More Than Points :

Christmas Comes Early: Google Offers Free WiFi

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:41:00 -0600

Google offers free wifi at select airports from now until January 15th, 2010. In addition, you can give back in appreciation of free wifi towards several non-profits and Google will match your donations! Very cool.

Spread the cheer!

Here are the participating airports:

Austin (AUS)
Baltimore (BWI)
Billings (BIL)
Boston (BOS)
Bozeman (BZN)
Buffalo (BUF)
Burbank (BUR)
Central Wisconsin (CWA)
Charlotte (CLT)
Des Moines (DSM)
El Paso (ELP)
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
Fort Myers/SW (RSW)
Greensboro (GSO)
Houston (HOU)
Houston Bush (IAH)

Indianapolis (IND)
Jacksonville (JAX)
Kalamazoo (AZO)
Las Vegas (LAS)
Louisville (SDF)
Madison (MSN)
Memphis (MEM)
Miami (MIA)
Milwaukee (MKE)
Monterey (MRY)
Nashville (BNA)
Newport News (PHF)
Norfolk (ORF)
Oklahoma City (OKC)
Omaha (OMA)
Orlando (MCO)

Panama City (PFN)
Pittsburgh (PIT)
Portland (PWM)
Sacramento (SMF)
San Antonio (SAT)
San Diego (SAN)
San Jose (SJC)
Seattle (SEA) *
South Bend (SBN)
Spokane (GEG)
St. Louis (STL)
State College (SCE)
Toledo (TOL)
Traverse City (TVC)
West Palm Beach (PBI)

As a road warrior, I live by my EVDO card. Anytime access to the Internet is a godsend. If you haven’t jumped on the EVDO bandwagon you should seriously think about it. In the meantime, enjoy the free wifi - compliments of Google.

Original article writen by the*point*man and published on More Than Points | direct link to this article | If you are reading this article elsewhere than More Than Points, it has been illegally reproduced and without proper authorization.

United, You Take the Service Out of Customer Service

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:58:00 -0600

Today, British Airways announced it was planning to cut 3000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year due to falling passenger numbers and yields. I will guess that most airlines are going through similar challenges.

In an economy as bad as this one, customer service makes all the difference. Flyers may not have as many choices as we are a "semi-captive" audience due to the constraints of available flights and routes by airlines, but bad press is bad press. Don’t kid yourself as the next generation of frequent flyer will read stories like this and wonder what kind of business United is running.

The title of the article says it all:

Man denied first-class seat on United for wearing track suit

If you want to run your airlines into the ground what better way to do it that humiliate and embarass your best customers? The weak response in which United claims to have mistaken the passenger as a employee only adds insult to injury.

Nice try, United. How about admiting you have customer service problems and make amends. That’ll get you a lot farther than trying to tactically address every customer service blow-up that happens.

United, time to wake up and smell the coffee.

United: Complimentary Upgrades Announced

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:06:00 -0500

This is pretty big news. I recall this used to be customary on certain airlines back in the late 90’s and early 2000. It’s somewhat indicative of the traffic in this economic downturn for United to make an offer like this, but its a big bonus for frequent flyers who have elite status.

United plans to launch this in the 2nd quarter of 2010 so you’ll have to wait a little bit, but if you’re thinking about getting elite status this year, this might be the extra incentive you were looking for.

All the details can be found here (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53216,00.html).

From the website:

Upgrades. They’re complimentary. They’re unlimited. They’re yours.

We know how you value the ease of travel being an elite member brings to you. Now we’re making it even easier. In the second quarter of 2010, we’ll automatically request an Unlimited Domestic Upgrade on behalf of all elite members and up to one companion when they travel within the Continental U.S., Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.

When Unlimited Domestic Upgrades are launched, we’ll be transitioning all of our elite members to the new upgrades, replacing 500-Mile Upgrade certificates. Elite members can still use their existing Regional Upgrades during their full 12-month validity period. However, new certificates will no longer be issued. If you’re not an elite member, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to use your existing certificates any time during their full 12-month validity period, just like you do today.

Further details on Unlimited Domestic Upgrades and other exciting enhancements will be available on Mileageplus.com in early 2010. Stay tuned.

Happy flying.

US Airways: Race to Preferred Status Promotion

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:36:00 -0500

Like Southwest, US Airways is also holding a promotion for flyers interested in retaining or obtaining status.

Promotion Details:

Get ready for the fastest, easiest way ever to get (or keep) Preferred status. Just fly between October 1 and December 25, 2009 on any US Airways or US Airways Express flight, and you’ll earn Preferred status faster than ever before. The more you fly, the more you’ll earn. Think of it as an end-of-the-year shortcut.

Here’s how it works:

Fly 7,500 miles or 10 segments and earn Silver Preferred status
Fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments and earn Gold Preferred status
Fly 22,500 miles or 30 segments and earn Platinum Preferred status
Fly 30,000 miles or 40 segments and earn Chairman’s Preferred status

Don’t worry, the miles you fly will also count towards the total miles you flew for the year – you’ll be awarded the highest status between the two. So if you fly 55,000 Preferred miles for the year but only end up flying 8,000 Preferred miles during the promotion period, you’ll still earn Gold status for the year.

We’ll determine and award your Preferred status on January 10, 2010. You don’t need to register (we’ll keep track of your flights). We told you it was easy!

Something to think about if you live in a city where US Airways is a hub.

Southwest: Earn Double Rapid Rewards Credit Promotion

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:10:00 -0500

Southwest rarely jumps on the promotion bandwagon but it looks like they are interested in building some loyalty and bringing in some new customers. Register for the promotion here.

Promotion Details:

Fall in love with Rapid Rewards this fall! Take advantage of our Double Credit promotion - one bonus Rapid Rewards credit each time you buy and fly on Southwest Airlines between September 17 and October 31, 2009! That means you can get two credits for every one-way flight (four credits when you travel roundtrip) from any city that Southwest serves. Combine Business Select with this promotion, and your credits will add up even faster by receiving 2.25 credits for shorthaul flights and 3.0 credits for medium and longhaul flights!

To take advantage of this special offer, simply follow these steps:

Step 1: Register for this promotion between September 17 and October 31, 2009.
Step 2: Book a flight for yourself at southwest.com or swabiz.com between September 17 and October 31, 2009 for travel between September 17 and October 31, 2009.
Step 3: Complete your travel between September 17 and October 31, 2009.

I have to admit I’m a big fan of Southwest because they are almost always on time. I gladly traded away my elite status on United for the security of getting home on time. Happy flying.

Starwood's Spin on Green

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:28:00 -0500

We’ve all seen the attempts at helping reduce waste at the hotel chains. At the Marriott, they have a nice placard explaining how much water is wasted due to laundry and politely ask customers to re-use towels by hanging them up.

A few fellow roadwarriors have noticed Starwood’s spin on green when they received a door tag on their desk with the following:

“You have the option to decline housekeeping service for the day. For helping us conserve natural resources, we are happy to offer you a $5 gift card for use at participating food and beverage outlets within our hotel or 500 SPG Starpoints redeemable at checkout”

At the W in San Francisco they are offering to purchase $5 worth of carbon credits for each day you forgo the housekeeping. Gift cards, carbon credits, and points are great incentives. More hotel chains should take note and offer something similar.

United: Earn Double Elite Qualifying Miles (MPW049) or Segments (MPW059)

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:03:00 -0500

United is running a promotion for those of you interested in qualifying for status with the airlines. This is your last chance before the end of the year window closes. After registering, you will receive double miles or segments towards status if you travel between Sept 3rd and December 15th 2009. You can find the offer details here.

From the website:

A special opportunity to help you retain elite status or earn a higher level. Earn your choice of either double Elite Qualifying Miles* (EQM) or double Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) on qualifying United® or United Express® flights.

Setting Standards

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:28:00 -0500

Seth Godin makes a great point in a recent blog post titled, “We don’t compare ourselves to other airport restaurants”, but his quote, “Regardless, it’s better than we have been taught we should deserve” really stuck out for me as a road warrior. We have been trained to expect bad (and worsening) service in the frequent flyer world. Uncaring airline representatives, devaluation of frequent flyer points, additional service fees, more points to buy free nights, terrible customer service, bad airport food, more time away from home – we accept these things as “part of the job”. At one point frequent travelers felt free flights, free nights, and credit card points were the “benefits” which offset having to deal with all the crappy things about flying, but…

Is that still true anymore?

In most industries, bad customer service means you don’t last very long, but not for industries who serve frequent travelers. We are captive customers at airports and we pay more for bad food and bad service. We are limited to certain airlines by when and where we need to fly. We are limited to hotels by distance or cost to clients. We have limitations placed on our ability to choose. Then we get attached to “loyalty programs” and a currency which is controlled by folks who believe we are mindless point-addicts who only care about racking up enough miles to be treated with “ok” customer service (because a special 1-800 number is supposed to make us feel elite). We just suck it up. That is sad.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to change that? I don’t know the solution, but I bet it starts with us – the frequent travelers.

USAirways: Try Silver Preferred Status for Free* (Must Register by August 31st 2009)

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:26:19 -0500

Here’s another promotion from a fellow roadwarrior for USAirways. After signing up for the promotion, you will receive Silver preferred status and all the associated benefits for a limited amount of time. If you meet the travel requirements, you will then get to keep the status going forward.

Here are the details:

Try Preferred status on for size. See how you like it. At the end of your 90-day trial, you may want to keep it! Once you register, you’ll be Preferred within 14 days. And, if you qualify during your 90-day trial, you’ll keep your Silver Preferred status for the program year*.

All you have to do is register and we’ll give you Silver Preferred status for 90 days (a $200 value!). You’ll travel Preferred and enjoy the best upgrades in the industry, waived baggage fees, bonus miles and more!

Just register between May 15 and August 31, 2009. Then, check your Dividend Miles profile to make sure we have your contact information so we can send you an email with your new status.

Not a Dividend Miles member already? Not a problem. Join now and then come back to register.

It doesn’t hurt to sign up if you are planning to fly USAirways for the first time.

JetBlue: All You Can Fly in a Month for $599

morethanpoints@gmail.com (the*point*man) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:03:03 -0500

Airlines are pulling out all the stops in this economy, but this is a new one. JetBlue has just rolled out the equivalent of a buffet. I’m not sure who can really take advantage of this offer, given the economy but it’s there if you fit the bill.

Here are the details:

Enjoy unlimited travel with our All-You-Can-Jet Pass! For just $599* you can take JetBlue anywhere you like, as often as you like, from September 8 to October 8, 2009. Use your All-You-Can-Jet Pass for business, for pleasure, to visit your favorite cities or to meet with a client. You might as well just do it all! With more than 50 cities to choose from, and for just $599, it’s a deal you can’t pass up.

About the Pass

$599 for a month of unlimited travel, any available seat
Domestic taxes and fees included
International and Puerto Rico taxes and fees not included
On sale through Friday, August 21, 2009, or while supplies last
Travel Dates: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 through Thursday, October 8, 2009
Each flight must be booked no later than 11:59 p.m. MDT three days prior to the flight’s scheduled departure.
Nonrefundable/nontransferable/no name changes permitted
Customers who already have a flight booked during the pass travel period can pay the difference to upgrade to the pass by calling 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583), prompt 4.
Each All-You-Can-Jet Pass is eligible for 35 TrueBlue points. Flights booked on the pass are not available for additional TrueBlue points.

Go nuts! (the fine print says they can end the offer earlier at their discretion…)