Northwest is again explicitly targeting Asia-Pacific frequent flyers with offers of an elite status match.

Details are rather scarce on the website, certainly they’ll match up to Gold (mid-tier) but I wonder whether they’ll go to Platinum since they’re looking for any possible incremental revenue while in bankruptcy. Presumably matched status will last through the end of the year. No information is provided on what documentation is required of your existing status levels.

In all likelihood this will operate in a similar manner as when they offered it in 2005, detailed discussion of which can be found at Flyertalk.com.

Check out the quick Northwest Worldperks 101 and take the quiz (you really can’t fail) and earn 100 miles plus you’ll be registered to earn 2,000 miles when flying within 90 days.

At the end of the quiz you have the option to move on to Worldperks 102 for another 100 miles plus you’ll be registered for 1,000 miles when making 2 qualifying purchases within 60 days.

The 200 miles for the quizzes post instantly.

Northwest Vacations is offering airfare and two nights in Hawaii from $94.

Choose one person. I’ve found travel between March 1 and March 31. You’re using promo code WVRQ400 and for the cheapest prices will want to pick Monday through Thursday travel. Cities other than Los Angeles for departures are slightly higher. And yes this deal earns Northwest miles.

Thanks to Flyertalk.

Update Jan 20: The cheapest deals are now gone and the promotion has been revised. No more $94 vacations. Here’s the new promotion in case anyone finds it useful.

Northwest is offering discounted award redemption from North America to Sydney for travel between February 1 and April 30, 2006.

The offer is a 20,000 mile reduction in cost for coach travel (reduced from 100,000 to 80,000 miles) and a 30,000 mile reduction for business class (reduced from 150,000 to 120,000 miles) and applies to travel on Air Tahiti Nui one-stop flights from either New York-JFK or Los Angeles via Papeete.

This still is an expensive award relative to competitors. United’s regular coach award to Australia is 60,000 miles and business class is 90,000 miles — 10,000 less than the usual Northwest coach award and only 10,000 more than the discounted coach award!

But for folks stuck in the Worldperks program this is a good deal, and in my experience Air Tahiti Nui offers excellent award redemption especially in premium classes of service.

Northwest now requires travelers seeking a bereavement fare to join its frequent flyer program first.

Jokes about bereavement fares are probably in poor taste, so I’ll leave it at that.

Northwest is offering double miles (which also count towards status) on Northwest and KLM through October 9th. Registration is required.

They say the offer is intended to match a similar one from United, which leads me to ask what double miles offer from United?

I haven’t seen one. I can’t find one on the United website. And as far as I can tell it hasn’t been mentioned on Flyertalk.com, which is as close as one can come to saying it doesn’t exist.

Maybe their corporate espionage folks knew about one coming down the pike? Here’s hoping…

Last year I explained why airlines instituted ‘fuel surcharges’ instead of simply announcing ‘price increases’.

One reason is that customers seem to accept price increases more readily when there’s a story that accompanies the change. Another reason is that surcharges are often permitted in negotiated corporate travel contracts that have fixed prices.

The dance that accompanies surcharges leads to some absurd explanations.

Northwest has announced that it will no longer ‘absorb’ passenger facility fees (which they have to pay to airports that they carry passengers cross), and as a result will be adding those fees onto tickets.

Gosh, I never knew that they were kindly ‘absorbing’ a fee for me. Turns out I was getting something for nothing!

Airlines have recently instituted ticketing fees for using their call centers or buying at the airport. One common explanation is that there’s a service which was previously being given away, now it will be purchased as though from an a la cart menu. Heh. I thought that it was just their cash register! Little did I know it was an extra optional service.

Northwest’s decision to increase fares for flights connecting through Houston and Memphis — which do not charge PFCs — puts the lie to Northwest’s claim that it is passing along a fee that it used to absorb.

Last month I detailed Northwest’s Fly Free Faster 5 bonus. Over the past week I’ve gone through the hoops to earn it.

Last weekend I applied for a Northwest Visa Signature, I received the card on Friday . That qualified me for the Fly Free Faster 5 bonus. I promptly registered that credit card to earn Northwest miles at iDine (er, “Rewards Network”) restaurants.

Last Monday I transferred 1000 Goldpoints into 125 Northwest miles and 1000 Diners Club Club Rewards points into 1000 Northwest points.

This weekend I racked up two iDines with the Northwest credit card.

Once those points post, and I receive the Visa bill, I’ll have 5 partner credits and I’ll receive the 10,000 bonus miles. The Visa will provide another 25,000 miles, and I’ll earn about another 2,000 miles from the partner activities.

A couple of Flyertalk members met with management from Northwest Airlines and the Worldperks program and filed this report.

An interesting read, though I’ll nitpick at a couple of explanations Northwest offers for decisions.

In keeping with its commitment to customer loyalty, WorldPerks currently has no plans to participate in the American Express Membership Rewards program. Northwest see this as simply: “Why should someone who has no loyalty to Northwest Airlines receive miles for the points they have in another loyalty program, and redeem them for awards, thus reducing the number of awards for loyal WorldPerks members?

If that’s the case, how come I can transfer points to Northwest from Diners Club, Starwood, Goldpoints, etc. etc.? And if the issue is sharing a fixed pie of award seats with folks other than Worldperks members, how come they allow redemption by members of Skyteam and other partners? (In the latter case, sure, Northwest members also access award seats on these partners to be sure.)

Northwest has also made a conscious decision not to “give away” WorldClub membership due to elite status in order to prevent overcrowding of the clubs and dissatisfaction of Club members

Then how come they let me in with my Amex Platinum card?

But other than some minor snarkiness on my part, I’d suggest giving the piece a read.

The D.O.C. Optics eyecare chain is offering Northwest miles for a variety of services. It’s been 1000 miles for purchases of glasses, and now 20,000 miles for laser eye surgery in suburban Detroit. (Hat tip to Today in the Sky.)

This has got to be up there with the 2500 Alaska mile guarantee from the Danny Schurman Home Selling System.

Northwest’s annual Fly Free Faster promotion is back. You can register now.

Fly Free Faster 5 offers 10,000 bonus miles for completing a qualifying activity and earning five partner credits between June 1 and September 30 (so hold your guns and don’t go flying Northwest yet!).

Qualifying activities include:

• taking two domestic roundtrips or one international roundtrip (or four or two one-ways, respectively) on Northwest or KLM
  
• signing up and paying the fee for a Northwest Visa
  
• purchasing a WorldClub membership

I’ve had the Northwest Visa and Northwest Business Visa in the past. I’m going to sign up for the Northwest Signature Visa, a new product, and earn the 15,000 bonus miles for the $90 annual fee.

You can earn two partner credits for each of:

• new service with MCI, EarthLink, Nextel, or T-Mobile
  
• real estate transaction with LendingTree
  
• purchasing 5,000 or more miles from the WorldPerks Buy & Gift Miles program.

You can earn a single partner credit for each of:

• stay at any qualifying hotel partner (and direct that stay to earn Northwest miles)
  
• Rent from any qualifying car rental partner (and direct the rental car to earn Northwest miles)
  
• Shop through the WorldPerks Mall (requires spending a minimum of $25 on a single item to qualify, you can earn one credit for each mall merchant)
  
• Earn Northwest miles at an iDine restaurant (up to 3 credits for separate dines)

There are other partner options as well, and it’s always best to check the actual terms and conditions of the offer first (and for that matter, print out a copy of your registration confirmation from Fly Free Faster Five as well).

I already know that I’ll earn partner credits by transferring 1000 Goldpoints into 125 Northwest miles, probably transferring 1000 Diners Club Club Rewards points into 1000 Northwest miles, and then registering my new Northwest Signature Visa to earn Northwest miles at iDine restaurants, where I’ll buy a beer or soda at three different establishments.

Northwest has new offers up for their co-branded credit cards issued by US Bank.

I’ve previously mentioned that US Bank is one of the biggest sticklers for one signup bonus per customer. However, a recent exchange with Gary Steiger (of Free Frequent Flyer Miles, where I came across this offer) made me realize that their limit is per card type.

I first signed up for the Platinum Visa a few years ago when the offer was for 25,000 bonus miles over 2 years, requiring $500 in spending with Northwest for part of those miles. That signup qualified me for the 2002 Fly Free Faster promotion that netted another 10,000 miles.

In 2003 I signed up for the Northwest Business Visa for 10,000 miles to qualify for that summer’s Fly Free Faster promotion. That was a different Visa type and I earned the bonus miles no problem. I assumed that I was done, though.

The current terms and conditions make clear that the Visa Signature is a different product, and so I should be able to earn bonus miles again. The offer for that card is 15,000 miles with first use and the annual fee is $90. I’ll likely use the offer in June, provided that Northwest reintroduces its Fly Free Faster promotion — 15,000 miles for the card, 10,000 miles from that promotion (along with a couple of small mile transfers into my Northwest account and/or purchases from the Northwest mall) will make for a pretty good deal.

Northwest Airlines, which operates a hub at Detroit, has been cited for bringing in beer from out of state for service on its flights. Michigan law requires that beer must be purchased from state-licensed wholesalers.

(Northwest serves out of state beer on planes only, not in its clubs which are supplied by local distributors.)

Karen Wilson, chief executive at Central Distributors of Beer in Romulus, said her company notified the Liquor Control Commission after some of her salespeople noticed pallets of beer bearing a Minnesota distributor’s name were delivered to Northwest at Metro Airport. Central Distributors has the exclusive rights to distribute Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch beers across much of western Wayne County, including Metro Airport.



A liquor commission investigator determined that the airline was illegally importing alcohol into Michigan and was breaking the law by purchasing from an unlicensed source.

The action is purely protectionism for local Michigan distributors who want to force Northwest to buy from them. What’s more, they’re lobbying the state to require monopoly distribution for wine in addition to beer.

Currently, only Northwest is targeted. Other airlines fly beer into Detroit and then back out on the same planes.

A pending Supreme Court decision, to be released this spring or summer, will look at whether protectionism for state liquor distributors is an unconstitutional restraint on interstate commerce (whose regulation is the purview solely of the federal government) or whether the constitutional amendment ending prohibition gave states the power to regulate alcohol in any way they want — for whatever reason, including personal financial gain of the distributors lobby.

Another reason that I picked Northwest for Best Website in the Freddie Awards balloting — they’ve just introduced online redemption for upgrade awards.

Most airline programs won’t even tell you when upgrades are available. Most won’t even display their upgrade inventory buckets publicly in the Global Distribution Systems. They keep the information proprietary and you have to call and and waste tremendous amounts of your (and their agents’) time.

Sure, there are workarounds. With United you can search for award travel in expert mode and the upgrade buckets appear (e.g. X is the first class upgrade bucket, I is for upgrading to business class). But nothing replaces good ‘ol functionality, and it looks like Northwest has got it.

The Northwest Visa comes with a 10,000 mile signup offer.

Northwest’s Fly Free Faster Second Chance bonus which runs through February 15th will award 5,000 miles for signing up for the Visa and completing two partner activities such as Mileage Mall purchases (minimum $25) or hotel stays or car rentals. Registration is required.

If you register by December 31st in the Mile-Zilla promotion and get the card by January 31st, you’ll get another 1,000 miles.

So your Northwest Visa signup by January 31st will net 16,000 miles. Plus you’re on your way to additional miles in the Mile-Zilla promotion with 40 credits. Ten more credits yields an additional 500 bonus miles, and can be earned by signing up for My NWA Info (5 points, but don’t do it until you’ve registered for Mile-Zilla!) and crediting another car or hotel stay to your Northwst account (5 points).

Northwest has announced changes to elite qualification for 2005 and changes to its award charts as well.

Business class flights from the U.S. to Europe are going from 80,000 to 100,000 miles roundtrip. Oddly, first class to Europe remains 100,000 miles roundtrip.

Flights to Asia in business class are going from 90,000 miles to 120,000 miles. First class is going from 120,000 miles to 160,000 miles.

Travel to Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific (such as French Polynesia) is going from 80k/110k/140k for coach/business/first class all the way to 100k/150k/200k.

The above changes are huge devaluations of the Worldperks programs from my point of view. I just redeemed an American Airlines 145,000 mile first class award to French Polynesia and Australia using Air Tahiti Nui and Qantas. The same destinations on Northwest would cost more than a third more miles. Overnight an entire stash of Northwest miles is worth far less. Where are currency boards and a strong federal reserve when we need them?!

Mileage upgrade prices are going up, too. Currently an upgrade across the Pacific to Asia is 12,500 miles on a full fare ticket and 25,000 miles on an almost-full fare ticket. These prices are going to 15,000 miles and 30,000 miles respectively.

Even more dramatically, mileage upgrades to Europe are going from 10,000 miles and 20,000 miles to 15,000 miles and 30,000 miles.

Another change to note: Inter-island Hawaii flights are going up from 5,000 miles each way to 10,000 miles. This brings Northwest in line with other major carriers except United which continues to offer the 5,000 mile award.

The upshot is that Northwest has maintained, more or less, its elite qualification rules and benefits though it hasn’t improved them. They’ve gutted their award redemption. Since Northwest award availability isn’t great to begin with, they really aren’t a carrier where you should be accumulated reasonably large stashes of mileage.

Hat tip to Steve Levin.