Newsstand - Club Caters To Travelers Who Want Style, Not Sticker Shock

Club Caters To Travelers Who Want Style, Not Sticker Shock

FirstAir announces the launch of Passport Premiere, a consortium for travelers to purchase international Business and First class tickets with up to 50 percent off the published fares.

Passport Premiere provides its members password-protected access to receive special offers from travel suppliers directly on the world's most sought after routes. Passport Premiere ( www.passportpremiere.com (http://www.passportpremiere.com) ) gives travel suppliers the opportunity to reach premium class travelers directly without disrupting their existing channels of distribution.

"The high-end independent traveler has been denied access to premium deals for far too long," according to Robert Laney, President of FirstAir ( www.firstair.net (http://www.firstair.net) ). "Airlines are more eager to fill premium class seats than ever before. Passport Premiere is the ideal forum to match qualified buyers of high-end travel products with the world's finest travel suppliers."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030717/nyfnsy06_1.html

SO how legitimate or worthwhile is this? Can they seriously get award availability where otherwise not available? Anyone tried them?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by alect:
SO how legitimate or worthwhile is this? Can they seriously get award availability where otherwise not available? Anyone tried them?</font>

I didn't see any mention of award travel in the article. I think this is about cheaper paid premium travel.

Yes and no.

Yes, they are primarily for "cheaper paid premium travel".

And, no. They ALSO do award upgrades that you could not ordinarily get:

"Passport Premiere has a dedicated division that specializes in the procurement of mileage upgrades using your frequent flyer miles. With your unique USER ID and password, you will be able to specify which airlines you wish to use your mileage with. Passport Premiere members are often able to use their mileage when the airlines say the space is not available. As a member, you can expect to save 70% or more using our mileage upgrade service."

So both you folks are right.

But the question remains, how are these award seats being filled, and how will it affect
regular award availability?
.
.

Something sounds fishy here. How can they "get" award upgrades that are not available by calling the airline?

Huh?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IJK:
Passport Premiere members are often able to use their mileage when the airlines say the space is not available
.</font>

If this is a launch, what is this statement based on?

I used this company's "regular" service (sans the $250/year fee) for a trip from DEN to DPS using SQ.

They seem to have saved me about $700 over what the SQ web site was advertising. The tickets seem to be regular fares (upgradeable). The only down side was a surprise $20 ticket delivery fee.

I wonder how much more the $250/year service would save me - how many trips would be required to justify the expense.