Airlines are going thru tough times and interesting times. (Boy, did I resist starting this post with – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times). The global economic slowdown has hurt airlines; they have an ageing fleet (at least all the older carriers do); they have an ageing staff looking to retire, that too with benefits; and they have liabilities that are beginning to exceed their revenues and the margins required to fulfill them afloat. On the other hand, we have become a truly global …

In honor of the soon to come 2012, here is my list of Top 12 Articles of 2011. (See list of Top 11 Article of 2010). This list is based on traffic to their pages. I have excluded article that were posted in 2010 (The post – Air India switches to all non-stop routes to North America was the 3rd most read article and Boeing 747 Piano Bar article was the 6th most read article in 2011, despite both being written in 2010!). I also excluded all articles related to …

If you have earned status miles (EQM) in 2011 in both your United and Continental accounts, you need to act fast and link the two accounts. United is working on combining the programs in the first quarter of 2012. In the meanwhile, if you have earned miles in both accounts, linking them will allow you to:

Transfer miles from one to the other. If you don’t do this, United will transfer all your miles to the final combined account (but they still need to know that you have two accounts – …

That gives me some great benefits, such as free unlimited domestic upgrades, Exit row seats when I do not get upgraded, automatic Economy+ for when I don’t get the exit row, free checked bags and most importantly, Star Gold level on Star Alliance, for all my non-United travel. … My Balance: 50,970 – 5,000 = 45,970 Make a list of all other sources that earn you miles and see how many will come in for sure.

United has joined the bandwagon of going ‘Local, Social and Mobile’ by partnering up with TopGuest. I have written before about how TopGuest works (be sure to read my clarification post). Essentially, one can earn miles for being at a location and sharing it with your Social Network by ‘checking in’ on Facebook or FourSquare.
United is giving 50 MileagePlus Miles for sharing your location at select airports (I am assuming airports with a large United presence; all the hubs for sure). Once you do so by checking in of Facebook …

Just like the breakup between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, the not unexpected breakup between Continental OnePass and Amtrak Guest Rewards is here. As of the end of this year, with the merger of Continental OnePass Mileage program into United MileagePlus, one will no longer be able to earn Continental Miles on Amtrak train trips or transfer miles between the two programs. According to Amtrak, they are in talks with United, but no deal has been reached yet to transition the relationship between the two programs from Continental to United.
For …

Yeah, I know there are websites that will track it for me all in one place – I have accounts with points.com and gomilies.com , but they just don’t seem to be right or enough. … Staying at a hotel (duh, again, but this can become complex if one earns hotel points, airline miles or hotel points AND airline miles) Credit cards eMiles.com eRewards.com MyPoints.com TopGuest Car rentals (for rental rewards or airline miles) Other sundry events, like filling out a survey, earning miles as compensation for a customer service event, etc.

This has been the year of changes. We have seen so many changes this year; I have seriously starting to forget what the situation was last year. The latest changes to United Mileage Plus (MP)and Continental One Pass (OP) have been surreptitiously introduced. However it is difficult to creep past the hawk-eye of frequent fliers.
Various fare classes on Swiss (LX) and Lufthansa (LH) now earn lesser EQMs (elite qualifying miles) and RDMs (redeemable miles). The details:
Swiss (LX)

L and K: 100% ® 0%
P: 0% ® 100% (MP) , 150% (OP) (LX …

By now, you probably already know about the new changes to Mileage plus, effective from 2012. In case you don’t, it’s good to gloss over them at the related Milepoint thread and Gary’s excellent commentary.

I am simply amazed at the changes. They are purely the work of a genius. Let us call him/her ‘anti-Joker’. Do I hear you asking why such a name? Well, my ‘inside sources’ informed me, this ‘anti-Joker’ asked all categories of United flyers ‘Why so Happy?’ and then made sure they leave disgruntled. I have ‘recorded’ …

Get another free 100 Miles from Continental. This time it is for checking out their in-flight DirectTV discount offer for using the Chase MasterCard.
Click here to get the Free 100 Continental Miles!
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