Categories: Frequent Flier

Continental Sells the Exit Row; Are You Fit For It?

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 05

Continental Airlines took a new step this week to boost revenue, announcing that it will sell exit row seats starting on March 17. “Seats with additional legroom are higher-value seats,…

Freddie’s Dead, and Airline Mileage Fanatics Mourn

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 04

The most prominent annual recognition for hotel and frequent flier programs, the Freddie Awards, has ended after 21 years. Randy Petersen, the publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, who started…

United Launches a Mileage Sale

Posted by: Justin Bachman on July 16

United Airlines (UAUA) launched an attractive discount this week on mileage awards. The lower redemption levels are 20,000 miles for a domestic ticket, down from 25,000 (and 30,000 to Hawaii,…

How Frequent Flier Miles are Addictive — For Airlines, Too

Posted by: Justin Bachman on June 11

Caffeine, food, sex, drugs, shopping – the list of addictions common in modern society is long. Do we harbor a similar propensity toward frequent flier miles? I began wondering this…

American’s frequent flier changes

Posted by: Dean Foust on May 26

Since some readers come at this blog not through our home page, but through other links, guess there’s no harm in mentioning that I wrote a story on American Airlines’…

American Unshackles the Miles

Posted by: Justin Bachman on May 12

Kudos are in order for American Airlines’ (AMR) decision to give members of its frequent-flier program new flexibility on using those miles. The second-largest U.S. airline will now let travelers…

Airline Bonus Miles Return

Posted by: Justin Bachman on April 28

The airline response to no-fee-tickets at Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz is rolling out: Bonus miles. On April 28, Delta (DAL) reinstated its 500-mile roundtrip booking bonus for tickets purchased at…

Continental Leaving SkyTeam Oct. 24

Posted by: Justin Bachman on January 30

Continental (CAL) will formally leave the SkyTeam alliance after its last scheduled flight on Oct. 24, becoming the 22nd member of the Star Alliance, the largest of the international airline…

Frequent Flying, or Frequent Frustration?

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 18

If you are one of those millions of airline mile chasers, there’s a worthy read in The New York Times about the pursuit of said miles via credit card purchases….

Miles for Charitable Giving

Posted by: Justin Bachman on May 20

Can a good deed be bribed? The answer may be yes. United Airlines said today that it will offer 500 miles for any donation of $50 or more to the…

Mileage Plus or Mileage Minus?

Posted by: Justin Bachman on May 15

No more 500-mile minimums on United as of July 1. Chalk up this change in Mileage Plus to further penny-pinching, given that those unflown miles from Denver to Aspen…

Delta’s $50 Lure

Posted by: Justin Bachman on May 01

The JFK-West Coast Wars may be even more heated than we suspected. Delta dropped an e-mail in my inbox this evening with a somewhat novel promotion: a $50 American Express…

The Great Mileage Pursuit

Posted by: Justin Bachman on April 03

The New York Times carried an interesting story earlier this week about the explosive growth of frequent flier programs and how they represent a nifty little bonanza for the airlines….

The Problem with E-tickets

Posted by: Diane Brady on March 10

Here’s a peril of the “e-ticket”: You could buy your ticket months in advance, pay for it and then be charged again if you show up at the airport with…

US Airways cuts minimum miles for each trip

Posted by: Dean Foust on February 20

Maybe I’m old….nah, that can’t be it…but I remember when airlines would credit you for a minimum 1,000 frequent flier miles on each leg of a flight you took, and…