I hate change. This week, two of my favorite airfare searching tools either went away or previous versions were disabled. I’m of course referring to the trusty FareCompare Flyertalk page being taken down and ITA Software’s Classic “Matrix 1” being totally removed. I feel sort of naked without them.

The FareCompare site was bar none the easiest and fastest way to find which markets had the cheapest fares from your origin city or region. The tabled list provided a quick snapshot of city pairs, (nearly) all-in fares and although often inaccurate, a cost per mile column. It was particularly useful to quickly see which markets had truly lowball fares ideal for mileage runs.

It’s still listed as a tool on the website, but with a “coming soon” disclaimer. Flyertalk user “gbryan84” received an email from FareCompare’s CEO Rick Seaney stating, “… we are in the midst of a massive rollout of new backend software to comply with new DOT regulations in January. Getting the FT app back up is on the list, but I don’t have an exact time yet.”

They left another feature active that displays fares from an origin on a global map called the Where-To-Go: Getaway Map that can be found here.

It, then, is probably the next best thing at the moment to not-so-quickly see what fares are out there in the markets presently. Kayak has a similar Explore map tool and it, too, requires manual manipulation of the map to view the fares and further details.

I found a potential mileage run fare for Los Angeles to Columbus on both the FareCompare and Kayak map, so made note of it and checked out the routing rules on ExpertFlyer.

Kayak Explore map

FareCompare Getaway map

United Airlines has pretty generous routing rules on their fare in the LAX-CMH market, so I went to ITA Software’s Matrix to check out availability. I’ve used the “new” tool previously and it does eventually get you to the same information, but it takes more click-throughs and I find it slower than the classic version. The routing I wanted was from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Washington Dulles to Columbus for a one-nighter and I plugged in the following:

A calendar appeared showing the fares available each day and the month of February looked to have plenty of availability for the cheapest fare. Once selecting a date, it will take you to a list of flights and their respective fares. Clicking through gets you the same detail as the classic version.

It’s not an efficient method to find mileage runs presently, but at least there’s still a way beyond just plugging in random markets to display available fares. This run, by the way, nets 6,838 EQMs (I can’t bring myself to call them Premier Qualifying Miles yet) at an all-in fare of $258.20, or 3.78 cpm.

My fingers are crossed the FareCompare tool comes back sooner rather than later. I know I’m not the only one truly missing it right now. Does anyone have other tools they’re using to find mileage runs?

[Coincidentally, Ben, too, wrote a similar post at the same time and his method uses ITA Software to find runs. Check out his method here.]

The 2011 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars concluded yesterday and it was an incredible weekend filled with an amazing amount of mileage and point tips that one could never process on their own. Airline miles I have pretty down pat, but I did learn a few great hotel point and credit card maximization techniques.

Yesterday started with the “Sponsors Workshop” where all the event hosts had their opportunity to present their featured products and/or websites. Here’s the great thing… unlike many sponsored events, the Chicago Seminar sponsors were people who we uber frequent travelers actually care about and therefore, none were a boring sales pitch as would be found elsewhere. First up was Chris of ExpertFlyer.

ExpertFlyer

I’m already a subscriber, but his presentation went into detail about specific functionality the site provides and I picked up a couple of tips. He also provided a 15% discount code for new memberships. Next up was Daraius of Million Mile Secrets. If you don’t already know about his website, he shows you how to get “Big travel with small money.” Fairly new to blogging, he has become my go-to source for current airline & hotel bonus opportunities, particularly with credit cards.

Million Mile Secrets

Next up was Cara with ITA Software and their incredibly helpful tool, Matrix Airfare Search. Once I find a great fare on FareCompare, the ‘Matrix’ is my next stop and is by far the most dependable and accurate search engine of its kind.

ITA Software

After Cara, Brian from The Points Guy provided an overview of his two websites, which are a must read if you’re wanting to rack up some serious miles and points. He then proceeded to give out some amazing prizes to raffle winners.

The Points Guy

Then it was time for the BIG raffle drawings. All proceeds went to charities and I was surprised to win four 50% off rack-rate Starwood Preferred Guest certificates, each offering the discount for up to five consecutive nights at any participating hotel. I donated all of my United and Continental drink certificates earlier in the day and was hoping they’d just pass them out to people who wanted them (as they did the previous day) and didn’t expect it to be a part of the raffle, but… one guy won my whole lot!

Raffle 1

Raffle 2

Then it was time for either a discussion with ‘The Pudding Guy’ and ‘Mr. Pickles’ (two legends in our mileage & point field) or moderated breakout sessions on specific airline and hotel programs. I went with the latter as the 10-million mile man of United Airlines, Tom Stuker, moderated the United session. I went to his milestone event in Chicago earlier this year, so was eager to hear what he had to say. No worries, Tom, I haven’t posted anything you said on this blog. And yes, United, he loves you and said nothing to disparage you.

UA Tom Stuker 1

UA Tom Stuker 2

Lunchtime hit and I went for a drive. I grew up in Chicagoland and drove past the old United headquarters on Algonquin Road in Elk Grove Village. I interned there in 1993 in Flight Dispatch (EXODD) and also worked there full-time in 1998 in Inventory Management (WHQIM). HQ has moved downtown since my days there, but the lot remains and is up for sale. Not pictured are two more buildings on the expansive land that housed Flight Dispatch (a four-story building) and the Flight Attendant training center and “hotel” (which I believe is still owned by United and active today).

United old HQ2

United old HQ1

Then it was back to listen into the one and only Randy Petersen, who founded Flyertalk, MilePoint, InsideFlyer and is basically the “god” of all things miles and points. Randy went into how he got started, the evolution of Flyertalk and provided his thoughts on how airline frequent flyer programs might change in the future.

Randy Petersen

The final presentation of the weekend was by Steve, aka ‘beaubo’ on Flyertalk and elsewhere, and he presented a uniquely different approach to why mileage running and gaining elite status might not be the best way to go. It was incredibly thought provoking and might become our future. Airlines are currently more heavily driven to incentivize higher-fare paying customers and the way we currently achieve both elite status and redeemable mileage will definitely change in the near future.

Steve aka 'beaubo'

I consider myself an “expert” at what I do. Yes, I have the mileage running game down and I qualify for elite levels in hotel loyalty programs, but I was blown away with the knowledge imparted this weekend. I said it in yesterday’s post and I’ll say it again… if you’re on the fence about coming to an event like this: Do it! You won’t regret it and the information you receive, as well as the all-important human connections you’ll make, far exceeds the cost of travel and admittance fee.

[Be sure to check out the preceding day here!]

If there’s only one day you can attend a future Frequent Flyer Seminar series, it’s definitely the Saturday session. Yesterday was packed at the 2011 Chicago Seminars and featured an incredible amount of concurrent discussions on all things airlines, credit cards, hotels, miles and points. When booking your ticket for the event you select your choice of same-timed discussions most appealing to you, but as today revealed, it can be a tough choice and people often overflowed into another room. This, then, becomes reason #1 why going one year isn’t enough.

First up yesterday was the introduction by Rick, the Frugal Travel Guy and Rookie Bootcamp with Dave, aka “bikeguy” on Flyertalk. Rick went over some housekeeping items and acknowledged the sponsors, host hotel and everyone who volunteered to help out at the event. Dave’s talk definitely went beyond just the “rookie” level and included the topics of:

• Blog resources
• Mileage running
• How to get airline, hotel & car rental status (and their importance)
• Airline alliances
• Mistake fares
• The value of a mile or point
• Delta’s new 72-hour award booking rule
• Website resources for frequent flyers

Rookie Bootcamp w/Dave

Want details? You’ll have to book a ticket for next year, as the items discussed are often proprietary to we frequent flyers and are meant to only be shared at these types of events – Reason #2 why coming to this event is so important. Next up was Award Bookings with Gary Leff, author of View From The Wing on BoardingArea.com. He has a “PhD” in award travel and imparted an incredible array of helpful information including:

• What’s possible with points and miles
• Easy premium cabin award availability markets
• Best value awards
• How to make the best use of Delta’s “SkyPesos”
• How to prepare for calling an airline reservations agent
• How to find award seats that CSRs say don’t exist
• Helpful websites for searching & planning award travel
• Talking yourself out of change fees

Award Bookings w/Gary

All throughout the event yesterday, you had the opportunity to mingle with fellow enthusiasts to gain even more insight and experience from pros who know how to maximize their mile & point accounts. Lunch was another one of those opportunities, whether standing in line or sitting at one of the many tables talking to each other. Hence, Reason #3 why you should attend this event!

Lunch line

Be sure to watch ABC Nightline mid-November as a camera crew was on-hand interviewing people, filming some of the seminars and following us around taping some casual conversations. The air date is unclear at this point, but likely before Thanksgiving.

ABC Nightline

After lunch, Ben/Lucky who authors One Mile at a Time on BoardingArea gave several consecutive lectures imparting a dizzying array of knowledge. Second up (as I missed his Hyatt & Priority Club talk) was his discussion about the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. He went over:

• Elite tiers
• How to get upgrades
• What’s a Starwood point worth?
• The power of Twitter during service failures
• Ways to get unpublished discounts

Starwood Preferred Guest w/Ben

After Ben, United Airlines Captain Denny Flannigan took the floor and revealed his unique, heartfelt and sincere approach to how he manages both his job as a Boeing 757/767 pilot, and his approach to customer service. Honestly, his talk was the highlight of my day. I could (and will) write a unique post about him as what he does for both United employees and customers is so above & beyond what you would expect, it literally choked me up and gave me goose bumps – Reason #4 why you should come next year.

United Captain Denny

Ben ended up moderating at least four of the sessions yesterday and he is by far the most astute, contentious and indefatigable 21-year old expert public speaker that I’ve ever met – Reason #5 why this event is not to miss. His passion for our “hobby” has allowed him to do what he does full-time and it shows during his presentations. He hosted the next two seminars covering Mileage Runs and fielded a dizzying array of questions from the audience, all of which were answered not only correctly, but with personal insight from his travel experiences. He went into:

• Which airlines to select
• How the game has changed
• Tools for constructing mileage runs
• Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to book one
• Fare basis codes
• Website tools that aid in finding mileage runs
• How to maximize your opportunities for a bump (volunteering your seat)
• Routing rules
• Fare rules
• Domestic vs. international mileage runs
• A Q&A session that could have gone on for days

Mileage Runs w/Ben

At the same time as Ben’s Mileage Run discussion, Brian, The Points Guy, was giving an equally informative talk on airline & hotel Credit Cards, bonuses, and churning:

Credit Cards w/Brian

After the last seminar, there were social gatherings to attend and a Halloween party from 8:30pm to 10:30pm, but I unfortunately had other commitments and instead met up with old friends having grown up in Chicagoland. I’m sure it was an incredible time at the host hotel.

Today brings another round of seminars including a Sponsors Workshop, moderated breakout sessions on the various airline and hotel programs, discussions with “Pudding Guy” and “Mr. Pickles,” two legends in the mileage earning game, and Cherry Picking with “Beaubo” and BoardingArea’s founder Randy Petersen. I hope to post today’s summary tomorrow and I’m certain this will bring reason #6.

In the meantime… if you’ve been on the fence about whether or not to attend this event: Do It! If you’re not local, no worries. The sheer knowledge you gain from attending will more than pay for any expenses required to get here. I’m not certain if it will be in Chicago again next year, but I’d suggest monitoring the threads on Flyertalk and MilePoint for details on next year’s event (but look for the 2012 listings, not those links I provided). You won’t be disappointed.

[Be sure to check out the next day here]

The 2011 Frequent Flyer Chicago Seminars are already off to a great start and I just finished the “Tech Travel Skills” session hosted by Flyertalk’s Dlouise37 (Cliff). He went over some great tools & tips to help you get the most out of your online experience when searching for the best travel deals.

Topics covered in his discussion included screenshots, keyboard shortcuts, browsing capabilities, bookmarking, security and a lot more. There was also an alternate session available, “Maximizing Delta with FTI & FFI.”

If tonight is any indication, this event promises to be jam-packed with great information and a fantastic opportunity to meet new friends. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s full day.

Sponsors area (will be packed tomorrow!)

It has been a busy week for me, but I finally uploaded the additional videos and pictures I took at Tom Stuker’s 10 million mile celebration with United Airlines a week ago. Featured in this video are Randy Peterson, founder of BoardingArea, Flyertalk, MilePoint and countless other frequent flyer essentials, and Francis Gallagher, Publisher & CEO of Global Traveler Magazine who both honored Tom with special recognition. Randy offered Tom a seat on the Star MegaDo 3, and Francis gave him a lifetime subscription to Global Traveler magazine. Enjoy!

In this post, I will shed some light on how airlines assign fare basis codes to the various “buckets” of inventory available for sale on any given flight. If you’ve ever wondered what pricing “buckets” are, or just what your fare showing as WAGT14GS means, read on. My recent Mileage Run 101 posts (Part 1 and Part 2) got me to thinking about demystifying these rather unfriendly looking codes, and I draw upon my experience working in Inventory Management (IM) at United Airlines, as well as my personal fascination with codes and logic in general, for this tutorial. The middle “Fare Class” column below, as shown using the FlyerTalk tool of FareCompare, is what I’m referring to:

Image courtesy FareCompare

Since I’m most familiar with United’s fare basis structure, and some of the logic & sequencing hasn’t changed in decades for domestic fares, I’ll discuss those here. Keep in mind for now that other airlines have slight variations to their coding logic. To start, it’s important to first look at that leading letter of the “fare class.” The second line of the chart above shows a fare basis of GA14CS as the fare class for the $160 base price from Los Angeles to Nashville. G, then, is the “bucket” this fare falls into, a way the airlines categorize fares based on their yield potential. (That first fare to St. Thomas is out of scope for purely “domestic” fares, but I plan to decode international and other outliers in the future.)

There are presently almost two dozen revenue buckets at United, namely F & A (first class); J, C, D & Z (business class); and Y, B, E, M, U, H, Q, V, W, T, S, K, L & G (economy/coach class). Each represents a level of revenue contribution to the carrier, and all fare bases are not created equal. Basically meaning that you can’t arbitrarily assume the fare and/or yield of a ‘S’ fare, for example, carries the same weight across all routes.

Within each bucket, there exists a range of contribution levels depending on the origin & destination (O&D) of the ticket purchased. This simply means that a ‘S’ fare might generate a better yield to the airline if flown on a ticket purchased from Seattle to Chicago to Atlanta, versus a ‘S’ fare flown from just Chicago to Atlanta. Since the airline wants to maximize the higher earning buckets and overall yield, they may restrict S-class from being sold on that Chicago to Atlanta flight, but offer it on the Seattle to Chicago to Atlanta connection combination. For an excellent summary of this “married segment” concept, take a look at this current article by Ben Schlappig, an indefatigable mileage runner well beyond his years.

Now here’s where the airline yield management systems really come into play. Those systems, such as the one I worked with during my tenure in Inventory Management (IM) at United in the 1990s, optimize literally more than one hundred combinations of buckets across every O&D market to determine how many seats to allocate within each range and bucket. This process is constantly running in the background, but analysts in IM do go in to make adjustments, as I did for my assigned markets.

How to determine the amount of seats to authorize within each input area is highly proprietary, but the basics include using historical flight data, seasonality, market demand, and competitive considerations. So, the reason the lowest fares you’re searching for may already be sold out is because the airline thinks they’ll be able to sell those seats at a higher value & will assign them accordingly.

Okay, back to fare bases. Now that you know about buckets and why there are so many of them, let’s look again at the rest of the alphanumeric characters following that leading identifier. The second letter usually determines if it’s a one-way or roundtrip fare. Without exception, an ‘A’ domestic fare on United means it’s one-way, and an ‘E’ means roundtrip (excursion). Mileage runners like myself aim for those one-way fares since we know there aren’t any minimum stay requirements and can then turn right around and continue flying without a stopover. Using that L.A. to Nashville fare basis again (GA14CS), we know it’s a one-way fare since the second letter is an ‘A.’ Great, let’s move on.

Most of the time, the numbers contained within the sequence refer to the advance purchase requirement of the fare. Using the Nashville example again, GA14CS, the 14 here represents the advance purchase (AP) required to qualify for that fare. Pretty simple. However, there may be some other fare bases out there with more numbers.

For example, there was a fare out there yesterday from Los Angeles to Newark showing a fare basis of WEG143GS. We know it’s assigned to the W bucket, but what does the 143 mean? In this case by reading the fare rules (via ITA Software or ExpertFlyer), you’ll see the fare does have a 14-day AP, but also has a minimum stay requirement, generally requiring a three-night stay, hence the ‘3‘ attached directly to the end of ‘14.’ You can easily break out what might be the advance purchase by knowing the most frequent ones are 7, 14, and 21 days. I’ve also seen 0, 3 & 10-day APs out there, too, as of late.

The next letter in the Nashville fare (GA14CS), for example, is a C. Most of the time, but not always, it represents an internal pricing strategy the revenue management (RM) department wants to assign to the fare, and generally has no correlation to an element of the fare rule. But like I say, that’s not always the case, but I’ll come back to that after I shed some light on that last letter of ‘S.’

Also without exception and unchanged for years at United, if a ‘S’ or ‘N’ follows anywhere after the advance purchase & minimum stay numbers for a domestic fare, it means the fare is non-refundable. It is commonly the last character in the string, but may not be always, as in the case of the Los Angeles to Augusta fare of LA21N6K appearing in the list above. It’s my assumption that the -6K is also a unique RM identifier not correlating to a specific fare rule element.

So, we now know the GA14CS L.A. to Nashville fare is a one-way (‘A’), non refundable (‘S’) fare in the ‘G’ bucket requiring a 14-day advance purchase (14), while ignoring the ‘C‘ for our consumer-centric purposes. What about that WEG143GS fare from L.A. to Newark I mentioned above? We know it’s a roundtrip (‘E’), 14-day advance (14) fare with a minimum stay of 3 nights (3), is nonrefundable (‘S’) and the second ‘G’ is unimportant to us, but what about that first G?

Reading the fare rules, we know (via my IM experience) that ‘G‘ denotes the fare is valid only on nonstop flights. Sometimes United will use that same letter, or perhaps a two character combo, but I guarantee there is something specific in the fare rules that letter refers to. And it will always appear before the numeric portion of the fare basis. Another similar fare basis was out there yesterday from L.A. to New York (all airports) of WAG14GS. Again, this fare is valid on nonstop flights only as denoted by the G.

As you can see, there actually is logic to the rather cryptographic looking fare basis codes, and each airline has their own practice with which to assign codes. American has a totally different combo of letters and numbers, but with a little research into the rules, you’d be able to figure out a general sequencing as I’ve done above for United.

I actually have one more nuance to reveal. Assuming the fare stays live here for the next couple of days & the fare rules don’t change, I’m referring to the L.A. to Washington DC (all airports) fare basis of WAGT14GS with a base of $296. Anyone want to take a guess and decipher the ‘T’? Hint: The answer definitely lies within the fare rules, and it’s not simply a two character way of denoting the fare is valid on nonstops only. I’d enjoy it if one of my few readers commented with their answer, but if no one does, I’ll post the answer in a comment during the next couple of days.

Terrible news this morning, as I’ve just finished reading about the horrendous magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan, the corresponding tsunami & enormous loss of life. My sincerest thoughts are for the region and everyone impacted today.

The vast majority of flights (if not all) headed to Narita Airport outside Tokyo were diverted to other airports in Japan, or some, including United Airlines flight 881 from Chicago to Narita, landed in Anchorage, Alaska. One Flyertalker, was on flight 837 from San Francisco to Tokyo’s Narita Airport and has been posting information on this thread, as well as providing Twitter updates and images. His flight, along with several others, landed safely at Yokota Air Base (US) located just Northwest of Tokyo. Emergency rations (granola-type bars) and water were distributed to passengers while they awaited refueling, and eventually flights departed for other airports in Japan, such as Osaka and Nagoya.

Image courtesy: Yokota Air Base

As of this posting, some flights to Narita are on schedule today, although many are showing cancellations. After such a devastating earthquake, it is impressive that the airlines are attempting to get back to normal operations, in part, to enable people to travel to the region to render aid & be with family. Again, and most importantly, my deepest healing thoughts are with those affected.

Several articles caught my eye yesterday and this morning, so here’s a news roundup of the top stories hitting the blogosphere:

• No, Pan Am definitely isn’t returning to the skies as an airline, but ABC Television has ordered a pilot episode for a new show that will follow the fictional lives of flight attendants during the 1960s heyday of Pan Am. Depending on the cast (Christina Ricci is mentioned) and style of the show (sorta like Mad Men?), we’ll see how well it presents on the small screen, perhaps as soon as this Fall.
• American Airlines was fined $90,000 for failing to reveal upfront that a $30 airport ticketing fee would be deducted when redeeming voluntary denied boarding vouchers at the airport. Since the vouchers received for giving up your seat on an oversold flight can’t be redeemed online, you either mail them in or take them to an airport to get your tickets issued. Taking them in, then, effectively reduces the value of those bump vouchers by $30, so the DOT slapped American with the fine. They’ll only really pay $45,000, though, as half is “forgiven” if they don’t keep the practice in place. I wish speeding & parking violations carried the same half-off concept!
• Oil prices are skyrocketing again, bringing higher airfares, increased fuel surcharges, and one carrier is proposing “flexible” airfares that will change with the price of fuel. Allegiant Air told the US Department of Transportation that it is considering offering the option to book a cheaper ticket now, and then have the fuel surcharge (or rebate) applied the day before travel based on the going oil rates at that time. Read more about it here, including some well-thought out pros & cons in the comments. I wouldn’t buy a ticket with this feature… would you?
• The tulips are continuing to wilt over at United Airlines, and today they’ve rebranded the website with the new globe logo and font. Ben over at One Mile at a Time caught a pretty funny error on their initial release. United claimed to serve “all seven continents,” but it has been corrected as of this posting to read, “spanning six continents.” Antarctica would have been an interesting addition, I’d have to say! The website currently shows the new logo if viewed in Firefox, but Safari still shows the old tulip logo. Not sure about Internet Explorer.
• FlyerTalk has long been the premier site for frequent flyer enthusiasts, with forums and topics surrounding airlines, hotels, car rentals, travel news, and just about anything to do with mileage or point accrual loyalty programs in the travel industry. Its founder, Randy Petersen, sold FlyerTalk several years ago and now he’s launched MilePoint. It operates on the latest Facebook-like, aesthetically enhanced technology and looks to be much the same as FlyerTalk in terms of content and membership. I’ve joined and will keep an eye on things there, but FlyerTalk still has its strength in total numbers. [Edited to add:] Also, there is something to be said for a clean, avatar-free setting like FlyerTalk. Do you think it’s easier to read?

A mere hours after I posted my noteworthy news items for the week yesterday, two more even bigger announcements came down.

First, and absolutely most exciting for United flyers is the welcome news that Economy Plus will be a part of the NEW United Airlines. Many loyalists have been waiting for this decision, and had it gone the other way, some were ready to defect to American Airlines. Sighs of relief could be heard on the boards of Flyertalk and MilePoint (a NEW Flyertalk alternative).

Economy Plus is a section of coach seating in the forward part of the cabin featuring up to 5 inches of additional legroom. It is definitely not a “premium economy” product, but simply seats with sacred room to cross or stretch your legs. When United launched this offering, they simply removed a row of coach seats forward of the first overwing exit row and spaced them out as evenly as possible. It will take some time for all of Continental’s aircraft to be fully converted, and that process will begin in 2012. While it hasn’t been decided if they will remove a row of economy seating, or instead reduce their first class cabin capacities, I’ve illustrated on the left what Continental’s Boeing 757-200 looks like today, and on the right is possibly what the converted seat map will look like once Economy Plus is installed. Continental’s row numbering is as such to always have the overwing exit rows as 20 and 21, and they apparently don’t like the number 13.

Next up is the long-anticipated announcement of Virgin America’s entry into the Chicago market serving O’Hare Airport. I, selfishly, have been hoping for this for some time in an effort to find better fares in the LAX-ORD market; one I frequently fly. Presently launching with two flights per day from LAX and three from San Francisco, the service will begin on May 25, 2011. The introductory fare of $99 each way ($219.40 roundtrip all-in for those like me who prefer to see the total) is available through September 6^th. United and American have matched the fares outright, and that will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

Here’s a summary of some hot news items from this week covering airlines, airfares, airplanes and hotels.

• Delta Air Lines: Delta announced that retroactive to January 1, 2011, there is no longer an expiration policy to frequent flyer miles earned in the SkyMiles program. This makes Delta the first major carrier to offer such an olive branch to the infrequent traveler whose miles may sit inactive for extended periods of time. Continental’s OnePass program states that “miles currently have no expiry date,” but your account would be subject to cancellation if no activity occurred in 18 months (same thing in my book). Also announced at Delta is their Gold Medallion level (those who fly 50,000 miles and/or 60 segments annually) will receive SkyTeam Elite Plus status. This brings them in line with other carriers’ mid-level programs, and when flying internationally, provides lounge access, priority baggage handling and oversell protection options.
• Airfares: Ack! I’ve had a busy week and missed a pretty incredible airfare mistake on Delta. Several East Coast to Europe fares were available for between $150 to $250 roundtrip all-in! Insanely cheap pricing and even though I’m not a Delta flyer, how could you not book a trip that cheap? It was quickly discovered and within hours shut down, but many Flyertalkers cashed in. On the domestic side, though, I’ve seen some “decent” deals expanded through May now, and while not in the 3 cpm mileage running range, they’re pretty good deals to most major markets. Think Tuesday & Wednesday travel, though!
• 

  Image courtesy The Boeing Company

  Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental: Now the longest jetliner in the world, the newest generation of Boeing’s flagship was officially unveiled this week in Everett, Washington. Stretched an additional 18.3 feet from previous 747 models, it features an expanded upper-deck, redesigned wings, larger windows, reconfigured overhead bins, and many more enhancements. Sadly, orders for the passenger version are small, and currently Lufthansa has 20 on order, and Korean Air 5. She’s a sexy bird, in my opinion, and I’ll definitely be booking a ride when Lufthansa has them in service.

• Club Carlson: The Carlson group of hotels (Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, Park Inn, and Park Plaza) is getting a loyalty program overhaul. GoldPoints Plus is changing to Club Carlson beginning March 31, 2011. While the exact program hasn’t been announced publicly, Ric Garrido over at Loyalty Traveler provides a few headlines, namely a new top-tier Concierge level and some earning & redemption point-level changes. I’ve been planning on switching my loyalty to Hilton, and once the full program is announced, will likely make a unique posting and make my final decision then.