I live in NY, we have dozens of ticket consolidators . I am able to buy tickets to Rio very cheap, that combined with the OnePass plan that Continental has, insures that I can travel to Brasil frequently.

Some of my friends go on gambling or golf trips every other month, I choose to go to Rio. The money I save from not doing those activities is more than enough to pay for my trips. Also, I take many 4 or 5 day trips, whenever there is a 3 dayweekend, i will take the friday off and make a quick 4day/3night trip.

Having my own corporation helps ALOT!! I get to write off my tickets, hotel and food as business expenses! If it all had to come out of my pocket there is no way i could afford to go that often.

Thumper, can you please give me more info on ticket consolidators and Continental's OnePass plan? I live in NY as well. THANKS!!

Thumper: CO does EWR-GIG ?
Chris: Look up the Sunday's NYT, travel section for info on NY based consolidators.

Citydude,

The only non-stop flight from NYC area to GIG is with American from JFK. CO connects though Houston, or Sao Paulo.

I would avoid CO Onepass for Int'l flights. Their upgrades require a steep base fare, or a few hundred dollars+miles.

AA lets you upgrade from any published fare with miles.

Dood

There are pluses and minuses for both airlines and FF programs. Currently, CO has a stop via Sao Paulo from EWR. Prior to 9/11, it had a non-stop. The CO return from Rio leaves at 7 or 8PM, while the AA leaves at 10 or 11, giving you more time for fun and games. Dood detailed the more favorable AA upgrade policies.

However, CO takes only 35K miles for a One Pass freebie to Rio with no peak periods, while AA takes 40K for non-peak and 50K for peak periods. If you are a One Pass platinum card holder, which I assume Thumper is, he gets 125% credit for miles flown. One roundtrip flight to Rio earns 25K with the Sao Paulo stop. If Thumper flies twice on CO to Rio, the next one is free with 15K to spare. If he flies three times to Rio, he accumulates enough miles for two additional free flights to Rio. Even if he only flies once to Rio (earns 25K) but also flies east to west coast (earns 12K), he earns a freebie to Rio. Unfortunately, some consolidator and bucket shop tickets don't earn FF miles.

It looks like this thread is going in a different direction. Obviously we both travel a lot.

CO actually has 2 levels of awards, the standard RT which is 35k (sorry, but I have to add this: IF you can get one, and probably not a big deal but it also requires a sat night stay), and the no restrictions pull any seat any time award for 70k. Both awards DO NOT allow stopovers, even though the plane stops in Sao Paulo, you can't stay there.

AA offers three. Plan ahead (at least 21 days in advance) 40k off peak (3/1 - 5/31, 8/16 - 11/30), Plan ahead 60k all year, and anytime any seat any flight for 100k. All three of these awards allow a stopover. A very big "aadvantage" to AA if you'd like to stop in Sao Paulo for a few days, then continue on to Rio, or go to Rio for a few days (or whatever many days) and continue on to Salvador, Recife, or Sao Paulo for the same amount of miles, no matter what award you use! Mix and match cities any way you like. I shold also add that AA miles are good on TAM as well for 40k (Off peak, same dates), 60k whenever, 90k for business and 125k for first.

I guess it all depends on what your needs are. I prefer to earn, then burn so I always buy a coach ticket and upgrade. I still earn miles and I get to sit in business class. To do that on CO you'd buy the $700-$900 ticket, then it would cost you 40k miles plus $300-$400 for a CHANCE to upgrade. They won't confirm it. With AA, it's 50k miles, and confirmed on the spot if available, and in my experience, it's always been available.

Also, at AA's top level you get 16 free upgrades the first year and 8 per year after that.

Maybe we need to start a flying thread.

Almost getting back on topic: I just finished the 4-disc Pimsleur set (twice actually) and I leave in 5 DAYS!!!

Dood

It seems we should move this thread to Frequent Flyer forums such as flyertalk or similar

Thumper - 5-10X a year - Wow !!! I hope your Org/Co. has an agressive corp. plan

We, just shut down PTY in Jan'02 - So there went my weekend puddle-hoppers to SJO

This was sent to be by another dude

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/006820.html

For those of you who travel within Brazil it may be worth considering carrying the Diners Club card. While I don't particularly like the company (including Citibank, its owner) there is one advantage this card has and that is it gives you free access to the Diners Club lounges at Congonhas (Sao Paulo domestic) and St. Dumont (Rio domestic), and I suspect perhaps some other Brazilian airports. Although the lounges are not great, they have computers hooked up to the internet which you can use for free (assuming they are not all taken) and free coffee, tv, etc. More comfortable than staying at the gate area. Also, during the first year, assuming you sign up for the card through their seemingly always on promotion, you get 1,000 frequent flyer miles every month you use the card. I was going to chuck the card this year (after accumulating the free miles) but decided to keep it primarily because of the lounge access.

There is also a lounge at the SP/Guarulhos Int'l Airport.

And another great kicker is the free van service between the airport and the city, for those of you not on business w/ expense accounts.

Those complimentary ride make the difference for me! Along with the best rental car coverage in the good old U.S. of A!

Damn! I didn't know about the complementary van service. Which airports does this apply to, and how does one go about getting the van? Also, how often does it run?

Diners runs a van service at both int'l and dom airports in SP/Rio. GRU and CGH, GIG and SDU.

SP/GRU has the most hourly service between there and the Hotel Maksoud Plaza. They do offer a limited service between GRU and CGH.

Rio/GIG has a every other hour van service to Hotel Atlantico Copacabana and back. With a stop-over to SDU, but no pick-ups there. Meaning if and when I land in SDU, I catch a cab to my hotel. But I do use the service to fly out, whether it be SDU or GIG.

When you return, just stop by any lounge and get a schedule. And enjoy the complimentary service!

p.s. for some reason, if I take my g/f or any other female it's also free. If I take a male person, they charge you about 20R to your DC.

I saw this FF mile xfer tool on another website and thought it was cool enough to pass along:

New WebFlyer Tool the Answer to Would-be Mileage Combiners' Prayers
(Posted: Jul 28, 2004)

Can I combine the miles and points from all my separate programs into one account? How can I move 3,000 miles into my favorite program to get that award I want? Can I transfer orphan miles to an account where I can use them?

As a frequent traveler, you've more than likely been curious to know the answer to one, or all, of these questions at some point in your traveling career.

Thanks to our new Mileage Converter tool, you won't have to be curious anymore.

Mileage Converter is a database-driven application that shows frequent travelers how to transfer miles, points, kilometers and credits between any two programs. Users simply select a program they would like to transfer miles out of, enter the mileage amount they would like to transfer, and select a program into which they would like to move the miles, and the Mileage Converter finds all the possible ways to make the transaction.

For example, a frequent flyer who wants to transfer 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into United Mileage Plus miles would enter this information -- and they would find that there are no less than 209 ways to convert that amount of currency between the two programs at the time of this writing (new data is continually being added, which means the number of conversions options change as well).

And that's just one example. With the Mileage Converter, we also found there are 88 ways to transfer between Continental OnePass and America West FlightFund, 1,002 options between AmEx and American AAdvantage, and a whopping 3,085 ways to move points from Marriott Rewards to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

It goes without saying not all of these conversion options are of equal value. The "paths" that provide the best results are displayed in an easy-to-read format. And any restrictions associated with a given path can be found by clicking on a handy "Details and Notes" link.

The Mileage Converter also offers a feature to assist those who want to add miles, points or whatever to a certain account. Say, for example, you want to transfer 3,000 miles into your American AAdvantage account, and you want to transfer the necessary miles out of your Continental OnePass account. Enter this information and the converter will show you the amount of miles/points that would need to be transferred from OnePass in order to arrive at 3,000 AAdvantage miles.

The data will be updated continuously to reflect special, limited-time promotional offers and changes in award charts. To discover all of your transfer options, go to http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter.

A word of caution: As cool and useful as this tool is, it is still recommended you consider your options very carefully before transferring your miles/points between programs, as the loss in value can often be astounding.

Still, the Mileage Converter tool is fun to play around with, and every once in awhile you just might stumble upon a conversion option that's too good to pass up.

Wow, that is cool.

I have a stupid question.

I have a lot of frequent flyer miles on CO. I'm planning a trip to the PI this fall and know that EVA will give CO miles. Here's the question, do I use my CO FF number when signing up or do I have to enroll in EVA's program and then transfer?

This seems like something I should know, but I guess I'm just not to smart.

I know a lot of people do not like CO OnePass program, but where I live they are basically the only carrier that flies directly into the U.S.

Many people won't know this, no worries. But you have to give EVA your CO FF # at reservation and again upon check in to be sure. Make sure to confirm every chance you get that they have your CO FF #. EVA will not let you transfer after the flight.

Actually, you would need to reserve through Continental if using Continental miles.

Thanks Merlin, that'll help.

Cat, not using miles on this trip, just accumulating.

Thanks again!

EA

(Message edited by el_apodo on August 04, 2006)

If I book a trip on Delta airlines thru an online agent or a ticket consolidator, will I have the option of upgrading to business class with FF miles, or do I have to book directly with Delta to upgrade?

It depends on whether the fare you booked is upgradeable. The way you purchased the ticket is irrelevent. If you booked a fare code that is not upgradable, then there's not a lot you can do.

Also, depending on the destination, your chances of getting an upgrade on any ticket may be slim to none in the present environment. For example, from my recent research it appears that upgrades using miles on Delta flights to South America are close to non-existent, at least if booked for a date in the next few months and assuming you are planning on using the Saver rather than Choice option (the Choice option requires twice as many miles). At the least you will want to check availability before purchasing the ticket if getting an upgrade is important to you.

Interestingly I have not had problems getting upgrades on United. I have two international trips coming up (Thailand/Indonesia, Brazil) and I got upgrades on both, although I was using systemwide upgrade certs rather than miles.

Actually, Bwana you raise (in an indirect way) a point I have been meaning to ask United about, although I'm not sure I'll get a reliable answer.

Do systemwide upgrades have priority over mile upgrades? I suspect they do, but don't know this for a fact. The answer actually would affect one of my upcoming decisions. Anyone know?

And, incidentally, the last four or five times I tried to use a systemwide upgrade from business class to first class on a United flight to/from South America, they put me on a waiting list rather than confirm the upgrade at the time of booking. In one case, they only upgraded me after I was already seated in a business class seat. OTOH, first class on United South America flights is a joke, hardly worth the use of an upgrade unless you have one that would otherwise expire. On the third hand, I had no trouble using systemwides to upgrade from economy to business class on a recent United trip to/from Bangkok.

On United, it's miles > systemwides > regionals > 500 milers. Within each category, status kicks in with Global Services > 1K > 1P > 2P.

Maybe. Maybe not. It's a popular topic on flyertalk.com and, just when people think they have it figured out, people come up with counter examples.

Conventional wisdom for international flights is that there are two priority lists before the flight is released to airport control. The "A" list has upgrades using SWUs while the "B" list has upgrades using miles. Both lists are FIFO and the "A" list clears completely before the "B" list. Once the flight is released to the airport (24 hours in advance of the flight), the lists are consolidated (the "DM" list) and re-sorted based on status/fare class/time added to the list.

But that's conventional wisdom and there are lots of postings from people saying that CSRs told them that their mile upgrades were on the "A" list or that actual check-in time is an important factor. It's hard to know what is really happening or even of the process is consistent over time.

My read is that instrument (SWU, miles) trumps status before the DM list gets created, status trumps instrument once the DM list is created, and the gate agent can throw the list out the window in the name of getting the airplane out on-time.

My own world view (as a 1K) is that if I have to wait-list, I'm not going to pay for an "M" fare and hope it works out with miles if I can get a cheaper fare and use a SWU. Depending on my travel plans and SWU expiration dates, I might pay the extra and use miles if I can confirm the upgrade at booking.

Inventory Management is stingy with F availability for both awards and upgrades to SA. They were horrible for C last year but 2007 looks better so far. BKK is good sometimes and sucks other times. I've never seen any pattern although I'm sure UA has a system.

My SWU waitlist has always cleared for IAD-EZE-IAD when I was in an eligible fare class. EZE-IAD even cleared a couple of times when I was in an ineligible class (but not the last time).

With regard to South American travel, although I am a global services customer with a few systemwides to burn, I've decided its much better to fly TAM to/from Brazil business class than United first class using the upgrades. TAM business class FAR exceeds United First Class on the South American routes, both in terms of accomodations (much more room and a much better seat) and service. The only problem is making the connection to the TAM flights in the U.S., which leave from JFK and Miami.

A bit off topic but I saw that UA is doing first class upgrades on their widebodies. Has anyone heard if they will ever upgrade their 767 interiors? The UA 767 sucks.

I have always gotten upgrades on UA if I have tried. I have even been able to use SWU at the airport on S/T class tickets.

They're redoing F on the 767-300s, I think they're also going to the same for C. I've flown down on United about a dozen times, in F, C and E+. I don't consider First worth the upgrade or the miles, the only reason I've sat there twice is because there were saver awards in First but just standard in Business and it used less miles. Out of those dozen trips I've used FF miles on eleven, the one time I paid I had an ineligible for SWU southbound segment and used miles to upgrade. I used an SWU on the return no problem.

Business does suck on the 767-300. Narrow seats and cruddy service from the skyhags. Coach however is far superior to AA coach, with E+ and the personal video at every seat, plus 18" wide seats on United vs 17" and change on AA. AA Business is excellent, however.

Strider- your analysis seems on target.

Laguy- Given that I simply get in my seat and sleep the entire flight, I prefer the cheaper option of buying United coach and upgrading to business. The ORD-GRU flight gives me a good night's sleep, while flying out of Miami leaves me an hour or two short. Otherwise, I agree that TAM's business class is quite nice.

KKM- I agree; I hate the 767s. I'm hoping they'll retire the whole damn fleet of them and move to the forthcoming 787s.

Cat: Who told you they were re-doing first class on the 767-300s? I asked a UA pilot (who was flying in first class) a couple of weeks back (as I was complaining to him about how United had the worst international first-class of all the major carriers) and he said they were not going to do this; he also seemed to know alot. I hope he was wrong.

My mistake, it's AA that's upgrading some of their 767s.

Do you guys remember the 767-200s that United used up until a year or so ago? With the non-E+ and the original early-80s cabin? Imagine trying to fly for 9 hours on one of those, they were horrible planes to spend time on. The United DC-10s that died out five years ago were better than those.

Back when I flew AA (over the last ten years I've alternated boycotts of AA and United, depending on which has pissed me off the most recently) the 767's flying to South America were two class aircraft, economy and business class. If they are upgrading these, I suspect they are installing first class. For those who fly AA and don't always fly economy, let's hope the first class they are installing is better than United's 767 mis-named first class. (Incidentally, first class on United's 777's--which don't fly to South America anymore--is fine, as I believe is American's).

I have heard various information depending who I talk with about upgrades to UA 767s (I make a point of telling just about every UA person I talk to that this is the worst plane in the sky both domestic version and international) but have never read anything official about upgrades. It really ticked me off when I recently saw that UA was going to upgrade first class on 777 and 747 because they already have a pretty nice first class on those planes. Everyone in the industry is upgrading (or upgraded) business class to lay flat seats and UA does not upgrade business but instead upgrades first class. The only thing UA business class has going for it is you get to sit upstairs on the 47, which I still think is kewl. As a Denver flyer I am pretty much stuck with UA and while I think they have got better over the past year (the way the average employees treat you), they still make some of the stupidest business decisions I have ever seen. Their thinking now seems to be to cater to Global Services even at the cost of their 100K customers (just my observation). Even E+ isn’t that great on the 67 because the seats are old and the cushioning is hosed, imo.

The even funnier joke is the red carpet club in Denver. Torn seats disgusting bathrooms and is it a hub. The Presidents club is way nicer and they hardly fly at all out of Denver. Not to mention they have free wireless.

I'm a global services customer and as far as I'm concerned I am treated better by many other airlines where I either have no frequent flyer status, or minimal status. As to treating Global Services customers well, United talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk.

I'm a United 1K and I don't see a big difference at all between being a 1P and 1K. SWUs and CR1s so sure, the upgrade opportunities are better but same shitty flight attendents, same rude gate agents and counter people, same beligerent matrons at the RCC.

LA, I'm similar to you in that I seem to be boycotting either UA or AA. I was real high on AA until they started putting seats back into coach a couple of years ago and started yanking blankets and pillows and everything.

I used my American Airlines ff miles to get a ticket to Panama. When I was living in SAT they could not get me to Panama City in one day...instead, they could get me to Dallas then to Miami with a RON or to Dallas RON with an early AM departure into Miami. That really sucked.

But for an extra 5K miles, they routed me thru on TACA. AA flew me to DFW on one of their aircraft where I caught a TACA flight to El Salvador, Costa Rica, then into Panama.

Although I had numerous stops adding-up to 11-hours...I really enjoyed the TACA flights. The jet was new and very clean. Seats were comfortable and they seemed to have an extra 2 or 3 flight attendants (great service). Food was good too.

I'd fly TACA again in a heartbeat.

AJ

Damn am I in a quandary about making Brazil reservations of late. Up until this year I have been able to find prices all within the same range for UA, Continental, and Delta (between $650 and $750) often with UA the cheapest. Since the beginning of the year, through these same sites, I am finding Continental and Delta for $730 consistently, but the best fares on UA have shot up to over $900 ($930 - $980). I live in CO and so in general fly UA exclusively and while they have their problems, I believe, they are improving and they offer one thing no one else does – Economy Plus. I have also recently changed jobs and no longer travel so fun trips are now my only miles source (so if I want status I must stick to one airline).

I recently flew a Continental 767 and while those planes are newer and nicer not having Economy Plus absolutely sucks. I am just not sure if I am willing to suck up $200 per flight for these perks. Assuming the trend continues all year that means about $1000 to maintain my 100K status.

I've noticed the same trend about the fares. UA seems to have gotten a bit stingy w/all mileage upgrades. UA also started putting time limits on the miles if you don't use it. CO has no time restrictions.

Last year, I chose to be go both Onepass and UA, instead of UA only. Primarily b/c they have good routes to Central America and Colombia. CO is great b/c you get free domestic upgrades (CA and Colombia are considered "domestic"). Am now only a CO Gold, but still get free upgrades 80-90% of trips. CO will status match you as a UA 100k, but not at their highest tier PLAT. PLAT only requires 75K for CO.

Speaking from a guy that's got 70K odd relatively useless frequent flyer miles spread out among 5-6 odd airlines, I'd say sucking it up and spending an extra 20-30% per trip on the odd occasion where your airline doesn't have a decent fare would be well worth the expense to get the extra status/miles. I pissed a LOT of miles away stuck in China Air's shitty frequent flyer program. US domestic airlines' programs are relatively fungible, IMO, most worth an allegiance to, but if Economy Plus delivers value to you, then why not stick with United/Star Alliance?

To Merlin, good info about Continental free upgrades to most of Latin America. I've found my free upgrades on CO usually come on puddle jumping flights so short that if you don't get a drink before takeoff, you might not get one at all!

CO elites are also eligible for free upgrades on ANY paid Copa flights as well.

In fact, say to Brazil where CO does NOT give free upgrades even to their own elites, Copa does for CO elites.

I was CO Plat for 2 years. I flew transcon LA-EWR on the most crowded flights they had. I never flew coach although I never paid more that $330 RT. Gold is more iffy and Silver... well Porker nailed it. IAS is right on about Copa.

One time Merlin and I flew to CTG on Copa and I had just lost ALL my CO status (I'm back to Gold thanks to 2 biz class to PI and one transcon). Merlin's Gold status allowed him to "Companion Upgrade" me. NO LUCK on the Panama/LA Leg, just as we were leaving the Presidents club, I heard someone ask "Mr. Smitopher?". The Gods smiled upon me as someone missed their connection and I was next on the list. It was an EVERY SEAT FULL plane and I had a middle seat. I now take end of year mileage runs if I'm close to an elite tier and would otherwise miss it.

SMIT: HEHE: still remember how your face lit up the whole airport.

Porker, my big mouth means less chances now for upgrades :-)
Interestingly, but there aren't that many elites flying to South America, espec. Colombia, so its often 100% upgrade for me. Diff't for busy routes like LA-HOU, where you get a bunch of pharm salesmen w/trillion miles a piece.

UA EconPlus is good, but still an econ seat w/extra leg (I need width). I'm sticking to UA and CO, but its hard to keep up both w/ both status.

CO One Pass Sucks now.

Have been a Plat on CO for last three years and EPlat on AA before that. 2005, 2006 were good years and almost always got upgraded on CO now in 2007 I am upgraded only on small segments no upgardes for long flts like SFO_EWR, LAX_EWR etc.

Asked an attendant what the deal was - she said most CO flts are full and therefore this so I am hoping that CO takes a down turn in business. Right now CO sucks.

BTW - I travel about 200K miles every year and usually on CO but spread it amongst CO, AA and regional carriers.

For high fltying EXEC AA PLAT is the nbest program but for Gold Level CO OnePass is good though it sucks for Plat.

Bunty5269's experiences with Continental mirror mine. I didn't get an upgrade the last time I flew Continental (I was in their highest tier on the frequent flyer program) and someone who was sitting next to me and flies over 200,000 miles a year on Continental told me he was only getting upgraded on domestic flights about 60 percent of the time. This was maybe a year ago and I since decided to bail on Continental.

Yes, certain CO routes are getting difficult, espc. to their Hub cities. But I try to get the early am or redeye flghts. About 70-80%, but over 90% upgrade to Latin America routes and on COPA flights. Just the free upgrades to Latin America is worth it for me.

Damn

When I was Plat on CO (2002 - 2004), I ALWAYS was upgraded, LAX-EWR. I'm 2 flights away from Plat and I've been thinking that my Gold status is not as Golden as before. I'm sittin in back way too much. They are selling out First. I have noticed that prices for first have actually rationalized, $1,500 will buy you an F seat every time now. It used to be that an F seat was > $2,500 and an unrestricted Y seat was > $2,200.

Planes are just damn full these days.

American Airlines has new deadline for frequent fliers: as of Dec 15, if your acct has had NO activity for 18mos, your miles will Expire! Prior, you had 2 yrs to redeem or earn miles.
You can verify your last activity by chkg their website with your FF acct number.

It is so easy to have activity in your account. All anyone has to do is get the Citibank Advantage Bronze MC and it will accrue 1 miles for every $2 charged. There is no annual fee either. Just use it once in a while and your account stays active.

I've posted this elsewhere but might as well put it in this thread as well. Probably the most painless way to get some account activity in order to preserve miles is to use the internet shopping mall of the airline you need miles/activity on. Each mall consists of links to numerous (around 50 - 100) internet merchants such as Barnes and Noble, Office Max or Depot, and so forth. So long as you first go to the mall and then click through to the merchant you get miles for your purchase, and presto you have satisfied the airlines activity requirement for the next 18 months (or whatever your particular airline requires). Also, you don't lose anything at all by doing this. For example, if you click through to Barnes and Noble from the American Airlines mall once you have clicked through it is exactly like shopping at Barnes and Noble without having clicked through the airline mall.

In addition to keeping your airline mileage accounts active, it is also a great way to accumulate extra miles.

For American Airlines, the internet shopping mall is www.aadvantageshopping.com. To find links to other airline malls, one resource is to go to www.rewardsdb.com, which also will tell you which airline shopping malls give you the most mileage for any internet merchant; sometimes one shopping mall is much more generous than another for a particular merchant (e.g., giving 3 miles per dollar spent rather than 1).

Laguy, thanks for posting the additional info, I am sure it will help many of the guys that have the AA FF program..
I personally am not involved with any of the programs as I travel free as an employee (EAT
YOUR HEARTS OUT!) ---lol--
Seriously tho, this type info is important for the guys involved and your input helps.

Here are some links to additional internet shopping malls run by airlines (American's is in my post above):

United: www.mponlinemall.com

Continental: www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/earn/shopping/default.aspx

Northwest: www.skymall.com/northwestmilesmall/homepage.htm

Delta: www.skymilesshopping.com

Alaska: www.mileageplanshopping.com

US Airways: http://www.skymall.com/usairwaysmilesmall/homepage.htm

It may go without saying, but while you will get miles for shopping at these malls, you don't get elite qualifying miles.

Amex branded Skymiles card for Delta gives you 10,000 MQM for 25,000USD/yr spending and 20,000 MQM for 50,000USD/yr spending.

Citydude: If you were responding to my post, it is apples and oranges. I wasn't talking about miles for card usage. I was talking about miles for using the online shopping malls sponsored by the various airlines. Although it is true you get miles for using your credit card in addition, the miles from using the shopping malls are independent of and in addition to any credit card usage miles. I have never heard of an online shopping mall giving elite qualifying miles.

J.P. Morgan Chase will stop giving FF miles to CO/UA July 31st. Waiver of bag fees for the first ck'd bag go away sooner, Apr 1st. This has nothing to do with the merger. This action could certainly spread. A few other airlines' co-brand cards and Chases move could mean the era for earning miles for using those cards may come to a close. Chances are it will spread throughout the industry. Those of you using Frequent F*#ker miles will be paying for your seats, thus driving mongering costs up even higher!


(Message edited by copperfieldkid on March 22, 2011)

There goes any hope of me hitting the 5-million-mile-threshold anytime in the next few years. Oh well.

This only applies only to DEBIT cards and is a response to the new legislation limiting merchant fees and other fees on debit transactions.

CREDIT cards should not be impacted in any way.

I think the jig was already up for me with Chase debit cards. Since I opened 5 checking accounts for 25,000 Continental miles each sign-up bonus. I think Chase is catching on, although I had no problem getting another 50,000 Continental miles for a new credit card recently.

I was about to say, Chase changed the UA credit card lineup just last year. There used to be just 2, now there are 4 or 5 different ones with different perks and levels of perks for each. Personally, I switched to the Signature plan so I can get 5,000 EQMs each year out of it.

I have the Chase Continental Presidential Plus card. I like it and now they dropped the international transaction fees.