Now that it’s almost July 1 and the industry has changed a bit, I thought it was time for a status match post.

Back in February I posted about status matching to NW, saying that it’s basically a “free” status match, since I doubt the new DL system would pick up on those that have status matched with NW in the past and disqualify them. Now that it’s almost July 1, you could still status match to NW and have status through Feb. of 2010. This is particularly tempting because for the time being it still means upgrades on both CO and NW, not to mention when the time comes status in the new airline.

Similarly, now that CO and UA have announced an alliance, status matches will likely no longer happen between the two carriers starting on the alliance date (which could still be a year from now). Considering that CO is the only legacy carrier to match to top tier (Platinum), it’s awfully tempting to do a status match. Matching after June 1 would give CO status through Feb. 2010 as well, and since they’ll be joining the Star Alliance, miles might actually be worth something with them. While their current award prices are a bit higher than UA, Platinum members do earn a 125% mileage bonus, so that makes up for it a bit.

While I don’t plan on leaving UA, I enjoy a little bit of variety once in a while, especially if I can get top tier. While I think Star Alliance is by far the best, I’ve done basically all of the Star carriers and would like to try out the international premium products of CO, Dl, and NW, as crazy as it might sound.

Decisions, decisions…. so is anyone planning any status matches as a result of the new situation, or is everyone sticking to their airlines?

Finally something good! Much like UA’s “Elite Choice Rewards” or AA’s new bonus program, you actually get something for flying over 75,000! The major difference is that there’s nothing for those doing less than top tier status travel like AA and UA, but it’s still great. Here’s what you get:

Earn 100,000 MQMs—enjoy 15,000 bonus miles.
Earn 125,000 MQMs—enjoy your reward above plus 20,000 bonus miles.
Earn 150,000 MQMs—enjoy your rewards above plus 25,000 bonus miles, or one year Crown Room Club® membership.
Earn 175,000 MQMs—enjoy your choice of rewards above plus 25,000 bonus miles, or other exclusive gifts.

So that’s up to 85,000 bonus miles for someone that does 175,000 MQM’s a year on DL, which I’m sure many do.

View from the Wing writes:

Now Delta has announced

we will add the following fuel surcharge to Award Tickets originating from the U.S. and Canada, effective August 15, 2008:

$25 for Award Travel between the 50 states and Canada
$50 for Award Travel between the 50 states/Canada and all international destinations
(They already have fuel surcharges ex-Europe.)

As my prediction suggests, I imagine others will eventually follow.

I know some might think I’m crazy for saying this, but I think this is a good thing. No, I hate to see new fees, but I’m relieved that it’s “only” a maximum of $50. Many (including me) have long been predicting award fuel surcharges for US carriers, and let me tell you, I’m damn relieved that it’s only $50!

Some may think $50 is a lot, but try redeeming with any non-US FFP. For example, a recent award from EWR-FRA-MLA-FRA-EWR cost $350 in fees, taxes, and surcharges, and that’s on the low side.

Now with Delta you’re still going to pay quite a bit for a partner award, since there’s a $50 fuel surcharge, $25  phone fee, and $25 bogus partner award fee, and that doesn’t even account for taxes, so you’re looking at paying $125-200 for an international award with Delta miles on a partner airline.

Does it suck? Yes. Could it be way worse? You betcha!

I think we’ll see other airlines follow, although I think they would have already instituted the other bogus fee (partner award fee), so I would expect it would just be a phone booking fee, fuel surcharge, and the taxes for other airlines, so you’re realistically looking more at $100-150 for an international award not involving LHR as a destination for any airline that follows DL’s lead.

So while fees suck, this is a bit of a relief, since I doubt anyone will outdo DL when it comes to this. Speaking of which, isn’t it a bit ironic that DL won’t charge for the first checked bag (which I gave them a lot of credit for, I think it’s great that they’re trying to differentiate their product and emerge as a premium airline), yet at the same time are the first to nickel and dime their most frequent travelers, usually the people that redeem miles often?

I’ve been following the Ritz Carlton three-part film series, and just noticed that the last one, “Heads or Tails,” has been released. This one’s pretty easy to understand and good, in my opinion. For those that haven’t seen the first two videos, I blogged about the first one here and the second one here.

I’m kind of sad that this is the end of these videos.:(

It looks like we finally know which routes will fall victim to UA’s latest round of cutbacks, especially the 747 reductions. Per this thread on FlyerTalk:

San Francisco – Taipei (eff 02SEP08, to be replaced by NRT-TPE again)
San Francisco – Nagoya (eff 25OCT08)
Los Angeles – Frankfurt (eff 25OCT08)
Los Angeles – Guatemala (eff 01SEP08)
Los Angeles – Hong Kong (eff 01SEP08, previously announced)
Denver – London (eff 25OCT08)

Other changes are:
Chicago – Tokyo, cancellation of UA883/884 from 02SEP08. UA881/882 will be 744
Chicago – Beijing from 25OCT08 777 replace 744
Washington – Rome from 25OCT08 767 replace 777 (Seems to be 777 last winter)
Washington – Beijing from 25OCT08 777 replace 744
San Francisco – Osaka from 25OCT08 744 replace 777
Los Angeles – Mexico City will be weekly service
Los Angeles – Tokyo from 01SEP08 744 replace 777

This is hardly surprising, but it’s somewhat ironic since UA was touting all of this international expansion, only to have many of the new routes axed. I’m sure it makes sense considering the industry right now, but it’s sad to see the 747′s and so many international flights going away.

This also makes me wonder whether UA will really follow through with Moscow and Dubai service. While they both have the potential to be very profitable for UA, I question whether UA wants to have the initial few months of low loads and yields in order to achieve what they want. Only time will tell, but this is sad indeed.