As posted by One Mile at a Time, US Airways have introduced a lifetime status benefit at 1 million miles on US Airways flights.  This is not a particularly good lifetime status benefit (see the updated all airline lifetime elite status summary to see why).  Even worse, the benefit is not truly a lifetime benefit in that US Airways will remove the status if you don’t maintain activity – currently this is defined as earning or redeeming miles within the past 3 years, but this definition could easily be changed in future.

No word on whether the lifetime status benefit comes with lifetime pyschiatric counselling to recover from flying 1 million miles on US Airways

Qantas has announced a raft of changes to their frequent flyer program which will become effective over a period of several months.

From 1 October 2010:

• GAIN Silver status requires 300 status credits to earn and 250 to requalify (down from 350 and 300 respectively).
• GAIN (temporary) Partner Gold status can be applied to anyone on reaching 2100 status credits (currently limited to partner residing at the same address).  Offer valid only until 3 May 2011 and cannot be combined with Platinum+ benefit (see next bullet point).
• GAIN (net) new Platinum+ benefit at 2400 status credits – a choice of Complimentary Gold (replaces current Partner Gold benefit), 3 complimentary Qantas valet parking or chaffeured transport invitations, or 50,000 bonus points.

From 1 December 2010:

• LOSS increase in award assistance and change fees (eg from 2500 to 3500 points)
• LOSS increase in points transfer fee
• LOSS removal of option to pay lost ticket replacement fee in points (cash fee is unchanged)
• GAIN reduction in replacement card fee (from A$25/2500 points to A$10/1000 points)

From 1 February 2011:

• LOSS Qantas Club members and Silver lose priority check in on domestic flights (benefit is retained for international).
• LOSS Platinum loses anytime lounge access, but can use lounges on arrival provided flying on Qantas, Jetstar, Jetstar Asia or Oneworld.

From 4 May 2011:

• GAIN Silver gets increased award availability for classic awards flying Qantas (an existing benefit for Gold and Platinum).
• LOSS 2nd increase in award assistance fee for international tickets (to 6000 points, currently 2500)
• LOSS increase in service fee, and these are added to any other applicable fees

From 1 June 2011 (travel date for tickets purchased on or after 1 December 2010):

• LOSS change in checked baggage allowance for domestic economy class from weight concept to piece concept (1 piece with maximum weight less than old limit).
• GAIN change in checked baggage allowance for domestic business class from weight concept to piece concept (2 pieces with maximum weight per piece).
• GAIN Qantas Club members, Silver, Gold, increase in checked baggage allowance for international business and first class (excluding travel via Americas)
• GAIN Platinum increase in checked baggage allowance for international all classes (excluding travel via Americas)

Overall changes are:

• negative for Bronze (no status)
• negative for Qantas Club
• mixed for Silver – lose some benefits and gain others
• negative for Gold (due to the higher fees)
• mixed for Platinum – lose some benefits and gain others
• small positive for Platinum+ even though the threshold is higher there are more options which helps those for whom the current Partner Gold benefit is worthless

Changes to the airline alliances continue with confirmation that Shanghai Airlines will leave Star Alliance at 31 October 2010. 

The alliance status of some of the Chinese airlines has been up in the air for a while due to the complicated and evolving cross-ownerships in each other – Shanghai is in the process of being merged with China Eastern, which earlier this year announced an intention to join Sky Team.  China Eastern is itself partly owned by both Cathay Pacific (Oneworld) and Air China (Star Alliance). So it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Shanghai Airlines would leave Star Alliance.

Travellers on Shanghai Airlines will now have a period of a year or two without alliance benefits but existing Star Alliance awards on Shanghai Airlines for travel after October will be honoured. Those flying on paid tickets on Shanghai Airlines from November will no longer be able to earn Star Alliance frequent flyer status miles.  Whether redeemable miles can continue to be earnt will depend on the frequent flyer program being credited to as some may continue to have Shanghai Airlines as a non-alliance partner and others may drop them.

With Aegean having joined Star Alliance just this week, there is now a super easy way to attain Star Alliance Gold status (ie the level with free lounge access and extra baggage allowances). 20,000 status miles for Aegean Miles & Bonus Gold status, which is Star Alliance Gold (4,000 for Blue status which is Star Alliance Silver).

Even easier, new members get 1,000 status miles (and 1,000 award miles) just for signing up!

The program is similar to Miles & More – 150% or 200% earning rates for business class, and 300% for first class. Flights on many (but not all) Star Alliance airlines also have minimum mileage earning.  Awards are a bit cheaper than Miles & More rates.  The program isn’t all good – international awards must be booked 14 days before departure.

Elite frequent flyers look for lounges operated by alliance airlines to maximise the benefits. Elite status passengers can be flying any alliance airline to gain admittance to the appropriate airline operated lounge subject to lounge access rules and access to the portion of the terminal, whereas contract lounges are only available to those flying the specific airline(s) which has contracted for access.

Despite flying to 700 destinations in 142 countries (as at December 2009), Oneworld has about 300 non-contract lounges in only 133 destinations. I’ve visited 63 of these lounges, in 19 different countries.

It is similar with Star Alliance – they have 1077 destinations in 175 countries (as at December 2009) but only 350 non-contract lounges in 165 destinations. I’ve visited 109 of these lounges, in 35 countries.

Despite the gaps (some of which do have contract lounges available to elite and premium passengers), the global coverage of airline lounges is rather good. This is invaluable to people who are always on the move, although I wish more lounges have my two “necessities” – showers and internet computers.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

There are a number of upcoming changes to the three main airline alliances, so I thought it would be useful to summarise. I’ve included known changes but excluded speculative future members – only those confirmed by the alliances to be joining are mentioned below.

Continental has a few days in between leaving Sky Team and joining Star Alliance – it was a bit too hopeful to have a seamless transition.

Air India was originally scheduled to join Star Alliance in March 2009 but is reportedly nowhere ready (alliances have a long list of criteria which new members need to comply with).

Confirmed future alliance members sometimes become partners of some airlines within that alliance ahead of the join date. This means codeshares, mileage earning (although not necessarily status mileage), and award redemption. It doesn’t usually extend to status benefits. An example of this is Brussels Airlines is already a partner of Lufthansa and Miles & More frequent flyer program.

Partnerships with non-alliance airlines also sometimes change when airlines join or leave an alliance. For example Continental ends it’s OnePass partnerships with Alaska, Horizon and American Eagle on 24 October 2009.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

As I have been asked about airline and airport lounges a lot lately, I figure it is time for another blog post about them. Airline lounges can generally be accessed by:

• paid club membership – of the specific airline’s club or a partner airline’s club with reciprocal useage rights
• pay per use membership
• frequent flyer elite status
• airline class of travel

So far, I have never bought club membership or paid for day use of a lounge. Despite this I have used over 260 lounges in over 120 airports worldwide, several of them over 100 times. The quality of lounge varies widely from the luxury of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal with dozens of fine single malt whiskies, to a peaceful oasis of calm in what is otherwise a horrid airport (lounges in Dhaka and Lahore spring to mind), to the downright nasty crowded rooms (such as the LAT Lounge at Beirut which makes the Red Carpet Club at Los Angeles look good!).

What do I look for in a lounge?

Showers

Most airline lounge users do not shower in the lounge. However, for me it is an invaluable asset and I wish more lounges had them. Whether it is because I’m in the middle of 2 or more days constant flying, or because I’m rushing straight from work to flight to work with no time to visit home or hotel in between, I use airline lounge showers very frequently.

Of course not all showers are equal. Most have towels, soap and other amenities. Some do not. I bring my own towel just in case. Some have toilet and basin in the shower room, others do not. Some are heavily used and require lengthy waits (eg Lufthansa Frankfurt nonschengen B lounge in the morning and evening).

The best airport showers I’ve had are in the Los Angeles Air New Zealand lounge. It is great to wash away the hassles of security (and often lengthy immigration queues too) in the middle of 30 odd hours of flying. Oh yes, the cabanas at Cathay Pacific Hong Kong The Wing First Class lounge are also pretty nice.

Business facilities

I’m in the minority here amongst business travelers, but a lot of the time I travel without a laptop. Downtime in transit is an opportunity to catch up on messages and get some work done. For this reason I wish every airline lounge had free internet computers, preferably with printers and photocopiers available. Free local calls are a nice bonus if available.

The best airport lounge business facilities I’ve used are the bookable rooms in the Melbourne and Sydney Qantas First Class lounge. Not only do they have all of the above, but also little things like office stationery (pens, pencils, paper even a stapler & sellotape). To keep any meetings confidential there are also privacy blinds and enough space and chairs for a few people to use the room at once.

Lounge agents

When things go wrong, as they are bound to from time to time, having good airline agents in the lounge who are authorised to fix things is invaluable. Not only does it save time queueing at a desk in the main part of the terminal or on hold on the phone, but by getting quick access you sometimes can take advantage of fleeting opportunities.

One example is in the United San Francisco Red Carpet Club (RCC) a few years ago. I had one of those tricky itineraries flying to Anchorage via Portland and Seattle, having just arrived from New Zealand. The weather along the west coast was bad with many flight delays. My flight to Portland was delayed a couple of hours which would likely mean misconnecting with the once a day flight from Seattle to Anchorage. I spotted the issue when a delay announcement was made at the gate and headed straight back to the RCC with it’s service desk inside. The nice agent in the lounge quickly saw the problem and rebooked me on the nonstop flight to Seattle that was just about to board. If I’d tried calling or heading to the landside service desk I wouldn’t have even reached an agent in time to take this option.

The extras

Showers, computers and good agents are the 3 things I really look for in an airline lounge. Other stuff, however, may be the difference between a good lounge and a great one. Here are some examples of lounge extras I like. See if you can pick which lounges I am referring to?

• children’s play room, complete with playstations – less noise in the main part of the lounge and keeps kids away from the computers
• air hockey table – for the inner child
• special lounge security and immigration to bypass the regular ones – faster and less intrusive
• great picture windows overlooking tarmac, runway and scenery
• wide selection of magazines and newspapers
• great restaurant quality food and drink with proper meal service
• Fauchon green tea ice cream
• spa or massages
• sleeper rooms, complete with wakeup service so you don’t miss your flight
• bar tenders that remember my order and have it ready when they see me coming

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

I requalified for Priority Club platinum last month and they’ve already mailed the 2010 card to me. Most of my frequent flyer programs mail out elite cards only near the end of the membership year rather than when I’ve requalified. Sometimes they send them out too close to the end of the year and it doesn’t arrive until after the following year has started – which can pose problems where partner lounges require sighting of the card as proof of eligibility (thinking of British Airways at London for example).

The oddest one I’ve come across so far, though, is Hilton HHonors, which used to mail out cards with an expiry date years ahead – ie assuming that you will keep requalifying. Which reminds me, I should get a new card from them soon.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

A little late, but here are my views on the travel landscape this year as it pertains to frequent flyers in particular.

The financial turmoil means flight and hotel bookings are way down overall, and particularly on some routes. As some bloggers have, correctly in my view, noted we can expect some good sales, and there are a range of other impacts.

First, the downturn in travel is uneven. Business travel will be much less than in recent years. This affects some aspects of travel more than others. Secondly, leisure travel is impacted through reduced discretionary spending.

What does this mean for savvy travellers?

Discounted fares and sales

Airlines that rely heavily on business travellers and premium leisure travellers will in general find 2009 hard. Expect sales and inducements to buy up to first or business class, particularly on certain routes most impacted. Normal wisdom is to book well ahead to get the best deals but this year year the reverse may be true. Not only are advance sales lower thus discounted fares will be available closer to departure than normal, but airlines will try to encourage demand through sales. Already some airlines have been offering last minute sales at very low fares.

Conversely low cost airlines may have less need for sales as people switch from perceived high fare full service airlines to perceived low fare reduced service airlines.

A similar logic applies comparing longhaul/expensive routes with shorthaul/cheap routes – demand drops on the former and may increase on the latter.

For some airlines or routes the impacts may be more subtle. People switching from business to economy travel may result in sales in premium cabins rather than the usual economy class sales.

Capacity reductions

Another airline response is to reduce capacity, through less flights and/or using smaller aircraft. This means schedules may change more than normal this year. For 2009 I’m being less aggressive on connection times and the long sequences of flights in a row that I sometimes do.

Frequent flyer status

Business travel is the bread and butter of many airlines. With business travel slashed, the airlines will be looking to retain as many customers as they can. So qualifying thresholds will not be increasing. It should be easier to get a status match, and frequent flyer programs may more readily requalify those who just fail to meet the requirements and/or fail to requalify but have a long elite history. Some FFPs may also offer inducements to their best customers to maintain the amount of flying – eg Air New Zealand has introduced a gift for a small proportion of top tier gold elite members based on a higher level of status earning.

Awards

As with discounted and sale fares it should generally be easier to nab awards in 2009, especially in first and business class. However, on heavy leisure routes it may be more difficult with people economising by using miles instead of cash to pay for their holiday travels. I also expect more awards to be available at short notice.

Will 2009 see Singapore Airlines finally making available their new/best first and business class on awards? Currently A380, 77W and A345 awards are not available in first at all, and only available in business class using expensive Kris Flyer awards.

Operational upgrades

Airlines should have less need to op-up passengers. However some exceptions come to mind. For example British Airways longhaul aircraft have a relatively high proportion of premium seats and some passengers who would have booked in business class choose instead to book into economy. Under pressure to fill seats and with more empty seats in premium cabins, airlines may oversell economy by more than currently, and on the more popular routes there may still be a reasonable number of op-ups required.

Upgrades

Mileage, voucher or complimentary status upgrades should be easier to obtain. Some airlines, such as Lufthansa, are managing op-ups by encouraging people at check-in to use their miles to upgrade.

Fees

In 2007 a number of airlines added new fees and increased existing ones to generate revenue. I see this trend continuing in 2008, but with perhaps more fee waivers for FFP elite members.

Packages

To try to induce demand there may be more extras thrown in for little or no cost to the air fares. Eg ground transport, cheap accommodation, sightseeing tours.

Hotels

Higher end hotels and those that normally do a lot of convention business will also be impacted. Expect more deals in 2009, and some hotels that haven’t yet opened may delay their opening until the economy improves.

Summary

I expect there will be lots of opportunities in 2009 for savvy travellers. However these will be much more in some areas than others. Those that adapt to the changed circumstances, and are the most flexible, stand to benefit the most.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

I blogged previously that I’d been invited* by Qantas on a promotional A380 flight before scheduled service begins. What I didn’t dare hope for, though, was that I’d be seated in their new first class for the flight. Woohoo.

Source news.com.au

I’d seen the publicity materials from Qantas when the new product was launched, and had been underwhelmed. Perhaps it was because Emirates and Singapore Airlines had both taken the opportunity to add fantastic new first class products on their A380s that expectations were too high.

Having sat in the seat for a couple of hours I think the pictures do not do it justice. For sure it is not as good as the top notch suites, but it is much better than the current Qantas First Class. I’d rank the new first class upper quartile rather than leading.

The cabin most definitely family unfriendly – you cannot easily see a small child in another seat, and also cannot reach across to refasten belts. While not enclosed ala Emirates or Singapore Airlines, there is a reasonable amount of privacy at least while seated or laying down. Stand up and you can see all.

I’ve posted a full review on Flyer Talk.

Here are a few snippets.

… overall the cabin is of airiness.

The seat faces forward for take-off and landing. There is limited legroom but with plenty of knee room in this position. Other than take-off and landing, there does not seem much point in the forward-facing position. All the other features of the seat are best used when the seat is swivelled.

There are plenty of places to put little things, but only 1 spot to put a laptop bag or similar – under the ottoman. There are two swivel triangular drawers under the small shelf at far right. A couple of cubbies up against the seat when swiveled. The lower one of these is partially blocked when in bed mode, but as a secure place to put things while sleeping it is inferior to BA first and business, or NZ business, for example.

The main table is inbetween the cubbies and the shelf and well positioned for eating alone or with someone else at the ottoman. The table however is not as large as NZ or CX business class, so it will be cosy for two.

There is a recessed drink/glass holder in the shelf, and also behind the head when in bed mode. Good for putting a water bottle in, but watch out if resting a glass on the shelf!

There is a pop-out coat hook to hang your jacket when you first arrive while waiting to hand it to an attendant, or on landing after being handed it back. There is also a hook on the seat wall to hang the headphones so you don’t need to stuff them into a cubby or have them loose on the tray table or shelf.

In swivel mode there is decent legroom regardless of how far reclined the seat is. In bed mode the length is reasonable, the bed is flat (arm rests drop to lie fairly flush) and reasonably comfortable.

The master controller is wall mounted, and can also be lifted out of its socket. It reminds me of the one Emirates has in first class on A345 aircraft. The controller operates IFE, seat positions, blinds, lights, privacy screen, etc. It is touch screen, but also has buttons for preset seat positions, overhead lights and a crew call button. There are 7 different directions the seat can be adjusted (including massage functions), and 5 preset seating positions.

* The invite was offered due to my frequent flyer status, not for any publicity in this blog or elsewhere.

The Qantas A380 also has a new IFE system, which appears to be much better than the existing system. More on this later.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.