to downtown for the freedom trail, but first stopped by Watertown which is on the west of the city which was a nice suburban area.

I'll bullet point what I did and go into more details in another blog - but here it is:

1/ Freedom Trail

2/ State building (with gold roof)

3/ Followed the red track of the freedom trail (about 4-5km - 2-3 miles in length)

4/ Stopped at a cementry which included Sam Adams

....John Hancock, Paul Revere and a number of other famous people of the American Revolution)

5/ Walked up to an old church with an old cementry next door with the burial site of Williams Dawes - the person who actually let them know up in Lexington the British were in fact coming - not Paul Revere who was actually arrested half way there - but his name rhymed better for the poem!!

6/ Went past the Old City Hall

7/ Saw another hall/church which was having a service at the time

8/ Walked past a great choclate fruit dipped shop, unfortunately it was closed to noon!

... then landed at E*TRADE Financial's Centre in Boston!

... and then... thought, wow, they are truly BEING E*TRADORINARY! (not funny?? - sorry that's an *inside* joke).

9/ Went to the Finuiheil Hall - which was an old meeting hall atop, a rifle club right at the top and a market down below with shops. Got a great talk from a national parks reps which I will play in a podcast sometime...

10/ Went across to Quincy Market - a pretty cool place (like darling harbour in sydney - so very commercial but fun none the less of foods, etc. Got a choc coated pretzel here - was great!)

11/ Then went up to Boston Tix (bostix) and got half price tickets plus US$3.50 service fee to Shear Madness (HIGHLY recommended - even if you don't like plays). Was $23.50 US all up. bargain.

12/ Kept walking up to another church this time it had no electricity and the bells were ringing. Got to go up to the bell tower and pulled a bell

...got some great snaps of the bell

...and climbed to the roof to take some amazing photos of Boston - the public can't come up here. Paul Revere was one of the original bell ringers here!

After this ended up in the Italian area and had a great vanilla florentine and then went to Paul Revere's original house - this is a great area.

13/ Went down to the Charlestown Navy Docks and saw the USS Constitution.

This is the oldest operating US Navel ship and boy it's old but it's been restored a number of times - had full security but went through. And was great.

In the distance saw the tall tower atop bunker hill (looks like the Washington Monument). and went into the Museum Shop. Have some snaps here.

14/ Caught the tourist ferry (only $2) with full narration back to the Long Dock where Quincy market is once again. Got some great snaps of the Boston skyline here.

15/ Went to Urban Outfitters for some quick shopping then went through the shopping district (main shopping area) grabbed the choc dipped fruit shop and got a white choc dipped oreo (wow!), white choc dipped pretzel (nice!) and a blueberry milk choc tart (fresh.. ).

16/ Went to H&M for a look around then to Chinatown for a great dinner.

Got some snaps of the Chinatown entrance area - synonumous with most Chinatowns around the world, particularly in North America.

Then ate at Vinh Sun (great and busy - unlike other places there). Got some fresh (yes, saw it moving) lobster and a mixed bbq dish with fried rice and chinese kai lan (chinese brocolli) with oyster sauce - was great! And reasonable.

17/ Went then through to Cheers via a park in the middle of downtown Boston and grabbed a great Sam Adams beer (their non standard one but not the colonial on tap!)

Had a nice chat with the barman and also took a walk up to Senator John Kerry's house in Boston and took a snap outside....then headed through another park across to the show -

,,,,Shear Madness - a play about a murder who done it set in a hairdresser shop in Newbury St in Boston! Very funny and interesting

18/ After that went to an ice cream shop

... it was called "Cold Stone" where you choose the icecream and then the ingredients and they mix it up for you, manually, superb! And choose a cone, waffle, or on it's own. Bostonians just love Ice Cream, it doesn't matter if it's snowing, they'll still howe into their ice cream... INSANE!

19/ And that was it, an exhausting but exciting day in Boston...

Tommorrow - JFK Memorial Library (should be great, some shopping in Worcester (west of Boston - Sam's Club, Walmart, Best Buy, etc) and probably some dinner at a funky Pizza place called Upper Crust... then the Chinatown Bus back to NYC, and then the hotel in NJ!

Email me at: bryan@frequentguide.com if you have any ideas, questions or comments!

Where to eat in Las Vegas and what to see?

frequentguide — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:18:29 -0800

Here are some tips I got from a good mate in the US and where to eat and what to see. Lotus of Siam I've tried - it's great, it has a cheap buffet lunch (would only go for lunch, not dinner) - great value, a little off the strip so you need wheels to get there, but at $5.99 for all you can eat, you can't beat it! There is a great wig store next door too..... if you like wigs (my mom does!!):

Here are a couple suggestions...
One of the best thai places supposedly in the country - I think it's pretty good and it's super cheap.

Lotus of Siam


	Cuisine	Thai

	Hours	Daily 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30-9:30pm

	Address	953 E. Sahara Ave. #A-5

	Location	East of the Strip

	Reservations	Reservations strongly suggested for dinner

	Phone	702/735-3033

	Prices	Lunch buffet $5.99; other dishes $3.95-$14

	Credit Cards	AE, MC,

One of the celebrity chef places in Vegas that is fairly reasonable and interesting french bistro food.

Bouchon


	Cuisine	Bistro

	Hours	Daily 5-10:30pm

	Address	3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S

	Location	Mid-Strip

	Reservations	Reservations strongly recommended

	Phone	702/414-6200

	Prices	Main courses $17-$30

	Credit Cards	AE, DC, DISC, MC, V

Good old fashioned America food from our southern area.

Rosemary's Restaurant


	Cuisine	Nouvelle American

	Hours	Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30-10:30pm

	Address	8125 W. Sahara

	Location	West Las Vegas

	Reservations	Reservations strongly suggested

	Phone	702/869-2251

	Prices	Lunch $12-$16; dinner $18-$29

	Credit Cards	AE, MC, V

Best Mexican food on the strip

Border Grill


	Cuisine	Mexican

	Hours	Sun-Thurs 11:30am-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-11pm

	Address	3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S

	Location	In Mandalay Bay, South Strip

	Reservations	Reservations recommended

	Phone	702/632-7403

	Prices	Main courses $15-$20

	Credit Cards	AE, DC, DISC, MC, V

Very good New Orleans type cusine - they have one of the best places in NO and they opened a place in Vegas. This is the most expensive option.

Commander's Palace


	Cuisine	Creole

	Hours	Mon-Fri 9-11am for breakfast, daily brunch 11:30am-2pm, dinner 5-10pm

	Address	3663 Las Vegas Blvd. S

	Location	In the Desert Passage in the Aladdin Hotel, South Strip

	Reservations	Reservations suggested

	Phone	702/892-8272

	Web site	www.commanderspalace.com

	Prices	Lunch $16-$28; dinner $25-$39

	Credit Cards	AE, DISC, MC, V

Hope that helps! I still like the Begallio buffet - I do that every time - I think it's the best buffet in vegas.

If you want to see a very popular and cool show - probably one of the Cirque De Soeil shows. I saw their O show at the Begallio. To get tickets start lining up by their ticket office around 3:00 p.m. the day of the show you are interested in getting in and you can almost certainly get tickets since people cancel etc. Tickets are pricy - I think they were like $100 a person - but the show has dramatic effects and all the seats are good. Considered one of the best shows in Vegas on the strip.

New York City - great places to eat!

frequentguide — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:13:58 -0800

So you're hungry.... VERY hungry and you want to know where are the cool, funky places to eat in New York City, well here you go. Here are some tips on great Upper West Side eats, from an Aussie local who lived there for 8 years:

YUM YUM YUM!!!!

Harry's Burrito's
Columbus Ave bet 70th/71st
Margaritas - happy hours till 5-7pm I think

Emerald Inn
Columbus Ave bet 68th/69th
Irish Pub & Pot Roast Tuesdays

Blondie's Sports Bar
79th St bet Broadway and Amsterdam
buffalo wings!

Dive 75
75th St bet Amsterdam and Columbus
local casual bar

Cafe Luxembourg
70th St @ Amsterdam
Good for brunch
(my old apt is across Amsterdam - The Nevada Towers)

Gennaro's
Amsterdam and 93rd St
Good homestyle italian

Zabar's
Broadway and 83rd
walk around and get the freebies

Fairway Cafe (upstairs from the market)
Broadway and 74th/75th
good lunch

Beard Papa's
Broadway and 76th
japanese chain selling freshly made cream puffs (really, really good)

Cheap Hotel in New York? Yeah right....

frequentguide — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:10:53 -0800

after staying in new jersey last trip, i would strongly recommend considering not staying in manhattan but rather staying in NJ and commuting across. they will save a packet on hotel costs (i am like over the duration of their trip around A$2,000!! and I am not kidding you). don't expect to find anything cheap in NYC over 31 dec holiday period.

US$188/night is a bargain for NYC.

my suggestion:

go to hotwire.com (hotwire 3* are going for about US$180/night in manhattan vs. US$50-$75 a night in Seacaucus meadlowlands), and look for a property in seacaucus/meadowlands. you can catch the 320 bus from 42nd st station to there and it costs US$2.85 each way. 42nd st station is in the heart of times square and is only a 15 min bus ride away. buses go there regularly from 5am-1am each day. Trust me, it seems like ages away but the US$130/night they'll save each night can more than make up for a few drunken taxi rides back after some great nights or the bus rides - seriously they are 15 min bus rides and they leave 42nd st bus station (whcih is part of the subway station every 20 mins on the dot, from 5am-1am daily).

For hotwire properties and matching the codes, try the key word "jersey city" or "new york" respectively in hotwire. To find out which properties they are use: http://www.betterbidding.com

If they are desperate in staying in manhattan, try:

http://www.hotelqt.com (for any night they can get, very very good value and a great property, use tripadvisor.com to get reviews)

qt is in the middle of times square and includes comp breakfasts.

other than that, i can only suggest, looking for reasonably priced properties at:

1/ http://www.easyclicktravel.com

2/ http://www.quickbook.com

WIth easyclick travel the bargains lie in the "too good to name", where once you're in the section where they explain the property, copy the dialogue, paste it in google, and more often than not (actually 98% of the time) it will spit out the same dialogue on the actual hotels site and you'll know which property it is that they are saying is "too good to name".

Site Map - frequentguide.com

frequentguide — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 06:57:11 -0700

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Tips & Handy Hints / Cheap Hotels in New York? Yeah right...

Tips & Handy Hints / New York City - great places to eat, from a local!

Tips & Handy Hints / Vegas Eats and things to do....

Tips & Handy Hints / Boston Visitor Ideas...

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Photos / Hotels / Hilton / Australia, Perth, Parmelia Hilton Perth

Photos / Hotels / Hilton / USA, Guam, Hilton Guam Resort

Photos / Hotels / Le Meridien

Photos / Hotels / Le Meridien / Australia, Melbourne, Le Meridien Melbourne

Photos / Hotels / Le Meridien / UK, London, Le Meridien London Gatwick Airport

Photos / Hotels / Sheraton

Photos / Hotels / Sheraton / USA, New York - Hilton New York TowersPhotos / Hotels / Le Meridien /

Photos / Hotels / Westin

Photos / Hotels / Westin / Australia, Sydney, Westin Sydney

Photos / Hotels / Westin / Canada, Toronto, Westin Harbour Castle

Photos / Locations

Photos / Locations / Boston

Photos / Locations / Europe Trip 04

Photos / Corporate

Photos / Corporate / Images

Site Map

About Opaque Bidding

frequentguide — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 06:53:33 -0700

I've got an airfare to Europe here...going once...going twice...SOLD to the fella in Philly with the Macintosh who already gave us his credit card number and can't back out now!

"Supply and demand" is a two-way street, and the Internet is the traffic cop who pointed that out to us. Auction sites have truly come into their own—witness the stupefying success and broad cultural effects of eBay. Bidding for travel is no exception—indeed, back in the old days (1998), its champion in shining armor, Priceline.com, was once of the true darlings of the Internet. Even Captain Kirk loved it! Well, Priceline is still around, and it has a bit of competition (see right), plus there's that variant on bidding sites called opaque fares, but we'll get to that in a minute.

First: online travel auctions. Simple. You give them your home airport, your destination, and your travel dates, they provide you with a deal up to 50% lower than official fares. The catch? You gotta be flexible on departure time and you don't get to pick your airline. Also, you have to brush up on the going rates before you get started.

The idea is you put in your itinerary and a price you're willing to pay, it lets the airlines (all the biggies are members of Priceline) decide whether to accept your bid and sell you a seat. Once you enter a bid, you are obligated to pay if an airline accepts the bid, so you have to be sure of this going into it. After all, they have your credit card number.

You also have to do your homework and find out the absolute minimum you could get a ticket for through regular methods. That means going through the whole rigamarole described on the "Getting the Cheapest Airfare" page. Then, armed with that fare, hack maybe 35% off it and plug that amount into Priceline. No, that 35% isn't scientific; I just made it up. It's a fairly reasonable rate—and yes, it's pointless to try and get a transatlantic ticket for $10—and you may get a bite.

Seriously: find out the going rate first. Whenever I go to these sites, I wince to see folks bidding ludicrous sums for trips that would cost them less if they just rang up the airline and asked for a ticket straight out—like bidding $250 for a round-trip ticket from NYC to London when the going rate at the time, on the very same airline, was $170. (Yeah, I know: great price. That’s what you can find on the sales page of Virgin Atlantic in the wintertime.)

Now you can always raise your bid if the first one doesn't get a nibble on the line. In fact, even if Priceline sends you a "counteroffer," don't take it yet. Just raise the bid a bit. Nine times out of ten, you'll get a taker before you ever reach the level of that counteroffer.

Note that you get the most restrictive ticket imaginable; you won't be able to change the dates or travel times, not even by paying the normal change fee. Also, you might end up with a circuitous routing. (I'd rather pay an extra $20 or $30 to fly direct from New York to Rome than be forced to waste an extra day flying from New York to Detroit to Amsterdam to Rome—which is a distinct possibility if Northwest/KLM accepts your bid.)

You can pull out before the bid is accepted if you get cold feet or feel the number is going too high. But once the auction closes or your bid is accepted, that's it. Your Visa bill instantly gets longer and your ticket goes in the mail (so to speak).

Opaque fares are not quite as loosey-goosey as auctions. You give an opaque fares booker like Hotwire your dates (departure/return) and cities (where you are and where you wanna go), and they give you a price to match. You pick the price you like (hint: it's the lowest one). Only after you pay the virtual piper do you find out the name of the airline and precise times of the flights.

There's nothing fishy about all this (well, not with the legit operations listed to the right). It’s just a way for airlines to move empty seats at amounts that far undercut their published fares without admitting that they're willing to sell seats for so little.

The two big opaque sites....

priceline.com - Though William Shatner no longer sings (poorly) its praises on national television, this darling of the dot.com bubble is still alive and well and accepting bids. Though you get to pick your travel dates and departure and arrival cities, you don't get to be picky about the times of your flights. For international, the airline that accepts your bid is free to assign you a seat on any flight from 5am on your stated departure date until 2am that night (well, technically the next day). To help you be vague so as to cast a wide net, when you enter your departure/arrival cities, Priceline will provide you with a selection of airports in or near your choice cities, and you can select as many as you're willing to possibly use (the more you pick, the greater your chances of getting that low fare). The airline that accepts your bid will tell you where you're flying from and to. Also note that the price you bid out will not include taxes, which can tack on an additional $85 to $115 (this isn't fleecing you; that's actually how much government taxes, security charges, airport fees, etc actually run these days), plus $6.95 for processing and, if you get paper tickets, $19.95 for S&H.

hotwire.com - Industry leader in online opaque fares, offering up to 45% off published airfares, 75% off hotel rates. Hotwire's 33 associates include founders America West, American Airlines, Continental, Northwest, United and US Airways. They also rep over 6000 hotels in 150 US cities and resorts. Unlike some bargain sites, they encourage you to shop around and try to beat their fares, and will hold a reservation free-of-charge for one hour. They also have some juicy last-minute deals. Hotwire was purchased in Sept 2003 by Barry Diller's insatiable InterActiveCorp (the same guy who owns Web travel powerhouses Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com, and CitySearch plus other household-name business like TicketMaster, Match.com, and LendingTree.com), so be ready for possible changes—though Mr. Diller seems to operate under a "don't fix what ain't broken" mantra in companies he acquires; he just uses his clout to make them bigger.

Nevada, Las Vegas - Winning Bids

frequentguide — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 06:40:26 -0700

Below are recent winning priceline.com bids for properties in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area
Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area
Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area

2.5*, Convention Centre, UNLV Residence Inn, $47, 18 June 2005

4*, Strip, Alladin, $90, 6 June 2005

2.5*, Convention Centre, Residence Inn Hughes, $47, 17-19 June 2005

Bidding for Hotels on Priceline.com

frequentguide — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 06:31:56 -0700

Quick overview of hotel bidding

You can get great discounts on hotels by naming your own price—by bidding on priceline.com. Priceline creates a win-win situation: it helps hotels and resorts fill empty rooms, while it gives you fantastic deals. This site gives you step-by-step priceline bidding tips so that you can make the smartest bids, for the lowest prices.

Here you'll learn:

What you need to know about priceline's accommodations and its best price guarantee.
Hotel bidding tips for the smartest hotel bids and greatest savings.

June 2005 update

With occupancy increasing again, you can no longer expect 75% off at the most popular destinations, such as Midtown Manhattan, Orlando, or Seattle. However, still expect to save 40% over Expedia.com at popular destinations.

Check out typical discounts:
priceline Hotels: Our 10 Best Neighborhoods!
Generally, you'll receive the biggest discounts on 3- and 4-star hotels and resorts.
Hotels near large international airports continue to offer the best values in the U.S. and Canada when you use priceline.com (Hotels) or Hotwire.com. A Hyatt or Marriott often costs less than a nearby Motel 6.

Priceline's accommodations

At priceline.com (Hotels), you bid on a star-quality range in a neighborhood. Most people want particular amenities, price, and neighborhood, rather than a specific hotel.
You can bid up to 6 p.m. local time on the day of arrival in most cities.
Priceline's star ratings closely approximate the American Automobile Association's 1- to 5-diamond rankings.
For each city, priceline lists the amenities standard for each star rating. These could include a fitness center, room service, restaurant, a business center, and many more. Note, however, that using these amenities may cost extra.
Rooms at some hotels may not be large enough for more than two people. If you require a larger room or kitchen facilities, check prices at priceline's main competitor, Hotwire.com.

Best price guarantee

Priceline.com guarantees you the lowest online price available on your hotel room. If you reserve a hotel on priceline, and then, within 24 hours, find a lower price on another website for the same type of room at the same hotel on the same dates and available to the general public, priceline will refund 100% of the difference.

You can't lose!

7 bidding tips for hotels and resorts

1. Do your research.

As always, BidonTravel's best tip for bidding on hotel rooms is to do your research first. Look for the best current prices on hotels for your desired quality range, dates, and destination the same day you want to bid on priceline. Seeing the lowest room rates available allows you to avoid overbidding on priceline.

Here are some of the places to check:

Discount travel websites, such as Hotels.com and Travelocity Hotel Deals, which give prices for specific hotels, rather than offering a bidding opportunity.

(Hotels.com lists hotels with best values first.)
AAA auto club members may access http://www.aaa.com to check on price ranges.

Top of Page

2. Consider days and seasons.

Keep in mind the days of the week you want to book.

Hotels in most cities offer their lowest rates and biggest discounts on weekends—Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sunday nights—and around holidays, except during special events.

Because weekend rates are usually priced 25 - 50% off regular rates, do not base your bid on a Wednesday rate if you are actually arriving on Friday.

Exceptions: Weekends in Orlando, Las Vegas, Reno, and most resorts are more expensive. (In Vegas, Sunday through Wednesday are cheapest. The prices rise each subsequent night, with Saturday night the most expensive. You can practically (well, almost) name any price at the best hotels in Las Vegas if you book for mid-week nights when there are no conventions in town.)
Of course, hotels in resort areas give bigger discounts during off-seasons.

3. Remember priceline rules.

You can only rebid on a hotel range with the same particulars once every 72 hours. You can rebid immediately if you change the neighborhood, city, dates, or star category.

For maximum savings, be sure to read how to submit your initial bid and any rebids in Section 6.
Once you authorize priceline to charge your credit card, your reservations become non-refundable and cannot be changed in any way, even by paying a penalty.

Click on priceline.com (Hotels) to bid

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4. Prepare your money-saving priceline bid.

When determining your bid, consider everything, such as season, school holidays, days of week, the prices for specific hotels you found in your on-line research, as well as how much you want to go.
In general, the higher the star category, the greater percentage off the listed price you should bid.
If you saw a lot of hotels in your quality range available at an on-line site like Travelocity.com, you can bid lower on priceline.com (Hotels). If not, you'll need to bid more.
Currently, the majority of successful priceline bids range from 25 to 55% off discount sites, such as Hotels.com or Travelocity, which list prices for specific hotels. Priceline customers save on average over 40%.

Never bid less than 30% off the prices you see on sites that list prices for specific hotels, unless you are traveling during a large convention or another exceptionally busy time or have no time to rebid.

Click on priceline.com (Hotels) to bid

Top of Page

5. Compare your proposed bid to Hotwire's prices.

A great way to avoid overbidding on priceline is to check Hotwire.com's prices just before you bid on priceline.

Priceline and Hotwire.com are similar. (You don't know your hotel name until you pay, no refunds, no changes . . ..) However, Hotwire offers only fixed prices and no bidding.

Although priceline has relationships with many more hotels, which increases your chance to save, Hotwire.com does give you more room choices (such as kitchenettes).
The 15% rule: In most cases, plan to make your priceline bid 15% less than Hotwire's displayed price, which excludes taxes and fees.
The 30% rule: Before you submit your priceline bid, make sure that 15% off the Hotwire rate is at least 30% off the rates you have found on other online sites, for the same dates and star rating (except during large conventions or other special events). In the rare instance when Hotwire's price is unusually high, this policy will help you avoid overbidding on priceline.
If your priceline bid or rebids are not successful (see rebidding strategies), you can go back to Hotwire within its payment deadline, and still get a bargain price.

6. Submit a "smart" bid to priceline hotels.

Remember priceline's 72-hour requirement for rebidding on the exact same quality and dates. However, you can bid again before 72 hours if you change a date, city, star category, or neighborhood.
When you tell priceline.com (Hotels) what city you want, you are usually given a choice of neighborhoods. If you are interested in more than one neighborhood, hold back your second choice neighborhood (or several), in case you have to bid again.

Using this flexibility allows you to rebid immediately, and also to make an especially low first bid. You may get lucky.
Also, use star quality as part of your bidding strategy. Start bidding with a higher star quality so that you can make immediate rebids using lower stars.
For example, if you start bidding with 2 stars, priceline checks for 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-star hotels in your price range. You cannot re-bid using 3, 4, or 5 stars (even if you want to bid a higher price).

But, if you start with 4 stars, you can re-bid for 3 stars and then for 2 stars right away.
When you enter a bid, priceline gives your total cost, including taxes and fees, before you confirm payment. If this total is higher than you want to pay, adjust your bid as many times as you like before you submit it as an official bid.
Click on priceline.com (Hotels) to bid on accommodations.

What is a Podcast?

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 07:53:42 -0700

My blog... on Podcasting: Virtually everyone nowadays has heard of "Ipods". It's really been a complete revolution in the way we listen to audio. I bought my first Ipod in October 2004, at Frys Electronics in Los Angeles. It was certainly a big purchase for me - this Ipod 20GB. But I have to say, it's the best money i've ever spent. It's a huge hard drive for storing documents, but you can also use it to listen to audio content (notice I don't use the word "songs" or "music" here). The reason I say "audio content" is that more recently I've been listening to kinda like "radio stations" on my Ipod. The audio is downloaded as an MP3 file off the net and... chucked in my itunes software.

The great thing is firstly - generally podcasts are free, the content is wide and diverse (you could get some guy in Las Vegas talking about his home town and tips on where to travel in Vegas) through to listening to a free audio version of Robert Kiyosaki. Secondly, it's fresh - you can download new podcasts as your favourite podcaster creates it - I have two podcast services of my own at frequentguide.com - Australia Calling - targeted at anyone interested in learning more about Australia, as a traveller; and frequentguide.com podcast - which is an audio version of this site - with hints and tips on making the most of travel. Podcasting is truly amazing... in my view, it's back to the days of the internet in 1992, 1993 when people were creating their own homepages.

Ipods have struck a chord with consumers (pardon the pun). We are all time poor, busy with our lives, we do have time to listen to audio when we commute, when we exercise, when we want to just "chill out" - this medium now could be under threat... by commercialisation... but hey, that's life, let's enjoy it - but podcasting is really the next big thing if you ask me! Read below to learn more...

Definition: Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. Podcasting is distinct from other types of audio content delivery because it uses the RSS 2.0 protocol. This technique has enabled many producers to create self-published, syndicated radio shows.

Users subscribe to podcasts using podcatching software (also called aggregator software) which periodically checks for and downloads new content. It can then sync the content to the users portable music player, hence the portmanteau of Apple Computer's iPod and broadcasting. Podcasting does not require an iPod; any digital audio player or computer with the appropriate software can play podcasts.

History: Origin of podcasting
By 2003, a number of blogs already published audio online, and the RSS protocol was widely used for summarizing or syndicating content. Using RSS, former NPR host Christopher Lydon attached audio files to his weblog. Lydons full-length interviews, which focused on blogging and coverage of the 2004 U.S. presidental campaigns, helped to inspire Adam Curry's iPodder script. Indeed, blogs would become an important factor in the popularization of podcasting.

Origin of the word: One of the first uses of the term podcasting was in an article in The Guardian on February 12, 2004, though it didn't detail the RSS protocol or automatic synchronization. In September of that year, Dannie Gregoire used the term to describe the automatic download and synchronization idea that Adam Curry had developed . Gregoire had also registered multiple domain names associated with podcasting. That usage was discovered and reported on by Curry and Dave Slusher of the Evil Genius Chronicles website. Unique attributes Differences from traditional broadcasting Unlike radio or streaming media, podcasts are timeshifted, meaning that listeners have control over when they hear the recording. This has disadvantages, since podcasts cannot have live participation or reach large audiences as quickly as radio can.

However, podcasting has one significant advantage over traditional methods of broadcasting -- it allows individuals to easily transmit content worldwide without the need for expensive equipment or licenses.

Differences from other forms of online audio: Podcasting differs from broadcasting and webcasting in the way that content is transmitted. Instead of a central audio stream, listeners download audio files remotely and automatically. Podcasts can also include metadata such as dates, titles, and descriptions. Podcasting differs from autocasting in terms of content podcasts are generally voice broadcasts while autocasting is a speech-synthesized version of regular text blogs. Audioblogs can be easily made into podcasts if they add support for RSS to facilitate automatic retrieval.

Links

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 07:51:13 -0700

Bleow are some of my favourite links, plus useful links for readers:

Podcasts (here are my favourites!):

Visit My Las Vegas: http://audio.visitmylasvegas.com - this podcast is one of the best put together, he has regular guests, mixes in some great music and intros and gives you heaps of valuable, interesting news on the most amazing city in the world - Las Vegas baby, Yeh!

Tokyo Calling: http://www.tokyocalling.org - this guy is great, his podcasts are rich in content and talks about life as an ex-pat American in Tokyo. Really interesting and highly recommended!

New York Minute: http://www.podcastnyc.net - an New Yorker of Italian heritage, takes you through everything and anything you would want to know about New Yawk! right down to how to get from the airports to town, where to eat, what to do. Highly recommended if you're thinking about visiting NYC.

Airline Programs:

http://www.qantas.com.au

http://www.airnewzealand.com.au

http://www.united.com

http://www.aeroplan.com

http://www.mexicana.com

http://www.smiles.com.br

http://www.virginatlantic.com

Hotel Programs:

http://www.hiltonhhonors.com

http://www.spg.com

http://www.priorityclub.com

http://www.marriott.com

http://www.goldpassport.com

http://www.lemeridien.com

Useful Bidding Sites:

So, if you think you'd like to consider bidding on an opaque site for your next hotel room or car rental (lesser so for flights though), consider these two, then follow it up with the actual companies (priceline and hotwire) to actually bid:

http://www.biddingfortravel.com

http://www.betterbidding.com

And to bid (kind of with hotwire - it's opaque but a set price)...

http://www.priceline.com

http://www.hotwire.com

Frequentguide.com Podcast Directory

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 07:40:26 -0700

Welcome to frequentguide.com Podcast. This podcast service provides you with a commentary on tips, hints, ideas and the latest news on frequentguide.com - including airline and hotel loyalty programs, hotel and airline reviews, plus heaps more!

Subscribe to this Podcast Service, as an XML feed:

http://switchpod.com/users/frequentguide/feed.xml

For any comments or feedback on content, or to supply content email frequentguide.com Podcast at podcast@frequentguide.com

Please help keep this podcast service free, every donation helps pays my monthly data fee, every little amount helps. Donatiions are not required, but certainly very very welcome and much appreciated.

frequentguide.com - podcast 3. 5 July 2005. "Bali" (3.4mb). Show notes: I talk to special guests Eliza and Tracy all about Bali (actually it's pretty darn short and we weren't 100% sober.

http://www.switchpod.com/users/frequentguide/frequentguide-3-5jul05-bali-intro.mp3

frequentguide.com - podcast 2. 2 July 2005. "Ayres Rock" (14.9mb). Show notes: I talk with Dave and Angela on where to go and what to do in Ayres Rock, in the Northern Territory of Australia.
http://www.switchpod.com/users/frequentguide/frequentguide-2-2jul05-ayres-rock.mp3

frequentguide.com - podcast 1. 1 July 2005 "Introduction, Barcelona, Greece" (10.1mb). Show notes: Introduction to the first ever podcast. Talk about Barcelona and Greece. Special guests are Dave and Julienne.

http://www.switchpod.com/users/frequentguide/frequentguide-1-1jul05-intro-barcelona-greece.mp3

Subscribe to this Podcast Service, as an XML feed:

http://switchpod.com/users/frequentguide/feed.xml

Australia Calling Podcast Directory

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 07:27:12 -0700

Welcome to Australia Calling. This podcast service provides you with a commentary on the latest happenings in Australia, but also gives you tips and ideas around your next trip to Australia.

For any comments or feedback on content, or to supply content email Australia Calling at australiacalling@frequentguide.com

frequentguide.com - podcast 1. 21 June 2005. Show notes: Welcome to the first ever podcast and why i'm making this podcast.

Contact Us

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 06:00:52 -0700

Frequentguide.com can be contacted below:

Email: info@frequentguide.com

Phone: +44 773 069 4799 (in UK - 0773 069 4799)

Post: Frequentguide.com, PO Box 1097, South Perth, WA AUSTRALIA, 6951

About the All Nippon Airways Mileage Club Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:50:34 -0700

Here is how ANA describes their frequent flyer offerings - "You can get mileage not only by using flights of ANA, Air Nippon and other tie-up airlines, but also by various activities such as shopping, eating meals, joining tours or using hotels or rental cars provided by ANA's tie-up companies." I am assuming that tie-up is another way of saying partner.

All Nippon Airways is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and is the country's largets domestic airline. Its earliest predecessor was Japan (Nippon) Helicopter and Aeroplane, which began services in December 1953. The company changed its name to All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. but the IATA airline code, NH, comes from the original name of the airline. ANA currently flies to 49 destinations in Japan and operates 22 international routes in Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe.

ANA Mileage Club recently made some changes to the program, including changes to the earning and burning chart. All earning and redemptions take into account the season and are now based on the distance of the flight instead of award zones, so each award flight will be calculated individually. While this new system complicates the way awards are calculated, it also means that earn and burn rates correlate more closely to the flight distance and seasonality.

Earnings ability

Members earn actual miles flown when paying full coach fares and 70 percent on discounted coach fares. Premium class passengers will earn an additional 25-50 percent of miles flown, depending on the distance they fly.

ANA Mileage Club has teamed up with many different partners and members can earn miles for car rentals, hotel stays, credit card spending, retail purchases and participating in other partner activities

Plenty of japanese partners from house moving... to pet services!

Redemption ability

In short - they have some unique earning options which can be very useful - ie 60k from Australia to USA on United or Asiana (interesting routings ie via Anchorage). But.. hard to earn those important miles in order to redeem compared to other programs. I got mine through the 55,555 promo.

Figuring out how many miles are required for a Japan domestic flight award can be complicated, since awards vary based on the flight distance, number of segments and season. To calculate an award, you will need to to log in to your Mileage Club account and enter your point of origination and destination(s) into ANA's online mileage award calculator, which will then determine whether the flight will occur in low, regular or high season and how many miles will be needed for each segment. A nonstop roundtrip coach award ticket of less than 600 miles during low season requires 11,000 miles, the cheapest flight award, whereas a coach flight over 2,000 miles during high season will require 23,000 miles. One-way award flights are not available.

International flight awards are based on the season and the distance of the entire itinerary, regardless of destination. A flight award can contain up to eight segments and at least two segments must be international. The mileage requirement is based on the highest season, so if one segment occurs during low season and another segment during regular season, the entire itinerary will be calculated at the regular season rate. A coach roundtrip flight between Tokyo and San Francisco will be 40,000 miles in low season, 50,000 miles in regular season and 60,000 in high season. The same flight in business will require 70,000 miles in low season, 80,000 miles in regular season and 90,000 in high season; first class is 110,000 miles regardless of season. Award requirements for first class international flights do not change according to season.

Upgrade awards are only available on ANA operated flights and are calculated by the segment distance. One-way upgrades start at 12,000 miles for a coach to business class upgrade for up to a 2,000-mile flight. A business to first class upgrade is 20,000 miles on the same flight. Elite members can use points to upgrade, one point per domestic flight and two points for international routes. Star Alliance upgrade awards are available from 12,000 miles.

In addition to flight awards, members with addresses in Japan can redeem miles for gift awards, such as a watch, coffee maker, handbag or wallet for 10,000 miles each. Members can also convert 10,000 miles into a $100 "ANA GIFT" certificate. Mileage Club members located in Japan also have the option of converting miles into 10,000 yen of electronic money, which can be used at more than 49,000 shops throughout Japan, or 2,000 Mizuho Mileage Club points.

ANA Value Vouchers are available for 20,000 miles for 30,000 yen. Vouchers can be used towards the cost of ANA flights, ANA hotels and in-flight shopping. Mileage Club members can also redeem 12,000 miles for a $100 gift card from retailers such as Macy's, Crate & Barrel and GAP.

ANA Mileage Club does not offer a miles plus money award option or car rental, hotel or other types of awards.

Partnerships

ANA is a member of the Star Alliance and members can fly to 965 airports in 162 countries with member carriers. Mileage Club also partners with Eva Air, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways. When redeeming for a flight award on non-Star Alliance partner airlines, only one airline partner may be included on the itinerary. Partner flights awards are calculated by adding the total standard mileage for all segments and awards start at 14,000 miles for a coach ticket less than 600 miles in distance.

ANA partners with 33 domestic and international hotel brands, including Starwood, Marriott, Shangri-La, Hilton and Hyatt and members generally earn 500 miles per stay.

Car rental partners include Avis, Hertz, Dollar, Alamo and National and members can earn between 50 miles per day and 300 miles per rental.

ANA partners with many credit cards and members can convert credit card points into Mileage Club miles with the ANA JCB card, ANA Visa/MasterCard, ANA Diners Card, ANA eLIO card and the ANA Postal Savings Joint Card.

Mileage Club participates in the American Express Membership Rewards program and one point can be converted into one mile in blocks of 1,000 points.

Members can also earn miles from using 0123 Van Lines moving services, KDDI Mobile cellular service, Airnex or KDDI America Internet Service and ordering gifts from ANA Gift Service.

Members who purchase a car from JCM, Car Seven and All Japan Lotas Club can earn miles. Memberst who dine at participating restaurants can earn miles with Gourmet Mile and online shoppers can earn miles when purchasing wine through the Fine Wine Club. Other mileage partners include travel reservation companies, bank security and insurance companies, telecommunications and golf courses.
Elite program

Mileage Club's elite-level program is three tiered: Bronze, Platinum and Diamond. Members who earn 30,000 ANA Premium points over a calendar year will earn Bronze status. Premium points are the base miles multiplied by the class/fare ratio, route ratio, plus the number of boarding points, which are determined by the class and fare. Bronze members earn a 50 percent mileage bonus on ANA, two points that can be redeemed for upgrades (one point is required per domestic segment), one-time airport lounge access in Japan for 1,000 miles, a dedicated service desk, priority waitlist, seat reservations, standby and check-in, additional baggage allowance on ANA Group international flights and Silver Star Alliance membership.

Members earning 50,000 Premium Points will be upgraded to the Platinum Level and receive all of the benefits of Bronze, except they will be given Gold Star Alliance membership, a 100 percent mileage bonus on ANA flights, complimentary lounge access, an exclusive Platinum reservation line, six upgrade points, ANA global assistance and space available upgrades on the day of departure to Premium Economy seats on ANA international flights when traveling on normal economy fares.

Diamond members are those who have earned 100,000 Premium Points in a calendar year. Diamond members earn a 125 percent mileage bonus and miles will not expire as long as you are a Diamond member. Members in the highest elite tier will receive their own service desk, top priority waitlist and award ticket reservations and a choice of one of five benefit packages, all of which include eight upgrade points. Diamond members can also redeem twice the miles required for an award ticket for any available seat.
Rules

Expiry is the WORST!

As of April 2008, Mileage Club miles expire at the end of the 36th month after the date they were earned. For example, miles earned June 15, 2008 will expire at the end of June 2011. Previously, miles expired at the end of the second year after the date of activity.

Awards may be used by the member and up to 10 of the member's family members but miles cannot be pooled, (unless members reside outside of Japan and are enrolled in the Family Account program), combined or transferred. Awards may be subject to capacity controls.

International upgrade awards cannot be combined with flight awards.
Service and support

Members can call or email the service center after logging in and filling out the feedback form located at the bottom of your account homepage. Members have said that customer service is outstanding and when we called, we spoke with a courteous English-speaking representative who was quick to answer our questions.
Definitely one of the best in the world - great Japanese service from their help centres in SIN and HKG i've had via email and phone.... but they are still strict ;-)

Online service:

Online registration is available and members can view their account balance, make changes to their online profile and redeem for flight awards, upgrade awards and non-flight awards online. Missing mileage requests for ANA and IBEX Airlines flights can be made online.

An award booking tool shows flight awards on ANA and Star Alliance partner flights within a seven-day window, making it easy to search for awards.
Other points

As a Star Alliance member airline, Mileage Club members have access to an extensive network of international award destinations. The program also has numerous non-airline partnerships and members have many opportunities to earn miles without flying. Diamond members have the option to redeem twice as many miles for any available seat.
Mileage Club, like many international airlines, includes a fuel surcharge on award tickets. Miles have a shelf life (if you aren't a Diamond member) and if you don't use them within three years, they will expire. Flying on coach fares, members earn only 50 to 75 percent of miles flown.

About the Air Canada Aeroplan Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:47:24 -0700

When Air Canada entered bankruptcy in April of 2003, there was plenty of worry in the Great White North. After all, the nation's flagship carrier had the only traditional frequent flyer program in the country - Aeroplan. As time went on, the carrier eventually managed to emerge from the financial doldrums. In the meantime, though, some interesting things happened with Aeroplan.

For starters, it was shopped around as a separate business and rumors continue to swirl that it may yet stand alone. (This isn't terribly surprising - despite Air Canada's woes, Aeroplan has always been a cash cow.)

And many industry watchers seemed to see a distancing of Aeroplan from Air Canada - the program completely re-branded itself, and dramatically increased the number of non-flight awards.

Even the flyer-only portion of the program underwent significant changes.

And a more recent update:

Air Canada celebrates its 70th year anniversary this year and recently received the "Best Airline in North America" and "Best Airline in Canada" awards from readers of Global Traveler magazine. Air Canada's Aeroplan has been given two Freddie Awards for making innovative decisions. In 2003, Aeroplan received an industry impact award for its decision to allow elite members to choose their benefits and customize their elite package. Last year, Aeroplan received an award for its decision to make the program public via an initial public offering. The move has proven to be financially successful and shareholders are satisfied with the new arrangement, but what does Aeroplan have to offer its frequent flyers?

Earning ability

Within Canada, members earn miles on Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Air Creebec, Air One, Bearskin Airlines, Calm Air, Canadian North and First Air. Air Canada has six levels of booking classes and members flying on the airline's lowest fare, Tango, or in booking class X, earn 50 percent of miles flown with a minimum of 250 miles. Members also have the option of not earning miles for a CAD$3 reduction in the ticket price on Tango fares. In all other booking classes, members earn 100 percent of miles flown with a 500-mile minimum. Members flying in the highest class, Executive, also earn a 50 percent mileage bonus.

Air Canada is a member of the Star Alliance and on partner airlines, members generally earn 100 percent of miles flown with a 500-mile minimum, although mileage earning varies with the partner. Class of service bonuses also apply. On flights between Canada and Europe, Israel and the U.K., members earn between 250 and 500 bonus miles per one-way segment for online bookings. For flights to all other destinations, members can earn up to one bonus mile per dollar spent on eligible bookings at aircanada.com.

For Canadian residents, there are four American Express co-branded credit cards and three CIBC Visa cards and cardholders earn between 0.5 and 1.5 miles per dollar spent. For U.S. residents, Air Canada Aeroplan Platinum Plus MasterCard cardholders earn one mile per dollar spent.
Award choices:

Flight awards fall into two categories, ClassicFlight and ClassicPlus. There are no blackout dates for either award but capacity controls apply to ClassicFlight awards and ClassicPlus awards are only available on Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz. Economy class ClassicFlight award tickets within Canada and the United States are 15,000 miles for selected short-haul flights and 25,000 miles for longer flights. Business class ClassicFlight awards are 25,000 miles for shorter flights and 40,000 miles for longer flights. Flights from Canada to Hawaii or the Caribbean are 40,000 miles in coach and 60,000 miles in business; to Europe are 60,000 in coach and 85,000 in business; and to Asia are 75,000 in coach and 115,000 in business.

Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz ClassicPlus one-way flight awards are now available on routes that offer one-way pricing and the mileage required for one-way awards vary. Miles cannot be redeemed for upgrades and Aeroplan does not offer award auctions.

Hotel awards are available at over 4,900 locations worldwide with partner hotels such as Westin, Best Western, Sheraton and Delta Hotels. The newest additions to Aeroplan's hotel partnerships are Novotel, Sofitel, Club Intrawest and Barcelo Hotels and mileage required for award stays varies by location and category of hotel. When we checked, participating hotels in Toronto offered free award nights between 11,500 and 24,000 miles. Car rental awards are available with National, Hertz or Avis from 5,000 miles.

Aeroplan has over 400 Aeroplan Rewards that include gourmet getaways, electronics, entertainment, sports events and spa packages. Members can redeem miles for items such as 6,000 miles for a Gap or Pier 1 gift card or 627,000 miles for a Vespa LX50.

Members can also donate miles, and to date, a total of 37,755,252 miles have been donated to charitable organizations including Air Canada Kids' Horizons, Engineers Without Borders, Medecins Sans Frontieres and Veterinarians Without Borders. A minimum donation of 2,500 miles is required.

Partnerships

Aeroplan has a large number of partnerships and continues to add more. Members can rent cars with Avis and earn between 250 and 500 miles per rental. Rentals with Hertz earn between 50 miles for daily rentals and up to 5,000 miles for monthly rentals and with National, members earn three miles per dollar spent on eligible rentals.

Members can stay and earn miles at over 70 hotels and resorts with mileage offers ranging between one to three miles per dollar spent and 250 to 1,000 miles per stay. Miles can also be earned for vacations with Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International at the rate of 200 miles per night.

Aeroplan is partners with a few financial and insurance providers and members can earn miles for car and home insurance. Grey Power, belairdirect insurance, ING and ING Novex all offer one mile for every CAD$2 spent. The program also partners with Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and members can earn 360 miles per year and 500 miles upon initial payment. Miles can also be earned for obtaining a mortgage with CIBC AeroMortgage, buying or selling a house through All-Purpose Realty referral, opening a Canadian Scholarship Trust Plan RESP and using Atlas Van Lines.

Signing up for phone service, buying gas and purchasing products at the pharmacy and hardware store are all Aeroplan mileage-earning activities. Members earn one mile for every dollar spent on Bell phone services or at Uniprix pharmacy, every three dollars spent at Esso and every two dollars spent at Home Hardware, Home Building Centre, Home Hardware Building Centre and Home Furniture. Members can also earn between 250 and 500 miles for selected airport parking, including Park'N Fly and Park & Jet Calgary. Aeroplan occasionally has limited time partnerships and until Dec. 31, 2007, Canadian residents are eligible to earn 10 miles for purchasing specially-marked Quaker or Tropicana products. Aeroplan does not have an online shopping mall.

Elite level program

Aeroplan offers three elite levels: Prestige, Elite and Super Elite. The Prestige status is reached at 25,000 miles or 25 flight segments; Elite at 35,000 miles or 50 segments and Super Elite at 100,000 miles or 100 segments. Elite qualifying miles are miles earned on Air Canada (except for flights booked on Tango fares or in X booking class) and Star Alliance partner airlines. The 100 segment threshold for Super Elite is new for 2007, up from 95, and more closely matches the segment requirements of other programs.

Unlike most elite programs, Aeroplan continues to offer threshold bonuses of 1,500 miles when obtaining Prestige, 2,500 for Elite and 5,000 for Super Elite status. Instead of dictating what members will find most valuable, Aeroplan members are able to customize their elite membership by selecting some of their benefits from a range of options. The benefits vary by elite level and choices include status miles bonuses, bonus miles on selected flights (100 percent, 50 percent or 25 percent, depending on elite level), upgrade certificates and complimentary lounge access for guests.

In addition to chosen benefits, Aeroplan also offers perks elite members expect to receive, such as status upgrade certificates, priority contacts, preferred seat selection, priority waitlist, check-in and standby for Prestige members. Prestige members also receive discounted lounge membership and Star Alliance Silver benefits.

Elite status members are given all of the benefits listed above as well as personalized luggage tags, priority baggage handling and an extra baggage allowance, priority boarding, complimentary Maple Leaf lounge access, special access to award seats and Star Alliance Gold benefits. Super Elites also receive concierge service, guaranteed reservations for full-fare tickets, discounts on companion awards and exclusive threshold bonus gifts such as bonus miles or gift certificates at the 150,000, 200,000, 250,000 and 300,000 Air Canada Status Mile levels.
Rules

Beginning July 1, 2007, miles will expire in accounts with no earning or redeeming activity for 12 months. The new policy will replace the current three-year expiration policy. Accumulated miles will expire seven years after the accumulation date but accounts belonging to members under the age of 18 are exempt from the new policy. Expired miles may be reinstated for a fee of CAD$30 plus CAD$0.01 per mile reinstated (plus taxes). Reinstated miles are valid for seven years from the date of reinstatement as long as there is annual account activity.

A maximum of 15,000 miles may be purchased each year for an ongoing promotional rate of CAD$0.03 per mile (regular price is $0.04). Miles can also be transferred through the aeroplan.com Web site only for CAD$0.02 per mile with a minimum transfer of 1,000 miles. Members are also charged a fuel surcharge on award tickets.
Service and support

Aeroplan staff tends to be friendly and helpful. Getting through to the service center is quick and the Aeroplan staff members we talked to were knowledgeable about the program and Aeroplan members have given us similar feedback. Members can also send questions to the service center via e-mail.
Online service

We've heard quite a few complaints about the functionality and availability of the Web site. Information can be hard to find and some pages take a while to load so browsing through the site can be slow going. Like many airlines, online bookings do not show all possible destinations and itineraries and booking a flight through the reservation center costs CAD$30 per passenger, plus any additional taxes. Star Alliance partner airline award flights can be found and booked online but only for basic itineraries and for some Star Alliance airline bookings, members must complete the reservation by calling the Aeroplan service center within 24 hours; a call center booking fee will not be charged. Changes to award tickets once they are booked must be made through the member service center for a CAD$55 fee plus applicable taxes.

Requests for missing Air Canada flight mileage can be made online but requests for missing mileage on partner airlines must be made through the member service center. Mile redemptions for hotel and car rentals, activities and merchandise and donations can all be made online. Members can also buy and transfer miles online and update their address and profile information.
Some other points to note...

Aeroplan has a long list of partners who offer many opportunities for earning and redeeming miles. Being a Star Alliance member increases the number of worldwide flight destinations for members and many of the Star Alliance partner flights can be found and booked online. Aeroplan continues to offer threshold bonuses to elite members and elite members can choose from a list of benefits and decide which features are most valuable to them.
Aeroplan's fuel surcharges on award tickets continue to be unpopular and members have complained that a "free" ticket can cost hundreds of dollars. Aeroplan is following the recent trend of shortening mileage expiration policies but one year is one of the shortest spans around and adding a shelf life of seven years to miles earned will not be popular with active members wanting to save miles to spend in their golden years. While many airlines charge a booking fee for reservations made through the call center, Aeroplan's charge is higher than most airlines and partner airlines can be booked online, but not all itineraries are available and sometimes a call to the service center is required.

About the Lufthansa Miles & More Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:44:46 -0700

Outside of an inexplicable fondness for David Hasselhoff, Germans know quality. Witness the Lufthansa Miles & More program.

Lufthansa German Airlines launched its frequent flyer program in 1993, and since then, it's grown to over 7 million members, primarily because it's one of the most generous of European programs. And that's good, because it's the frequent flyer program of four European programs -- Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines Group (Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways), and LOT Polish Airlines.

About the program...

Juggernaut n (n) 1. An overwhelming, advancing force. 2. Lufthansa's Miles & More program.In the past four years, Miles & More has grown from the already large frequent flyer program of Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines to a loyalty program of gigantic proportions. Today, it is the exclusive program of Lufthansa, Austrian, Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Air One, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, and Swiss International Air Lines. Its membership has exploded.

Of course, not every member had a choice. Swiss TravelClub members, for instance, were simply integrated into the program this year.

But there have been relatively few complaints. With a huge partner list, generous elite benefits, and reasonable earning and redeeming levels, Miles & More may well be one of the best programs in Europe.

Earning capabilities

Miles & More is a Eurocentric program, and in keeping with the general trend on the continent, it tends to reward big spenders more generously than the budget-conscious. As a result, the best earning rates are reserved for those in higher classes of service. Business-class travel earns double miles, and first class earns triple miles on all international flights with Lufthansa or partner airlines.

Domestic and European mileage is earned in fixed amounts. On German domestic flights, you'll earn 125 miles in E, L, U and T classes; 500 miles in G, H, K, M, Q, S, V and W classes; or 750 miles in B and Y classes. Business class (C, D or Z) earns 1,500 miles. On cross-border flights you'll earn 125 miles in E, L, U and T classes; 750 miles in G, H, K, M, Q, S, V and W classes; and 1,250 miles in B and Y classes. Business class (C, D or Z) earns 2,000 miles.

Worldwide flights in economy earn a minimum of 500 miles, business class earns a minimum of 1,000 miles, and first earns a minimum of 1,500 miles.

Elite members get a few extra miles, but not as many as you might think. Frequent Travellers and Senators get a 25-percent mileage bonus, while HON Circle members earn a full 50-percent bonus. Compare those bonuses with those of Star Alliance partner United, which offers a 100-percent bonus to its top two elite levels.

Flights on Star Alliance carriers earn a minimum of 500 miles, and flights on other air partners earn a minimum of 125 miles.
Miles earned by flying count both for award redemption and elite status. But there are plenty of ways to earn regular old award miles while planted firmly on the ground.

Miles & More members can earn 500 miles per rental with car rental partners, or 500 miles per stay with most hotel partners.

Lufthansa also offers the Miles & More Visa card, which earns one mile for every Euro spent. Previously restricted to German customers, the card has since been introduced around the world, including in the U.S.

Members can also earn with other financial partners including Activest, Cortal Consors, DaimlerChrysler Bank, Deka Bank, Deutsche Bank, DWS Investments, FOCUS-MONEY, and Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.

Other mileage-earning partners include Bang & Olufsen, Mercedes-Benz, Lufthansa WorldShop, Lufthansa Inflight Shopping, Lufthansa Party ServicePayback, T-Mobile and Alice, among others.
Award choices

Miles & More uses the Star Alliance award chart to set its flight levels. A transatlantic roundtrip from Europe to North America will run 60,000 miles in economy, 90,000 miles in business, and 140,000 miles in first. This is a huge advantage over similar awards on other carriers. American AAdvantage, for example, offers the same trip (its AAnytime Award) at 100,000, 180,000, and 250,000 miles, respectively.

Intracontinental European flights run 30,000 and 45,000 miles in economy and business classes. Europe to Southeast Asia awards run 80,000, 120,000 and 180,000 miles, respectively.

There are even select awards on Miles & More carriers that can be redeemed for less, with a few conditions. The "Fly Smart" awards, for instance, can be had at discounts of up to 46 percent when booked online.

Miles & More also offers upgrade awards on Star Allaince carriers: 10,000-15,000 miles within Europe, 35,000-50,000 miles from Europe to North America and 50,000 from Europe to Southeast Asia (65,000 for an upgrade from business to first). These are not "cheap." In fact, they're downright exorbitant when compared with other programs (American AAdvantage upgrades between the U.S. and Europe run between 10,000 and 25,000 miles).
Flight awards are, of course, just the beginning. At the Miles & More Web site, under fairly self-explanatory headings such as Miles & Travel, Miles & Event, Miles & Communication, Miles & Money and Miles & Shop, you'll find a truly diverse list of choices for burning those miles. In fact, Miles & More may well offer more potential redemption opportunities than any other airline program in the world.

Partnerships

In addition to the Star Alliance partners (Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, South African, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, United, US Airways and Varig), Miles & More airline partners include Aegean, Air China, Air India, Cimber Air, Cirrus Airlines, Condor, Jat Airways, Jet Airways, Luxair, Mexicana Airlines, Qatar Airways and Shanghai Airlines.

Hotel partners include Althoff Hotels & Residences, Barcelo Hotels & Resorts, Best Western, Golden Tulip Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, Innside Premium Hotels, InterContinental, Jumeirah Hotels, Kempinski, Le Meridien, The Luxury Collection, Marriott, Movenpick, NH Hoteles, Orbis Hotels, Radisson, Raffles International, Ramada, Shangri-La Hotels, Starwod, The Leading Hotels of the World, and Worldhotels.

Financial partners include Activest, Deka Investment Funds and Deutsche Bank (these are only available to Miles & More members who have a German bank account).

Car rental partners include Avis, Hertz, Europcar and Sixt.
Their Elite Level!

Having been a Senator I'm sure i'm fine to comment on this! Miles & More has had to make a few changes recently. Nowhere have those changes been more pronounced than in its elite program. With the huge influx of new customers -- many of whom were used to rather different programs -- Miles & More retooled at both ends. Still, the perks for elite members remain some of the best in the industry. Indeed, some frequent flyers choose Miles & More simply for its elite program -- mileage earning and redemption is almost incidental.

Today, the program offers three elite levels: Frequent Traveller, Senator, and HON Circle.

Members need only 35,000 status miles in a year to earn Frequent Traveler status. Benefits include priority check-in, access to Business Lounges, use of the Business Class area at the gate, waitlist priority and a baggage allowance up to 40 kg. Award miles never expire, so long as you maintain your status, and Frequent Travellers earn a 25-percent bonus on Star Alliance flights. As with all other levels, Frequent Traveller status is good for a full two years.

A dedicated Frequent Traveller phone line is also available, as is a Frequent Traveller Visa card (in Germany), earning one mile per Euro spent.

For 130,000 miles in Germany or Austria, (100,000 miles in the rest of the world), you'll achieve Senator status. As a Senator, you can expect most of the same perks as a Frequent Traveller, with a few improvements. You'll get first-class check-in, and access to Senator and Star Alliance Gold Lounges. U.S.-based members enjoy complimentary access to United's Red Carpet Club.

Senators also receive a booking guarantee -- you'll be seated on a business-class flight in C class as late as 48 hours before departure (72 hours for Y class seats). Also expect top waitlist priority, preferential luggage handling, and to have your checked-baggage allowance increased by 20 kg or by one more piece.

On qualification or requalification, Senators receive two upgrade eVouchers. They may also redeem companion awards for 50-percent fewer miles.

A little short on your mileage balance? No problem. Senators can take out an advance of up to 50,000 miles.

Ready for the big time? For a mere 600,000 miles in two years, you can become a HON Circle member. The benefits include complimentary Senator status to a spouse or partner, limousine transfer service from the first-class terminal at Frankfurt, six upgrade eVouchers, up to a 100,000-mile advance, increased award availability, and more.
Rules Rules Rules!!!

Membership commences on enrollment with the opening of a personal mileage account by Lufthansa. Only one account per person may be opened. The mileage account and mileage balances are not transferable.

The availability of awards may vary depending on date, season and destination, and under certain circumstances awards may not be available.

If miles are not redeemed for an award within 36 months from date of credit to the mileage account, they expire at the end of the following quarter (Elite-level members are exempt from expiring miles).

Support

We've found Miles & More service personnel to be both courteous and efficient. Efficiency is to be expected from a German outfit, but the program deserves extra kudos for maintaining a high level of courtesy in the face of an exploding membership base.
Their site

Miles & More's Web presence has improved dramatically in the past few years. It's still a monster of a site, and probably could stand a little simplification, but navigation isn't all that difficult. You'll find all the online functions you'd expect from a global leader, and we were pleased to see that loading time has increased exponentially.
Plus features

Partners, partners, partners. Miles & More is simply brimming with them. Its core members, its Star Alliance partners, and its affiliated carriers cover the globe, and cover it well. Add to that the stunning number of travel, financial, and retail partners, and your earning and burning possibilities are nearly endless.

For elite members, Miles & More is a genuine value, and the fact that you get two years -- twice the time as any other carrier -- to re-qualify for those levels is unheard of.

Award levels are reasonable, and extremely competitive in an age of tight-fisted programs.
Negatives

Upgrades seem fairly hard to come by. Not only are elite members limited to a very few complimentary vouchers, but the mileage levels for upgrade awards are awfully steep.

And a mere 50-percent earning bonus for even the highest level elites? We thought Ebenezer Scrooge was English, not German.

The Power of Loyalty

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:42:04 -0700

What is Customer Loyalty?

According to dictionary.com it is "A byproduct of customer retention programs; customers who are part of an active retention program demonstrate higher loyalty to the business. A highly specialized version of retention programs using a unique store of value to provide customer incentive is called a loyalty program."

Today, more than ever, despite the cynisim about frequent traveller programs, customer loyalty is amongst the top of mind of corporations. Why? it's becoming harder to acquire customers, customers in this information age are becoming so much more savvy. Now, more than ever, the use of frequent guest programs can prove value. As a consumer, what corporations value most is loyalty. By you showing your loyalty to a corporation, they will return favours in kind to you.

Here are some interest facts about frequent traveller programs today....

Membership

There are over 120 million members worldwide, with most residing in the US (74 million), Europe (24 million) and Asia (21 million).
Approximately 27 - 28% of all members are active.
American AAdvantage is the largest frequent flyer program in the world. It began with 283,000 members in 1981 and has grown to more than 45 million members. More than 11,000 new members enrolled in the program each day in 2001 -- 20 years after the program started.
Loyalty programs grow at a rate of 11% percent per annum.
The fastest growing segment of these programs are "mileage consumers," not frequent flyers.
The Lufthansa Miles & More program has 1.1 million members in the United States.

Earning Miles

Without bonuses (class of travel bonuses and bonus promotions), about 40% of miles earned are not from flying.
Credit cards are the number one way to earn miles without flying, followed by telephone usage.
There are about 92 frequent flyer/guest programs in the world.
The average active member of a frequent flyer program earns 11,364 miles per year.
It is estimated that some 307,000 frequent flyers have earned at least 1 million miles in their programs.
In the first 20 years of frequent flyer programs, there has been a cumulative of 9,769,300,000,000 miles earned by members of these programs. This includes miles banked within credit card and hotel programs that historically will be exchanged for miles. That's 9.77 trillion miles!
In 1998, 32% of the miles/points earned by members of the Star Alliance were not automatically credited to the member's accounts. This dropped to 15% in 2000. In a full 50% of these cases, the mileage went uncredited because the member's frequent flyer number was not included in the reservation.

Award Redemption

There were 14 million free award tickets given away in 2001.
Approximately 4 million free award tickets were given away in the Japan, Pacific, Australia and Asia (JPAA) area in 2001.
There are over 7.8 trillion miles in current liability among all frequent flyer programs.
Because much of the travel from the JPAA area involves long-haul travel to Europe and the Americas, there is a higher average liablilty per program than in other parts of the world. The current contingent liability of programs in the JPAA area is estimated to be some 990 billion miles/points/kilometers.
In a typical year, about 500 billion frequent flyer miles are earned by members (leftover after redemptions).
The current record for the largest number of frequent flyer miles in one account is just over 23 million miles.
In 1998 around 62 billion miles expired unused (as of 1999 most major US programs no longer have expiring miles).
Wonder how many awards ever get redeemed? Over time, an average of 82% of all awards earned will be redeemed.
What does an award cost an airline? Approximately $13.93, which is an estimated incremental cost for a passenger based on food, beverage, fuel, reservation liability insurance and miscellaneous cost such as denied boarding compensation. This cost does not include any contribution to overhead or profit.
In 2000, More Than 350,000 rewards were redeemed from the Six Continents Priority Club. Seventy percent of the awards redeemed were for hotel stays. Among the top non-hotel choices for Priority Club members: certificates from Home Depot & Best Buy. And the Marriott Rewards programs gave away more than 1.2 million free nights to members in 2000.
In 2001, more than 1.4 million roundtrips were redeemed for free travel on Air Canada and its worldwide Star Alliance partner airlines.
More than one third of all awards redeemed in the United Mileage Plus program in 2002 were Upgrade Awards. The total number of Upgrade Awards issued in 2002 equaled 1,406,716.
In 2003, American AAdvantage members used approximately 122 billion miles to claim more than 4 million awards to over 850 destinations worldwide (evidently, not EVERYONE is going to Orlando and Hawaii).
According to the AwardPlanner service, 25% of people who redeem awards make a change to their itinerary during the planning process, and 10% request a change after the award has been ticketed. Of that 10%, only 3% are actually able to get a ticketed award changed.
On average, members of the Lufthansa Miles&More program redeem 20 percent of their awards for merchandise.

General

Between 82% and 87% of frequent flyers have Web access.
Almost $2 billion of miles were sold last year to various partners of frequent traveler programs.
What's a mile worth? To quote MasterCard: Priceless. For airlines, a mile is worth about 1.7 cents in revenue. For members of such programs, the value of a mile depends on how the award is used. Generally accepted to be valued at two cents, a mile can vary from one cent to eight or nine cents. With advanced planning, an upgrade has a higher value than a coach award in the U.S.
As of December 2000, the Varig Smiles program maintained partnerships with 139 companies, including hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants, etc. All told, these partnerships earned revenues for Varig in excess of US$55.1 million in 2000, an increase of 37% over 1999 partnership revenues (US$40.1 million). This illustrates just how profitable frequent flyer programs can be for the airlines -- even relatively small airlines.

About the Varig Smiles Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:28:36 -0700

As of December 2000, the Varig Smiles program maintained partnerships with 139 companies, including hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants, etc. All told, these partnerships earned revenues for Varig in excess of US$55.1 million in 2000, an increase of 37% over 1999 partnership revenues (US$40.1 million). This illustrates just how profitable frequent flyer programs can be for the airlines -- even relatively small airlines.

Something a little newer!

The current malaise in the airline industry is not limited to the United States. Witness Varig (Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense), Brazil's largest international carrier, which is struggling to emerge from bankruptcy. Just last month, in fact, creditors approved a bankruptcy reorganization plan that calls for the company to sell units to cut its debt. Varig is seeking buyers after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the government would not bail out the 79-year-old carrier.

Then again, there is hope. Varig still owns a huge portion of the market, and its membership in the Star Alliance is a win-win for both the company and its customers. And Smiles, Varig's long-running frequent flyer program, continues to offer solid incentives to its members to keep flying.

Members can earn miles on Varig, Star Alliance, or non-alliance partner airlines. Generally, members earn one mile for each mile actually flown, with a 25-percent bonus for business class, and a 50-percent bonus in first class. Short hops earn a minimum of 500 miles. Accrual rates may vary by partner, and are subject to the rules of the partner's particular program.

In addition, Smiles boasts a huge complement of credit card partners in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Only a few are Varig-branded; most have independent programs with points that can converted into Smiles miles. Rates vary, but tend to hover around one point per U.S. dollar spent, with each point convertible into one mile.

Award choices..

All of Varig's awards are flight-related; i.e., members may only cash-in miles for flights or upgrades. Members will not, for example, find the kinds of car rental, hotel or merchandise awards common to other international programs (and gaining in popularity among U.S. programs).

Still, there is plenty of variety among the flight awards offered by Varig. For one thing, membership in the Star Alliance ensures that members can fly to nearly every corner of the globe. Even Varig itself has a very large route network, so chances are members need not even bother with partners.

Smiles awards are divided into two basic types: standard awards and "Any Day" awards. You guessed it: Any Day awards are free of blackout dates and capacity controls, but will significantly increase your mileage expenditure.

Standard awards are more or less in line with the industry average. Within Brazil, awards run between 20,000 and 40,000 per roundtrip, depending on class of service flown. From Brazil to the U.S., standard awards run 50,000, 75,000 and 100,000 miles for economy, business and first class, respectively. That's about dead center between American AAdvantage's off-peak and peak awards, and slightly more than LAN Pass' 70,000-km (43,495-mile) award.

Trips to Europe run from 70,000 to 130,000 miles, and to Asia, 90,000 to 150,000. Flying an Any Day award will effectively double those mileage requirements.

One-way awards are now available, but only within Brazil. They generally run slightly more than half of the standard awards.

Upgrades may be made from either full-fare economy or promotional economy to business class, or from business class to first. Depending on your class of service and length of flights, they'll run between 30,000 and 150,000 miles.
Partnerships

Varig is, of course, a member of the Star Alliance, which means optimum earning and burning opportunities on 18 different airlines, including such behemoths as United and Lufthansa. In addition, Varig is also partnered with Alitalia, Air China, Mexicana de Aviacion and Pluna.

Smiles boasts a large list of hotel partners: Tropical Hotels & Resorts Brasil (250-500 miles per stay); Atlantica Hotels (1 mile per dollar); Bourbon Hotels (1 mile per dollar); Golden Tulip Hotels (500 miles per stay); Grupo Posadas (250-500 miles per stay); Hilton (500 miles per stay); Hotels Deville (500 miles per stay); Priority Club (2.5 miles per dollar or 500 miles per stay); Maksoud Plaza (2 miles per dollar); Marriott (1-3 miles per dollar); New Age (500 miles per stay); Pacific International (500 miles per stay); Pestana (1 mile per dollar); Sol Melia (1 mile per stay); Worldhotels (500 miles per stay); Starwood (500 miles per stay); Summit (1,000 miles per stay); and Tulip Inns (250 miles per stay).

Rental car partners include Avis and Hertz, and generally give out between 250 and 500 miles per rental.

Smiles also offers a host of other mileage-earning partners, from telecommunications providers to magazines to restaurants and more. These include American Express Traveler's Cheques, americanas.com, Angeloni, Bomclube, Bradesco Capitalizacao, Claro, Conrad Punta Del Este Resort & Casino, Cotacao On Time, Fernandez Mera, Global Calling Card, Gradiente Cellular Travel, Guard One, IT Viagens de Incentivo, Loja Abril.com, Netflores, Petrobras Card, Pirelli, Programa Protest Premium, Santander Retirement Plan, Samsung, Sandrecar Ford, Satipel, Submarino.com, Skitotal, TIM, Unibanco Mais Milhas DI, Vacine, VARIG LOG, EF -- Education First, Experimento Courses, EUROPA Editors, HSM do Brasil, Newsweek International, O Estado de S. Paulo, Gestion Magazine, Espaco Marcos Guardabassi, Manekineko, Nakombi, Rubaiyat and Cabana Las Lilas, and Assurant Solutions.
Varig Smiles Elite Level Program

Varig Smiles offers a three-tiered elite program which fits a niche between the higher-threshold structure of competitors like Lan, and lower-threshold programs like TAM.

Members who manage to earn 20,000 flight miles or 25 segments in a year are entitled to Silver status. They may expect a 25-percent earning bonus, a 5,000-mile threshold bonus after reaching the Silver level, an additional 3,000-mile bonus upon each renewal, 10 kg. of excess baggage allowance for flights within South America, and Star Silver status with Star Alliance partners.

Members who fly 50,000 or 60 segments in a year get Gold status. Gold members earn a 50-percent earning bonus, a 7,500-mile threshold bonus (5,000 miles upon renewal), 20 kg. of extra baggage allowance, Executive Class check-in, access to Executive Class lounges, waiver of expedition fees, dedicated service desk, and Star Gold status with Star Alliance.

True road warriors who manage to rack up 100,000 flight miles or 100 segments in a year earn Diamond status. Diamond members get a full 100-percent earning bonus, a 10,000-mile threshold bonus (7,000 miles upon renewal), check-in at First Class counters, access to First Class lounges, guaranteed reservations, and staff meet-and-assist service at Guarulhos (Sao Paulo) and Galeao (Rio de Janeiro).
The Rules.

Smiles miles are valid for three years, and will expire on the anniversary of enrollment.

Should flown miles not post to an account, members must send in a copy of the ticket and the original boarding pass of the non credited flight.

Miles may not be transferred between accounts; however, awards may be issued in anyone's name.
Service and online site

Our own experience with Varig is limited. We have spoken with Varig personnel at many levels, and they have always been efficient and friendly.

On Epinions.com, Varig earns a fairly solid 2.5 out of five stars, and on the UK's dooyoo.com, a full three out of five stars. Keep in mind, of course, that online ratings tend to trend downward, as the bulk of the reviewers are upset passengers looking to punish the carrier for a bad experience.
Varig's Web site needs some work. While it's clear that much time and effort has been devoted to some nifty animations, these do little more than slow the loading time for most pages. Some links lead nowhere; others link to Portuguese-language pages.

Different browsers have varying levels of success. Safari, for example, doesn't seem to work with the Smiles award charts.

Awards can be booked online, which is a plus, but missing miles must be requested through the mail.
Some other points to note

Partnerships. Varig Smiles offers mileage-earning opportunities across the board, and Varig's membership in the Star Alliance puts the whole world within reach. The elite-level program offers fair thresholds, and a solid number of legitimately valuable perks.

Varig needs to cut down on the online tricks, and get on with the treats. Waiting for a spiffy animated map to load is frustrating when some basic frequent flyer functions are missing.

Award levels are acceptable, but it would be nice to see Smiles leverage its many partnerships into a greater variety of awards.

About the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:24:57 -0700

Virgin Atlantic is, by almost any standard, an excellent airline and most flyers who have shared the "Virgin experience" have been consistently satisfied. Conde Nast has rated it number two in the world (behind Singapore, owner of 49 percent of Virgin's stock).

And Flying Club is an excellent program. A recent alliance with Delta Air Lines, a determined effort to streamline its elite-level program and a steady focus on customer care have helped the program do what all loyalty programs should do; create loyalty.

Something more recent..

Hardly the kind of greeting you'd expect from an airline Web site, but then again, Virgin Atlantic is no ordinary airline.

The always-innovative, often-cheeky brainchild of Sir Richard Branson has become an international favorite in its 22 years. Certainly, there have been some stumbles. Mouth-shaped urinals didn't exactly fly, and changing tables on some planes had to be removed (they were being used by some customers for decidedly "un-virgin" like activities).

But Branson and his baby have always been about pushing the envelope.

Virgin's flying club loyalty program seems to be as well-liked as the airline itself. We have rarely, if ever, received such near-universal praise from members of any program. It seems that somehow, flying club has managed to offer all the benefits that its leviathan rivals do, while maintaining a irreverent but customer-centric feel.

Earning earning EARRRRNING!

Timing is everything.

Before now, a full explanation of Virgin's earning structure would have required the caveat that frugal flyers in discounted economy couldn't earn miles.

Not so anymore. Among a number of changes effective March 1, even struggling magazine editors can earn 50 percent of miles flown in the cheapest seats.

Of course, to the American pallet, that might not be ideal; after all, every major U.S. program offers 100 percent of miles flown in discount economy. But when you consider that many international airlines don't give any miles for discount economy, and that Virgin's competitor British Airways only doles out 25 percent of miles flown in the cheap seats, a 50 percent earn rate is at least understandable. Other economy fares earn a full 100 percent of miles flown. Premium Economy class will net 150 percent, and you snobs in Upper Class can bank on a full 200-percent bonus.

Earning ratios on partner airlines vary, but flying club members will generally earn about 100 percent in economy class and from 150 to 200 percent in business or first class.

Virgin also now offers two credit cards exclusive to flying club members in the UK. One earns one mile per pound spent, and the other, two miles. We'll let you guess which one has no annual fee.

Where can u go with your miles?

Flying club offers a plethora of award choices, from free flights to space flights, but let's start with the basics.

Regular flight award levels are more or less in line with those of other programs. A flight from New York to London, for example, runs 45,000 miles in Economy, 67,500 miles in Premium Economy, and 90,000 miles in Upper Class.

A UK-Tokyo flight will run 60,000, 80,000, or 100,000 miles in those respective classes of service.

In the interests of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that many of the flight award levels have increased as of this month. For some members, that seems to be a deal-breaker. And it's generally true that award levels are lower on other airlines. For example, an economy-class award from New York to London on American is just 40,000 miles (off-peak).

Upgrades will run between 20,000 and 120,000 miles, depending on the desired class of service and the destination. Upgrade award levels are not part of the recent changes.

Flying club also allows members to combine miles with cash for selected award destinations.

You can also redeem your miles for hotel stays with many of flying club's partners. Hotel rewards range from 30,000 to 255,000, depending on your taste.

Car rental awards can be had for between 12,500 and 55,000 miles; chauffer service to the airport, for 10,000 miles.

The Virgin group itself offers a number of miscellaneous award options, including balloon trips and wines. Most recently, members have been offered the option of redeeming 2 million miles for flights into sub-orbital space with Virgin Galactic.

And there are plenty of other options. Award choices are one area where flying club really outshines the competition.

Their elite program..

Status is determined not by how many miles you travel, but by how many times you step aboard a Virgin Atlantic (or participating partner's) aircraft. The number of tier points you earn is determined based on the airline and type of fare. For instance, a one-way Upper Class flight on any route other than London-Sydney earns five tier points. That Australian trip will net eight. Generally, a one-way Economy-class flight will earn two tier points.

To reach Silver level you'll need 15 tier points in a 12-month period; and you'll need to earn 10 points within the next 12 months to retain that status. Gold level requires 40 points; 30 to retain that status.

Members can also earn tier points with partner airlines, though the amount will vary depending on the partner and length of the flight.

Silver level offers Premium economy check-in, discounted parking at Heathrow and Gatwick, four complimentary single First Class upgrade vouchers for Gatwick Express and Heathrow Express (two for each service), priority waitlisting, free membership in Flying Club Global Assistance and a dedicated helpline within the UK. Also, as of March 1, Silver members will net a tidy 25-percent bonus on miles flown.

Jump to Gold and you'll receive Upper Class check-in, access to Virgin Clubhouses, further discounts on parking at Heathrow and Gatwick and an extra 50 percent of miles flown. Other benefits include priority boarding and baggage handling; an extra baggage allowance; 10 complimentary single first-class upgrade vouchers for Gatwick Express and Heathrow Express; one complimentary companion reward ticket on any Virgin Atlantic flight in any class when you renew your Gold membership; a guaranteed economy seat on any Virgin flight, provided a full-fare ticket is purchased at least three days prior; fast track through security and immigration; a supplementary Silver card to give to a family member in order to pool miles; and a Family Account, enabling up to six members of your household to earn miles on qualifying flights.

Rules

Flying club members must be at least 12 years old, but beyond that, membership appears to be available to anyone. Miles expire within three years of being earned, unless some sort of earning or redemption activity occurs, after which the three-year countdown begins again. Details of miles earned will appear in your account within 60 days of activity. Miles cannot be earned on award or reduced-rate tickets.

Rewards booked later than 21 days in advance and any date changes are subject to a handling charge of US$50. If reward travel is cancelled up to seven days before travel, a handling charge will be assessed, and only 75 percent of miles will be refunded. No miles will be refunded for cancellations less than seven days prior to travel.
Service and support

Flying club members -- particularly elite-level members -- are almost unanimous in their approval of Virgin service. Last year's 8.54 value vote in the Freddie Awards indicates that the program's emphasis on service is clearly working.

Though it's not an "official" policy, we note that flying club can be quite flexible when it comes to meeting the needs of elite members, and have plenty of anecdotal evidence from members to back that up.

Online services..

A drop-down box at the top of each page as well as links on the page itself take you to program information, earning rules, elite-level information, an FAQ, and terms and conditions. Partners are listed by category, and live links to partner sites are provided.

Online redemption is available -- simply plug in your desired dates of travel, along with origin and destination. Offers are clearly listed under the "Special Offers" link.

Other important points to note

Flying club may well be one of the best frequent flyer programs in the industry today. It is not all things to all people -- reduced mileage earning on discount economy is simply taboo for some -- but then again, it doesn't pretend to be.

Award levels are competitive, and award choices are wide. Elite perks with flying club are some of the most generous in the industry. Virgin airport lounges are consistently rated among the world's best.

Flying club's recent increases in award levels, while understandable, are nonetheless a minus for many members, and something that should at least be considered by potential members.

Some sort of tie-up with a major alliance would be beneficial, but only if such a partnership did not unduly restrict Virgin's uniqueness. It would be a shame if, in the interests of uniformity, an alliance-bound flying club suddenly became a "typical" program.

PS - I love the amount of miles they offer for car rentals - ie 20 car rentals with Hertz = 1 free flight from PERTH (Western Australia) to QUEENSTOWN (South Island, New Zealand)... beat that!

About the Mexicana Frecuenta Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:19:55 -0700

The program essentially is for those who fly south of the border from time to time or who are resident in South America. Those who fly frequently would be better advised to concentrate their efforts with an American perk-laden program. Nevertheless, Mexicana Frecuenta is a program to be reckoned with and has kept abreast of changes over the years, most recently getting rid of its expiring kilometers policy. Being the other half of the Mexican duopoly, the program could have been accused of being more worried about its domestic competition as opposed to its global competition, but it’s alliances should give the program a more global perspective. Mexicana award levels are low, making them fairly easy to reach. The enrollment bonus is very generous and makes Mexicana an enticing choice for beginners.

Although, I was a Star Alliance Gold Member of them for 2 years... and was a great program, whilst they were part of the Star Alliance - alas no more!

Ability to earn..

Not all fares earn miles with Frecuenta. Coach fares in R, I, N, T, O, X, YP, YC, PE and PV earn nothing, for example. Other coach fares earn 100 percent of miles flown, with a 625-mile minimum for short hops.

Business class (Clase Ejecutiva) earns a 25-percent bonus within Mexico, and a 50-percent bonus on international flights.

Earning on Frecuenta partner airlines is roughly the same, though a few airlines offer lower minimums (American gives 500 miles, for example), and some that offer first-class cabins allow for a higher class-of-service bonus.

Frecuenta also offers two co-branded credit cards. The Santander-Mexicana card offers 1 mile per U.S. dollar, or its equivalent in pesos, with 3 miles per dollar spent on Mexicana purchases, and 5 miles per dollar on purchases for entertainment, such as shows, movies, etc.

In addition, the Mexicana Visa Platinum card offers 1 mile per dollar, and 2 miles on Mexicana purchases, but comes with a host of benefits, including a free companion ticket on first use and 2,000 anniversary miles. The Visa Platinum is only available to U.S. residents.

Members may also purchase miles in 1,000-mile increments, for US$16 plus tax.

Then, of course, there are a number of partner companies with their own loyalty currencies which may be transferred into Frecuenta Miles. Fiesta Rewards points, for example, transfer to miles at a rate of 1,000 points per 625 miles.
Award choices...

Awards with Frecuenta are limited to flights and upgrades, which is not terribly unusual in the Western Hemisphere. The heavy emphasis on merchandise and "experience" awards so prevalent in Asia and Europe has yet to catch on here.

Frecuenta's award levels are quite reasonable: a coach-class roundtrip within Mexico, for instance, runs just 20,000 miles -- 40,000 in business class.

Trips between Mexico and the U.S. are 30,000 and 60,000 miles, respectively. Frecuenta's most "expensive" award -- from Canada to Argentina in business class -- runs 180,000 miles.

One-way upgrades run between 5,000 and 30,000 miles, depending on the route.
Partnerships.... plenty of Mexican and South American partners... not much for us out of those areas... compared to other programs...

Here's where things get iffy. Mexicana was, for some time, a proud member of the Star Alliance. That has changed. The carrier unceremoniously left the alliance when it decided to teminate its code-sharing partnership with United, one of the major partners of the Star Alliance. While Mexicana indicated at the time (2003) it was seeking a new business strategy including a future partnership with another carrier, the company has yet to establish what that strategy is. The company, which is owned by the Mexican government, has been unsuccessful in finding a buyer, and with new low-fare entrants into the Mexican market, a potential merger with AeroMexico might be on the horizon. But that is only speculation.

Curiously, Mexicana remains in a non-alliance partnership with many of the Star members, including Air New Zealand, Asiana, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore and Varig. Air Canada did cut its ties with the Mexican carrier, though, after the fallout with United.

Other airline partners include Aeromar, Aeromexico, Iberia, and LAN.

Car rental partners are Avis and Hertz.

Most major North American hotels are represented, including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, InterContinental, Radisson and Starwood. Also included are Camino Real, Fiesta Americana, Brisas, Lucerna, Mansion Real, and Sol Melia.

Other mileage-earning partners include GlobalOne, Grupo BGM, Hugo Boss, and Puntos Club.
Elite program

I used to be a black card holder... no more!

Frecuenta's elite-level program is divided into three tiers: Executive, Elite and Infinite.

Members who earn 25,000 miles or make 40 one-way segments in a year achieve Executive level, which comes with a 25-percent earning bonus; upgrades to Executive class with a companion flying in the same class and itinerary, on flights operated by Mexicana classes Y, B, M up to 48 hours in advance of flight departure; personal access to Mexicana Executive Lounges; priority boarding; and priority standby and reservations.

For 40,000 miles or 60 segments in a year, members attain Elite status, which comes with all the benefits of Executive, plus a 50-percent earning bonus; upgrades within five days of departure; upgrades for a companion in Tourist class up to one hour before departure; access to Executive Lounges with a companion; extra luggage allowance of 20 kg.; priority baggage handling, use of the Business Center in Mexico City; and a dedicated service desk.

Mexicana's top tier, Infinite, is reserved for those who rack up 50,000 miles or 80 segments in a year. Infinite members get a 75-percent bonus, unlimited upgrades with a companion; access with two companions to Executive Lounges; access to American Airlines Admirals Club and Iberia's VIP lounges; and waiver of change fees on full-fare tickets.
Rules

Technically, Frecuenta miles do not expire. Nevertheless, accounts can be unilaterally cleared by Mexicana in the absence of any activity within three years.

Awards may be issued in anyone's name, but once issued are not transferable.

Retroactive credit for miles earned before enrollment is no longer allowed. Members have six months to claim missing miles

Never had any of my miles expire yet..... after 8 years...

Service and support.

While Mexicana's crews and ground staff consistently rate highly with members, there seems to be some confusion on the frequent flyer front. Not a few members have told us that once a question or redemption issue becomes complicated (which, in frequent flyer land, is often), help-desk staff often provide contradictory answers or seem uninformed.
Website - what a joke!

Mexicana's Web site is, well, atrocious.

It's slow, confused, and severely lacking in functions like online award booking and missing mileage requests.

Of course, during the time we composed this review, it was also simply down half the time. That may be an indication that it is undergoing some improvements. But at present? Yikes.
Final bits..

Mexicana has a generous earning structure, plenty of valuable partners of all kinds, and a reputation for great service at the airport and in the air. The award selection, while limited, is nonetheless reasonable in both "cost" and reach.
That Web site. In fairness, we should point out that rival Aeromexico's site is not much better, but please, somebody...fix that thing

About the United Mileage Plus Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:17:51 -0700

United launched Mileage Plus just six days after its forerunner, AAdvantage, and is the second largest program with over 50 million members. United alone flies to more than 200 domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. and when you add in the flight routes of Star Alliance member carriers, Mileage Plus members have access to an additional 855 destinations in 155 countries worldwide.

United Mileage Plus is the second-oldest frequent flyer program in the industry, having launched on May 7, 1981, exactly 144 hours after American AAdvantage went live. Its membership is estimated at 40 million plus -- slightly more than the combined populations of New York and Texas (what an interesting combination that would be). And with the "B-word" looming in the background like an overzealous proctologist, many of those 40 million members are running scared.

Is that fear well-founded? Perhaps. But keeping just a portion of Mileage Plus members happy and loyal will go a long way toward saving United Airlines.

And some more news...

Mileage Plus members earn one mile per actual mile flown in coach and discount business class, with a minimum of 500 miles for short hops. Business-class travelers can count on an additional 25 percent of miles flown, and first-class passengers net an additional 50 percent. This is identical to class-of-service bonuses on American and Delta. Northwest and Continental, however, offer a 50-percent bonus in both business and first class.

Mileage Plus also offers a host of co-branded credit cards worldwide (at least 16 at last count) that provide a wide variety of earning options. Domestically, the Mileage Plus Visa and the Mileage Plus Check Card issued by Chase offer at least five different ways to earn miles, and come with some of the richest enrollment bonuses in the industry (21,000 bonus miles, for example, after you spend $250 with the basic Mileage Plus Visa).

With the Mileage Plus Visa, you will earn one mile per dollar spent, the annual $60 fee is waived for the first year, and you’ll gain access to the Mileage Plus Choices program, which offers additional redemption opportunities. With the Mileage Plus Visa Check Card, you will earn 2,500 bonus miles after your first purchase and one mile per $2 spent. The card comes with a $25 annual fee. Sign up for the Mileage Plus Platinum Class Visa Signature Card and you’ll earn 20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase, double miles on United and Star Alliance ticket purchases, up to 15,000 Elite Qualifying Miles, a companion ticket on your account anniversary and Mileage Plus Choices benefits.

Cardmembers can use Choices to redeem for any open seat on any available flight booked on united.com with no capacity restrictions or blackout dates; any hotel stay or car rental booked on united.com; Economy Plus Access; or Elite Qualifying Miles/Segments. Unlike Saver or Standard Awards that have set redemption amounts, the amount of miles cardmembers redeem is based on the price of the ticket. For example, cardmembers can purchase a $129 ticket from united.com using their Mileage Plus Visa card and redeem 12,900 miles for a $129 Visa statement credit. Cardmembers can also redeem miles for less than the full amount of the ticket with a minimum of 10,000 miles.

Award choices...

Mileage Plus offers a refreshingly simple array of award choices -- Standard awards, Saver awards and Upgrades. And until recently, short-haul trips (750 miles or less) could be had for just 15,000 miles. That limited-time offer ended in December, but don't be surprised if you see it again. We’ve seen it before and Our Amazing Crystal Ball of Fearless Prognostication tells us that it's too much of a win-win proposition to disappear forever.

Saver awards let you enjoy free travel sooner, as they can be had for the fewest miles. Of course, the flip side of "fewest" miles is that these awards come with the most restrictions, including capacity controls. A basic domestic coach ticket is available for 25,000 miles (relatively standard within the United States), and awards to Europe (50,000 miles) and Asia (80,000 miles) are roughly the same as on other large domestic carriers.

Standard awards offer the flexibility to fly any time seats are available for the flight and cabin of service requested. Blackout dates and capacity control restrictions do not apply. Again, Mileage Plus is within the big-carrier ballpark with its award levels here. Its coach-class ticket to Europe, for example, is 100,000 miles. But if you're just looking for an on-the-spot domestic economy trip, you're looking at about 50,000 miles – twice as many miles as a Saver award.

Upgrades on United tend to be more "expensive" in terms of miles than some other carriers. For example, a basic upgrade from full-fare economy to the next class of service will run you 8,000 miles domestically. On rival American, that same upgrade is just 5,000 miles.

But then again, in an era where smaller commuter jets without premium classes of service are most common domestically, there aren't always many opportunities to upgrade domestically.

Now that you've thought about awards... you'll need to earn some miles to get there, don't forget you can get on your way with these exclusive discounted deals I have got from ebookers.com (part of Travelport in the USA), you will struggle to find cheaper:

The KING of partnerships... United Mileage Plus

United, of course, is the cornerstone of the Star Alliance network, the 22-member flying behemoth which gives innumerable codesharing and award redemption options to its customers. As a Mileage Plus member, you can earn and redeem miles on all Star Alliance members.

Non-Star Alliance partners include, at present, Air One, Aloha Airlines, Emirates, Island Air, Qatar, TACA Airlines and TAM. Hotel partners include just about every major program: Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott, New Otani Hotels, Omni Hotels, Preferred Hotels, Shangri-La Hotels, Starwood, and Wyndham, among others. Earning varies by hotel, but a common offer is one mile per dollar spent or 500 miles per stay.

Rental car partners include all the biggies: Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Sixt and Thrifty. Members can earn between fifty miles per day and 300 or 500 miles per rental.

Telecommunication partners are Mileage Plus Wireless, Network Solutions and T Mobile Hot Spot. Members can earn up to 5,000 miles for new or a renewed wireless service contract.

TD Ameritrade, Awards for Mortgage and Real Estate, Chase, E-Loan, Easy Miles, Fidelity Investments, Lending Tree and Sentry Insurance are the financial services partners.

Just a few of the retail partners include FTD.com, Neiman Marcus, Netflix, Safeway and Butterfield Blooms. The Mileage Plus Mall offers over 150 retailers with whom you can earn miles, such as Gap, J.Crew and Zappos.com. Mileage Plus Dining by Rewards Network features thousands of restaurants across the U.S. where members can earn up to 10 miles per dollar spent. Vacation partners are United Vacations and members can earn up to 1,000 bonus miles with every vacation package booked online.
United's Elite level program - not bad if you fly United metal lots and/or LH to North America to Europe...

Like most programs, United Mileage Plus breaks its elite program into three levels: Premier, Premier Executive and 1K. Regardless of level, all elite members get a few fairly valuable benefits. First, any mileage-earning caps on a Mileage Plus Visa card are waived. In addition, elite members earn four 500-mile E-Upgrades valid for travel within the Americas for every 10,000 paid miles flown. And elite members are exempt from the recent baggage policy change that will require passengers to pay $25 to check a second bag, beginning May 5, 2008.

Twenty-five thousand elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) or 30 qualifying segments in a calendar year will earn Premier status, which, among other goodies, comes with a 25-percent earning bonus. Premier members can also expect premier reservations, discounted Red Carpet Club membership ($400.00), priority check-in, priority boarding, premier seating and Economy Plus (Y, B or M-class fares get you access to a little more leg room). Premier members are also recognized as Star Alliance Silver members and can expect a priority reservations waitlist and priority standby at the airport for any Star Alliance flight.

Premier Executive status is achieved once a member has flown 50,000 miles or 60 segments in a calendar year. Premier Execs earn a 100 percent mileage bonus, though specific services on United remain the same for Premier Executive members as for Premier members. Premier Execs receive an exclusive reservation line and discounted Red Carpet Club lounge membership of $350.00.

The Star Alliance recognizes Premier Execs as Gold-level, the benefits of which are generally the same as Silver status, with the addition of priority airport check-in, priority baggage allowance and priority boarding. Premier Execs also have access to Star Alliance lounges when traveling on qualifying international itineraries.

If you fly 100,000 miles or 100 paid segments on United in a calendar year, you attain 1K status. Elite 1K members receive a 100-percent bonus on miles flown, Red Carpet Club discount ($300), Star Alliance Gold benefits and access to an exclusive inventory of United Economy Saver Award seats reserved solely for 1Ks. 1Ks also receive guaranteed reservations, even on sold-out flights, on all United flights for themselves and a companion, as well as standby priority. And 1K members will be placed ahead of Premier Executive and Premier members for upgrades at the gate.

Members who fly a million miles will receive lifetime Premier Executive status, two annual confirmed regional upgrades and three one-class, one-way systemwide upgrades.
Rules.. ruless..... rules!

Mileage Plus miles do not expire, so long as the member engages in account activity within 18 months after the miles are earned. At United, "account activity" means either earning or burning miles.

Awards may be issued in anyone's name, but pooling of accounts is not permitted, except through the "Transfer Miles" program. Members may transfer up to 15,000 miles, and no less than 5,000 miles, to another member's account at a cost of 1 cent per mile, for a processing fee of $35.

Members may also purchase miles for themselves or another member, in increments of 1,000, up to 60,000 miles per year. Miles cost $0.0275 per mile for purchases of 5,000 miles or less and $0.0250 per mile for purchases of more than 5,000 miles. Mile purchases incur a 7.5 percent tax and a $35 processing fee per transaction

Serivce?

Our own experience with Mileage Plus has been almost universally positive, and we note with pleasure that other members seem quite satisfied with the service they've received. Members can contact the Mileage Plus service center via email anytime or by phone between 7am and 12am (ET), seven days a week.
Online!

United's is a well-organized, easy-to-navigate gem of a site. You may join Mileage Plus online, and there's plenty of program information available, including a downloadable member's guide, and all rules and conditions are on a single page.

The pages are simply loaded with contact information - email addresses, phone numbers, mailing information - so much, in fact, that United has clearly separated itself from its competition in this regard.

Promotions are listed on their own page, and are broken down by type. Members may also manage accounts online, view balances and activity over the past year, and update profiles, all in real-time.

Members can also go online to claim missing credit for United travel (extensive information on claiming credit with a partner is also provided) and can book award travel with the click of a mouse.
Some other points...

Like most large programs, Mileage Plus has something for everyone. For frugal bargain hunters, there are plenty of award options that can be obtained in a relatively short amount of time. For battle-tested road warriors, there are plenty of elite perks. Mileage Plus Visa cardholders can redeem miles through the innovative Choices program and bypass capacity controls and blackout dates and in some cases, redeem fewer miles for a ticket.
Non-elite members are grumbling about United's new $25 charge for a second checked bag on flights within the U.S. and to or from Canada, San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. And unlike Dividend Miles and AAdvantage, Mileage Plus does not offer off-peak travel awards for fewer miles.

About the Air New Zealand Air Points Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:15:58 -0700

The Times They Are A-Changing -- In the past two years, industry watchers have noted that more and more frequent flyer programs are interested in tying their benefits to revenue spent - in 2003, for example, Delta SkyMiles caused an uproar by limiting elite-qualifying miles on cheap fares.

Way down under in New Zealand, one program has finally taken the leap. Effective Nov. 16, Air New Zealand's Airpoints program will change completely to reflect a new emphasis on money spent, not miles flown.

Points are out, and dollars are in.

Gone are the days of points and class-of-service bonuses. Airpoints' formerly complex system of awarding various fractions of a point for various fares are no more.

Instead, beginning this month, members will be awarded one "Airpoints Dollar" for every New Zealand dollar they spend on airfare. (A similar system will be set up for Australian customers to reflect the value of the Australian dollar.) A one-way Smart Saver fare between Auckland and Wellington costing $81, for example, will earn 81 Airpoints dollars.

Existing Airpoints balances will be converted to Airpoints Dollars, at a rate of 75 Airpoints to 1 Airpoints Dollar. A converter is available on ANZ's Web site to make the math easier for existing customers and liberal arts majors.

And a more recent review...

Thus far, member reaction to the change has been cautiously optimistic. One of the concerns is the apparent lack of promotional bonuses in the future - after all, if Airpoints Dollars are more or less equivalent to real dollars, it's less likely that the program will shell them out as easily as they had points.

That said, Airpoints continues its partnership with numerous credit card partners, and while the details have not yet been worked out, one can safely assume that earning will simply become reflective of the 75-to-one points-to-dollar conversion. In other words, if a card currently earns one Airpoint per dollar spent, it will soon earn 1.3 Airpoints "cents," instead.
Award choices...

Under the new system, Airpoints Dollars can simply be used like cash to pay for seats. And this is where the real benefit of the new system kicks in - any seat, on any flight, at any time can be purchased with Airpoints Dollars.

Capacity controls are gone.

Blackout dates are gone.

If there's a seat, and you have enough Airpoints Dollars to pay for it, it's yours.

New award charts, outlining both ANZ and Star Alliance award requirements, have been available on the Web site for weeks now.

The general thinking is that while some routes will "cost" more than before, the most popular routes will actually drop significantly. For example, Airpoints members can use their Airpoints Dollars to go from Auckland to San Francisco for 560 dollars in coach, 1,260 in business, and 1,600 in first.

But that's not all.

Airpoints has made some other changes to the award system, most of which have been met with acclaim.

One-way awards will now be available and "top-ups" - the purchase of up to 20 percent of the points needed to redeem an award - will be eliminated.

Upgrades will become confirmable on Tasman Fully Flexi and Pacific Fully Flexi fares, or on full price economy-class or business-class long-haul fares. For instance, an upgrade to London (standby only) is 30,000 points under the old system. Under the new system, not only will that upgrade be confirmable, but its "cost" won't go up (30,000 divided by 75 gives you 400 - the new "dollar" amount).

Members will still have the opportunity to spend Airpoints Dollars on retail awards, but beginning Nov. 16, wine rewards and Holiday Passes will no longer be available.

Partnerships..

To start with, there are the 14 other airlines of the Star Alliance network, offering Airpoints members more than 680 destinations in 132 countries - effectively creating earning and redemption opportunities in every corner of the globe. In addition, ANZ is allied with Mexicana and Virgin Atlantic.

Hotel partners include Accor, Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel, All Seasons, Carlton, Grand Hotels International, Chancellor, Hilton, InterContinental (Priority Club), Millenium & Copthorne and Kingsgate, Mirvac, Marriott, Pan Pacific, Starwood and Thistle.

Until the end of the year, members can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points into ANZ currency. This particular partnership ends on Dec. 15, but the overall AMEX presence is not disappearing. In fact, the Global Plus American Express Card from the Bank of New Zealand has just recently been launched.

ASB BANK True Rewards, the Bank of New Zealand Gold Card, Diners Club NZ, GlobalPlus Gold, Westpac New Zealand (Classsic and Gold), and Wrightson Rewards cards all offer currencies that can be converted to Airpoints.

Car rental partners include Avis, Budget, Hertz and Maui & Britz Campervans.

Other partners include GlobalPlus Home Loans, Travelex, New Zealand's Leading Attractions, Rest Assured Worlwide Travel Insurance, and Telecom New Zealand.
And their tough elite level program... bah!

Airpoints offers three levels of elite status: Airpoints Silver, Airpoints Gold and Airpoints Gold Elite. Until Nov. 16, those levels are attainable by earning 100, 200 and 300 status credits, respectively.

Under the new Dollar system, instead of status credits, tier status will be based on Airpoints Dollars earned over a 12-month period. Earn 450 Airpoints Dollars for Silver, 900 for Gold, and 1,500 for Gold Elite (at least 900 of which have to be earned through travel on Air New Zealand ticketed and operated flights).

Current elite members need not worry about the transition: The first time status is reviewed under the new rules (between November 2004 and December 2005) ANZ will be using both the old and new criteria, and use whichever gives its members the highest status.

Silver status offers a one-time lounge pass for any of the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin Koru Club Lounges, or any of the ANZ-operated international lounges; one complimentary, one class, single sector upgrade from Pacific Class to business; and priority waitlisting. Silver status with Airpoints also comes with Silver status within the Star Alliance.

Gold members get all the benefits of Silver, with a few modifications and additions. Lounge privileges include full access to Koru Club Lounges within New Zealand, and to all ANZ international lounges, and entrance for one guest (subject to space) on the day of travel on Star Alliance-ticketed and operated flights. Access is also available for a member and one traveling companion to Star Alliance Gold Lounges, when departing on any Star Alliance carrier-operated flight.

Gold members also receive two complimentary, single sector, one class upgrades for international travel on ANZ; and one hotel/rental car voucher for either a complimentary room or car upgrade. Gold members are entitled to check-in at the Star Alliance Gold counter; priority boarding; and priority baggage handling.

Regardless of your class of travel, priority boarding is offered to Star Alliance Gold members and an extra 20kg more than the standard baggage allowance.

Gold Elite members claim additional benefits, including the opportunity to "gift" rewards to two nominated friends or family members each year; access for five guests (subject to space) at Koru Club Lounges, and at all ANZ-operated international lounges; priority check-in, and five complimentary Koru Club valet parking vouchers.
Rules.... u gotta pay to be a member if u don't fly!

Airpoints does require a membership fee, which we frown upon (though such fees are not unheard of in that part of the world; Qantas Frequent Flyer, for example, charges a fee to its Australian members). Airpoints members who have not flown on a paid ANZ flight for 12 months will be charged an annual fee of $30 in 2005. If members choose to pay online and receive Airpoints communications online, the fee will be discounted to $20.

Both Airpoints and Airpoints Dollars have a four to five-year expiration period.
Service - can't beat em in NZ!

We've had good luck with our interactions with Airpoints personnel - though our tricky quality-control type calls to the service center may not be an accurate reflection of the kind of service everyday flyers receive.

To that end, it should be mentioned that ANZ and Airpoints consistently win praise for customer service. The program's apparent exclusion from Freddie Award contention is due only to its relatively small size, not a lack of enthusiasm from members.
Online...

Online features allow members to check their balances, use the award calculator, change their profiles and change their passwords. Beginning this month, members will also be able to track account activity.

Online award booking has been added, and is something to look into if you want to avoid service fees. A new Service Centre booking fee of $15 per one-way domestic flight award, and $25 for international awards, kicks in on Nov. 16.
So.... what other things?

No capacity controls, no blackout dates, same-day awards if available - can you beat that? We applaud Airpoints' decision to move in this bold new direction, and are eager to see customer reaction once the new system has been in place for a while

We don't like expiring miles, points or dollars. Never have. 'Nuff said.

We're also disappointed that certain discounted fares are not eligible to earn Airpoints Dollars, even at a reduced rate. Not everyone can afford expensive seats, and since today's penny-pincher may become tomorrow's high-roller, it couldn't hurt to gain their loyalty now

About the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:10:18 -0700

Qantas could be described as leader of the pack in the land down under. Bear in mind, however, that British Airways does have a financial stake in the airline, so it is likely that wherever BA goes, Qantas will probably follow. A member of the oneworld alliance, Qantas has been proactively scouting out partners as diverse as mortgage companies to add to its partner list. It was also one of the first airline programs to allow members to book award travel online.

Frequent Flyer members can now look forward to increased convenience, expanded earning potential and fewer restrictions. With 18 airlines, 43 hotels, four rental car companies, six charge cards, a phone card company, an insurance company and even a wine club comprising its partner list, one might say Qanta-ty prevails at Qantas. The program boasts over 2.4 million members.

Some more recent news...

All is not necessarily well in the land of the kangaroo and koala. In May, Qantas Airlines instituted some major changes to its Frequent Flyer program that have members fuming.

The 4.1 million members of the airline's loyalty program were notified late in 2004 of program changes that have been described as a "spit in the face" by the Australian Consumers Association.

The changes included some reductions on points required for short-haul flights, but also included increases on long-haul award travel, as well as restrictions on upgrades.

Qantas attempted to take some of the sting out of the changes by announcing some positive changes to the program. For example, members may now transfer a minimum of 5,000 and a maximum of 100,000 points to an eligible family member once every 12 months. Members may also "top-off" their accounts by purchasing a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 20,000 points in order to achieve desired award levels.

Even with the good news, Frequent Flyers were not happy. But then, now that British Airways has left Qantas more or less in command of loyalty-program airspace in Australia, what choice is there?

Earning ability...

Frequent Flyer accrual is based on a point system, and points vary significantly according to country, partner participation and travel-class bookings.

Basic earning on Qantas is one point per mile (1.609km) flown on eligible flights with Qantas, oneworld alliance airlines and partner airlines. There is a 25 and 50-percent class-of-service earning bonus for Business and First Class, respectively. Qantas offers a minimum of 1,000 points on short-hops (less on some partner short-hops).

Frequent Flyer points may not be earned on some fare types, or on some oneworld alliance or partner airline flights. Points cannot be earned on flights operated by Australian Airlines, even when a Qantas flight number is entered on your tickets. Flights in discount economy of some partner airlines earn just .25 points per mile. ..

Members may also earn "Status Credits" by flying, which count toward elite status. The amount of credits can vary between 30 and 360, depending on distance and class of service flown. For every 450 Status Credits which is ok, earned, Qantas awards a loyalty bonus of 5,000 Frequent Flyer points. This is a recent change -- loyalty bonuses were previously doled out in the form of upgrade credits.

Qantas also offers three co-branded credit cards, each of which offer one point per dollar spent. Two are available in Australia - yep! (ANZ Frequent Flyer Visa and Frequent Flyer Diners Club), and one is available to New Zealand residents (Qantas ANZ Visa)... so it isn't that bad

Award choices...

Qantas has designed a new award table based on 10 zones, which ostensibly matches more closely the points required with the distance traveled. For some shorter flights, that has meant a nice reduction in points. For example, under the new system, a roundtrip flight between Melbourne and Sydney costs 16,000 points, down from the previous 20,000.

However, other intra-Australian award levels have increased. Perth travelers, for instance, have seen a roundtrip economy ticket to Sydney increase 6,000 points to 36,000 points, and business-class redemptions rising from 45,000 points to 72,000 points.

And long-haul flights seem to have increased the most. A roundtrip economy-class redemption from Melbourne to London increased from 110,000 points to 128,000, while a business-class ticket rose from 220,000 points to 256,000.

On a positive note, one-way awards are now available.

Upgrade restrictions have been implemented as well. Perhaps not surprisingly (as many other programs have seen fit to do this), upgrades are no longer available from discounted fares. Upgrades generally run from 8,000 to 60,000 points, depending on distance and class of service.

Before you run to your telephone, though, consider this: Qantas will charge a 2,500-point "Assisted Award" fee for all award bookings made with the help of a customer service representative. So if you want to keep that award as "free" as possible, it's best to do your booking online.

Award levels on partners vary. Qantas offers two separate award charts for partners -- one for oneworld alliance partners, another for the rest. As a general rule, the "cheapest" flights are available on Qantas, followed by non-oneworld flights. Oneworld awards tend to be the most "expensive," but also generally consist of at least two segments each way.

Flights and upgrades are just the beginning, though. Frequent Flyers may also redeem points for hotel stays (25,000-45,000 points) or car rentals within Australia (about 20,000 points per rental day).

Frequent Flyer also allows members to redeem points for retail merchandise through the Qantas Frequent Flyer Store.

Partnerships... who you can earn and burn with..

Qantas offers an enormous variety of partners.

It is, after all, a member of the oneworld alliance, so Aer Lingus, American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia and LAN all already "on board." Other airline partners include Macair, National Jet, US Airways, El Al, South African, Alitalia, Polynesian, Air Pacific, O'Connor, AirNorth, SWISS, Jetstar, Airlines of South Australia, SAS, Sunshine Express, Brindabella Airlines, Air Niugini, and Air Vanuatu.

The list of hotel partners is equally impressive. Members can earn three points per dollar spent at Best Western, Choice, Priority Club, Le Meridien, Marriott, Novotel, Radisson, Starwood or Shangri-La hotels, among others. A flat 1,000 points per stay is available at Hilton and Hyatt hotels.

Rental car partners include Avis, Budget, Hertz, and Thrifty. Members earn 700 points per rental outside Australia and three points per dollar spent on car rentals within Australia.

Members also have several options to earn points for financial services. QBE Frequent Traveller Insurance, Macquarie Bank, Citibank, ANZ, Easy Living Home Loans and L.J. Hookerall all offer points for various transactions.
The elite level program..

The Frequent Flyer elite program is three-tiered into Silver, Gold and Platinum levels. Membership in each level is determined by the number of Status Credits earned. Each member's account is reviewed daily, based on activity since the anniversary of enrollment. As soon as a member reaches enough Status Credits to qualify for the next membership level, he or she will automatically move up.

Status is retained for 12 months. In order for status to be retained, each member must fly at least four sectors on a Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar flight.

Silver status is attained with 350 credits, and retained with 300. Benefits include a 25-percent earning bonus, one complimentary invitation to Qantas Club, priority check-in, an extra 10kg or one piece of baggage allowed, priority telephone reservation service, and membership luggage tags.

Gold status, yours for 700 credits (600 to retain) includes all the benefits of Silver, along with a 50-percent earning bonus, complimentary Qantas Club membership, priority baggage handling, and "on-departure" upgrades from most classes.

Platinum level (1,400 credits to qualify, 1,200 to retain) includes a 100-percent earning bonus, complimentary Gold membership for a partner (if you earn 2,100 credits in a year), an expanded baggage allowance, first class baggage tags on international flights, and guaranteed economy-class booking.

Qantas is also one of the few programs that not only awards lifetime status to its most frequent flyers, but actually advertises it. Members who earn 7,000 or 14,000 Status Credits will earn lifetime Silver or Gold status, respectively.

So there you go, bronze, gold, platinum!

Rules and conditions...

Membership in Frequent Flyer requires a fee of A$82.50 for Australian residents, and NZ$50 for New Zealand residents.

Members may transfer a minimum of 5,000 and a maximum of 100,000 points to an appointed family member every 12 months,

Members may also purchase points in blocks of 500, up to 20,000 per purchase, but may not purchase more than 15 percent of the points required for a specific award.

Points will not expire as long as the member remains active. Any earning or redemption of points within a 36-month period will qualify as "activity."

An award certificate may be issued in the name of a member or an "Eligible Family Member" that the member nominates. A member may transfer an award certificate that was issued in the member's name to an "Eligible Family Member."
Service and support...

Qantas is generally well-known for superior customer service, and we've received no indications to the contrary. Our own experience with the program has been consistently positive. In fact, solid service is one of the reasons many members haven't simply up and quit after the recent changes.

No doubt there are the occasional slip-ups, but the overall service down under appears to be excellent.
And how good is their website?

Qantas Frequent Flyer has greatly improved the speed and efficiency of its Web site. Members may enroll, monitor accounts, and book awards online. A "points calculator" lets members find out the number of points needed for various awards, but a traditional set of award charts is available as well. Promotions and program changes are listed under "News and Offers."

Some final bits..

Frequent Flyer has a number of benefits that are real plusses. The vast number of partners for earning and redemption is praiseworthy. The elite program is solid, and not unduly exclusive. Online functionality is top-notch.
Qantas has every right to run its program the way it chooses. Its recent changes were, according to the carrier, necessary to keep the airline and its program competitive.

Still, we wonder if such sweeping changes were necessary all at once. Raising award levels is understandable. Restricting upgrades, when the competition is so fierce, makes sense. But a 2,500-point "Assisted Award" fee? We call foul.
So there you go!

About the Priority Club Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 05:01:04 -0700

In 2003, Priority Club Rewards broke out from its relative obscurity and charged to the forefront of business travelers' affection, as witnessed by the six shiny new Freddie awards that now rest comfortably at the company's headquarters.

Though Priority Club Rewards had certainly made respectable showings in the past at the Freddie Awards, last year's results marked a dramatic improvement. So, to what should we attribute this sudden rise in popularity? That remains unclear. The program has not undergone any major changes of late, nor have its competitors greatly devalued their own programs.

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that in a sluggish (if improving) economy, business travelers have placed a higher premium on value than ever before. Money is too tight to spend in huge quantities for royal perks, but travel is too taxing to deal with endless nights at bargain-basement hotels.

Priority Club, with its wide array of brands and 3,500 properties, appears to have struck a solid middle ground.

More...

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has grown considerably since 1946 when Pan American Airways decided to build hotels along its flight routes to provide quality lodging for the airline's crew and staff. The first hotel, the Hotel Grande, was opened in Belem, Brazil and the hotel group now operates over 3,700 properties worldwide. Members clearly appreciate the frequent guest program as shown by Priority Club winning the Program of the Year Freddie Award for the past two years.

Earning

Members can choose to earn either miles or points and members earn 10 Priority Club points for every $1 spent on eligible charges at Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Express by Holiday Inn. At Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, members earn five points for every $1 spent and at InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, members earn 2,000 points per stay. Members who choose miles instead of points can earn miles with 36 airlines worldwide; earning rates vary by airline and hotel but the average offer is 500 miles per stay. Participating U.S.-based airlines include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. At partner ANA Hotels in Japan, points earned vary between 600 and 2,000 points.

IHG introduced a new Meeting Rewards program for meeting planners and members earn three points for every dollar spent on qualifying meetings at hotels in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Enrolled meeting planners who host one qualified meeting will be offered Gold elite status and Platinum for hosting two in a calendar year.

Priority Club has a wide range of partnerships and members can earn points with a Visa credit card, for renting cars, purchasing flowers and gifts, using financial services and obtaining a cell phone plan, among other activities.
Award choices..

Award stays are on par with the industry and start at 10,000 points for a stay at Holiday Inn Express and Express Holiday Inn hotels. Candlewood Suites are 15,000; Staybridge Suites are 20,000; Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Indigo are 25,000; Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn are 27,500 points; Partner ANA hotel redemptions start at 20,000 points and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts range from 30,000 to 40,000 points. A good value are the PointBreaks awards available for 5,000 points per night which were introduced this year. These are limited to select locations and while you may not find your desired destination offered, you might find a reason to stay in Great Falls, Mont. or Bloise, France to get a great deal.

Pre-paid lodging cards are available from 29,000 points for $100 to 59,000 points for $250 and can be used to pay for hotels stays worldwide anywhere American Express is accepted. Members can redeem points for golf equipment, apparel and accessories at the Golf Pro Shop or brand merchandise from 7,650 points for a travel gym set to 594,000 points for a Panasonic 42" plasma TV set. CD redemptions start at 5,000 points and DVDs start at 7,500 points. Members can donate points in 10,000-point increments to charities such as American Red Cross, UNICEF and Habitat for Humanity. Members can also use points to bid on auction items, such as tickets to sporting events and professional sports merchandise.

Through Priority Club Meeting Rewards, members can redeem points for Meeting Credits with a value between $250 and $1,000 that can be used to pay for future meetings.

Retail, dining and travel certificates start at 18,000 points for a $50 certificate to retailers such as Eddie Bauer, Target or Applebees. Members can redeem points for airline miles or points with 36 airlines. Most conversions offer 2,000 miles for 10,000 points.

Car rental awards with Hertz begin at 9,000 points for one weekend day in the U.S. and end at a prestige collection rental for seven days in the U.S. for 150,000 points. And if you still can't find an adequate award and have at least 50,000 points, you can ask for a personal shopper to determine the amount of points needed for just about anything you want.
Partnerships!

Priority Club offers a Rewards Visa and a Rewards Platinum Visa Business card. The credit cards offer 15,000 bonus points after first purchase and an additional 10,000 bonus points when $15,000 is spent annually (15,000 points after $20,000 spent on the business card). Purchasing stays at InterContinental hotels will net three points per dollar spent and cardmembers receive one point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Cardmembers automatically receive Gold Elite status and the low $29 annual fee is waived for the first year on both cards.

Hertz is the only car rental partner and members earn 125 points per day on rentals; and until Dec. 31, 2007, members earn double points at participating locations.

Members can earn points for dining at participating Rewards Network restaurants or buying flowers, gifts and shopping online through Priority Club Rewards Shopping. You can also earn points with Lending Tree for buying, selling or refinancing your house and 5,000 points for every 10,000 borrowed with Chase Home Equity (maximum 30,000 points). Members earn up to 27,000 points for banking with NetBank and up to 20,000 points for purchasing a cruise or signing up for cell phone service with T-Mobile. You can also get 1,000 points for subscribing to USA Today or receiving an insurance quote from Sentry Insurance. You can convert 1,000 Membership Rewards points into 1,000 Priority Club points and 1,250 Diners Club points into 1,500 Priority Club points

Crappy elite program

Priority Club Rewards Gold membership will be given to members who stay a minimum of 15 nights or earn at least 20,000 points during a calendar year. Gold members receive priority check-in, 10 percent bonus points and exclusive customer service phone number. Gold elite membership can also be purchased for $50.

Members who stay a minimum of 50 nights or earn at least 60,000 points receive Platinum membership. Platinum members receive complimentary room upgrades, guaranteed room availability with 72-hour advance notice, 50 percent point bonus and an exclusive phone line.

The number of stays required to qualify for elite status is about average, higher than Marriott and Hilton but less than Starwood. Unlike the other programs, earning elite status isn't limited to number of stays; you can also reach elite status based on the number of earned points. Or as mentioned, you can simply buy a Gold membership for $50 or obtain the credit card.
And rules...

Awards can be issued in someone else's name and pre-paid lodging cards can be sent as gifts. Points do not expire. To purchase points for yourself or gift them, you can buy points in 1,000-point increments with a maximum of 20,000 points. The cost decreases the more you buy and from 1,000 to 5,000 points costs $12.50 per 1,000 points; 6,000 to 9,000 costs $11 per 1,000 points; 10,000 to 20,000 is $10 per 1,000 points. You can transfer points in 1,000-point increments for $5 per 1,000 points transferred.
Service, support and online

When we called, our inquiry was answered promptly and the customer service representative was courteous and knowledgeable. Readers have similarly reported that service is responsive and quite good.
Priority Club's award-winning Web site is well-organized, quick loading and members can conveniently purchase, transfer and redeem points for most awards online, including partner awards. You can also enroll in the program and view your account online. Recently added is a new e-bill feature and you can view and print your hotel bill from your account page.
Other

Priority Club offers frequent point promotions, like the Freddie Award-winning bonus where members earned double points or miles on every stay starting with their second stay. Members frequently say that they can quickly accumulate points through the many promotions and bonus points count towards elite status, unlike other programs. The discounted 5,000 PointBreaks award redemption is also a valuable offer.
Members were not given advance notice about the increase in points required for stays that went into effect earlier this year when point requirements went up as much as 33 percent in some instances. Programs often change their award charts, but notifying members of the changes is a good idea and helps soften the blow. Elite members report that the lack of consistent room upgrades devalues their elite membership.

About the Marriott Rewards Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 04:55:03 -0700

Who would've thought a mom-and-pop root beer stand would blossom into a world leader in the hospitality industry? The A&W store started by J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott in 1927 was clearly the beginning of something big. Marriott's loyalty program -- Marriott Rewards -- is now one of the two largest in the world, boasting over 20 million members, and going on its 21st year.

The program's name has changed over time -- it started out as Marriott Honored Guest Awards and later added Marriott Miles as a 'brand' in the points vs. miles period of the program -- but by any name, this program has always been considered the grand dame of hotel loyalty programs. Maybe not as flashy as some, not as trendy, hip or gimmicky as others, but always consistent and steady.

Some more recent news...

On his blog last month, Bill Marriott writes that "people want to do business with companies that do the right thing." Throughout the month of April, Marriott demonstrated its commitment to doing the right thing to protect the health of the environment with a number of initiatives. Marriott employees participated in many projects that involved activities such as cleaning up beaches, rivers and parks and planting trees at sites around the world. Marriott will receive the EPA's 2007 Energy Star Award for their energy conservation efforts and has pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by six percent per guest room by 2010. Marriott has also stopped serving food that contains trans fats in its North American hotels and is now a 100 percent smoke-free environment.

How successful is Marriott at doing the right thing for members of its loyalty program? Marriott celebrates 50 years of being in the hotel business this year and the hotel chain has changed and grown tremendously from the initial days when rooms were offered for $8 a night. Marriott Rewards has developed a loyal following over the years and the program has much to offer its frequent guests.

Earning points

Members earn 10 points or two miles per dollar spent on the total folio at Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels & Resorts and Marriott Vacation Club International; 10 points or one mile per dollar spent on room rate only at Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Courtyard and five points or one mile per dollar on room rates at Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and on the total folio at Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club. Members can also earn 2.5 points per dollar spent at Marriott ExecuStay and Marriott Executive Apartments. Members who travel to Japan can earn 1,000 points per night at Hotel New Otani Tokyo, Hotel New Otani Makuhari and Hotel New Otani Hakata.

Event planners can earn three points or one mile per dollar spent for qualifying events or meetings held at a Marriott hotel with a maximum of 50,000 points or 15,000 miles per event.

Marriott Rewards offers three credit cards for United States residents. Cardmembers who use the Marriott Rewards Visa Signature Card or Marriott Rewards Visa Business Card will earn three points per dollar spent at participating Marriott Rewards locations and one point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Cardholders will earn a 20,000 point bonus with their first purchase and will be automatically upgraded to Silver elite status. The Premier Visa launched earlier this year has a $65 annual fee and members earn five points per dollar spent at Marriott properties worldwide; two points per dollar spent on qualifying car rental, airline and dining purchases and one point per dollar for all other charges. Premier cardholders also receive 20,000 bonus points with first purchase, a free night certificate every year and a 15 night stay credit towards elite status in addition to automatic Silver elite status. Marriott also offers point-earning credit cards to residents of Canada and the United Kingdom.
Redeeming points

Marriott has seven award categories determined by location and hotel type. One night at a category one hotel requires 7,500 points and 35,000 points at a category seven hotel. Booking more than one night offers a significant point savings and seven nights at a category one hotel is only 40,000 points (a savings of 9,000 points) and 150,000 points at a category seven hotel (a 95,000 point savings).

Effective June 1, 2007, Stay Anytime awards will be available for 100 percent more points than standard awards; currently the rate is 50 percent more points. A Stay Anytime award at a category one hotel has been 11,250 points but will increase to 15,000. Members can use a combination of Stay Anytime and regular awards when booking a hotel stay.

PointSavers are promotional discounts that offer up to a 33 percent savings. Hotels participating in PointSavers are discounted by one category in the required number of points. Hotels offering PointSavers change frequently and members can search online for discounted award stays.

Upgrades to a larger room or a room with a preferred view are available for 5,000 points. Most rooms require only one upgrade but two or more upgrades may be required for some views or types of rooms.

Members can also redeem points for stays at partner hotels The Ritz-Carlton, Orient-Express Hotels, New Otani, Peppers Retreats & Resorts, Ashford Castle and Dromoland Castle. Award redemptions vary and five nights at a participating Tier 1 Ritz-Carlton hotel is 150,000 points.

Members can redeem points for flight awards and miles on partner airlines. A one-way award inter-island ticket on Aloha Airlines is 25,000 points. Points can be redeemed for mileage awards ranging from 2,000 miles for 10,000 points to 50,000 miles for 125,000 points on the programs of Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Varig. Southwest Rapid Rewards members can receive between two credits for 10,000 points and 32 credits for 125,000 points. On international airline programs Air China, Air France/KLM, Alitalia, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, LAN, Lufthansa/Miles & More, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines, SN Brussels Airlines and TAP Air Portugal, members can receive 1,500 miles in exchange for 10,000 points and 35,000 miles for 125,000 points.

Hertz car rentals start at 30,000 points for up to three weekend days' rental of a full-sized car. Eurostar rail passes can be redeemed for 39,000 points for standard class travel between London and Brussels, Paris and Lille and 60,000 points for first class. Orient-Express rail passes from London to Bath or Brighton including a tour and meals are 97,000 points. Carnival, Holland America, Costa Cruise and Orient Express cruises are also point redemption options. The lowest level award is a three-day cruise for two on Carnival to Baja, Mexico or the Bahamas for 120,000 points.

Members can also redeem 165,000 points for a vacation package that includes seven hotel nights at a category one through five hotel, 50,000 frequent flyer miles and 25 percent off an eight day Hertz car rental. Higher category hotels and mileage amounts are also available for more points. Members can redeem points for a round of golf at participating golf courses worldwide for between 15,000 and 40,000 points, depending on location and season. Points can also be redeemed for ski packages in Germany, sightseeing tours in London, spa packages, theme park admissions and other adventure and cultural experiences.

Points can be redeemed for Marriott gift certificates and shopping vouchers. Marriott gift certificates are available in $50, $100 and $1,000 amounts for 18,000, 33,000 and 180,000 points. Other currencies are also available.

Points can also be donated to Children's Miracle Network, American Red Cross or a nonprofit charity organization of your choice through the Rewarding Communities program.
Partnerships

Marriott has partnered with a variety of car, financial, retail and other partners. Members can earn 250 points for using Executive Sedan Service; up to 35,000 points for a Chase home loan or line of credit; 10 points per dollar spent at FTD.com/Marriott; 500 points for Hertz car rentals and up to 23,000 points for banking with NetBank. Members also earn 10 points per dollar spent at SkyMall and between one and 10 points per dollar spent at the Marriott Rewards Mall. Through Marriott's partnership with Travelling Connect, members can earn 10 points per minute for making mobile calls on participating wireless networks, including T-Mobile for calls made from the U.K., Austria, the Netherlands and Germany. Diners Club members can convert 1,250 Club Rewards points into 1,500 Marriott Rewards points.
Elite program

Members who stay 10 nights in a calendar year will receive Silver elite status. Silver members receive 20 percent bonus points on hotel stays, priority late checkout, weekend discounts at participating Courtyard and SpringHill Suites, check-cashing privileges, exclusive reservation and guest services telephone line, exclusive award redemption options and guaranteed reservations. If Marriott is unable to honor an elite member's reservation, they will pay for lodging at a nearby hotel and also send a compensation check. Members who stay 50 nights a year will become Gold members and receive 25 percent bonus points, guaranteed room type, room upgrades, guaranteed concierge lounge access, free breakfast, local phone and fax service and exclusive offers. Platinum members are those who stay 75 nights in a calendar year and will receive 30 percent bonus points, an exclusive reservation line, arrival gift and 48-hour guaranteed availability, in addition to the previously mentioned elite benefits.

Rules

Points may be purchased and received as a gift up to a combined maximum of 50,000 points per year. Points can be purchased at the rate of 1,000 points for $12.50. Points can be transferred to a spouse and only immediately prior to an award redemption. An "Authorization to Transfer Points" form must be submitted to the service center along with the request for award redemption. Points do not expire but accounts that do not earn any points within a 24-month period may be closed.
Support and online

Service support can be contacted via e-mail, telephone, fax and writing. We have heard a few complaints from readers, but most reports are positive and we have found call center employees to be courteous, knowledgeable and helpful.
Members can access their accounts, update their profile and earning preferences, make reservations, redeem for awards and donate and purchase points online. They can also record personal stay preferences such as extra towels and newspaper preference through Marriott's "Rewarding Welcome" program. Marriott also offers eFolio, a feature that sends you a copy of your hotel bill via e-mail after each stay. DreamRewards is a convenient tracking tool that lets you know how many points you need to reach a desired award and Promotion Tracker shows your progress towards achieving a particular promotion.
Points may be purchased and sent as a gift online, but point transfers and missing credit requests can only be made by sending a request form to the service center. Beginning this fall, members will be able to redeem their points at the hotel front desk, an alternative to the award certificates that currently require 24-hour advance notice. The upcoming addition is a welcome improvement and will make point redemptions quicker and easier.
Other things

Marriott has a solid loyalty program with bonus promotions like the MegaBonus promotion that allows members to rack up points. The hotel and air travel award packages are a great value and a favorite award choice among members. The discounted PointSavers hotel award are a good deal and offer members a savings of up to 33 percent. Members who sign up for the credit card automatically receive Silver elite status and Premier cardmembers earn a generous five points per dollar spent at Marriott hotels.
A few complaints we've heard from elite members are the lack of suite upgrades for elites and complimentary breakfast at resorts and we've heard from members in general that redeeming for award nights is becoming more difficult. The upcoming increase to Stay Anytime awards from 50 percent to 100 percent is unpopular and many members feel that it devalues the program. Furthermore, top elite-level members would like to have been exempt from the increase, but at least Marriott has given advance notice to members and reservations made before June 1, 2007, will be available at the 50 percent rate. Standard Award redemption levels are not changing, but some hotel categories have been adjusted which will make award redemptions higher in certain locations.

About the Starwood Preferred Guest Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 04:44:26 -0700

Consider this: Starwood Preferred Guest has only been around for four years, yet has already accumulated 28 Freddie Awards. You read that correctly. Twenty-eight. Apparently, these people have no shame when it comes to pleasing their customers.

The Starwood group -- Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels -- offers over 750 hotels in more than 80 countries. And the 10 million members of SPG have made their fondness for those properties quite clear. But the rap on Starwood is that its awards are more expensive than other comparable programs -- something Starwood has worked hard to disprove. Credited with more than just introducing "No Blackout Dates," Starwood's "Free Weekends" has made even Marriott come to attention. One thing is certain -- the high points of this program reach where not many others have dared to go, but be careful -- the devil is in the details.

Some more detail... ;-)

Think Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Or Notre Dame's football teams of the 1940s. Or Lance Armstrong and the Tour De France. Think winners. Then think hotel loyalty programs, and Starwood Preferred Guest instantly pops on the radar.

In the past six years, SPG has won more Freddie Awards than any other hotel program. It has virtually owned the Best Program Award since 1999.

The Starwood group -- Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels -- offers over 730 hotels and 135 resorts in more than 80 countries. And the 19 million members of SPG have made their fondness for those properties quite clear.

Industry observers will kibbutz about the details of Starwood versus other major hotel programs. Some might say award levels are too high, or elite benefits across brands are not as consistent as they should be.

We'll leave that to the individual. Loyalty is all about personal experience, and if someone feels more comfortable somewhere else, who are we to disagree?

We'll just say this: It's easy to argue over the fine print. But in the final analysis, it all comes down to results. And Starwood, like the Fighting Irish of yesteryear, need only point to one thing: the scoreboard.

It's hard earning with SPG...

Basic earning with SPG is two Starpoints for every eligible dollar spent at Starwood properties. Even if you're not a registered guest, you can earn Starpoints for food and beverage charges of $10 or more at participating Starwood dining outlets (be sure to show your membership card).

There is no double-dipping: You must choose either points or miles. That said, it's important to keep in mind that Starpoints translate one-to-one to most airline miles, so feel free to imagine yourself earning double points, double miles or points and miles.

Of course, to really take advantage of Starwood's earning opportunities, you need to do what many other savvy travelers have done -- get the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest credit card. Touted by many as the single-best all-around credit card for the frequent traveler (came in second at the 2005 Freddies for Best Affinity Credit Card), it allows you to earn one Starpoint per dollar spent on any purchase, and 3 points per dollar on hotel stays -- that's in addition to the points you earn for your stay as an SPG member.

Currently, cardholders also earn 1,000 points with the first charged hotel stay, and 500 bonus points for each stay in the first 12 months, up to 10 stays (equals 5,000 points).

What about bonuses? They're there, but you may have to do some searching. A year or two ago, the gurus in White Plains determined that they'd be better off targeting their various promotions to select demographics.
Awards on the other hand are reasonably SWEET!

SPG offers a wide variety of redemption choices, but let's focus on the most basic -- hotel stays.

Starwood groups its properties into six categories, ranging from "mid-priced full-service hotels" to "the world's most exclusive hotels and resorts." You can cash in on any of these for as little as 2,000 or as many as 25,000 points per night. Starwood also allows members to redeem a combination of points and cash -- varying levels of points will allow you to save half the price of a room at Starwood properties. On average, if you stay three times, you can earn a free night.

Room upgrades will cost you from 1,000 to 2,750 points (per room/per night), depending on the hotel category you choose (there are six); and suite upgrades will run from 3,000 to 25,000 points. Upgrades are subject to availability, and may be arranged before the stay or upon arrival.

One of the most popular program features is the wide variety of points-to-miles transfer options. You're allowed to transfer Starpoints into frequent-flyer miles on a 1-to-1 basis with 26 different airlines (the list has recently grown). United and Varig offer 2:1 points-to-miles rates, and LAN continues to offer the best value at a 1:2 rate -- in essence, you earn four miles per dollar. JAL comes in next at a 3:2 rate. Air New Zealand has the oddest rate- 65 points to one mile, and Air Canada will give you their rate if you call customer service.
A new transfer offer gives you a 5,000 mile bonus for transferring 20,000 points to miles.

Of course, you can't just go hog-wild on your conversions. Starwood, like most other programs, has a few restrictions on transfers. Base-level members must meet a 2,000-point minimum transfer requirement, and Gold members, 1,500. There is no minimum requirement for Platinum members.

Starwood has beefed up the choices with three new awards, available for elite members only; a 5-night Caribbean stay for two, with $300 in-hotel credit, for 60,000 points; a seven-night European holiday for two (in a combination of up to three hotels) with a 5,000 point discount, for 67 to 91,000 points; and a five-night Scotland golf retreat for two with a 5,000 point discount, including three days (three courses) of unlimited golf for one, for 100,000 points.

Starpoints are also redeemable for car rentals and retail gift cards with select partners.
CASH AND POINTS IS KING!

Parnterships

Starwood has a healthy complement of accrual and redemption partners in addition to the following airlines: Air Canada, Air China, Air France/KLM, Air New Zealand, Alaska, Alitalia, All Nippon, America West, American, Asiana, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, EVA, El Al, Emirates, Hawaiian, JAL, LAN, Lufthansa, Mexicana, Northwest, Qantas, Saudi Arabian, SWISS, Thai Airways, US Airways, United, VARIG, and Virgin Atlantic.

Keep in mind that not all airlines participate as fully as others. For example, Air France/KLM, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, EVA, El Al, JAL, SWISS, VARIG and Virgin Atlantic all allow their members to earn miles at Starwood hotels, but do not participate in SPG's famous transfer program.

Starwood has been partnered with AT&T for some time now, and continues to offer one Starpoint per dollar spent on qualifying services.

Avis, BostonCoach, and Sixt are the car partners: At Avis, earn 50 points per rental, or spend 2,500 points for a $50 certificate; with BostonCoach and Sixt comes 250 points per rental.

Financial partners include Ameritrade, AMEX, MasterCard and the Awards for Mortgage and Real Estate program. Points can also be redeemed at 1-800-Flowers.com, Avis, Sixt, Amazon.com, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, and Starbucks, among others.
SPG Gold... SPG Plat...

SPG's elite-level program is two-tiered -- Gold and Platinum. The fact that even Gold-level members receive a 50-percent earning bonus makes it far and away the most lucrative elite program among hotels. Most other programs max out at a 15-percent bonus, and those that do reach 50 percent -- Hilton HHonors and Priority Club Rewards -- reserve the big earning for the very top levels of their elite programs.
In addition, SPG offers a toll-free Platinum concierge service, something only Marriott also provides.
Gold status requires 10 stays or 25 nights in a year. Complimentary room upgrades are automatic (when available), and the minimum mileage transfer requirement is lowered to 1,500 points. In addition, a morning newspaper, 4 p.m. checkout, check-cashing up to $300 and access to a dedicated Gold-level customer service telephone number (toll-free, ka-ching), are all included.

Twenty-five stays or 50 nights per year will earn Platinum status -- all the benefits of Gold, plus a few more perks. For starters, you'll automatically be upgraded to the best available room at check-in. You'll have guaranteed availability with 72-hours notice and access to the Platinum Concierge service, through which you can make reservations, redeem awards, book event tickets or baby sitters, and get information on the local goings-on around town. Platinum members also enjoy access to hotel gyms and Executive and Club Level floors at Westin and Sheraton hotels. And, of course, you'll get a nice little welcome gift on arrival -- a snack, movie, or extra points.
And as mentioned before, elite members have three additional exclusive awards offers.

Platinum members receive yet another particularly comforting little perk -- a Platinum member who does not successfully meet Platinum-level requirements for the next year is automatically given a 12-month Gold-level membership.
RULZ...

Starpoints expire within one year, barring any earning activity at a Starwood property. That's worth repeating: Only earning (not redemption, transfers, or earnings from other programs) activity counts towards the extension of an expiration date, and the earning activity must be done at a hotel.

Awards are not transferable, but at the time of booking, can be made out to anyone. If your plans change, you can cancel the award up until the time required by the individual hotel at which you were going to stay, and your points will be replaced in your account without charge.

Starwood has never been a fan of blackout dates -- in fact, on its launch in 1999, the lack of blackout dates was a key selling point. Preferred Award Nights have no blackout dates or capacity controls -- if the room is available, it's yours. Regrettably, the 50 Percent Off Discounts do have blackout controls.
And for what it's worth, eligible charges include room rate, food and beverage, direct-dial phone, laundry/valet, and in-room movie charges.

All rules are subject to the occasional tweak, so its best to visit www.spg.com to get the latest updates.
Service

With William (Starwood Lurker) on Flyertalk... they do have a great 'perception' of service.

Starwood swept the hotel program Freddie Awards for Best Customer service in the Americas, Europe and Asia last year. This was not terribly surprising, as SPG had earned the same honor for the previous five years. That kind of dominance says more about Starwood's commitment to customer service than we could ever hope to.

Among the reasons SPG does so well is that they innovate. Starwood, for example, was the first major program to have an employee dedicated to serving members on FlyerTalk.com, the world's largest online frequent traveler community.
Online.

Starwood completed a major makeover of its Web presence just last year. Enhancements to the site included a customized "My Favorites" quick link for faster bookings, a redesigned special offers section where members can search specials by activity, location, date, and hotel brand, and the ability to access future reservations and account activity without leaving the home page.

Not surprisingly, you'll find all the functionality you'd expect from a consistent Program of the Year: online enrollment, account management, award booking, missing point requests, point transfers ... the works.
Other things

Probably the most outstanding and popular of Preferred Guest's features is the transferability of Starpoints -- and not just for the flexibility it provides. The bonus of 5,000 miles on the transfer of 20,000 points to miles is a genuine gem -- providing a free domestic roundtrip for just 20,000 miles. Starwood's lack of blackout dates for Preferred Awards remains extremely popular. And though subject to blackout dates, the 50 percent discount for 1,500 points is a tremendous value.
If there's one (relatively) consistent concern we've heard about, it's that elite benefits such as welcome amenities and upgrades are awarded somewhat inconsistently across brands and properties.

Keep in mind, though, that not only does this inconsistency not drive away loyal members, but it's a problem SPG is actively addressing, as evidenced by the investigative work being done on http://www.flyertalk.com.

About the Hilton HHonors Program

frequentguide — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 04:37:26 -0700

Take 500 hotels, 147,000 rooms, and 13,000,000 active members, and what do you have? You have one big company named Hilton, one of the world leaders of the hospitality industry, and its loyalty program -- Hilton HHonors.

And if you are a certain publicity-hungry ingenue, you have a very, very large trust fund.

From its inception, HHonors has carved a unique niche in the frequent travel industry. It was the first hotel program to offer credit cards from competing companies, and was the first (and remains the only) program to allow members to earn both points and miles with every stay through the now famous "Double Dip."

Like all programs, HHonors has changed over time. Award levels have increased, elite perks have changed, and old-timers will say that points aren't worth as much as they used to be.

Perhaps. But the same can be said about almost any program. The fact remains that by today's standards, HHonors remains one of the strongest programs in the world.

More about HHonors:

Conrad Hilton entered the hotel business when he purchased the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas in 1919. He formed the Hilton Hotels Corp. in 1946 and the hotel group has since grown from its Texas roots to include over 145,000 hotel rooms in cities around the world. Hilton brands include Conrad Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn and Hampton Inns & Suites, Hilton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton. Earlier this year, The Blackstone Group announced its acquisition of Hilton Hotels Corp., a transaction expected to be completed within the next month. Blackstone owns more than 100,000 hotel rooms in the U.S. and Europe and the merger almost doubles the size of the company.

The HHonors program is best known for its "double dip" earning style where members can earn both points and miles for the same hotel stay.

Earning capabilities

Hilton HHonors allows members to "double dip" and earn hotel points and airline miles. Members can choose from three earning options: points and variable miles, points and fixed miles or points and points. You can change your earning preference online whenever you want, but the points and miles earned for a stay are determined by the earning style in place the day you check-out and changes cannot be made for past stays. The earning style chosen applies to stays at all Hilton hotel brands -- you can't choose a particular earning style for one brand and another type for stays at other brands.

Members who choose points and variable miles will receive 10 points and one mile per eligible dollar spent. With points and fixed miles, you'll receive 10 points per dollar spent and 500 miles per stay at Hilton, Conrad, Coral by Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Club; 100 miles per stay at Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites and Scandic hotels. Choose points and points and you'll get 15 points per eligible dollar spent.

Eligible charges for Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites include room rate only while point-earning charges at other Hilton hotels include room rate and other incidentals (not including tax). Members can also earn points for credit card purchases, car rentals and transferring miles into points, among other options.
Award choices

Ah well, no more Hilton Warsaw for 7,500 points but there are still some reasonable redemptions - best one is the GLON and GLONP in places like NYC where avg room rates are very high!

Hilton HHonors hotels are divided into seven award categories. The lowest level "Opportunity" awards are available for 7,500 points per night. Category one hotels are 10,000 points and subsequent categories increase between 5,000 and 10,000 points to the highest level category six hotels, which require 40,000 points per night. The luxury Waldorf Collection hotel awards are available for 40,000 to 80,000 points per night depending on the location and low or high season. Points can also be redeemed for stays at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club for 35,000 to 60,000 points. Point stretcher awards are offered at participating category two through six hotels for 40 percent fewer points. A category two hotel normally requires 20,000 points but a point stretcher award will reduce the requirement to 12,000 points. You can search for point stretcher awards from the reservations page, but Hilton doesn't publish a full list of all their discounted awards. HHonors discontinued its ValuePoint awards, which offered members a free night for two-night and three-night redemptions. Members have until the end of the year to redeem any unused ValuePoint awards.

HHonors offers a number of award packages. While Marriott's redemption packages include accommodations and airfare, Hilton focuses on luxury redemption options such as the "Indulge Your Senses" package for two that includes a deluxe ocean view room at the Caribe Hilton, daily buffet breakfast and four complimentary spa treatments for 240,000 points.

Elite members have exclusive access to VIP Rewards, with award stays of up to 14 nights at participating hotels worldwide for between 150,000 and 410,000 points.

One-day car rental awards start at 15,000 points and a one-class upgrade starts at 4,000 points. Carnival Cruise awards start at 250,000 points for a three-day cruise in the Bahamas and members can redeem points for tickets to Disneyland, Disneyworld and Universal Studios. A three-day adult ticket to Disneyland is 70,000 points.

Members can donate points to a number of charities including AIDS Walk, City of Hope, National Arbor Day Foundation and National Coalition for the Homeless. Every 10,000-point donation is the equivalent of $25 given to the charity.

Members can also redeem for gift certificates at retail and food partners such as Bloomingdale's, Pottery Barn and The Sharper Image. Most certificates require 25,000 points for $50 and 40,000 points for $100. Merchandise is also available, ranging from a Viking food processor for 135,000 points to a Sony Home Theatre System for 200,000 points.

With Experience Rewards, members can redeem points for a variety of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. For 180,000 points, you can spend three hours with Kim Hamrock, a world champion surfer. Or you can spend two days learning everything about the microbrewery business with a master brewer for 330,000 points.

HHonors points can be exchanged into other loyalty currency with many programs. Members can exchange points into miles with 35 airlines, Amtrak and GlobalPass. Conversion rates vary but in general, 10,000 points convert into 1,000 miles. Alternatively, members can exchange 5,000 miles for 10,000 HHonors points with American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, Midwest Airlines and South African Airways; 5,000 miles for 5,000 HHonors points with Virgin Atlantic Airways. Exchange rates vary by country but in the U.S., 1,000 American Express points convert into 1,300 HHonors points and 1,250 Diner's Club Rewards points convert into 2,000 HHonors points.
Partnership and other partners...

HHonors partners with more than 50 airlines (and Amtrak), so chances are that your frequent flyer program(s) participates in the HHonors program.
Members earn between 250 and 500 points per rental when renting a car with Alamo, Avis, Europcar, National, Sixt and Thrifty.

Members in the U.S. can choose a Hilton co-branded credit card with either American Express or Citibank. The American Express card comes with no annual fee, a welcome bonus of 10,000 HHonors points with first purchase and up to an additional 10,000 points on your next four stays. You'll receive five points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels and grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, restaurants, U.S. postal service and for wireless phone bills. All other purchases net three points per dollar. Members also receive an online booking bonus when charging a stay to the credit card and automatically receive Silver VIP status, and can be upgraded to Gold VIP elite status when charging $20,000 or more annually to the card.

The Citibank Visa co-branded card is also annual fee free and offers new cardmembers 15,000 bonus points with first purchase. Members earn six bonus points for every dollar spent at Hilton hotels and three points per dollar spent on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations and two points per dollar spent everywhere else. Cardmembers automatically receive Silver VIP status.

HHonors participates in e-Rewards and MyPoints and members can earn points for participating in online surveys and shopping online.

Many cellular partners participate in the HHonors program and members can earn points for making mobile phone calls in places such as Indonesia with the Indosat network and the Wind network in Italy.

Members can earn over 500,000 points for real estate transactions with Chase, CitiMortgage, Wachovia and Washington Mutual.

Elite level program

I've had the pleasure of being a Gold and Diamond with HHonors and it's definitely still one of the best elite programs in terms of breadth of hotels and adherence to the benefits.

All HHonors members regardless of elite status receive a complimentary newspaper, spouse stays free and late check-out upon request when available.

Unlike other hotel programs, award stays count towards elite status and members can earn status three ways: by the number of stays, nights or points earned during a rolling consecutive 12-month period. Priority Club Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest offer status based on nights or points earned and Marriott determines elite status by number of nights only.

Silver VIP membership will be given to members who stay four times or 10 nights during a 12-month period (points earned do not count towards Silver status). Silver members receive a 15 percent point bonus, complimentary health club access when available and the option to redeem points for VIP-only awards.

Gold VIP membership will be awarded to members who complete 16 stays, 36 nights or earn 60,000 base points during a 12-month period. Gold members receive a 25 percent point bonus and upgraded accommodations or amenities, depending on hotel brand and location. For example, Gold members staying at Hilton hotels in North America can choose either 1,000 bonus points, an upgrade to an executive floor, executive floor lounge access, complimentary breakfast or high speed Internet. Gold VIP Members are exempt from award blackout dates, except when room demand is extraordinarily high.

Members who complete 28 stays, 60 nights or earn 100,000 base points during a consecutive 12-month period will be awarded Diamond VIP membership. Diamond members receive all the benefits offered to the lower tier members, a 50 percent point bonus and guaranteed reservations for one room when reservations are made 48 hours prior to arrival.
Rules, rules rules!

Awards are fully transferable but once issued, may only be used by the person named on the award certificate. Capacity controls and blackout dates apply to award stays.

Points cannot be combined but can be transferred in 10,000-point increments at a cost of $25 per 10,000 points. If a member transfers 200,000 points in a calendar year, all additional transfers made that year are free of charge.

Members can purchase up to 40,000 Hilton HHonors points per calendar year in 1,000-point increments. The cost of points is $0.0125 per point for transactions under 10,000 points and $0.01 per point for purchases over 10,000 points. Points do not expire but members who do not earn points in any 12 month consecutive period may be removed from the program and lose all accumulated points. The account may be reactivated within 90 days of closure by staying at a Hilton hotel, earning points through a partner or purchasing points.
Support

HHonors has a telephone helpline available 24/7. You can access your account information via automated options or speak to customer service. When we called, we spoke with a helpful and pleasant HHonors representative who clarified the expiration policy for us and gave us suggestions for keeping our account active. You can also send your inquiries via e-mail.
Online

HHonors award stays can be redeemed online and the Web site has recently added "flexible dates" as a search option so you can view a hotel's award availability for an entire month. Missing stay requests can be made online from the member services tab after logging into your HHonors account. You can choose your communication preferences, which include monthly e-mail account statements, HHonors partner news, special offers, last minute specials and offers from hotels in specific destinations.
Other notes

The Hilton HHonors program gets consistently high ratings from members. Members like the "double-dipping", partner stays free, American Express and Visa credit cards, access to lounges and members-only floors and free breakfast for elite members. With the large number of partnerships, you'd be hard pressed to find a major airline that doesn't partner with HHonors.
Members report that obtaining room upgrades can be difficult and point stretcher awards are not available in many locations. While HHonors does offer promotions, they seem to lag behind the other programs in terms of promo frequency. Members cannot redeem points for room upgrades, an option which is offered by Marriott and Starwood. And the 12-month window for account closure with the subsequent forfeiture of points is short, although other programs such as Starwood have the same policy.