Gadling

One of my favorite complaints I love to rant about is uncomfortable chairs on most airlines.  Well, I guess I should shut up because now there’s talk of removing the chairs altogether.  Although it sounds like a punishment doled out to a child who complains too much (“If you don’t like your chair, than let’s see how you like it with no chair!) there is a chance this may become reality. 

According to a report in The New York Times, there are internal Airbus proposals floating around in which economy class flyers would actually be left standing in the back of the plane, strapped against padded boards at takeoff like Hannibal Lecter being transported between prisons.  The configuration would only be for short flights, which is great because the accompanying bathroom in this class of travel will be a small bucket passed between passengers.  Okay, just kidding about the bucket, but believe it or not, Airbus isn’t kidding about standing-room-only in economy. 

Arghhh.  Why is it that my frequent flyer account reminds me of my stock portfolio when the dot.coms busted?  Last Thursday I received an email from United Airlines “Announcing new benefits and changes to your Mileage Plus program.” 

Well, the benefits were merely lipstick for a very ugly pig: United is increasing the amount of miles necessary for award travel.  Starting in October, trips will cost an average of 20% more miles; this means that the value of my Mileage Plus portfolio, and yours, has just decreased by the same amount. 

I have a decent amount of miles in my account that will offset this increase, but the irony is that the only reason I still have these miles is because I can rarely cash them in.  I’ve only been able to get frequent flyer seats once in the last five years; all the other times I’ve tried, there were no seats available.  In fact, just last night I tried booking tickets to Europe.  Naturally there weren’t any frequent flier seats available so I was forced to purchase a British Air flight instead.  If this keeps up, my miles will be like Yugoslav dinars in the 1990s where you had to knock off the last six zeros to figure out the true value of a note. 

Columnist Joe Brancatelli is equally irate with United and has penned an informative rant on USAToday.com.  He walks us through some of the math and explains how United is screwing its most loyal customers with these changes.

Not too many people do the math.  They pay $60 a year for a credit card that earns airline miles, but take five years to earn the 25,000 miles necessary for a “free” trip.  If you ask me, that free ticket cost $300 plus the tax you will have to pay on the actual airline ticket.  And then of course there is the very high APR on any remaining balance you might carry over, and don’t forget about the dreaded blackout dates. 

Feel like you’re getting screwed?  Well, an informative article in the April edition of Budget Travel straightens out the fine print, identifies the hassles, and explains the benefits available from a variety of different reward oriented credits cards.  I didn’t know, for example, that the Capital One No Hassle Miles card can apply miles toward any airline but can’t be combined with miles you may have earned on prior flights.  Damn!

So take a moment to read up and see what your credit card is doing for you; hopefully you’ll still respect it in the morning.