Posted by
George on Saturday, July 04, 2009
Spirit is at it again with a $50 off coupon code. Enter 50OFF in the promo code box on Spirit's site by midnight ET July 5 and you'll get your fare for $50 less than you will find on any other site, such as Kayak or Travelocity. Flights to/from Detroit get $40 off. We have found in the past that when combined with one of Spirit's wacky $7, $9, 1 cent, or whatever fares that on some routes the promo code discount actually wipes out the entire fare, so that your fare ends up being zero plus tax. We've even seen cases where the taxes are even wiped out!
Posted by
Tracy on Thursday, July 02, 2009
More news from Alaska Airlines: They'll soon begin flying nonstop from Oakland to Maui and Kona. Service starts November 9, and introductory fares begin at $169 each way. Those who frequently fly Alaska Airlines from Oakland can register to receive a 10% off discount code. Fly 4 flights or more from Northern California by September 30 and receive an additional 40% off discount code in mid-October.
Oakland to Kona, Hawaii $359 round-trip
Oakland to Maui, Hawaii $359 round-trip
Posted by
George on Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Andrea Bennett and George Hobica
As with any other asset you’ve accumulated in life, you can’t bring frequent flier miles with you when you take that final flight to the great beyond. But can your loved ones profit from them after you’re gone? Airfarewatchdog began pondering that question when asked by a reader if there are uniform policies covering the “inheritance” of these assets. Our reader, who recently lost her husband, wrote that, “I have just been pretending that he was still alive because I was afraid that I would either lose his miles or pay a big transfer fee."
The answer, Airfarewatchdog found, is that each airline issues a slightly different printed policy in the program rules sections of their Web sites, and that these rules often conflict with what you’ll hear if you call the airlines’ frequent flyer desks.
Frequent flyer miles are a liability for the airlines. With unredeemed miles in the trillions, the airlines don’t make it easy to collect what may reasonably be considered your inheritance. (In fact, by some estimates, 25 to 30 percent of accumulated miles end up expiring when the “owner” dies, letting airlines off the hook for the cost of redeeming them.)
Most airlines do make it easy, however, to transfer miles between the living, for a fee; but it’s an expensive proposition, even when there are occasional transfer bonuses, sometimes as high as 100 percent. Plus, there are mileage transfer limits with these offers. United, for instance, allows any member to transfer between 5,000 and 15,000 miles per recipient per year for $0.015 per mile and a $35 fee. Only 60,000 miles can be transferred per year.
Yet, many airlines protect themselves by issuing blanket statements in their rules that miles are not transferable, period.
United clearly states that, “Accrued mileage and certificates do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage nor certificates are transferable (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law.”
But the airlines also employ plenty of sympathetic humans, who might have discretion in interpreting the rules when you pick up the phone; not surprising since their published policies at times seem a contradictory jumble of legalese.
Take American for instance: their rules plainly state that miles “are not transferable upon death”. Well that sounds pretty conclusive, right? Except then we read a few lines later that, “However, American Airlines, in its sole discretion, may credit accrued mileage to persons specifically identified in court approved divorce decrees and wills upon receipt of documentation satisfactory to American Airlines and upon payment of any applicable fees.” So does that mean they fork over the miles or not? Turns out that if the AAdvantage account has fewer than 10,000 miles, there’s no fee required (only proof of death is needed); if more than 10,000 miles, you’ll pay a transfer fee of just $50.
And in the case of Continental OnePass, there’s a separate set of rules printed online (which says you absolutely may not transfer miles to anyone, ever); but when you call the service center you might be told, as we were, that you can transfer miles to anyone for a fee and that transferring miles from a deceased’s account to an inheritor’s requires no fee (keep in mind that the airlines’ frequent flyer rules can change at any moment, and that what you read here was accurate at the time of publication).
Bottom line: every airline has slightly different printed policies, and what you hear from a call center representative may be different from what’s printed (see airline-by-airline chart). But you’ll likely be able to claim a deceased’s miles if you’re persistent, present documentation, and, in some cases, pay a small fee (only American and United, of the major airlines that allow you to accrue miles without automatically issuing an award, charge a fee).
But why pay a fee and deal with the airlines at all?
Why not game the system by pretending the deceased is still alive, as our reader has done, and using his or her account user name and PIN (assuming you know it) to log in and obtain free tickets? Well, for one thing, this is against the rules, and if you’re caught your miles will be forfeited.
We’re not suggesting you do this. We’re just saying you could.
But for those of you collecting miles in the future, if you’d like to avoid having to beg or pay for miles once a family member dies, there are two earning programs you should consider. One is the British Airways Executive Club, which allows you to set up a household account with up to four people living at the same address. Miles earned by one member are combined with those earned by the other three, and can be redeemed by any one of the four. BA lets you spend miles on American and other airlines.
The other option is the American Express Membership Rewards program. Here you can earn miles on about 20 US and foreign airlines. The miles never expire as long as you keep them in your Amex account, and you transfer them to the airline frequent flyer program of your choice as needed. If you and your spouse have a mileage-earning card for the same account, either Card Member has control of the miles and can use them at will.
Posted by
George on Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Andrea Bennett and George Hobica
As if losing a loved one isn't bad enough, if that person dies and you're his or her spouse, some airlines make you pay a fee to inherit frequent flyer miles.
As with any other asset you’ve accumulated in life, you can’t bring frequent flier miles with you when you take that final flight to the great beyond. But your loved ones can profit from them after you’re gone. Airfarewatchdog began pondering this issue when asked by a reader if there are uniform policies covering the transfer of these assets. Our reader, who recently lost her husband, wrote that, “I have just been pretending that he was still alive because I was afraid that I would either lose his miles or pay a big transfer fee."
The answer, Airfarewatchdog found, is that each airline issues a slightly different printed policy in the program rules sections of their Web sites, and that these rules often conflict with what you’ll hear if you call the airlines’ frequent flyer desks.
Frequent flyer miles are a liability for the airlines. With unredeemed miles in the trillions, they don’t make it easy to collect what may reasonably be considered your inheritance, and two major airlines collect a fee to process the transfer. (In fact, by some estimates, 25 to 30 percent of accumulated miles end up expiring when the “owner” dies, letting airlines off the hook for the cost of redeeming them.)
Most airlines do make it easy, however, to transfer miles between the living, again for a fee; but it’s an expensive proposition, even when there are occasional transfer bonuses, sometimes as high as 100 percent. Plus, there are mileage transfer limits with these offers. United, for instance, allows any member to transfer between 5,000 and 15,000 miles per recipient per year for $0.015 per mile and a $35 fee. Only 60,000 miles can be transferred per year.
Yet, many airlines protect themselves by issuing blanket statements in their rules that miles are not transferable, period.
United clearly states that, “Accrued mileage and certificates do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage nor certificates are transferable (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law.”
But the airlines also employ plenty of sympathetic humans, who might have discretion in interpreting the rules when you pick up the phone; not surprising since their published policies at times seem a contradictory jumble of legalese.
Take American for instance: their rules plainly state that miles “are not transferable upon death”. Well that sounds pretty conclusive, right? Except then we read a few lines later that, “However, American Airlines, in its sole discretion, may credit accrued mileage to persons specifically identified in court approved divorce decrees and wills upon receipt of documentation satisfactory to American Airlines and upon payment of any applicable fees.” So does that mean they fork over the miles or not? Turns out that if the AAdvantage account has fewer than 10,000 miles, there’s no fee required (only proof of death is needed); if more than 10,000 miles, you’ll pay a transfer fee of $50.
And in the case of Continental OnePass, there’s a separate set of rules printed online (which says you absolutely may not transfer miles to anyone, ever); but when you call the service center you might be told, as we were, that you can transfer miles to anyone for a fee and that transferring miles from a deceased’s account to an inheritor’s requires no fee (keep in mind that the airlines’ frequent flyer rules can change at any moment, and that what you read here was accurate at the time of publication).
Bottom line: every airline has slightly different printed policies, and what you hear from a call center representative may be different from what’s printed (see chart, below). But you’ll likely be able to claim a deceased’s miles if you’re persistent, present documentation, and, in some cases, pay a small fee (only American and United, of the major airlines that allow you to accrue miles without automatically issuing an award, charge a fee).
But why pay a fee and deal with the airlines at all?
Why not game the system by pretending the deceased is still alive, as our reader has done, and using his or her account user name and PIN (assuming you know it) to log in and obtain free tickets? Well, for one thing, this is against the rules, and if you’re caught your miles will be forfeited.
We’re not suggesting you do this. We’re just saying you could.
But for those of you collecting miles in the future, if you’d like to avoid having to beg or pay for miles once a family member dies, there are two earning programs you should consider. One is the British Airways Executive Club, which allows you to set up a household account with up to four people living at the same address. Miles earned by one member are combined with those earned by the other three, and can be redeemed by any one of the four. BA lets you spend miles on American and other airlines.
The other option is the American Express Membership Rewards program. Here you can earn miles on about 20 US and foreign airlines. The points never expire as long as you keep them in your Amex account, and you transfer them to the airline frequent flyer program of your choice, where they become miles, as needed. If you and your spouse have a points-earning card for the same account, either Card Member has control of the points and can use them at will as long as the "primary" member authorizes another card member to use them. All it takes is a simple phone call; no fees, no paperwork.
Inheriting miles: Airline rules and procedures
| Airline |
What the Web site says about transferring miles in general
|
Cost to transfer miles among the living
|
What the service center told us about inheriting miles (deceased to inheritor)
|
Documentation needed to process deceased's account
|
| American |
“Except as otherwise explained below, mileage credit is not transferable and may not be combined among AAdvantage members, their estates, successors and assigns. Accrued mileage credit and award certificates and award tickets do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage, award certificates or tickets are transferable by the member (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law. However, American Airlines, in its sole discretion, may credit accrued mileage to persons specifically identified in court approved divorce decrees and wills upon receipt of documentation satisfactory to American Airlines and upon payment of any applicable fees." |
Transfer 1,000 to 5,000 miles for $50, up to 10,000 miles for $100, and up to 15,000 miles for $150. You’ll also pay a $30 per transaction processing fee, and transfer a max of 60,000 miles per calendar year. |
You actually can share miles, but it’s not called “transferring.” You can purchase miles to gift to another AAdvantage member, for the price at left. In the case of a death, the price is lower (see documentation at right). |
American requires a copy of the pages of the will which identify the decedent's name, the executor's or personal representative's name, and a page showing the date of execution and signature of the maker. If the AAdvantage account is specifically mentioned, a copy of that page must be included as well. If the AAdvantage account has fewer than 10,000 miles, only proof of death is required; if more than 10,000 miles, you’ll pay a transfer fee of $50. |
| Continental |
“You can have only one OnePass account, which is established under your full first and last name (no initials, please). Only you may accrue mileage in your account. You may not transfer or combine mileage between your account and other OnePass accounts, including those of relatives.”
|
Regular cost of a transfer: $15 for every 1,000 miles.
|
You actually can transfer miles to another member with a OnePass account. The cost is $15 for every 1,000 miles, with a minimum of 2500 miles, and a maximum of 100,000 miles. But in the case of a death, the transfer is free, with no minimum or maximum. |
A copy of the death certificate and a letter from the executor authorizing the transfer of miles to the inheriting member. |
| Delta |
“You can transfer 1,000 to 30,000 miles in increments of 1,000 miles. A maximum of 300,000 miles can be transferred into any individual SkyMiles account per calendar year. Up to 150,000 miles can be deducted from your account per calendar year. Transfer Miles transactions are nonrefundable and may take up to seven days to post to the recipient's account. “ |
$0.01 per mile, plus a $30 processing fee.
|
You can transfer the miles at no cost if you get the executor of the estate to fill out an affidavit and mail or fax it to the Delta service center. :
|
The affidavit (at left). If there’s more than one heir, a letter from all the heirs is needed to assign the account to any one of them.
|
| United |
“Accrued mileage and certificates do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage nor certificates are transferable (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law." |
15 cents per mile plus a $35.00 transaction fee. Transfer up to 60,000 miles. |
You actually can transfer miles between the account of the deceased and a beneficiary. United charges a $75 flat fee, regardless of the number of miles. You’ll need to call the service center, which will then send you a form to fill out, and ask that you provide documentation to start the process. There’s no maximum number of miles you can transfer. |
The form that the service center will send you, along with a death certificate and proof of beneficiary. |
| US Airways |
“All outstanding mileage may be transferred to the estate of a member upon a member’s death, after production of appropriate documentation such as a death certificate and proof of beneficiary within 6 months of the member's passing. Miles cannot be transferred if the deceased member's account has been inactive for more than 36 months at the time of the member's passing. Mileage may not be transferred to any other person except pursuant to these rules. “ |
1 cent per mile plus a $30 processing fee. 50,000 miles maximum per transaction |
As long as you send a copy of the death certificate and will – or another document proving you’re the beneficiary – within six months of the death, there’s no maximum number of miles and no fee for transferring them. If you haven’t sent the information within six months, the airline will work on a case-by-case basis. |
Death certificate and proof of beneficiary |
Posted by
Tracy on Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Alaska Airlines is souping up their service to Texas this summer, wtih two new nonstops to Austin. Service between Seattle and Austin will begin on August 3, and service between San Jose and Austin will begin September 2. Book your fare by July 16 to take advantage of their special introductory sale for these routes and flights connecting onward, with fares for as little as $89 each way and double miles earned. Sale fares are valid for travel between August 3 (or September 2 for San Jose) and November 17, and include:
Austin to Cordova $498 round-trip
Austin to Fairbanks $618 round-trip
Austin to Juneau $418 round-trip
Austin to Ketchikan $418 round-trip
Austin to Petersburg $418 round-trip
Posted by
George on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
It's airfare Magic 8 Ball season again, with airfare pundits predicting where fares are heading next. We've been in the airfare reporting business for over 10 years now, and one thing we've learned is that you cannot outguess the airlines, or the economy, or oil prices. That's why we don't make airfare predictions. We just think it's misleading. Sure, we'd get on the Tee-Vee and our name in the papers more often if we went out on a limb, but too often we've seen people on those limbs fall on their faces when they get sawed off.
Sure, we can tell you that as of today, pubished fares for summer travel to Europe , for example, are higher than they were back in the spring (we cannot tell you, however, how many seats were sold at what fares on what routes on what airlines, however). But if we could really predict airfares, we'd have stopped flying commerical long ago. No sirree, we'd be in our comfy Gulfstream sipping vintage Veuve Cliquot instead of at the back of the plane nursing a warm beer.
The problem with predictions is that it can mislead consumers, and cause them to buy fares sooner than they should. It's just like predicting the stock market, and good luck with that.
And when you come to think of it, if there were one Web site that could accurately and consistently predict airfares, then wouldn't every other airfare site be history by now? Instead, there seems to be a new one popping up every month.
Posted by
Tracy on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Will you be so easily wooed back to Mexico? Between shoot-outs and viral epidemics, it can seem a bit off putting. Still, at least the fares are good! American has a sale to Mexican beach destinations, good for outbound travel through October 31. All fares must be purchased by July 7, and a 2-day minimum stay is required. All travel must be complete by November 30.
Fares include:
Denver to Cancun $260 round-trip, including all taxes
Dallas to Leon $370 round-trip, including all taxes
Fresno to Puerto Vallarta $352 round-trip, including all taxes
Chicago to Puerto Vallarta $272 round-trip, including all taxes
Chicago to Cabo San Lucas $353 round-trip, including all taxes
Chicago to San Luis Potosi $378 round-trip, including all taxes
San Francisco to Cancun $260 round-trip, including all taxes
San Jose to Cabo San Lucas $268 round-trip, including all taxes
Posted by
Tracy on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The latest sale from Midwest Airlines is good for Tuesday/Wednesday travel from July 10 through August 19. All fares must be booked by July 6 and require a 10-day advance purchase. Fares include:
Boston to Grand Rapids $224 round-trip
Cleveland to Omaha $238 round-trip
Des Moines to New York $248 round-trip
New York to Omaha $258 round-trip
Milwaukee to Grand Rapids $188 round-trip
Minneapolis to Louisville $198 round-trip
Posted by
George on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
United is currently advertising a 2 for 1 sale to various Canadian destinations from US cities. Fares start at $208 RT ($104 one-way) plus tax from Chicago to Toronto. Denver to Winnipeg is $380 ($190 one-way) plus tax. Not especially great deals if you are traveling by yourself, but a decent deal if traveling with a companion.
And interestingly, in order to get the discount you must call United reservations at 1-800-864-8331 and mention the “Canada Offer”. Phone reservation fees will be waived. Fares must be purchased by July 5. A 2 night minimum stay is required. Travel valid between now and September 30th. This is yet another example of how airlines are forcing you to deal directly with them and not through third party web sites in order to get the best fares.
Posted by
George on Sunday, June 28, 2009
We've polled our users on whether they think airlines should be "re-regulated," and a slight majority believe that dereg is just fine that way it is. But Demos, which describes itself as a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization, makes a convincing argument that deregulation has been a disaster all around.
Headquartered in New York City, Demos works with advocates and policymakers around the country in pursuit of four overarching goals:
- a more equitable economy with widely shared prosperity and opportunity;
- a vibrant and inclusive democracy with high levels of voting and civic engagement;
- an empowered public sector that works for the common good;
- and responsible U.S. engagement in an interdependent world.
Their June 26, 2009 media release makes interesting reading:
Contact: Tim Rusch, Demos, trusch@demos.org or (917) 399-0236
New Demos Report Examines Impact of Airline Deregulation
Safety, Labor and Passenger Concerns Highlighted; Calls for National Task Force to Investigate Air Travel Problems
View online at www.demos.org
New York--A spate of airline tragedies and near misses this year, including the crash of a Continental/Colgan flight heading into Buffalo, New York, have called America’s attention to the deeply troubled state of the airline industry. Since 2000, U.S. airlines’ net losses have exceeded $33 billion—almost twice their accumulated profits from 1938 to 1999. Eleven domestic airlines filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008 alone; nine shut down altogether. The surviving companies have slashed costs, with some resorting to steps that threaten passenger safety.
In "Flying Blind: Airline Deregulation Reconsidered", a wide-ranging new Demos report on the industry, co-authors James Lardner and Robert Kuttner point to preliminary findings in the Buffalo investigation that the pilot and co-pilot lacked crucial experience and training, and “down time” between flights. Since the crash, critics have raised questions about the little-known regional airlines that now handle a growing proportion of domestic flights, effectively acting as subcontractors to the big brand-name airlines. The major carriers have been widely faulted for farming out more and more flights to these smaller companies, which, in many cases, appear to have significantly less rigorous hiring and training standards.
The authors highlight that regional carriers now account for roughly 35 percent of all flight-hours, more than double the 16 percent share that these companies held at the beginning of the decade. At that time, the report shows, two-thirds of all heavy aircraft maintenance was performed in-house, while today more than 70 percent of the work is outsourced, leaving federal inspectors scrambling to keep up with nearly 5,000 repair facilities in the U.S. and abroad.
The report links these practices to a precipitous decline in service standards and labor practices. While many industry leaders blame the airlines’ difficulties on the price of fuel and the current economic crisis, "Flying Blind" uncovers a three-decade-long pattern of declining profitability and rising instability. The industry ran up huge losses in the early 1980s and again in the early 1990s.
“Each of those periods, too, was marked by a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs,” Lardner and Kuttner note. “The economic downturn of 2000 and 2001 sent the airline industry into another tailspin, with nine airlines filing for bankruptcy before September 11.”
The report traces the industry’s current troubles back to the decision, three decades ago, to lift most federal regulation of air travel.
“Deregulation was supposed to lead to a dramatically expanded universe of airlines—companies big and small, old and new, competing and innovating for the public benefit,” the authors write. Instead, “Today’s industry is more concentrated than ever, yet lacks the resources and motivation to make crucial investments in equipment, technology, and human capital. And most of the major U.S. airlines appear to have no long-term strategy except more of the same—more outsourcing, more service cutbacks and hidden charges, more wage and benefit reductions, and more consolidation in the hope of surviving long enough to be in a position to turn a profit and expand again during a future economic recovery.”
Even many of the original champions of deregulation have acknowledged their failure to anticipate some of the key results. By the late 1980s, the economist Alfred Kahn, who has been called the “father of airline deregulation,” was highlighting that the “naturally monopolistic or oligopolistic character of most airline markets...would continue under deregulation.”
Kahn and others have taken refuge in the argument that deregulation has produced lower airfares and wider access to air travel. The Demos report concludes that even this benefit is widely overstated. “While the price of flying has come down over the past thirty years,” the report notes, “it decreased at a comparable rate from the 1940 through the 1960s. In any event, low airfares are as much a problem as an achievement if they leave an industry without the resources to maintain service standards and make crucial investments in equipment, technology, and human capital.”
The report makes clear an urgent need for Congress and the relevant executive agencies to make a thorough-going study of the industry’s troubles. The authors recommend creation of a federal task force to examine the industry’s problems and propose solutions. Specifically, they call on the task force to:
--Develop a plan to moderate the booms and busts and build a more stable domestic airline industry. Here, the remedies could include capital-reserve requirements and bankruptcy reform.
--Expedite (and establish stable financing for) a modernized Air Traffic Control (ATC) network.
--Develop coordinated national and regional transportation plans, with provision for high speed rail networks to eliminate the need for excessive short-haul air traffic.
--Devise a code of customer service that would, among other things, protect passengers from wildly varying prices and establish more uniform procedures for ensuring remuneration and rebooking when a flight is delayed or cancelled.
--Promote more equitable and stable labor practices and return to the pre-deregulation practice of pattern bargaining in order to discourage airline competition based on low wages and high-pressure working conditions.
--Insist on uniform airline safety standards, including mechanic credentials and oversight of maintenance facilities.
--Develop new regulations to curtail airline consolidation and promote genuine competition where feasible, while, at the same time, cracking down on monopoly pricing and the other abuses of concentration on routes that are incapable of supporting more than one or two carriers.
STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
--Out of roughly 150 low-cost airlines founded since 1978, fewer than a dozen are still operating; they account for only about 10 percent of current airline capacity.
--Before deregulation, there were 11 major trunkline carriers; today, the country has six large mainline carriers—American, United, Delta, Continental, US Airways, and Southwest. The first three, along with their regional partners, control two-thirds of domestic air travel.
--More than 100,000 pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, ticket agents, cargo handlers, and other airline workers who lost their jobs since 2001.
--The number of people on the payroll of the legacy airlines dropped 26 percent between 1998 and 2006.
--DOT Data for US Airways, United, Delta, American and Northwest show labor costs falling by nearly a third, on average, between the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2006.
--According to the U.S. DOT, 2008 total baggage-fee charges by U.S Airlines came to more than $1.1 billion—a figure that is expected to triple by 2010.
--In 2007, more than a quarter of all flights were delayed, accounting for 112 million lost passenger hours.
--More than 100 communities have lost air service over the past decade.