I’ve added the United Airlines MileagePlus Club credit card from Chase to my page dedicated to mile and point earning credit cards. While this card doesn’t offer bonus miles for signing up like the MileagePlus Explorer card does, there are many other benefits that are equally appealing depending on your travel habits. Among them:

• Annual United Club membership (up to a $475 value): As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you and your eligible travel companion have unlimited access to more than 50 United Club locations, as well as access to participating Star Alliance^® affiliated lounges around the globe.
• Premier Access travel services: Save time at the airport with priority check-in, security (where available), boarding and baggage handling benefits.
• Check your first and second bag for free: You and a companion can each check your first and second standard bag for free on United flights when you pay for your tickets with the Card (a savings of up to $240 round trip).
  
• Earn 1.5 award miles per $1 spent; 2 award miles per $1 spent on United purchases.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as you’re a cardmemeber: You keep them until you use them.
• You won’t pay close-in booking fees on award tickets: As a MileagePlus Club Card member, you can book United award tickets for close-in dates without having to pay an additional booking fee.
• Use miles for any seat, any time, on any United flight:  There are no restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale, they can be redeemed at the MileagePlus Standard Award level – a benefit reserved for Card members and MileagePlus Premier members.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Receive special treatment with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Avis: Accept the invitation to join an exclusive Avis^® program and also enjoy automatic enrollment in the Platinum Level of Hyatt’s Gold Passport^®.
• Enjoy Luxury Collection Hotel & Resort privileges:  Stay in style with room upgrades, complimentary breakfast and other special Cardmember-only amenities at more than 700 of the finest hotels, resorts and spas in the United States and around the world.

The annual fee is $395, but they are currently offering a $95 statement credit after your first purchase. The current APR for this card is 15.24% variable.

As other bloggers have pointed out, this card has some core advantages over the United Explorer card (excluding the obvious United Club membership), including the elimination of foreign transaction fees, an extra 0.5 miles per dollar spent on regular purchases and allowing two checked bags for free instead of one.

For full pricing and other terms and conditions, click here.

I receive a small commission if you get approved for a card by using the links in this post. I remain grateful for any who do and I only dedicate posts to cards I feel have value. Additional travel credit cards can be found here.

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Introduction and Itinerary

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 534 Business Class LAX-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Swiss & Oasis Lounges JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 25 Business Class JFK-FRA

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA (B42)

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: SQ 26 Business Class FRA-JFK

Singapore Airlines Trip Report: UA 535 Business Class JFK-LAX & Conclusion

In September last year, Singapore Airlines announced they’d be switching out the daily 747-400 service on the JFK-FRA-SIN run to an Airbus A380. Up to that point, Singapore had blocked their premium cabins on the A380 from Star Alliance award redemptions, so as soon as I heard the announcement, I started scouring for business class award space.

The hope was that the SQ revenue management folks hadn’t been as quick to shut down availability as the airline was to announce the aircraft swap. Success! What I saw available using the ANA Award Tool matched up with what United saw, so I made a roundtrip booking.

(Side note: There are reports now that business class award availability shows with some regularity on SQ’s A380s.)

I really wanted to fly the entire route to Singapore, but given my own calendar restrictions at the time, I was only able to book the JFK-FRA-JFK portion, with flights on United LAX-JFK-LAX. I wasn’t complaining, though. Not only would this be my first Singapore Airlines flight, it would be my first ride on an A380.

United only had coach award availability on the premium service (p.s.) flights between Los Angeles and New York and given there used to be issues with waitlisted segments being sent to another airline on the same PNR – often causing the OA segments to cancel – the agent simply booked me in coach. To avoid checking daily for business class space myself, I created an ExpertFlyer flight alert to notify me when a seat opened and crossed my fingers. I would hate to start a premium experience in a non-premium way, not to mention “wasting” the miles.

I had my reservation booked and ticketed on September 26, 2011. Between then and the flight date, a number of schedule changes came through, business award space opened up on the United flights (yay!) and the very scary systems migration from Apollo to Shares happened on March 3^rd. My final itinerary ended up being as follows:

4/21/12 – UA 534 LAX-JFK 8:06am – 4:34pm: Business Class Seat 9A

4/21/12 – SQ 25 JFK-FRA 8:35pm – 10:45am+1: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – SQ 26 FRA-JFK 8:30am – 11:00am: Business Class Seat 14A

4/23/12 – UA 535 JFK-LAX 5:55pm – 9:28pm: Business Class Seat 9D

Total Cost: 100,000 miles + $135.20 in taxes

While I know many find such a short trip ridiculous, my goal was simply to ride the A380 and as I mentioned, my calendar at the time wasn’t open to book a longer adventure.

I called United back the day after booking the trip to get SQ’s specific record locator for the reservation and then called Singapore directly to confirm all looked good on their end, as well as get seat assignments. I wanted to be in the mini business cabin ahead of the first door on the upper deck, so was happy to get 14A in the third row (far enough from the lavs and galley). Later, I went on Singapore’s website and placed my “Book the Cook” order.

Stay tuned for the next installment reviewing my United p.s. flight from Los Angeles to JFK.

Success! I finally received resolution on my previously blogged about issue redeeming a $200 United Airlines customer appreciation e-certificate. Here are the links to round one and round two and a short recap:

• The e-certificate wasn’t recognized when I tried making a booking online.
• On my first call to reservations, the agent had me build a PNR online, she supposedly documented it, extended the ticketing time limit and asked me to use the united.com/feedback web page to ask customer relations to research the cert.
• After not hearing anything for several days, I called back. The PNR vanished.
• The new agent (web support) built a new reservation and after an hour trying to get the cert to work with her supervisor, came back and said they’d ticket the full fare, then refund my credit card $200.
• The fare was charged, but no refund ever showed up.
• The next 45-minute call revealed there was no documentation in my reservation about the cert or promised refund.
• I forwarded the original e-cert email I received from United to this agent’s supervisor who spent time researching, but eventually came back to say, “give us a few days to research further with customer relations.”
• The agent mentioned she’d monitor my PNR and would follow up with me the following Monday or Tuesday.

Tuesday passed without hearing anything, so instead of starting from scratch with a new agent by calling – and likely getting another run around – I shot off an email to the supervisor who I previously forwarded the e-cert to in round two. I basically said that I still hadn’t heard back with appropriate resolution and that I expect to get a reply given the multiple failed attempts. I was not going to give up.

A full week went by before I received a response back, which was, “I have talked to two different people in Customer Care and they promise me they will give me an answer in the next couple of days. I appreciate your patience.” (Sigh)

Well… they finally came through. On Thursday, I received an email from Customer Care with not only a new $200 e-cert valid for the next year, but also a note saying they are crediting 20,000 bonus miles to my MileagePlus account. Nope, that’s not a typo… 20,000. And they posted to my account on Friday.

While I lost a few hours of my time and got a ridiculous run around, I’m happy with the resolution and glad I didn’t give up.

It’s time for another Vintage Airline Seat Map and I’ve selected a “guppy” seen flying the skies in 1987.

Formerly a People Express aircraft, Continental Airlines flew the Boeing 737-100 appearing below in an all coach class configuration seating 118 passengers.

I flew on a bunch of -200s in my early years of flying and did occasionally sit towards the rear of the aircraft because I liked to watch the engine “come apart” after landing when reverse thrust kicked in. The -100 had the same engine configuration.

Seat 2A looks to be the best window seat on this aircraft, so you might also find me there.

Where would you sit?

As widely blogged and reported, United Airlines has a new promotion out there today offering up to 25,000 bonus MileagePlus miles after completion of a defined number of roundtrip flights from now through 7/15/12. Based on what I’ve read from others, it definitely appears targeted and the required number of trips varies.

I saw a slew of tweets and blog posts from those who had already received an email from United about it before mine arrived in my inbox at 3:15pm PST. I must be on the delayed distribution list, though I guess I shouldn’t care given how a twitter friend got “shafted” (more on that in a bit).

Here was my offer received via email:

I clicked through and successfully registered getting the confirmation as follows:

(Side note: Does everyone take a screen capture or save a PDF of each successful promotion registration? I do. It might pay off if something goes awry with mileage crediting after the promo ends.)

The fine print reads, “To qualify, register for the offer before travel, then purchase and complete paid qualifying roundtrips to any destination worldwide on United– or United Express®–operated flights.” The bolding emphasis was mine. I don’t like the way they worded it, as it might be open to interpretation. Meaning… do you have to register before you purchase or just before travel? I would have written that sentence a bit differently.

Further fine print reveals the ticketing period is 4/15/12 – 7/15/12 and the travel period matches, excluding trips taken between 7/3/12 – 7/5/12.

Now… one twitter follower mentioned his offer was for 5,000 miles after 7 roundtrips, 10,000 miles after 8 and 25,000 miles after 9 roundtrips. He’s a Premier Gold and flew about half the amount of miles I did last year. To me, it would make more sense for United to offer lower-tier members the offer I received and force me to fly even more to qualify.

If you have not received an email and want to give registration a go, click here.

Did you receive a different offer?

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but in case you haven’t heard about the newest United Airlines promotion, here it is.

Until midnight tonight Central time, there’s a 40% savings in purchased MileagePlus miles on United’s website.

If you’re close to an award, I say absolutely go for it. Anywhere from 2,000 miles for $45.15 up to 100,000 for $2,257.50 can be purchased. As a bench marker, a round-trip “saver” business class (or BusinessFirst on two-cabin aircraft) award to Europe from the United States mainland, Alaska or Canada is 100,000 miles. That’s generally a better value than some of the current business class sale fares out there.

I’ve purchased miles at a higher rate-per-mile when I’ve “needed” them, actually… so again, if you’re close to an award, today is the day to buy miles on United.

Full terms, conditions and the link to buy miles is here.

I’m freshly back from my first ride on an A380 and had a great time – trip report is forthcoming. My quick weekend adventure began with a flight on United’s premium service from Los Angeles to JFK and as I’ve been doing since taking big international trips, I film my journey from start to end and publish a video trip report on my YouTube page.

I’ve been on oodles of United Airlines “p.s.” flights during the past several years and have taken many pics before of the seat, cabin, service items, etc. This was the first time, though, that I actually filmed while boarding the cabin and it, again, was to document my journey as there are a huge amount of aerophiles out there who enjoy watching such videos. The best of which, in my opinion, are from sfflyer123, also a frequent United flyer.

I was particularly careful not to capture crew as I know filming them is prohibited and I also do my best inside the cabin to ensure the faces of fellow passengers aren’t captured – I really wouldn’t want my own appearing in some random person’s video blog.

I had exit row seat 9A on my LAX-JFK flight and was among the first to board. I filmed my approach to the seat and panned around a bit revealing the ridiculous amount of legroom the area provides. Since there was no one around in view, I got some great video, but knew there were people behind me noticing my actions.

Throughout the flight I took more video and pics of the menu and food, out the window, the view forward to the next seat, etc. While I do always feel a bit weird about it and I know the guy next to me at the minimum noticed, I think it’s pretty obvious I’m just a geek and enjoy capturing my journey.

The flight was fantastic and I had a great and friendly crew serving business class, even chatting briefly with one of the flight attendants as I waited for the lavatory at the front of the cabin.

Although I’m not someone who likes to strike up a conversation with my seatmate, we did share a couple of brief sentences that were friendly during the flight when it seemed appropriate without being antisocial.

Anyway, upon landing and parking at the gate, I grabbed my bags from the overhead and exchanged pleasant goodbyes with the crew and headed out the jetway. I generally walk with “purpose” and I was particularly keen to get to Terminal 4 to maximize my time in the lounges there, so made a beeline for the nearby escalator to the departures level to catch the AirTrain.

About halfway there, I noticed a gentleman to my left catching up and starting to say something directly at me. Not hearing him, I keep walking but turned to him and said, “Pardon?” He says something to the effect of “I need to ask you a few questions. I’m a Federal Air Marshal.”

He continues, “A passenger noticed you were filming in the exit row and I need to speak to you about that. Can we step to the side?” By this point another man approaches and explains they’re both Federal Air Marshals and he presents his ID. I stopped, obviously.

After looking at the ID, I figured it was legit and they both very politely explained again that someone noticed me filming in the exit row and they needed to know why. I immediately explained that I’m a travel blogger and that I review airline service for my own website and CNBC.com and provided them with my ID and business card upon request.

They were both incredibly friendly and non-aggressive and one asked to see a couple of the videos I took. I replayed some of them and they took a note of my ID and asked where I was headed. They briefly conferred with each other in front of me acknowledging that I’m not a threat and then thanked me for my time and were on their way.

I’m not sure where the FAMs were seated, but it must have been behind me since I wasn’t approached until halfway through the terminal. They didn’t ask me to delete my videos, for which I was thankful, so my shots will happily appear in my upcoming video trip report.

It was an interesting experience, but it did get me to pause and remember that some flyers aren’t enthusiasts and probably do get freaked out if they see something unusual like filming in the cabin. The “If you see something, say something…” mantra nowadays worked on my flight, it seems.

Any other “avgeeks” out there have a similar experience?

It’s time for another Vintage Airline Seat Map and I’ve selected an unusual one this week. World Airways – I know… they mislabeled it World Airlines – primarily flew (and currently flies) members of the military to war zones the world over along with other contracted business.

If Wikipedia is correct, they currently operate a couple of different configurations of the MD-11, the successor to the DC-10 – some with “premium” seating unlike the all coach 354-seater Douglas bird below.

It’s interesting that this seat map denotes row nine as having the most legroom. Perhaps it did, but if I were flying on this airplane, you’d find me in one of the exit row aisles or maybe seat 3D or 3G. I’d have to imagine the pitch was pretty tight. Also notice the bank of seven lavs in the back… whoa!

Where would you sit?

As I’m sure many of you did, I received an email from American today offering up to 20,000 bonus AAdvantage miles for flying Qantas-operated flights to Australia. Flights booked as American Airlines codeshares apply.

Registration is required using offer code QF20K at this link and the travel period is from April 19 through June 30, 2012. Sadly, tickets purchased prior to today’s announcement for travel during the promo period are excluded from this offer. Bonus miles accrued for roundtrip travel are as follows:

Economy fare buckets N and Q are excluded from this promotion.

Not too long ago, Delta Air Lines introduced a new amenity kit for Business Elite passengers and I’ve selected the new version for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. I also reviewed the previous red cylindrical offering. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please refer to my introductory post.

Bag/Container: This beige canvas zipper bag is a major upgrade from their previous version. It’s very well manufactured, the zipper operates smoothly and I love the detachable “snap on” handle. Leather (or leather-like) trim surrounds opposing sides and a small patch with the Delta – and SkyTeam – logo is sewn into one edge. Reusability is high in my opinion as its size and flexibility are ideal for a travel case. For a hybrid Business-First bag, this one is pretty darn good. Score: 6

Skin Care: Delta again chose Greek company Korres as their partner to supply skin care products in the kit, as well as the lavatories. The full retail-sized lip balm is effective and has a subtle Shea butter flavor. I’ve been a fan of pomegranate scented skin care products since United introduced Murad-branded items in their premium cabin lavatories, but the moisturizing cream from Korres sort of lacks a similarly appealing scent. It does, however, apply smoothly and absorbs fairly quickly. An antiseptic wet wipe infused with Aloe Vera and a lemony-citrus scent is also included. Score: 4

Oral Care: A medium-bristled mini toothbrush is enclosed in plastic along with a small tube of Colgate toothpaste and a DenTek fresh mint floss pick. If you’ve been reading my amenity kit reviews, you know that I wish more airlines would include mint-flavored toothpaste, but I’m slowly getting over it. I’d be less picky about it if mints or mouthwash were included and whereas the previous Delta kit included mints, this one does not. Ah well, Delta still gets an adequate rating here. Score: 4

Comfort Items: It’s hard to really come up with an “exceptional” sock, but I have to give Delta some props for theirs. The bottoms have little foam gripper thingies that I think are pretty cool. The eyeshades are an upgrade from the last kit and feature a Velcro strap to adjust the tightness to your liking. Also upgraded are the earplugs, which are larger than the last ones and very soft. A shoehorn and Delta-branded shoe polisher are also included. Score: 5

Intangibles: The kit is well stocked and provides just a little extra bit of luxury you expect when flying internationally in a premium cabin. Delta’s branding is subtle, yet welcoming and airlines that add a full-size pen get an extra hat tip in my book. For a hybrid Business-First product, Delta did very well. Oh, and there’s a “romance card” included from Korres offering a 20% discount on their in-store and online products. Score: 6

Total score & comments:

The last kit scored 3.95 and while 4.75 might not seem like much of an upgrade, it really does rank exceptionally better. Some of the items I was critical of in the last review – the earplugs, toothpaste tube size and moisturizing cream – were all improved. The pen, too, is better, if you can believe it. Nicely done, Delta, and manufacturer Wessco.