Alaska Airlines 72-hour rule puts a hurt on MileagePlan
Looking for a last-minute Alaska Airlines MileagePlan award trip to Asia? That's not likely to turn out very well. The program recently implemented a 72-hour advance booking requirement for a pair of...
View ArticleA loyalty scam sold to the uninformed
Cheap access to hotel upgrades and lounges? If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Alas, I'm sure some will get sucked in anyways. The post A loyalty scam sold to the uninformed appeared...
View ArticleQatar Airways’ Privilege Club goes online-only
Online access to account information and award booking is great. When it works. Qatar Airways is set to push its Privilege Club operation to online-only, well before the website delivers a seamless...
View ArticleDLD 185: A loyalty deep dive in Bangkok
What's next in the travel loyalty world? Time for a field trip to Bangkok to find out. The annual Loyalty Conference is always good for some interesting insights into the future of this industry. The...
View ArticleAir Canada launches Basic Economy fares
Air Canada joins the ranks of Basic Economy airlines this week. The carrier now has five fare families for its economy class passengers and this rollout may be one of the most advanced we've seen to...
View ArticleJetBlue goes semi-private, adds codeshare with JetSuiteX
How to grow in a highly competitive west coast market while limiting risk, staying small, and maintaining the better than average inflight product a company is known for? JetBlue tapped into the...
View ArticleCelebrate the scrapping of United’s 747s!
Looking for a special way to celebrate the retirement and scrapping of United's 747 fleet? Here's a unique opportunity for a champagne toast and dinner in an aircraft scrap yard. The post Celebrate the...
View ArticleA tease for the future of FlyingBlue rewards, and it is awful
Every now and then a ridiculously bad priced award redemption pops up that makes me wonder what the folks in the head office are thinking. Today's example comes from FlyingBlue, where using points to...
View ArticleLoyalty program changes: AsiaMiles gets the messaging right
Change happens. Getting the messaging about those changes right is a rare win for loyalty programs and their members. AsiaMiles is in that rare group, announcing changes this week and owning both the...
View ArticleStar Alliance teases increased award availability, new top tier for travelers
More award seats? Better elite status recognition? Star Alliance hopes to deliver both thanks to its new digital middleware platform. But can these improvements be delivered without eroding the...
View ArticleEmirates Skywards swallows flyDubai OPEN
The long slog to full integration of Emirates and flyDubai continues apace. This week's announcement brings the loyalty programs of the two carriers together. And the move looks an awful lot like a...
View ArticleMajor expansion coming for Delta Premium Select
Passengers won't pay for more space on planes. This is the commonly accepted mantra and driving logic behind the ongoing "densification" efforts to squeeze more seats onto planes. And, for the most...
View ArticleAir Canada, banks offer to buy Aeroplan
A year after announcing that it would no longer be an Aimia customer Air Canada (and its banking partners) now wants to buy the Aeroplan program off the loyalty operator. At a nice discount, of course....
View ArticleToo many award seats? Alaska Airlines says whoopsie!
Does a merger integration still count as wildly successful if it hurts revenues to the tune of 1.5% for 9ish months? Alaska Airlines' PSS integration came off incredibly smoothly on the operations...
View ArticlePorter Air signs on to join Aeroplan in 2020, oneworld in the wings
Aeroplan will still have a Canadian airline partner when Air Canada's participation in the program ends in 2020. Toronto-based Porter Air will convert its VIPorter loyalty program into the Aeroplan...
View ArticleParker shoots down AAdvantage spin-off idea. Again.
The push for US airlines to better monetize their loyalty programs continues to grow. But don't expect it to happen any time soon. The co-brand relationship with the credit card is simply too strong....
View ArticleAimia set to sell Aeroplan back to Air Canada, banks
In the end the difference was a couple hundred million or so. That's the sweetener added by Air Canada and its banking partners to buy Aeroplan back from Aimia and boost the "new" in-house loyalty...
View ArticleUnited shuffles boarding groups
Should we really expect much to change with United's latest take on aircraft boarding order? Probably not, other than more passengers crowding the lanes before boarding begins. The post United shuffles...
View ArticleSwoop: A marketing machine that happens to fly planes
Canadian upstart Swoop, the ULCC arm of WestJet, aims to succeed as an airline mostly by not really acting like an airline. Sure, there are airplanes and pilots and such, but CEO Steven Greenway is...
View ArticleDLD 216: A bet against JFK
Is American's new LAX terminal a bet against JFK? Why is Hertz joining SkyTeam? And what the heck is going on at British Airways?? The post DLD 216: A bet against JFK appeared first on Wandering Aramean.
View Article