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Filed under: Business, Airlines, News

Are frequent flyer miles worth collecting anymore? I’ve asked that question elsewhere, and have been advocating the use of credit cards paying up to 5% cash back as a better alternative for many travelers who rack up most of their miles using airline-affiliated credit cards. For many people, now that there are new fees associated with cashing in miles, the answer is no.

Most of us travel domestic economy, and $25,000 spent on a frequent flyer credit card only gets you a domestic coach ticket, assuming you can even find available seats and aren’t paying a fee to cash in the miles at short notice or to redeposit them if you change your mind. That same $25,000 spent on a 5% cash back card gets you $750 which you can spend anyway you wish. You might even be able to find a seat to Hawaii. Try that with your frequent flyer miles.

So do I personally collect miles with a frequent flyer credit card? You bet I do. Recently, I applied for a British Airways Chase Visa card ($75 annual fee), but only because they were awarding 100,000 miles after you charged a paltry $2000 to the card (caveat: sadly, this offer is no longer available). My BA Executive Club account had something like 300 miles in it, so it was time to top it up. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere in particular, but just a few days ago I learned that my Oxford college was having a reunion, and I thought, fun, might as well go.

So I went to spend some miles. What I found at ba.com was pretty shocking. On the day in April that I wanted to fly from New York to London, I had exactly one option: a first class seat for 75,000 miles. And the return didn’t look much better, although there were several business class seats on BA’s new London City Airport to JFK all-business-class flight for 50,000 points. Award seats in economy (not that I was devastated) were sold out in both directions.

Needless to say, I didn’t have enough points, but BA kindly suggested that I buy the outward-bound first class flight with miles plus $285 in cash and $163 in fees and surcharges. Not that my return flight was free either. I got hit with a fuel surcharge plus taxes and fees of $358.

So my “free” flight, including the BA Chase card’s $75 fee, ended up costing me $881. Still, not bad considering that when I checked on Expedia.com, these same flights would have cost over $14,000 had I bought them with cash. Lesson learned: if you play your credit cards right, collecting frequent flyer miles with them can indeed pay off. Just don’t expect to have a lot of seat choice or to get something for nothing.

George Hobica is the founder of Airfarewatchdog[TM], the most inclusive source of airfare deals that have been researched and verified by experts. Airfarewatchdog compares fares from all airlines and includes the increasing number of airline-site-only and promo code fares.

Sometimes, collecting frequent flyer miles with a credit card pays off originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Airlines, Airports

Now that the airlines have raised, yet again, their fees for checked bags, it’s time to take another look at the alternative: shipping your bags, or better yet (if you’re staying in one place once you arrive) just the contents of your bag ahead of your arrival using economical ground shipping services.

Why deal with the airlines, when UPS Ground and FedEx Ground offer better tracking, insurance and security, can be much cheaper in some scenarios, and will actually refund your shipping fee if there’s a delay or loss? No waiting in line at the airport! No pilferage! No schlepping!

Airfarewatchdog.com has looked at four domestic route scenarios (short, medium, and long haul) and compared three shipping services and two airlines (one with high bag fees, and one with low fees) to see how much you can save by not entrusting your bags to the airlines.

Continue reading What? You’re still paying the airlines to carry your bags?

What? You’re still paying the airlines to carry your bags? originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Business, Airlines, Budget Travel, Consumer Activism

Recently, I was asked by a news service if Airfarewatchdog would be interested in providing airfare statistics on various routes to compare average airfares from month to month and year to year.

I don’t think this was the answer they were hoping for, but this is what I told them:

It’s really, really hard to get accurate, meaningful airfare statistics. In fact, it’s pretty much impossible. There are so many different types of fares sold, such as consolidator (bucket), corporate, and negotiated fares, in addition to published airfares. And airlines do not divulge, for competitive reasons, how many seats they actually sell at what fares on what routes. The airlines’ published fares are public record, and they do report overall revenue figures for the airline as whole, but ticketed fares route by route, or airport by airport? My friends who are airline insiders tell me it’d never happen.

As Singapore Airlines spokesperson James Boyd explains, “When an airline launches a sale, it’s an attempt to grab market share. An airline would never publicize how many seats were sold at what price on what routes, because it would give competitors too much information.”

The best one can do is to compile sales data from large ticket sellers, such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, route by route, and figure out what consumers actually paid for their tickets over various time periods. Still, this data will not include all fares sold to the public (in addition to the fare types mentioned above, airlines are increasingly selling special promo code fares on their own web sites in order to drive web traffic and undercut the third party online agencies). And none of the online travel agencies sell Southwest Airlines’ or Allegiant Airlines’ fares, so that’s another missing piece of the puzzle.

Continue reading Lies, damned lies, and airfare statistics

Lies, damned lies, and airfare statistics originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think that all airlines are losing business during the recession? Not quite. Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways saw their traffic jump 9 and 10 percent, respectively, in September, while United’s was down 6 percent. Other airlines suffered traffic declines as well. Could it be that consumers are flocking to airlines known for having better service (e.g., JetBlue’s extra legroom, free snacks, and live TV) and lower fees than most of their competition (Southwest has lower fees across the board where they do charge a fee)? Is one reason the airline industry is in such dire shape because the product has deteriorated to the point where people just don’t want to fly at any price?

A recent reader poll by Consumertraveler.com crowned Southwest as respondents’ favorite airline, with 71 percent saying that service was the reason why. The same poll revealed that “comfortable seating” was the main reason consumers who chose JetBlue as their favorite did so.

Airlines are losing money ($11 billion worldwide this year, according to one estimate), fewer people are flying, and, despite capacity cuts, the average fare paid is going down. Now one would think that if you have fewer seats to sell you’d be able to charge more for those remaining. But while scarcity pricing works in most other industries, it appears not to in air travel. The airlines park planes in the desert, but fares stay the same on most routes or go down (depending on which statistics you believe, average ticketed fares have fallen about 20 percent this year compared to last, far more than prices have dived in most other industries). So why is there insufficient demand for air travel?

Continue reading Why people aren’t flying. (Hint: It’s not just the fares)

Why people aren’t flying. (Hint: It’s not just the fares) originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Business, Airlines

Airfarewatchdog visited recently a new restaurant in our neighborhood and boy were we surprised at what we saw on the menu.

That’s right, diners! This restaurant is under new management! At Trans Air Airlines, we sure weren’t making money flying people places, so we thought what the heck, why not try the fine dining business to earn some “ancillary revenue” as we like to call it. While you’re waiting for your server to take your order, please enjoy reading about this exciting new concept!

First of all, we’ll now be giving discounts if you buy your meal online in advance of your visit. If you must cancel your reservation, we will provide a refund, minus a $100 “service fee” ($250 for foreign-sounding menu items, such as Coq au Vin). If you have commenced your meal but cannot finish it for any reason, there are no refunds. This applies, for example, if you choke on a fishbone, turn blue, and collapse face first into the mashed sweet potatoes.

And although we aim for exemplary service (we are Trans Air, after all), please be advised that from time to time, due to circumstances beyond our control or any other Force Majeure event (that’s a French term meaning “anything we refuse to take responsibility for”), we reserve the right to cancel your meal without notice. Or we may substitute an entrée of our choosing, say, the Steak and Frites a la Nonstop ($17.95 plus meals tax, sales tax, Federal meals excise tax, city kitchen inspection fee, electricity surcharge, and whatever other fees we can dream up now or in the future) with the Connection Burger ($7.95) or any other meal of our choice. As per our policy, in the event of such substitution you will receive a refund for any price difference, minus a “service fee” (see above). Meal delivery times are also not guaranteed, although delays of more than six hours are uncommon. Unfortunately, we require that you remain at your table while waiting.

Continue reading Welcome to the first airline-owned restaurant!

Welcome to the first airline-owned restaurant! originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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