This year it seems to be the fashionable thing for Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) to add a new award category for any seat awards.

Yesterday, Singapore Airlines announced Full Awards. Perhaps so-named because you need to have a full mileage account to make use of them? Unlike any seat awards at other FFPs, Kris Flyer (the FFP of Singapore Airlines) blocks some seats – namely the A380 First Suite. All other seats appear to be available, but at a hefty cost. For example Australia to Europe round trip in first class (not A380) is 1,558,000 miles.

Any seat awards work slightly differently at other FFPs. Here is a summary.

• Singapore Airlines – fixed cost up to 1,558,000 and exclude A380 First Suites, taxes charged separately, excludes Silkair (a subsidiary airline)
• Qantas – variable cost (explicitly based on fare @ A1c per point) and some over 2,000,000 have been reported, include all seats, taxes optionally included (at extra cost) or charged separately
• Virgin Blue – all awards on Virgin Blue are any seat, variable cost (loosely based on fare), include all seats
• Air New Zealand – most awards solely on Air NZ are any seat (exception is business class awards for elites at limited availability), variable cost (based on fare @ NZ$1 per airpoint dollar), include all seats, taxes included for domestic itineraries and charged separately for international itineraries
• various US-based FFPs – standard awards at double the cost of saver awards (ie fixed cost)

With most US-based airlines hurting financially, how long will it be before their any seat awards change to high variable mileage costs?

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

Air New Zealand has been improving their economy class on some aircraft types.

First to be improved was the 737 used on major domestic routes. The first several rows have been designated as Space+ with a few extra (valuable) inches of seat pitch. Space+ is not treated as a separate cabin but rather like United Airlines’ economy plus it is available for free to those with status or Koru Club membership (unlike United this includes Star Alliance gold members), and also available to those on full fares. All 737′s have now been fitted with Space+ seating.

Next up is the 767 used on shorthaul and secondary longhaul international routes, and the A320 used on shorthaul international routes and the odd domestic positioning flight in place of 737. Again, the front of economy is being converted to Space+. I flew the first 767 to be converted the other day and I sure appreciated the spacious legroom. The other major change on 767 and A320 aircraft is they are getting new in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems. Not only does every seat get a personal TV screen with audio-video on demand (AVOD) but USB devices and ipods can connect to it.

Further, Air NZ has started gate to gate IFE on all international aircraft that are fitted with avod. The IFE system is switched on when boarding begins and switched off on arrival back at the gate. On long flights this may not make much difference, but for short 3 hour hops this adds about 40% more viewing time (games are switched off for takeoff and landing). I’ve experienced this a few times in the 747 and 777 aircraft and it has made a big difference on short flights in particular. No more carefully picking short movies to watch. Unfortunately on my flight on the improved 767 the IFE system still had gremlins and we didn’t have any IFE at all. (NZ made up for it with a voucher in compensation.)

Short flights on 747 and 777 aircraft are also having a further change. From December premium economy will not be sold and instead premium economy will be used as the Space+ zone.

It all sounds very good, and it is. These are some of the most comfortable economy products anywhere.

Why am I ungrateful then? It has dawned on me that I can get a much better seat on a 45 minute domestic flight or 3 hour international flight, at much lower cost, than on the long 10-14 hour longhaul flights which cost so much more. It is a bit back to front – normally the best product is saved for the longest, most high yielding routes. The optimist in me hopes that Air NZ is working on the problem and will have some improvements to announce soon for longhaul passengers.

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

American Airlines (AA) has taken the low-cost carrier (LCC) approach with their latest baggage fee. All checked bags will be charged for most domestic economy passengers. Exemptions to the first bag luggage charge are given to those flying on first and business class fares or awards, or paying full economy fare, or an anytime AAdvantage award, or anyone with any oneworld elite status at the date of travel (as well as anyone else flying with them). Those passengers who are upgraded at the last minute (eg operational upgrades) will not be exempt from the fee unless they also fit another exemption category. Perhaps the list of exemptions will get simplified at some stage.

From 15 June, the first bag is $15 (each way), the second $25, the third $100, and so on. At least they haven’t tried to put on the LCC spin of “it is a discount for no checked bags”, as Australian airline Jetstar does for example.

Expect the overhead bins to be even fuller, at least until AA is forced to either back down or restrict and enforce carry-on items to 1 bag plus 1 personal item. Having elite status to enable boarding early will be more important than ever to claim the bin space by your seat.

As with fuel surcharges and the earlier introduction of baggage fees for the second checked bag, I’d expect other airlines to quickly follow suit.

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

Sorry it has been a while since I last blogged here. It has been a busy travel month even by my standards as I have passed through 18 countries on 5 continents. When I travel I have more time to ponder and notice things – look for a few upcoming posts on this.

1) I got an email recently from AAdvantage offering miles to subscribe to some of their email offerings. These are the same offerings which I subscribed to last year (and got bonus miles for then), so it is worthwhile unsubscribing to stuff you don’t need. The only catch is to unsubscribe after the promo period (in this case I’ve diarised for the 3 months subscription that is required to earn the miles). For a minute effort I will get a modest bonus, and the price sure is right.

2) Normally I stay in the same hotel chain where it is available because I struggle to maintain high (meaningful) hotel stay program status given my schedule (lots of overnight flights and same-day return trips) and the locations I visit (lots of places with no or few chain hotels). However, lately I’ve been staying in a few different chains due to location, cost and availability issues. So, what I have done is use these odd stays to credit to various lesser used frequent flyer programs (FFPs) as an easy way to extend the mileage expiry out several more months. For some of these frequent flyer programs I am yet to set foot on one of their aircraft but have almost enough for a basic award, again with just a bit of effort here and there to credit some hotel stays or pick up the odd promotion (such as surveys).

3) I have a lot of flights of many different airlines and so it can be hard keeping track of the frequent flyer miles, hotel points and status earnt. I spent an hour or so the other day reviewing 5 of my accounts which I had credited recently. The result – I found several uncredited flights (which will net me about 70,000 miles when they eventually post), some more flights were I was given too few miles (an extra 3000 miles have already been credited), a couple of flights were the miles credited seems too low (still being investigated by the frequent flyer program), 3 missed hotel stays (2 have credited already which requalifies my status in that hotel program), and another where they forgot to give me points for incidental spend. Not a bad return for an hour of my time (plus maybe some more chasing up). Although ideally these would all credit correctly in the first place. One account took me more time than the others to go through, because they had reversed and re-credited many transactions, and not always at the same rate which then meant more reversals and re-credits.

I’m still looking for an easier way to reconcile my accounts than the spreadsheet I currently keep. If anyone knows of software please let me know.

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

The Cranky Flier noted a new feature offered by Ryanair following their website changes over the weekend, on line check in (OLCI) up to 5 days before departure, and wondered what the point of it all is.

I’ve wondered as well, ever since Air New Zealand rolled out OLCI at time of booking for their domestic flights (subject to a few conditions) last March. Yes, Air NZ allows you to check in up to 12 months before departure. Presumably they expected the increased numbers of no shows and passengers requiring changes after checking in would be more than offset by efficiency savings at airport check-in. I’m not yet convinced this is the case – 12 months is a long time for changes in plans to happen, and if passengers lose the print out (or fail to save the generated pdf) they will still need to check in at the airport (either at a counter or using a quick-check machine). Anecdotally I’ve noticed an increase in the number of passengers being paged for boarding.

Cranky Flier has me thinking a bit more though. Given there are no ID checks for domestic travel in New Zealand, what is the boarding pass required to do? (1) It reminds the passenger of the flight number and departure time (the gate number is not available when OLCI’ing a long way before departure). (2) The printed barcode provides a quick way for the gate agent to confirm the passenger has boarded – however this can also be done by typing the seat number. (3) Possibly used for tracking of checked luggage? I’m not sure on this as it has been many years since I’ve checked bags when flying Air New Zealand. (4) It provides proof of eligibility for using the lounge (though a non-foolproof method in the case of OLCI as frequent flyer status or airline club membership may change between check in and departure).

That is all, at least for Air NZ. The boarding pass is not needed to clear security. There is no stub retained by the gate agent for reconciling passenger numbers. The boarding pass is not used to identify where passengers are (except possibly for those checking in manually at the airport).

Are there other airlines that allow OLCI so far before departure? The ones I am aware of that are more than 24 hours before departure are

• KLM – up to 30 hours
• Cathay Pacific – up to 48 hours
• Singapore Airlines – up to 48 hours
• Ryanair – up to 5 days
• Air New Zealand – from time of booking.

Note rules may vary slightly in respect of connecting or return flights, some destinations/origins may not allow OLCI, and some passenger types are not eligible for OLCI.

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

British Airways is yet again in the news for a poor baggage situation at London Heathrow (LHR). Apparently only T4 is affected. With limited capacity to handle baggage by hand, there are restrictions in place. These vary by day, whether originating in London or transitting, by class of travel and elite frequent flyer status. So for the latest check the BA website here.

In short, some passengers are limited to carry on only. Fortunately this increased to 2 bags earlier in the year. Unfortunately we still have the liquids restrictions.

I do wonder though how much thinking went into this statement.

On Thursday 21 February, transfer passengers through London Heathrow Terminal 4 should not bring luggage to be checked in as they will not be able to travel.

So someone flying on BA from Sydney (leaves shortly as I write this and arrives on Thursday 21 February) and transferring through T4 can or cannot have checked bags? Isn’t it a bit late to advise these passengers now? In general transferring passengers have the least flexibility in terms of being able to convert to carry-on only for luggage.

I think the rules BA has established for allowing checked baggage in the short term until the situation is resolved, while no doubt well meaning, are rather too complex to be well understood. Be prepared for longer than normal queues at check in, and also at security.

For once it appears the airline is not to blame for the problem which is attributed to computer errors and thus responsibility of airport operator BAA (source BBC News). Still one can’t help but wonder why BA seems to attract so many problems compared with other airlines.

It was only a few hours ago I speculated that BA’s latest announced fuel surcharge increase was being timed to get all their bad news over well ahead of T5 opening in 5 weeks time. BA have also been in the news recently for losing a major court case on overcharged fuel surcharge (yes ironic timing leading some to wonder how much of the latest increase is to pay the refunds of the lost case). They are also threatened with strikes by pilots and cabin crew (more on this soon).

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

Further to my entry on the new Qantas lounges at Sydney and Melbourne, I recently also got to use the new Bangkok lounge. This took a long time to open following the move from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi airport, and with the high standards set elsewhere a nice lounge was expected.

The new lounge is indeed quite nice, although a far cry from the new super lounges in their local hub. With both Qantas and British Airways having flights similarly timed for Sydney to Bangkok to London Heathrow and return, the high loads in the premium cabin and high numbers of One World Emerald customers, the lounge is unfortunately too small – being half the size you’d hope for the number of passengers. Granted there are only two times a day when the lounge is busy (or indeed open). Still, it wouldn’t have taken much effort to coordinate with Cathay Pacific, whose lounge next door sits shut at the time of the Qantas and British Airways flights, to make a bigger combined lounge.

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

Just 2 months after a significant devaluation of their Kris Flyer frequent flyer program, and on top of big surcharges on paid fares on the new 77W flights (the new product), Singapore Airlines is again annoying some of their most valuable customers.

They have announced sweeping changes to the PPS Club qualification requirements and benefits in a double whammy that appears to be focussed on cutting costs instead of rewarding loyalty. Qualification is harder, so the ranks will be thinned, and the benefits have been cut back, reducing the incentives to qualify.

The PPS Club, for readers who may not be aware, is not a frequent flyer program in the normal sense, but rather a benefits package only awarded to passengers who fly Singapore Airlines a lot in first or business class. There are 3 tiers with the following qualification requirements (currently). For simplicity I won’t go into the sector method of qualification which is broadly similar.

• PPS – requires 50,000 miles within a year in Singapore Airlines first or business class (approx 3.5 round trips between Europe and Singapore in business class or 3 in first class).
• PPS Solitaire – requires 500,000 cumulative miles in Singapore Airlines first or business class.
• Lifetime PPS Solitaire – requires 1,875,000 cumulative miles in Singapore Airlines first or business class (yes that’s right nearly twice the mileage required for lifetime status on United Airlines, American Airlines, etc and only in first and business class)

Clearly to qualify PPS you need to spend a lot of money on Singapore Airlines flights.

From 1 September, the new qualification will instead be based on revenue. Spend S$25,000 a year on SQ first and business class (excluding taxes and surcharges) and you get PPS. Spend S$250,000 within 5 consecutive years and you get PPS Solitaire. Lifetime PPS Solitaire will be closed – with existing members grandfathered.

Lounge and check in benefits have also been cut. PPS benefits will still be better than star alliance gold (eg Kris Flyer Elite Gold) benefits, but not by as much as currently.
The new rules will continue to reward high end business travellers based in Singapore or nearby, at the expense of nearly everyone else in the PPS ranks.

According to the Singapore Airlines spin, the rationale is that currently (1) PPS is too easy to attain for passengers flying frequently between Singapore and Bangkok and Jakarta, (2) the lounges are overcrowded and (3) it is unfair that some customers pay more to get the status than others.

In my view, (1) could have been solved by reducing the PPS earning rate for those sectors (similar to the reduced PPS earning on Kuala Lumpur flights), and (2) shows the lounges (especially at Singapore Changi airport) are too small and inadequate for the ongoing growth they have experienced. The third point is part of an ongoing trend for frequent flyer programs (FFPs) to start recognising revenue ahead of distance. So far this FFP revolution is occuring mainly in asia-pacific and europe.

It is amazing that an airline as successful as Singapore Airlines is in attracting profitable first and business class paid passengers, now decides that the customers are the problem! Instead of rejoicing at how well they have done, they seem to be cutting costs and squeezing every last cent they can. Is Singapore Airlines becoming too arrogant for it’s own good?

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

It seems Qantas is keen on keeping up the numbers of elite members of Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) program. Many people have reported having retained their status on minimal flights on Qantas, or even having credited no flights in the whole membership year.

There seems to be 2 approaches – one is those who previously qualified Gold or Platinum with plenty of extra status credits than the minimum are automatically requalified a few months before expiry of their status. The second is for those who previously only just qualified, for whom QFF asks for expected travel pattern for the upcoming year – ie looking for an excuse to retain your status.

For those who are in between status levels – eg easily qualifying for Silver but not on track for Gold, QFF is providing double status credit offers to help them up to the next level.

Nice for QFF members. I can’t help think that Qantas is getting ready to spin off their frequent flyer program (having inflated the number of elite members in the process).

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