United Airlines abolishes minimums to mileage earning

by Grant Martin on

The day of airline corner cutting is upon us. United Airlines just announced that they reduced the minimum miles that you can earn on a flight to the actual flown distance. Let me explain:

Until now, most fares that you booked that were under 500 miles as the crow flies were automatically rounded up to earn 500 miles for each flight. The perk was created to award the poor saps who have to fly short distances frequently over the course of a year — for example, if you had to fly from Detroit to Chicago and back every week for work, its only about 250 miles one way or 500 round trip. Rounding up though, you would get 1000 miles/trip, meaning every 25 itineraries you would be able to redeem an award for a 25,000 mile ticket.

Similarly, if you’re connecting from Flint – Detroit – Chicago, you would get 500 + 500 miles.

But under these new rules, you would only earn miles as for the exact distance you flew. So on the first Detroit-Chicago itinerary you would get 250 miles one way and on the second route you would get 40 + 250. Cool huh?

United is the first legacy carrier to break rank and start scooping into its mileage program. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the carriers slowly fell, much as they all did with the extra bag policy.

Expect mileage accrual to change July 1. Between now and then you can check out United’s new policy here and weep at the loss of another great frequent flying perk.

Credit for the ironic picture of the day goes to Jason McHuff on Flickr.

United frequent flyers also get double elite miles

by Grant Martin on

The new big thing is double elite mile promotions, I guess. First Delta Airlines started a program last month awarding their frequent flyers double Medallion Miles. Then, American Airlines followed suit and launched their own. Now it looks like United has done the same thing.

Interesting observation: one airline from each major alliance is running the promotion — Delta = Skyteam, American = Oneworld and United = Star. Perhaps the airlines are trying to tell us that we need to concentrate our alliance flights on one carrier… one carrier that perhaps may absorb another in a soon to be merger? But I speculate, I speculate.

What I do know is that it’s got some of the mergee passengers miffed that their partner flyers are getting super elite status while they’re stuck earning regular ol’ elite miles. Northwest passengers, for example, will be only earning miles at the regular rate, but after the merger there will be an artificially high number of Delta elites. This means fewer chances for upgrades and perks for the now dilute elite ranks.

We’ll see how many travelers end up taking advantage of the offers anyway. Most people that I have told about the promotion have shrugged off the suggestion and moved on with their lives. Perhaps I get too worked up about this elites status business.

Check out the promo page here if you want to participate. You’ll earn double elite miles between now and June 15.

[Thanks to Amily for the link]

American Airlines passengers — get double elite miles through June 15!

by Grant Martin on

Perhaps in the wake of Delta Airlines offering double Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) to their passengers a couple of weeks back, American Airlines just launched their own double miles promotion.

Passengers who register for the promotion have between April 16th and June 15th to qualify for their extra miles, which don’t count for award travel, but do count for elite status. That means you only have to fly 12.5k, 25k and 50k miles to earn AAdvantage Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum status — a fantastic deal.

What’s the big deal with miles if you can’t use them for awards? There are myriad benefits to achieving elite status on any airline, from first class upgrades to priority check in and boarding to special customer service lines. If you invest any time in the skies, elite status is definitely worth the investment.

Check out American Airline’s guides to elite benefits here for further details on their programs.

To register for the promotion, go to American Airline’s promo page and use code AADER.

And my condolences to those of you elite AA members out there who already have status and who’s ranks are soon to be diluted with thousands of causal travelers. Now you know what life is like in the Delta/Northwest world.

How do I upgrade my airline ticket with miles?

by Grant Martin on

We had a question from a reader here at Gadling about upgrading a purchased ticket with miles into first class. Reader Ashley writes:

“My husband and I are blessed (cursed) enough to live in an area almost completely served by Northwest Airlines, and are trying to get a grasp on the requirements to upgrade an upcoming Europe trip to first class. We have enough miles to cover even the highest “cost” for upgrades according to the website (60,000), but are confused by the stipulations placed upon the “class” of ticket. It appears that, by selecting the box that allows you to upgrade, ticket prices more than TRIPLE!

Is this really the only way to upgrade? Is this one of those ploys that experienced travellers can find their way around?“

Unfortunately, Ashley, you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. But let’s back up real quick.

On most carriers, it’s possible to buy an economy class ticket with cash or miles then upgrade that ticket at a later date into business or first class. It can be an economical way to fly in first without having to pay the often-ridiculous prices for a full fare.

The trick is, however, that airlines require you to be booked into a certain fare class in order to upgrade your fare — that is, you can’t upgrade the 170$ budget ticket to London that you bought in the super discounted fare class. Airlines do this on purpose to make it difficult for you to spend your miles; after all, miles you don’t spend are dollars in their coffers.

In your case, Ashley, you need to book a Y or B fare class in order to upgrade your ticket with miles, the former of which is “full” while the latter is “slightly discounted” economy. And I’ll bet those prices are significantly more than a regular “deeply discounted” economy ticket.

One long shot that you can use to get around this is by tracking down a System Wide Upgrade. Super-elite members are given vouchers that allow them to upgrade any ticket to first class. If you can find one of those members and make him or her a deal, they might give away their voucher. But you have to fly at least 120,000 miles per year to get these vouchers so they may be sparse.

In that light, I’d recommend you use your 60k miles to buy one economy ticket for the pair of you and pay out of pocket for the other. If you’re proactive, you can book a bulkhead or exit row on an A330 giving you unlimited legroom and in-seat entertainment. Then, use the money you saved to get a nice hotel room in Europe when you get there where you can sleep away your jetlag and any recollection of your flight in coach.

Delta flyers: Get double elite miles through June 30

by Grant Martin on

You’re probably tired of me yammering on about elite status and how useful it is and how I wear my collar popped every time I go through airport security. I apologize. But there are a lot of benefits to keeping loyalty in an airline that you just don’t realize until you’ve reached greener pastures.

If you think that you can’t get to the minimum 25,000 mile threshold to reach status and you fly on Delta Airlines though, this could be your lucky break: the Atlanta-based airline just started a promotion giving passengers double Medallion Qualifying Miles for any flights booked before April 30 and flown before June 30. Those are miles that specifically count towards your exalted status.

This means that if you only need to travel 12.5k miles in order to achieve elite status, which is a pretty fantastic deal. Even if you’ve got only a few trips planned before June 30, these miles will give you that extra boost to hopefully get up to 25k by the end of the year.

Clarification before you register though: this is for double Medallion Qualifying Miles, not Skymiles. So you won’t technically earn more miles with which you can fly places, proper. You’ll earn more miles with which you can accrue status. Follow? Think of them as points towards a goal that you can use to fly places. Kind of silly, I know, but all airlines do it. It’s a crafty way to divide earned and status-gaining miles so that you get the least amount of benefit. I can get to that in a later post of you guys want.

Register on Delta’s promo website and make sure you have your frequent flyer number attached to your reservation before you travel — otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting your miles — and double miles — credited retroactively.