Posted by Seth on September 20, 2011 under Flying, News | 
Every now and then I find myself wondering if there isn’t a better way to get access to some nugget of data related to travel. More often than not I’m disappointed to find out that the answer is generally that the tools aren’t available. When I can, I try to change that. Welcome to my latest effort: The Round-the-World Fare Comparison Tool.
The tool holds nearly 13,000 data points for fare pricing from 197 different airports around the world (one per country for most countries). There are nearly 100 different fare types in the system, including not only RTW fares but also some regional options like Circle Asia, Circle Pacific and Circle Japan options.
That’s a whole lot of data that needs to be managed and filtered. I certainly won’t go so far to claim it is perfect yet – the site is very much in beta right now – but there are options to sort by point of origin, fare type and cabin of travel available right now and more in the works.
Currently there are six different airlines being used as data points for the fares, two each from the three global alliances. In nearly every case the fares match but there are enough quirks and variances that I’m keeping all the data in there and available. The fares do not include taxes, fuel surcharges or aircraft-specific fees but the goal of the tool is to facilitate comparing prices between alliances or to figure out the best place to start a trip rather than get to final pricing.
Here’s what it looks like if you choose a specific origin country/airport:
The different cabins are color-coded so you can quickly see the different types of fares available to you.
Want to search by fare product. Here are the nearly 100 available to you:
Pick one and you’ll get a clickable, color-coded map:
The green icons represent the cheapest 20% of the markets for that specific fare while the red are the most expensive 20%.
I’m still working on options for other ways to "slice and dice" the data. Got a suggestion or an idea of a view that would be useful? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.
In the mean time, give the tool a whirl and let me know what you think. And check out some of the other tools while you’re on the site. You might be surprised at how useful they can be.
Posted by Seth on August 24, 2011 under frequent flyer, points |
For many months now the rumor mill was been swirling with thoughts on changes to the lifetime elite status program offered by American Airlines‘ AAdvantage program. Today those rumors – most of which were accurate – are laid to rest as the company has announced the details of their new lifetime qualification requirements and benefit levels. The new rules go into effect on December 1, 2011.
First up, the qualification requirements:
Base miles earned by flying on American Airlines, American Eagle® or the AmericanConnection® carrier or any eligible AAdvantage program participating airline will count towards Million Miler status. Also, as a limited time offer, one mile for every dollar spent on eligible purchases using the new Citi ExecutiveSM / AAdvantage® World Elite™ MasterCard® credit card that post to billing statements through December 2012 will count toward Million Miler status*. The Citi ExecutiveSM / AAdvantage® World Elite™ MasterCard® credit card account must be open and in good standing by December 1, 2011.
Second, the benefits for reaching those levels:
- At 1,000,000 Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Gold® status and 35,000 AAdvantage bonus miles (which, as you know, can be exchanged for eight 500-mile upgrades if that’s what you prefer)
- At 2,000,000 Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Platinum® status and four one-way systemwide upgrades
- At each additional Million Miler mile mark, AAdvantage members will receive four additional one-way systemwide upgrades
Finally, any points accrued to your lifetime balance prior to the rules change will still be there.
As noted above, these changes do not come as much of a surprise to anyone paying attention to the program recently. And the changes bring the program much more in line with their competition. That’s not necessarily a good thing for consumers, particularly as previously American offered the easiest qualification to lifetime status of any program out there. Still, it is not hard to understand their desire to move in this direction based on the costs of servicing the ever growing elite population. AAdvantage President Maya Leibman commented to that point rather explicitly in a round table discussion in April.
The qualification options are still reasonable, however, including base miles flown on all AAdvantage airline partners, not just oneworld partners. It does not, however, include any class of service bonus points that might be accrued for flying in premium cabins or on full-fare tickets.
There is also a one year window for earning points on the credit card, assuming you have the right card and the account was open prior to the rules changing on December 1, 2011. The AA American Express cards are excluded from this earning.
Overall, the program is still reasonably competitive. Not nearly as lucrative as it used to be, but also not horrible. And there has been a decent amount of notice provided prior to the downgrade.
Not a great day for folks trying to be lifetime elite on AA without flying, to be sure, but I can think of many ways it could have been worse.
Update (5:33pm EDT 24 Aug 11):
I just realized that only the $450 annual fee credit card gets the spend to still count. Comparable to Continental and their top-end card, though still likely too pricey to justify. I guess it is a bit worse than I previously thought.
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Posted by Seth on August 1, 2011 under News |
Star Alliance and Air India announced yesterday that the long-pending integration of the airline into the world’s largest global alliance has been suspended. This is the latest in a series of delays announced regarding the carrier’s intention to join the group.
Star Alliance CEO, Jaan Albrecht said: "With the collective decision to put the integration efforts on hold today we aim to contribute to Air India’s flexibility to concentrate on its ongoing strategic reorientation. In this process our member carriers will continue to provide assistance to Air India wherever required."
It was just a couple months ago that the carrier stated they felt ready to finally join the alliance. Apparently that was all bluff, however. Given the financial turmoil the carrier is currently in the midst of it is not particularly surprising that this move came about.
The real question now for the alliance is what happens in India. Kingfisher has already committed to the oneworld alliance. There had been additional rumors of Jet Airways joining with Star Alliance but that was apparently on hold until Air India could get things figured out. With this latest suspension of the Air India efforts could that open up the opportunity for Jet to make a move?
The air travel market in India is huge and growing rapidly. Getting partners in that market is a very important move for these alliances. Sadly, it seems that Star Alliance latched on to the wrong initial partner and is now paying the price for that decision.
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Posted by Seth on June 6, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
In what is likely the most significant frequent flyer-related news to come out of the annual IATA World Air Transport Summit meetings this year, the oneworld alliance announced that they will be adding Malaysia Airlines to their fold in late 2012. Malaysia Airlines currently offers codeshare flights with future oneworld partners Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific; these partnerships will expand in the coming months leading up to the full membership in the alliance.
Malaysia has been the subject of alliance talks off and on over the years with most rumors touching on the SkyTeam alliance which has very weak coverage in the SE Asia region. There are many rumors about why that never happened but few official statements have been made. With this move to oneworld Malaysia now closes that chapter of its history and joins a group with a strong global presence. This also means that it will be even harder for SkyTeam to expand in the region as there aren’t many other carriers left there large enough to have a significant impact on an alliance’s footprint.
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Posted by Seth on April 6, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
American Airlines launched 10 new destinations from Los Angeles yesterday. The new routes, mostly served but their American Eagle regional subsidiary, are all offering double miles for travel until June 30, 2011.
The biggest addition of service is the non-stop flight from LAX to Shanghai, China. This flight represents the only non-stop service by a US-flagged carrier on the route. Passengers flying between LAX and Shanghai can receive up to triple miles for their travel between now and June 30, 2011. Business and First class fares will receive triple miles while economy fares will receive double miles. Registration is required for this promotion.
The other nine destinations being added place American into direct competition with a number of other carriers. Of the nine, all are currently served by at least one other carrier and most have two or three others, namely United Airlines and Southwest; US Airways serves a couple of the routes as well. The destinations are:
- Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)
- Boise, ID (BOI)
- El Paso, TX (ELP)
- Houston, TX (IAH)
- Oklahoma City, OK (OKC)
- Phoenix, AZ (PHX)
- Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)
- Sacramento, CA (SMF)
- Tucson, AZ (TUS)
All of these routes are eligible for double miles through the end of June. Similar to the Shanghai promotion, registration is required.
Challenging incumbent carriers by adding capacity as fuel prices are rising and the industry struggles to control seat inventory is an interesting move. Going head-to-head in markets that include three competitor hubs by offering regional jet service is even more interesting. Time will tell if American can come out of this experiment profitably or not.
Finally, oneworld partner Iberia is launching service between LAX and their hub in Madrid, Spain. AAdvantage members can earn double miles on this route as well. Register for this promotion here.
Lots of excitement at LAX of AAdvantage members. Here’s hoping the routes actually stick.
Tags: American Airlines, bonus, frequent flyer, houston, Iberia, Los Angeles, OneWorld, Phoenix, points, Southwest Airline, Spain, United, US Air
Posted by Seth on December 14, 2010 under frequent flyer, News |
Star Alliance is already the largest of the global airline alliances but they appear to be showing no signs of slowing their growth. At their regular CEO summit this week, held in Queenstown, New Zealand, Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti was in attendance. Only Qantas, a member of OneWorld, is in an alliance currently in Australia so there is room for either Star Alliance or SkyTeam to make a move with Virgin Blue.
Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand have tried to link up already once. Their application to cooperate on trans-Tasman service was rejected by Australian competition authorities in September. Still, the carriers are looking to move forward with a partnership that could benefit both sides as much as possible.
An additional quirk that might come into play with the possible Star Alliance move is that Virgin Blue has some existing partners that could confuse the situation. Their loyalty scheme, Velocity Rewards, is shared with long haul carrier V Australia. V Australia currently is partnered with Delta, a SkyTeam member. Having one half of the Velocity Rewards program working in Star Alliance and the other in SkyTeam would be quite unusual, though it is possible.
If Virgin Blue – and V Australia along with it – were to leave Delta it would be quite a blow to the SkyMiles program. Currently the V Australia option is one of the best redemption opportunities that SkyMiles has.
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Posted by Seth on November 18, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Earlier this week saw two announcements regarding growing alliances in the airline world. Russian carrier S7 joined the OneWorld alliance while JetBlue added another interline partner, Emirates.
The S7/OneWorld deal adds 55 destinations and 9 countries to the OneWorld route map, nearly tripling the alliance’s coverage in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. That’s a big chunk of the world that is now open to OneWorld partners. Additionally, frequent flyer reciprocity – including EQMs – is now in place for travel on S7 and credit to other OneWorld partners.
The Emirates/JetBlue deal continues the efforts of JetBlue to grow their airline partner portfolio for interline connections. The deal covers only ticketing and baggage check-through for now. Discussions about frequent flyer reciprocity are ongoing, as is the potential for ticketing through JetBlue channels; currently the interline itineraries are only available via emirates.com or other 3rd party booking engines. Emirates is the 6th interline airline partner for JetBlue, joining South African, El Al, Lufthansa, American Airlines and Aer Lingus.
In both cases it is nice to see partnerships grow. Ultimately that’s better for customers in just about every case.
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Posted by Seth on October 22, 2010 under frequent flyer, News |
The SkyTeam alliance, oft faulted for their lack of coverage south of the equator, is working to rectify that situation with the announcement this week that Aerolineas Argentinas is expected to sign an agreement to join the alliance later this month. The carrier will aim to be fully integrated into SkyTeam at some point in 2012.
The move will open up a number of new destinations for SkyTeam in South America. It will also open up a number of routes to connect the dots between other cities served by the alliance. With the uncertainty presented by the recently announced LAN/TAM merger and those carriers participating in OneWorld and Star Alliance, respectively, this move ties up one of the larger carriers in the continent as part of SkyTeam.
Personally, I’m hopeful that they can be integrated quickly and that I can use points from various SkyTeam programs for interesting frequent flyer redemptions, including Ushuaia and the antipodal routing of Buenos Aires – Auckland – Sydney. I don’t know why, but I really want that line on my map.
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Posted by Seth on October 22, 2010 under frequent flyer, News |
For the past couple years American Airlines has been the dark horse amongst the major carriers in the United States. They’ve been trailing the others in profitability (though they did report a profit in Q3 ‘10) and they’ve been struggling to keep their route network competitive with the other programs that are growing alliances. Things are starting to look up a bit, however, with the ATI deal for OneWorld partners British Airways and Iberia, the interline agreement with JetBlue and most recently the announcement earlier this week on an interline agreement with Canadian carrier WestJet.
The new agreement opens up the opportunity for American’s passengers to connect to flights on WestJet’s network throughout Canada. A total of 25 new cities will be available via connections in six Canadian gateways served by American or American Eagle: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Halifax and Ottawa. The two carriers expect a phase two of the agreement to eventually include connections at WestJet’s US gateways.
The current iteration of the interline agreement covers through ticketing and checked baggage but does not include things like frequent flyer program reciprocity. American and JetBlue have reportedly come to an agreement on the FF front so it is likely that similar negotiations will follow on the WestJet side.
The move is also a big win for WestJet. They have announced intentions to arrange a similar interline agreement with Southwest over two years ago. That agreement proved fruitless, however, and the deal was never actually implemented. The very quick start-up time on this deal – bookings on aa.com will be available starting on November 9, 2010 – should help avoid that this time around.
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Posted by Seth on October 8, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The main players in the OneWorld alliance have wasted little time since their anti-trust immunity deal was approved in making big changes in the way they operate on transatlantic routes. For frequent fliers the main change is that there will no longer be restrictions on earning points across the partners for the flights that cross the Atlantic. This change comes with a drawback for folks who collect AAdvantage points from American Airlines, however, as they will now be required to pay the YQ fuel surcharge on all awards redeemed on British Airways metal, a requirement that did not exist prior to this change.
The other major changes come in route planning and scheduling. On the New York City – London route the carriers have a rather dominating position with 11 daily frequencies. There will be two morning flights out of New York and then nine more in the evening, operating every half hour from 6pm until 10pm. The carriers are describing the new schedule as “shuttle-like” and the claim is rather appropriate.
The carriers are adding new routes in addition to colluding on the existing ones. British Airways will be returning service to San Diego for the third time; the previous two failed pretty badly though San Diego is apparently the largest city in the United States without nonstop service to London. American will be adding service to Budapest, among other routes.
All of these changes should help the carriers compete better against the immunized carriers in the two other major global alliances. And while there certainly will be many instances where there is greater convenience for customers, it seems unlikely that the changes will actually introduce more competition in most markets like the airlines are claiming.
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