I try to accumulate all my miles on United, my primary airline miles program. So when I learnt that Jet Airways was a United Partner (not a Star Alliance partner, but a code-share and miles partner), I was excited. I flew a domestic flight on Jet on my last visit to India and put in my United MileagePlus number to get my miles. Only, they never showed up. I filed a ‘missing miles’ request and was told that the class I was booked in did not accrue United miles! So, …

The American Express Membership Rewards program is one of the best out there. I did a detailed comparison between Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards in my last post. Well, the program just got better! For a limited time though. American Express OPEN has increased the sign up offer for its The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN to 50,000 Points! You get the points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of getting the card. This is an excellent offer, especially given the no annual fee …

The two most flexible reward programs that are not locked-in to an Airline or a Hotel Chain are Ultimate Rewards from Chase and Membership Rewards from American Express. Both are excellent programs with great redemption opportunities and multiple ways to earn them. This post with compare and contrast some of the key points of these two rewards programs.
Whats Common:

The first thing that is common between these two programs is that they are both not locked to a particular Airline or Airlines (like Miles and More is to Lufthansa, Swiss and …

This question comes to me from readers every year. Are Airlines miles taxable (in the US)? Especially if you redeemed them (you claimed their value). Or if you earned them while traveling for company business (tickets paid for my the company – are the miles taxable as income). The answer to all these, to the best of my knowledge is, no they are not taxable. For specific scenarios, I always suggest you check with an accountant, especially if you got a 1099 from a bank for Airline Miles earned. For …

Very interesting article on the Economist on possible innovations in the airline industry. I would personally like to see the pre-boarding using ‘people containers’. Here are a few selections from the article:

Coating common surfaces with silver to prevent the spread of colds and flu
People are pre-loaded into detached air-conditioned cabins that would then be rolled onto the plane (+1)
Localized temperature controls (+1)
Radio-frequency-ID-enabled travel documents
Seat allocation could also be based on the amount of hand luggage a passenger is carrying (+1)

What innovations would you like to see in airplanes, airports and …

Like everyone else on web, April Fool’s day has become a way to get some free attention by making outrageous claims (YouTube is shutting down!) and seeing who falls for it (yes, people do). Here are a few I found this morning:

Virgin Atlantic Launches worlds First Glass Bottom Aircraft!
WestJet Airlines eases restrictions on Animals on board (Including Bears!)

South Africa’s Airlines offers skywriting service (using Boeing Planes!)
Brussels Airlines and RyanAir announce merger (in French).

If you have seen another Airline related Aprils Fools jokes, do share by leaving a comment below. And …

One of the most popular Blog Posts I have ever written was on the Boeing 747 Piano bar (posted in July 2010!). This post gets the highest monthly traffic on my blog almost every month! A few days ago, I had a very interesting comment posted on the article. This comment shares the story of Don Morningstar, a piano repairman who worked on the pianos for the 747s operated by American Airlines. The comment is re-posted here in it’s entirety, for your reading pleasure.
“Here is a little more information you are …

I am canceling my American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card. The fees is due and $175 seems steep, given the recent changes in my card strategy (more on that in a later post). Furthermore, canceling the card makes me (more?) eligible for other sign-up bonuses from American Express, including (fingers crossed) the elusive, by invitation only 100,000 point Platinum card. Don’t get me wrong, the American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is an absolutely fabulous card with great features. (The current offer for a new card is 25,000 Membership Rewards …

I logged into United.com this morning and saw my lifetimes miles total – 500,024. I am half-way to become a Million Miler! For United MileagePlus, One Million Miles is a significant milestone (no pun intended). It gives you and a significant other Gold Status for life! No matter how many miles you fly in a year henceforth!
Most airlines and some hotel programs have a Lifetime Miles reward. It is their way of rewarding customers who have been loyal over an extended period of time. For airlines, it is typically at …

United airlines seemed to have run out of funds to pay for gates at Frankfurt. We were at a gate (Z22) where we checked-in, got our boarding passes security stamped, etc. But there was no plane at the end of the jetway. I looked, it was a regular sized jetway with double gates – the type used for wide-body aircraft, but they still had no plane. We were made to walk down two flights of stairs to buses. Those took us mid-field to our 777 parked near a taxiway. It …