It’s rare that I get really, truly f*&^@$% angry at a loyalty program. Hilton had a more or less unprecedented devaluation of their HHonors program earlier in the year, though I still couldn’t really be mad at them. They made an extreme business decision, but at least they provided a bit of advance notice, and time will tell whether it was in their best interest or not.

But for the first time in a while I’m angry. Really, really angry. And the target of my anger is the Lifemiles program. AviancaTaca is a newcomer to Star Alliance, and their award program has looked promising, for reasons I outlined in this post.

However, last week they raised award prices in many markets without any advance notice. Not only did they not provide any advance notice, but they didn’t make any sort of an announcement either. And that wasn’t even the first time. Back in December of last year they devalued their award chart as well with no advance notice or announcement of any sort.

And now for a third time they’ve devalued their program with no advance notice or announcement whatsoever. Up until now you’ve only needed 40% of the miles for a redemption, while the remaining 60% of miles could be purchased for 1.275 cents each. Based on doing award searches on lifemiles.com, they’ve raised the cost of that.

For example, below is a business class award between Detroit and Frankfurt, which ordinarily costs 52,500 miles. Using the “flexible payment” option, previously you could have knocked off 31,000 miles for $395.25. However, now they’re charging $483.79 for the 31,000 miles, which is 1.56 cents per mile. So they’ve basically raised the cost from 1.275 cents to 1.56 cents per mile, which is a ~22% increase.

Look Lifemiles, I understand you’re new to Star Alliance and it’s natural for you to want to tweak the numbers so they work in your favor. I think we can all understand that. But you can’t — CAN’T — make devaluations without some advance notice, or at the very least without an announcement.

Sadly they don’t seem to have a Twitter account, but I’d highly recommend we all write on Lifemiles’ Facebook page to let them know this isn’t okay. I’d really appreciate if you guys could join me, regardless of whether you have Lifemiles or not. We’re all in this together in the miles and points game, and I think it’s important to let them know what they’re doing isn’t okay, if for no other reason than to prevent similar actions from other loyalty programs in the future.

(Tip of the hat to Canadian Kilometers)

Introduction
Aloft San Francisco Airport
Cathay Pacific Lounge San Francisco
Cathay Pacific First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to Singapore
St. Regis Singapore
Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge Singapore
SilkAir Business Class Singapore to Koh Samui
Conrad Koh Samui
Bangkok Airways Economy Class Koh Samui to Bangkok
Le Meridien Bangkok
Thai Airways Royal Silk Business Class Lounge Bangkok
Royal Jordanian Business Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

As I sit here and try to write this installment, I just can’t get any words out. It’s not that I don’t know what to say, it’s that I have so much to say and I don’t know where to begin. Truthfully this has been the most difficult trip report I’ve ever written, simply because with every installment I’ve had flashbacks of this flight in my head, and I feel like a total idiot about it. So let me give it a shot, at least…

Royal Jordanian 182
Bangkok (BKK) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Saturday, March 30
Depart: 3:25PM
Arrive: 7:00PM
Duration: 2hr35min
Aircraft: Airbus A330
Seat: 3H (Business Class)

I was kind of excited to try Royal Jordanian on this route. Bangkok to Hong Kong is one of those unique routes that’s operated by a bunch of carriers on a “fifth freedom” basis. Heck, Emirates, Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, and Royal Jordanian all operate this flight as a “tag.” So rather than flying Cathay Pacific on the route in their regional business class we decided to fly Royal Jordanian. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to sample them without flying them longhaul. It’s my goal to review as many airlines as possible, so I couldn’t not do it. Besides, I’d flown the three Middle Eastern giants — Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar — and was curious to see how Royal Jordanian compared.

Upon boarding through door 1L we were acknowledged by three flight attendants. They were all Jordanian men and wearing pinstriped button downs, which actually looked pretty sharp.

We quickly found our seats in row three. Royal Jordanian has angled flat seats in business class on their A330s and while they’re probably not the most comfortable in the world for longhaul flights, for a flight between Bangkok and Hong Kong they’re tough to beat. The design and colors of the seats were sufficiently neutral so that I neither loved nor hated them. The cabin consisted of 24 seats across four rows, each of which was in a 2-2-2 configuration.

Our seats in row three

Seats in row four

Legroom

At each seat was an unwrapped pillow and blanket.

Pillow and blanket Read More…

Chase announced today that starting June 1, 2013, the MileagePlus Explorer Card will no longer have a 3% foreign transaction fee.

Chase is very much an industry leader when it comes to foreign transaction fees, far ahead of American Express, Barclaycard, and Citi, all of which don’t waive foreign transaction fees on a majority of their “middle of the road” products. Chase, meanwhile, has no foreign transaction fees on many of their cards, including the Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold/Plus, British Airways Visa, Hyatt Visa, Marriott Visa, Priority Club Visa, and more. So if anything the Explorer Card was an outlier for Chase by having foreign transaction fees.

The card has some good benefits though still isn’t the best all around for spend abroad, in my opinion. The Chase Sapphire Preferred still gets you double points on dining and travel, and I don’t know about you guys, but when I’m abroad that encompasses about 90% of my spend, between hotels, flights, train tickets, food, and other transportation.

For a long time American has had a generous unpublished policy whereby you get a “soft landing” of elite status if you don’t requalify for status. Through these soft landings you could never drop more than one elite tier per year. In other words, if you’re Executive Platinum and don’t do any flying, you’d still be Platinum the following year, and then Gold the year after that.

Per this FlyerTalk thread, it appears as if American has sent out an email to those that benefited from a soft landing last year:

Can you believe we’re almost halfway through 2013? Hopefully you’re on track to achieve your goal of elite status qualification for 2014. To check how many elite qualifying points, miles and segments you’ve earned thus far, simply log in to your account.

Previously, based on your prior year status, you benefited from an exception to receive a higher level of elite status than you actually earned. Next year, regardless of your current status, your elite status for the next membership year will be based on your elite qualifying activity in 2013.

We invite you to achieve the highest level you can to earn the greatest benefits. You can also find details about qualifying for elite status here.

Can’t say I’m surprised, especially with the upcoming merger where they’re probably trying to avoid swelling elite ranks too much. It’s nice of them to at least send out an email in advance saying that this unofficial policy won’t apply in the future, rather than making it a surprise at the end of the year when it’s too late for people to still qualify.

Introduction
Aloft San Francisco Airport
Cathay Pacific Lounge San Francisco
Cathay Pacific First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to Singapore
St. Regis Singapore
Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge Singapore
SilkAir Business Class Singapore to Koh Samui
Conrad Koh Samui
Bangkok Airways Economy Class Koh Samui to Bangkok
Le Meridien Bangkok
Thai Airways Royal Silk Business Class Lounge Bangkok
Royal Jordanian Business Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

We got to the airport shortly before 2PM for our 3:25PM departure.

Airport exterior

While the Bangkok Airport terminal feels sterile and bland, it’s impressive and airy nonetheless.

Check-in area

Check-in area

We quickly found Royal Jordanian check-in, which was located in row “Q.”

Royal Jordanian check-in Read More…