America West is earning $25 million a year from its day of departure, space available upgrades. That’s alot of money for a company that is expected to lose money for 2003 and turn a small profit in 2004.

There’s no fare distinctions. Any paid passenger qualifies, provided that there’s first class availability four hours or less before the flight. The price varies based on distance of the flight.

America West pays a commission of $5 per upgrade that they sell this way.

Air China frequent flyer elite members qualify for preferred tourism visas from Singapore.

Upgrades are one with, but legal rights conferred by governments are something else entirely. I wonder whether Air China offers a status match?

Divorces have always been nasty, and lawyers have always been creative. But it looks like lawyers are getting even more creative.

At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Leonard Karp, a matrimonial lawyer from Tucson, Arizona, made a presentation about identifying unusual, overlooked, and exotic assets. Here are some of the items identified by Mr. Karp:



Frequent flyer miles, credit card reward points, and hotel reward points; security deposits for utilities and telephone; future interests in property (such as remainder interests that can be valued based upon actuarial tables); leased property such as timeshares and vehicles; stock options; early retirement benefits; non-vested deferred compensation plans; unused vacation and sick leave that has been accumulated and is paid at the time of retirement; pending income tax refunds and overpayments of taxes; net operating loss carry-forwards, capital loss carry-forwards, and charitable contribution carry-forwards that can be used in subsequent years; intellectual properties such as trademarks, patents, copyrights, and contracts for royalties; governmental marketable licenses (such as radio licenses, fishing quotas, etc.); “golden parachutes”; dissipated assets; appreciation of separate investment stock accounts by substantial marital efforts; hobby collections (such as Lionel train sets, etc.); future credit against the purchase price of the same product; retirement survivor benefits; sperm and/or unfertilized human eggs; contract rights; country club and other memberships that can be transferred; warranties; licenses and other rights to purchase sporting and entertainment tickets; non-competition agreements; lottery tickets; information databases; goodwill and celebrity goodwill; and reimbursement considerations with regard to pre-marital and post-marital agreements.

(Emphasis mine.)

The writer encourages going after miles and points in a divorce.

While a few thousand frequent flyer miles may not be worth pursuing, millions of miles and millions of credit card and hotel “usage points” probably are.



Frequent flyer miles and credit card points should be valued with relative ease because each program tells you exactly what you can expect to receive if you use a specific number of miles or points.

The problem for the divorce lawyer, of course, is that the miles aren’t transferable. The IRS says that they don’t have value. And certainly the airlines are unlikely to be accomodating.

Case closed, right?

Wrong. While a divorce lawyer is unlikely to be successful in actually securing a transfer of miles from one account to another, so miles are probably safe in a divorce, they might well demonstrate that the assets have value. Since they’re non-transferable, a divorce attorney might be able to secure additional other property in lieu of the miles and points.

At the very least it’s one more tool to get nasty in this type of proceeding.

Thanks for nothing

Pleased with workers who scored top marks on customer service, Air Canada recently picked 100 at random to give them a bonus — a C$5 ($3.78) hamburger coupon that expires in five weeks.



Employees winning the award were sent a personal letter containing the coupon, redeemable until Dec. 31 at the Harvey’s hamburger chain, Second Cup coffee shops or other restaurant outlet owned by Cara Operations Ltd., which provides food service for the insolvent airline.



Air Canada said the awards came at no cost to the carrier, mainly because the coupons will soon expire.

Rack up two stays at Radisson hotels by February 15, 2004 and earn elite status plus 5000 American Airlines miles. This is in addition to the normal Goldpoints earned on each stay. Registration required.

The European Commission plans to offer passports for pets. This would standardize travel documents issued by various European countries and would be valid throughout Europe, although Ireland, Sweden and Britain would still have additional vaccination requirements.

Progressive Scan DVD player for $29.99 after rebate with free shipping.

While we’re at it, via Gary Steiger’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles page:

If you are an Elite level member of another airline’s frequent flyer program, Frontier will make you an EarlyReturns Ascent member immediately, plus 5000 bonus miles for each flight (up to 15,000 bonus miles) for flights taken by January 31, 2004. Simply send in your name, EarlyReturns number, and most recent other airline statement showing your Elite status for 2003 to quickascent@flyfrontier.com or fax in a copy of your other airline statement to (720) 374-4375 (attn: Quick Ascent).

Airtran’s A-Plus Rewards program has an elite level, which normally takes “20 or more base credits flying AirTran Airways within any 90-day period” or “50 or more base credits flying AirTran Airways within any 365-day period” to qualify.

The website doesn’t seem to say how long the status will last. I’ve heard references, though, to the status lasting for life. In other words, once elite always elite. If true, this is a really valuable perk.

And in December, Airtran is offering up their elite status to anyone with elite status on another airline. I’m going to fill out their matching form and send it in. Seems like a pretty good deal to me!

The U.S. renewed its ban on travel to Libya but plans to review the policy every 90 days.

Lifting the ban would be good news for savvy travelers who would be able to travel to Libya and then begin international trips from there. Airfares ex-Tripoli are among the absolute lowest in the world. First class round the world fares (think 30,000 flown miles on a mix of international carriers) can be had for around US$3000!

Keith Alexander’s “Business Class” column in the Washington Post yesterday covered bonus mile offers for cell phone plans. Customers will find it easier to switch carriers now that they can keep their existing phone numbers.

My own expectation is that initial lucrative rebates and signup offers will become a bit less generous, because with greater potential for switching carriers down the road the lifetime value of a customer for a cell provider will be lower. However, there will be switching incentives and new incentives for re-upping on contracts. Previously bonus offers were generally only good for “new” customers. Now any customer not under contract ought to be seen as a “new” customer.

For a good summary of current mileage offers, check out the “telephone” section of Gary Steiger’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles page.

The Paris Hilton Sex Video. And it’s in full color, too.

I often order flowers, gift baskets, etc. both personally and for work. And ordering on the internet is the simplest way to go. So I’m always scrounging around for the most rewarding offers.

Here’s one that may fit the bill for some: through the end of the year, FTD.com is offering 15 American Airlines miles per dollar spent.

Members of the JetBlue frequent flyer program can enter to win a BMW X3. If you’re not yet a member of their program, you can sign up and then enter.

America West has been auctioning off tickets on E-bay. They’ll even sell in quantities.

TransportBlog says that EasyJet will carry more passengers than British Airways next year. Astonishing. Truly astonishing.

Get a 10% off coupon for Home Depot by filling out a short form.

Comcast has a new offer for 10,000 United miles with signup for high-speed cable internet.

Zagat is offering a free 30 day trial (no credit card required). Just sign up with promotion code 30FREE26B before November 26, 2003.

American Airlines brings back Dr. Pepper.