Last month I mentioned American Airlines matching British Airways’ megabonus for premium class tickets to Europe, and said that United couldn’t be far behind.
Indeed, United is offering 42,000 bonus miles for first and business class roundtrip tickets to Europe flown by December 31. Registration is required.
As described in today’s MilesLink Newsletter, Airtran and Wendy’s have partnered to give away credits in the Airtran frequent flyer program when you buy drinks or combo meals at Wendys.
You earn a quarter of a rewards credit for each combo, 20 or 32 ounce drink purchased at participating Wendys through December 31st.
An Airtran coupon will be printed on the cup. You can only buy five drinks per transaction, so you may need to go stand in line a few times or circle ’round the drivethrough.
Since there’s a cap of 32 Airtran A+ Rewards credits (enough for two roundtrip coach tickets on Airtran, or if you prefer Airtran will buy you a single roundtrip ticket on another airline) you can’t become the next Pudding Guy (and you won’t get a movie made about your mileage exploits)
Here’s the discussion on Flyertalk. Here’s the FatWallet discussion.
If network television can be unpriced to the consumer, financed by advertising, why can’t airline travel be financed by ancillary revenue as well?
Ryanair gave away about a quarter of its seats last year and that figure could rise to between 50 and 100 percent depending on how ancillary revenues grow, O’Leary said.
“Ultimately entertainment will be where the money is,” he told reporters, while answering questions about his plans to introduce gaming and gambling onboard, probably in 2007.
“It would transform ancillary revenues and profits,” he said. “We’ll probably announce a gambling partner (company) in the next 2-3 months.”
I’m not sure I believe this will become their business model, but I do believe they’re looking at it.
Starwood is offering triple points on hotel stays between November 28 and December 21. While Starwood is famous for doing only targeted promos, for once it appears as though this is open to everyone. Registration is required.
And speaking of targeted promos, some holders of the Starwood American Express card are in the middle of a 50% bonus on all spending (Oct 1 – Nov 30). I wasn’t targeted. I wasn’t targeted last summer for double points on all spending above a certain threshold last year either. Apparently I use the card too much, they don’t feel the need to incentivize me further. I wrote to American Express last year to express my displeasure, their executive offices called me and they dropped a large number of points (likely more than I’d have earned from the bonus…) into my account as an apology.
Starting tomorrow I’ll be guest-blogging over at Marginal Revolution for five or six days.
Check out my postings over there.
For several years Amtrak has been using revenue management techniques in the midwest. Now they’ve introduced the concept to the Northeast Corridor.
The new structure is based on the level of sales prior to departure. The more popular the route, such as the Northeast Corridor Metroliner or Acela on a Friday afternoon, the higher the last-minute rate.
“If a train is almost sold out, you may pay a higher fare if you book at the last minute,” said Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell.
My first reaction was that this is long overdue from a business prudence standpoint, but anathema to travelers. My second reaction was that a key competitive advantage that Amtrak has over the various airline shuttle products is convenience and price flexibility. It remains to be seen how this higher pricing will translate in terms of ridership.
Furthermore, alas, most current Amtrak discounts require a 3-day advance purchase.
An entire airline is for sale on eBay.
HotelChatter offers some suggestions for Manhattan’s Soho Grand Hotel to help make it worth the $400 per night price tag.
Key items are to update the rooms (flat screen tvs would help) and to get the free wireless working better. Note that language in the link isn’t 100% family friendly..
