a NY Sunday Times look at miles&points
Feb 28, 1999, 6:09 am
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a NY Sunday Times look at miles&points
NY Sunday Times February 28, 1999
PRACTICAL TRAVELER / By BETSY WADE
Fliers' Awards: Some New Math
A few big new developments make this a good time to look again at some of the loyalty programs in the world of travel. Perhaps I should have looked sooner; the report on my United Mileage Plus program for December noted that 4,842 miles had expired with the old year. People who scatter their travel among airlines and hotels based on convenience and price often suffer these setbacks. But some new programs involve miles or points that are evergreen or permit earning miles for one line while flying another. These may get us bits-and-pieces people back into the game.
Hotel Entry
major new frequent guest program was announced by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. If Starwood is not a household word, this is because it is a real estate investment trust, with headquarters in White Plains and with no hotel bearing its own name. It owns Sheraton and Westin and other midpriced and upscale hotels and resorts: Four Points, Caesars and W hotels, as well as the Luxury Collection, which includes the St. Regis brand. Starwood is now promoting, reshuffling and renaming many of the 650 hotels it has recently acquired.
Barry Sternlicht, chairman of Starwood, said the Preferred Guest program was designed to be easy to understand. Points are awarded for all money spent in participating properties -- 550 of the 650. (The program excludes some properties the trust has taken over bearing other brand names -- Marriott, for example -- that have competing programs.)
New members get two points for every dollar spent. After 10 stays in a year, the member gets three points for every dollar. And it goes up from there.
Points do not expire with age if the member stays in a participating hotel once a year. There are no blackout dates and no capacity controls,
Mr. Sternlicht said: a hotel will give its last available room to someone using points.
The Starwood program is not for budget travelers. Hoyt H. Harper, the company's vice president for marketing programs, said that a weekend hotel night at the "mid scale" Four Points in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., would require 2,000 points; during the week, 3,000. On the high end, the Princeville Hotel on Kauai, Hawaii, would cost 10,000 points a night, weekday or weekend.
The program has links to 21 airlines. Points transfer at one point to one mile on Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, American, America West, Ansett Australia, Asiana, Canadian, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, Eva Air, Japan Airlines, K.L.M., Northwest, Qantas, Saudi Arabian, Thai Airways, United and US Airways.
Those who reserve at any hotel in the program can ask to sign up when the reservation is made. Information is also available on the Web site: www.preferredguest.com.
Airlines' Link
n Feb. 1, five airlines linked their marketing programs: American, British Airways, Canadian, Cathay Pacific and Qantas Airways. Travelers flying on most flights on any of these airlines can earn points through the program, called One World, on any other line, and can also redeem points interchangeably.
Because of variations in names for elite levels of the lines' programs, One World is establishing its own categories, emerald, sapphire and ruby, which will be indicated on the cards. This will enable employees to know what privileges a member of another line's plan is entitled to. The cards will be jointly marked for the particular airline program and One World.
There is one catch: direct trans-Atlantic flights on British Airways and American Airlines are not interchangeable for accruing points or spending them. These two lines have been pressing regulators for a separate, closer alliance; meantime, a spokesman said, they are prevented by Government rules from exchanging mileage across the Atlantic.
The pooling of frequent flier awards was pioneered by the Star Alliance, set up in 1997 by United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Scandinavian and Thai Airways.
The individual airlines maintain their separate rules on mileage expiration and the like.
Other two-way alliances have been set up, with varying rules. Northwest and Continental linked their programs last year, and as of March 1, miles from one line may be used to get a ticket on the other, although they cannot be pooled. Meantime, both airlines have turned back the clock a little, offering round-trip domestic tickets for 20,000 miles in the low season, September to May, instead of the 25,000 miles needed in summer.
US Airways, in January, also set up a 20,000-mile award for travel within the United States and Canada in the low season, in this case between Sept. 15 and the end of February. The line added two hitches at the same time: Saturday-night stays will be required for domestic or Canadian trips on reservations made after March 31 and on trips after Sept. 15. Starting in January 2000, the Dividend Miles will expire within three calendar years if the member does not fly on US Airways in that period. Miles earned before then will not expire.
Will the increase in alliances and the lowering of some mileage levels make the pressure for reward seats worse than it already is? Randy Petersen, editor of the magazine Inside Flyer, says redemptions were up 20 percent last year, the biggest increase on record: Nothing above a 9 percent rise had been seen before, he said.
Mr. Petersen said the growth was probably related more to the booming economy than to increasing friendliness on the part of the airlines. In 1999, he sees a moderate rise in difficulty in getting certain award trips. "For some trips, there will never be enough seats," he said. "Tel Aviv is the toughest of all. Call at two minutes past midnight a year in advance, and the seats went to people who called at one minute past."
From American Express
The American Express Membership Rewards program, formerly Membership Miles, added some new partners this month, mostly stores. Points may be exchanged for purchases or gift certificates at Borders Books, Avis Rent a Car, Cathay Pacific Airways, Samsonite stores, the Sharper Image and Foot Locker, among others.
The airlines where American Express Membership Rewards points may be used to obtain tickets, or to "top off" a balance too small for a ticket or an upgrade, are Delta, US Airways, Continental, Southwest, T.W.A., Hawaiian, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Aeromxico, El Al, Sabena and Mexicana.
The core of Membership Rewards is the double dip: If you charge an airline ticket on the American Express card, you get the reward points and also the miles when you fly the trip. These points do not expire, but the downside comes if you fail to pay your American Express bill on time: your Membership Rewards points are docked for that month. However, a phone call to (800) 297-3276 and a payment of $15 will restore a month's lost points.
PRACTICAL TRAVELER / By BETSY WADE
Fliers' Awards: Some New Math
A few big new developments make this a good time to look again at some of the loyalty programs in the world of travel. Perhaps I should have looked sooner; the report on my United Mileage Plus program for December noted that 4,842 miles had expired with the old year. People who scatter their travel among airlines and hotels based on convenience and price often suffer these setbacks. But some new programs involve miles or points that are evergreen or permit earning miles for one line while flying another. These may get us bits-and-pieces people back into the game.
Hotel Entry
major new frequent guest program was announced by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. If Starwood is not a household word, this is because it is a real estate investment trust, with headquarters in White Plains and with no hotel bearing its own name. It owns Sheraton and Westin and other midpriced and upscale hotels and resorts: Four Points, Caesars and W hotels, as well as the Luxury Collection, which includes the St. Regis brand. Starwood is now promoting, reshuffling and renaming many of the 650 hotels it has recently acquired.
Barry Sternlicht, chairman of Starwood, said the Preferred Guest program was designed to be easy to understand. Points are awarded for all money spent in participating properties -- 550 of the 650. (The program excludes some properties the trust has taken over bearing other brand names -- Marriott, for example -- that have competing programs.)
New members get two points for every dollar spent. After 10 stays in a year, the member gets three points for every dollar. And it goes up from there.
Points do not expire with age if the member stays in a participating hotel once a year. There are no blackout dates and no capacity controls,
Mr. Sternlicht said: a hotel will give its last available room to someone using points.
The Starwood program is not for budget travelers. Hoyt H. Harper, the company's vice president for marketing programs, said that a weekend hotel night at the "mid scale" Four Points in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., would require 2,000 points; during the week, 3,000. On the high end, the Princeville Hotel on Kauai, Hawaii, would cost 10,000 points a night, weekday or weekend.
The program has links to 21 airlines. Points transfer at one point to one mile on Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, American, America West, Ansett Australia, Asiana, Canadian, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, Eva Air, Japan Airlines, K.L.M., Northwest, Qantas, Saudi Arabian, Thai Airways, United and US Airways.
Those who reserve at any hotel in the program can ask to sign up when the reservation is made. Information is also available on the Web site: www.preferredguest.com.
Airlines' Link
n Feb. 1, five airlines linked their marketing programs: American, British Airways, Canadian, Cathay Pacific and Qantas Airways. Travelers flying on most flights on any of these airlines can earn points through the program, called One World, on any other line, and can also redeem points interchangeably.
Because of variations in names for elite levels of the lines' programs, One World is establishing its own categories, emerald, sapphire and ruby, which will be indicated on the cards. This will enable employees to know what privileges a member of another line's plan is entitled to. The cards will be jointly marked for the particular airline program and One World.
There is one catch: direct trans-Atlantic flights on British Airways and American Airlines are not interchangeable for accruing points or spending them. These two lines have been pressing regulators for a separate, closer alliance; meantime, a spokesman said, they are prevented by Government rules from exchanging mileage across the Atlantic.
The pooling of frequent flier awards was pioneered by the Star Alliance, set up in 1997 by United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Scandinavian and Thai Airways.
The individual airlines maintain their separate rules on mileage expiration and the like.
Other two-way alliances have been set up, with varying rules. Northwest and Continental linked their programs last year, and as of March 1, miles from one line may be used to get a ticket on the other, although they cannot be pooled. Meantime, both airlines have turned back the clock a little, offering round-trip domestic tickets for 20,000 miles in the low season, September to May, instead of the 25,000 miles needed in summer.
US Airways, in January, also set up a 20,000-mile award for travel within the United States and Canada in the low season, in this case between Sept. 15 and the end of February. The line added two hitches at the same time: Saturday-night stays will be required for domestic or Canadian trips on reservations made after March 31 and on trips after Sept. 15. Starting in January 2000, the Dividend Miles will expire within three calendar years if the member does not fly on US Airways in that period. Miles earned before then will not expire.
Will the increase in alliances and the lowering of some mileage levels make the pressure for reward seats worse than it already is? Randy Petersen, editor of the magazine Inside Flyer, says redemptions were up 20 percent last year, the biggest increase on record: Nothing above a 9 percent rise had been seen before, he said.
Mr. Petersen said the growth was probably related more to the booming economy than to increasing friendliness on the part of the airlines. In 1999, he sees a moderate rise in difficulty in getting certain award trips. "For some trips, there will never be enough seats," he said. "Tel Aviv is the toughest of all. Call at two minutes past midnight a year in advance, and the seats went to people who called at one minute past."
From American Express
The American Express Membership Rewards program, formerly Membership Miles, added some new partners this month, mostly stores. Points may be exchanged for purchases or gift certificates at Borders Books, Avis Rent a Car, Cathay Pacific Airways, Samsonite stores, the Sharper Image and Foot Locker, among others.
The airlines where American Express Membership Rewards points may be used to obtain tickets, or to "top off" a balance too small for a ticket or an upgrade, are Delta, US Airways, Continental, Southwest, T.W.A., Hawaiian, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Aeromxico, El Al, Sabena and Mexicana.
The core of Membership Rewards is the double dip: If you charge an airline ticket on the American Express card, you get the reward points and also the miles when you fly the trip. These points do not expire, but the downside comes if you fail to pay your American Express bill on time: your Membership Rewards points are docked for that month. However, a phone call to (800) 297-3276 and a payment of $15 will restore a month's lost points.
