Kinglobjaw's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘united’

So my Mom’s miles didn’t post for a United flight she recently took. I haven’t had a mileage discrepancy for years- at least not regarding flight miles. South African Airways, Air New Zealand, Lufthansa flights posted very quickly. Whenever I have to “send” something in, I always use fax as a means of communications with US Airways. And since the merger, Winston Salem, NC is no longer the fax “center”, so it was about time to find out the new number anyway.

 I dial the Chairman’s number and press #3 so I don’t have to go through the machine process of entering my number. An agent picks up very quickly. No sooner that I mention my name, the agent responds “Ahh, Mr. Kinglobjaw, nice to hear from you again. How’s it going?” When I asked how he recognized me since I had not entered my DM # or provided him my phone, he responded “You travel alot. You’re known around here. Over the years, we have really learned so much from you”.

Sure, I’m flattered and yes, award bookings are much for fun, for the agent and myself since I’m know the rules of the game, but was this necessary? I’m just a loyal customer happy to deal with, speak with and most of all, fly with my favorite airline!

Still, at the end of the day, it’s nice to be known here and there!

About that fax number. I’ll post it later tonight since I don’t have access to my cabinet right now.

Proudly flying US Airways,

-Kinglobjaw

As I mentioned this morning, I was able to visit United’s Red Carpet Club which opened in June of 2008 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. I had to leave the airport earlier than expected, so I wasn’t able to enjoy a full, planned, 3 hour stay, but I managed to snap a few pictures from both the outside and inside of the lounge.

While the lounge is nice, the views are very poor:

Before I left, a quick look at the busy Lufthansa gates:

Overall, I thought the United B18 club at O’Hare was much nicer than the one at the F concourse, but the staff was very rude. Still, they didn’t card me and gave me two drink “chits”. For those who are new to this concept, it’s basically a drink voucher or ticket which entitles you to one free alcoholic drink at the bar. However, for Lufthansa international Business & First class passengers, the amenities could be considered dismal! Lufthansa needs to open their own branded lounge at this airport. Until that happens, I don’t plan to route any of my international Lufthansa departures from Chicago O’Hare.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Just a few minutes ago, United’s Twitter account informed us all that United has 10,00o+ followers. If you were following closesly, United promised a surprise for those who register on United.com and follow Twitter. We finally know what the surprise is- bonus miles! Visit United’s Twitter page to see for yourself.

How many miles? I’m guessing, no more than a 1,000. Although ‘10′ could be key so maybe 10 miles or 10,000? Or could it be tied in with an activity requirement? I’ll report back as soon as I get the miles and confirm with others if they got the same amount.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Aside from my other Twitter account, LOTPolish, I didn’t think there were any actual airlines out there broadcasting news related to their companies. There’s also an USAirways on Twitter, but I was never really sure if they were the ones who created the account on Twitter.

Apparently, Twitter is the newest addition to United’s marketing plan. They have a “friendly being” who could or could not be UnitedPR on FlyerTalk twitting away at other people. He or she is alerting subscribers of United’s most recent fare sales and bonus mile offers. He or she is also offering advice, talking aviation and sharing behind the scenes tid bits. Given my general disdain for United Airlines and my curiosity if such “friendly being” will reply to absolutely anyone, I’ve decided to twit @unitedairlines:

@unitedairlines joins @usairways on Twitter! Does it mean United is dropping StarNet blocking and becoming the good guy like US Airways?

Talk about asking a loaded question! For those of you that don’t know what StarNet is, it’s the a program that makes your United miles basically worthplace should you choose to redeem on Star Alliance partners.  United uses StarNet to block the majority of available award seats on Star Alliance member carriers like Lufthansa, Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines. This is the opposite of what US Airways does, which matches all award availability that the other Star Alliance members release. I guess I don’t have to tell you who the good guy is…

Let’s see what they [UnitedAirlines] say!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

A recent discussion on Airliners.net about US Airways’ presence at Chicago- O’Hare got me thinking; how will the airlines and airport authority handle Delta’s move to Terminal 2 to join merger partner Northwest.

I know that Continental will be moving to Terminal 1 to join United, so the the lounge operated together by Northwest and Continental will become a Delta SkyClub. I assume, Delta will prefer to pick up additional ‘E’ gates instead of moving to the F councourse . This makes sense due to the proximity of the lounge.

Since US Airways uses two (at times three) ‘E’ gates, this will surely cause trouble and limitations for Delta. The combined US Airways and America West need more gate space than what pre-merger US Airways had. I’m also sure US Airways would welcome an opportunity to consolidate gates into one specific concourse as walking from ‘E’ to ‘F’ or vice versa is a bit of a schleep!

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks and I think it would be best for Air Canada to move to the E concourse, so United Express can operate out of Air Canada’s gates. That would free up F6 and F12 so US could use it permanently instead of sharing it with United Express.

Also, what would happen with Delta’s ‘L’ gates? From what I’ve heard, American Airlines would try to pick up most of them, but couldn’t JetBlue relocate from ‘E’ to the ‘L’ area to make room for Delta?

With the O’Hare’s largest carriers cutting back on flights, it does make sense to consolidate gate space and allow for those who are still operating at maximum capacity to ‘move about freely’. No pun intended.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I was able to change some flights on my return from FRA to LAX to route myself FRA-ZRH-JFK-LAX on Swiss and United so I could enjoy the brand new Swiss First Class product on LX14 between Zurich and JFK. The flight is on Swiss’ newly delivered A333 aircraft which commences service on April 20, 2009. Then it’s PS First on United yet again- one of the very few good things United still has to offer (mainly due to the seat in this market). Unfortunately, neither JFK-CLT-LAX, JFK-PHX-LAX nor JFK-PHX-LAS-LAX were available on US in First- ‘O’ class, thus I settled for United and PS F is better than regular United First so no argument there. Who would argue anyway?

Anyway, back to the main event- new LX F class. It’s stunning. It will be by far the best transatlantic First Class offered. Surely outperforms parent company Lufthansa’s First Class. I think Singapore Air’s  New First Class on the 77W isn’t as nice as this either. Link that with award winning Swiss hospitality and you can’t go wrong!

He are some pictures courtesy of FlyerWiki.

Only 8 seats in the cabin in a 1-2-1 arrangement on this A330-300 aircraft

Passengers traveling alone: no longer worry about lack of privacy in a double seating section

Large, personal TV screen

Non-angled, fully flat bed in an suite like enclosure

I will be able to compare the new product to Swiss’ current First Class on the A343 on my way down to JNB and it may actually be my first full trip report. I’ll be taking my Mini 9 along so I could use some of my transit time to type up some drafts and keep my immediate reflections stored before they’re replaced with newer ones. Rush of excitement, I guess! Who wouldn’t be excited?

Luckily, US Airways has already “trained” me to enjoy the A333, so the ZRH-JFK flight will be on familiar aircraft “territory”.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

It was just two days ago when I was speculating if US Airways would extend it’s double EQM promotion. They did! That means my Hawaii trip now will possibly count for double elite qualifying miles! Even though it was booked in February, I’ve heard from quite a few people including my father, that itineraries booked before the promotion still got double the EQMs! I’m hopeful.

With my US flights taking me ORD-PHX-KOA; LIH-PHX-PHL-ORD, instead of getting 10,032 EQMs, I would get 20,064! Very hopeful! If only US would remove the silly “must ticket after registering for promotion” clause a la United doing so yesterday, I would be thrilled! Still, very nice of US to offer this extremely generous promo and extending it. Props for US Airways!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

For those who haven’t heard yet, US Airways was one of two airlines chosen for the new 2009 Q2 Brazil air services. That means, US’ service from PHL via CLT to GIG will commence in October 2009! Nice!

US is planning to use a 767 for this service, however there is a possibility of an upgrade to the A332 if all goes well and profitable.

Of all the carriers flying to GIG, I think Delta and United should fear the most. US Airways’ proximity of the CLT hub will most likely affect Delta’s ATL-GIG. United’s route from IAD will probably loose some passengers who will prefer to fly from DCA and connect through CLT instead of going out all the way to IAD. Fact of the matter is, DCA is so much more convenient than IAD and everyone knows it!

Again congrats and best of luck to US Airways on the route. May it do well an open up the possibility of new South American routes!

If you’d like to know what I think about US Airways opening an Envoy lounge in CLT, look here: http://www.usaviation.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=45319&view=findpost&p=675396

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

This is just in. I might be going to HAJ for 3 nights towards the end of March 2009 to see some friends. I’m brining along a friend, so the routing should be fairly simple. Hopefully after this trip, she’ll be more keen to fly crazy Kinglobjaw style routings.

This is what I’m looking at. ORD-PHL-FRA-HAJ and back on US to FRA and LH to HAJ. Of course, I was able to price other routings for the same base fare price, such as ORD-CLT-PHL-FRA-HAJ-LHR-PHL-BWI-ORD on US/LH/BD/UA. There’s also the option of flying via a triple connection on LH/US only: HAJ-FRA-PHL-CLT-ORD. I haven’t ticketed yet, so we’ll see what happens. Maybe I can convince her to earn more miles. She’s a statusless frequent flyer with United so at least she will earn miles. Maybe that will convince her to satisfy my need for jet lag, more flights and more miles! =]

I didn’t share the fare price yet. It’s not mileage run material, but nonetheless a decent deal- $489.60 roundtrip including all taxes & fees. US Airways was by far the lowest fare, followed by SAS which was roughly $200 dollars more roundtrip.

Interesting thing about the flights is that thie FRA-HAJ-FAR short hop is operated with a Lufthansa A320. Just 175 miles. Neat! I wonder if they offer a service on the flight. Probably do, they’re Lufty!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Because I fly only with US Airways, does it mean I only carry a Dividend Miles account? Of course not, and folks should learn to do the same.

You have to be on the lookout for various partner promos from the other airlines. Sometimes they’ll let you earn miles so easily and quickly and you’d be crazy not to. And I’m not talking about flying here! Take a look at a section of an email from Northwest that I got this morning.

Dear Mark,

Never shopped WorldPerks Mall before? Now’s a perfect time to try!
Savvy WorldPerks members know they can earn miles every day by shopping WorldPerks Mall. Now, you’re in the know! Plus, through March 31, 2009, make a purchase on WorldPerks Mall from Ann Taylor®, Lands’End®, homedepot.com, or more than 200 other favorite online stores, and you’ll earn 1,000 Bonus Miles in addition to the miles you always earn. Shopping the Mall is easy, fun and habit-forming. You’ll see.

Register today for this one-time offer.
 

1,000 miles for one (any) purchase. That’s great! The cheapest way to nail this is to buy an iTune for 0.99 cents. That will earn you 2 miles + 1,000 bonus miles. Full details on the promotion can be found here.

Some may ask if keeping a 1,000 miles is good for anything if you’re not going to fly with that airline?

Well, for starters, that 1,000  miles would normally cost you $50 + tax if bought directly from that airline. Also, you can be sure there will be other promos in the future to get you to try new products or the airline credit card will carry a no free promotion where you can score a huge 20,000+ mile welcome bonus. If you earn E-Rewards you can usually transfer to your frequent flyer account to get more miles. Last but not least, you can try redeeming those miles for a magazine delivered to your home free of charge. Subscriptions for certain magazines start from only 600 miles in cost.

I’ve been doing this with a couple of frequent flyer programs just to score enough miles that I will keep as emergency miles. I already have 50,000 miles with United and will have about 35,000 miles with the merged Delta frequent flyer program. I”m also going for American Airlines since I already have about 8,000 miles in my AAdvantage account. I’m also thinking of signing up for the BMI program since they have low redemptions levels for UK and Channel flights. All these are not from flying, but from partner promotions and no annual fee credit card offers from the airlines.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark