All the buzz was about the British Airways Avios devaluation, sweet video on Siem Reap, incredible photos at Burning Man and lots more!
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I need to take a few days off the blog so I can concentrate on focusing on the actual conference sessions instead of fiddling with Feedly on my phone. Wednesday was a pre-conference day therefore I found time for this short blog post. Schedule is super packed Thursday and Friday and Saturday is travel day back to Michigan. Thank you for your understanding. I know my Alexa ranking numbers will suffer so much and the blog will lose huge dinero lol.
The big news was the expected devaluation of British Airways Avios. The slow “enhancement” or death by a thousand cuts continues unabated. The passengers who deserve the elite benefits because they spend more continue gaining while the riffraff like us continue losing…Actually, I am shocked the 4,500 Avios one way awards for short distances stayed intact! I also decided to not proceed with the Amex British Airways 40% transfer bonus. Why? The rationale is this: I have about 500k Avios points right now and mostly use them to fly to New York City from Detroit at 4.5k at a time. At this rate it will sure be devalued again before I get to use them all so I am going to keep them at Amex and wait for the right opportunity to burn them. Please try to convince me otherwise. One of the really good blog posts about the BA changes was this post by Travel Summary.
The Many Faces of Siem Reap – Matador Network Such a beautiful video about this place!
I go through Feedly, I mark blog posts that pique my interest and I bring them to you. Sometimes with my incendiary commentary. Mostly with my praise when it deserves it. PSA by TBB.
My Surreal Photographs From Burning Man – Bored Panda Wow, this looks wild!
There are some interesting photos in this story: A Taxi Driver Took Photos Of His Passengers And Captured Stunning Moments of Candor
Ok, here is another find that I found very interesting. Secret To Staying In Love For Decades. Hmm, lots of wisdom here I…think.
“Misguided Money Ideas I Keep Hearing” by one of the best personal finance writers today, Jonathan Clements of WSJ.
I have not run Award Wallet for three days now, I wonder if some scammers cleaned out my miles/points accounts.
Looks like that Extra Pack of Peanuts guy is back with a ridiculouly long and detailed post about…Redbird. With picture of him holding the cards. Hmm, where have I seen this type of dumb picture before? Guess no more podcasts and back to pumping to get credit cards links again? No idea what this blog stands for, find a focus dude and STICK to it.
I had more beatings…but it involves the same old blogs. Maybe some other time as there is free booze at the opening party tonight you guys.
This is what happens when a car meets a wall at 120 mph!
No comment, just LOLs
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MCD picture is pretty strange. First ?
Second (anonymously)
Third? Avios, schmavios “Oh no, business class from BOS->DUB is going up 50% – THE SKY IS FALLING!!!” It’s not like 1) Aer Lingus had a stellar biz class product or 2) the flight is really long (not enough to get decent sleep, IMHO). Definitely more comfortable than coach, but honestly 37.5K is still not a horrible deal. The people that took it in the gut on this deval are the poor guys who actually pay for tickets.
Aer Lingus will be fully flat by the year end.
And loaded with fuel surcharges. Thanks BA!
You don’t know that, I don’t know that, nobody knows that. Iberia isn’t loaded with YQ despite being in the same family. Let’s see the glass half-full for now. 🙂
If I may be the devil’s advocate here for a moment, but the more I think about it the more I am starting to welcome these devaluations and I sort of want AA to devalue. What I have been starting to think is that it is way too easy to earn miles. Not only are signup bonuses larger but thanks to MS we wouldn’t really blink an eye at most if not all minimum spends. Speaking of MS that is just another easy way to rack up more miles. Due to the ease of earning the miles and affiliate links this game is getting more and more exposed and more and more people are jumping in. That leads to more people sucking up award space.
Combine the above with record profits for the airlines and it seems like award seats are almost non-existent. Hopefully raising the costs of redemption will make it a bit harder to redeem, perhaps dissuade some of the newbies from staying in, and leave more award space for us.
I hate to argue with people (well, you know me 🙂 ), but I don’t see award seats disappear. If anything, there is more availability than ever on international routes across every program. I see award seats to the most sought out destinations even in the peak of high season. Now, for the folks who’d rather stay home than (god forbid) fly in coach, that might be a different story, although there are still amazing bargains to have, e.g. on Delta.
Having said that, I guarantee that AA will grant your wish within a few months. Matter of fact, I’m bracing for it.
You are correct about coach and you are further correct I am not talking about coach. My point is that with the majority of the major programs having devalued at this point it pushes more people to AA. I would prefer an equilibrium even at a higher award level than lots of people gravitating to the program with the cheaper awards.
Extra Pack of Peanuts is a Ginzu knives salesman. Everything else he pushes makes up for the fact that he’s not a very good Ginzu knives salesman.
I made the 40% transfer before the devaluation, but here’s why I’d do it again.
I’m going to Italy with my wife in November. Based on award availability on all airlines, I’ll have at least 3 flights. I really only care about business class on the long-haul flight, so I’m ok booking the other segments in economy.
Unless I missed something, here are my transfer options and what I think the award would price at.
Delta – 250,000 points, reasonable fees, transfer fee, some availability. But I only had 175,000 to transfer
Aeroplan 180,000 points, high fees, never seemed to have long-haul business class
Flying Blue 250,000 points, too high of fees
ANA – I actually found the flights I wanted here first, but the 72,000 point N. Amer – Europe doesn’t start until April, so it priced at 170,000, which is still fine. Except the surcharges were around $1100/person
I could’ve booked airberlin and paid more miles and lower fees, but there were no good flight options.
I didn’t mess around with Virgin b/c of surcharges, millemiglia or emirates.
I was ultimately able to transfer 145,000 from amex-british airways, and 1,000 into iberia to have some activity on the account. So 73,000 miles/person. I’ll only be in business from ORD-MAD, but seem to get upgraded to main cabin extra domestically. The fees end up being just under $300/person.
I think this is the best possible use of my miles for this specific trip, and you could do even better if you had less segments or were traveling to western europe.
Chicago to Madrid in Business class for 57,000 points roundtrip is a steal!
Correction, 49,000 membership rewards –> avios at the 40% transfer rate with the new change
I flew Iberia business class from ORD to MAD this summer. You’ll like the product.
After dumping Dan’s Deals, Chase has now dumped Running With Miles at BA. Guess they’re thinning the ranks again?
Everyone is brought into the program under a probationary period where they need to hit a certain quota of conversions in a three month period. I was not willing to jeopardize my readership to constantly plug my links and that ended up costing me, I guess. I was a big Chase fan before and will continue to be after this as well. Just a shame to not be able to make money off of it :). At least I feel I did not become a pumper and THEN lose the links as well!
Did not know that, thanks!
I wish all bloggers would lose their links. That way we can eliminate those that are parasitic to MSing.
how’d it go lecturing those exact same bloggers at the chicago seminars… everything resolved and sin free now?
Said a website with LinkOffers links. WTF?
How about those parasitic to getting Emirates First Class Awards Using Alaska Miles?
How am I now supposed to go to Maldives now?
British Airways Visa 50k Avios w/ no annual fee is in Page 2 of the cc link in the Credit Cards tab. Do it before the devaluation!
Just.got to Singapore, missing the Pho!
One.more… HURRYYY!
Hi from San Diego…It is late and I need to get some sleep as it is a VERY long day tomorrow. Ends with a concert by the Steve Miller Band. I had no idea Steve Miller was alive!
Just a few responses, sorry I can not get to all!
@ Erik: I agree!
Yeah, time will tell as always. I say Aer Lingus becomes part of BA in 2015 and fuel surcharges are added in 2016. Pure guessing here!
@ Scott: Pretty good argument you make and I agree with parts of it only. But man…I am so tired right now to expand on it! I think a lot has to do with the airlines making lots of money which is really, well, weird to see! And they will make lots more with the gas prices so lower. So, we are seeing aggresssive devaluation and restrictive moves all over the place. Which they will likely continue. MS, yeah, no worries about min spend. But many avenues have been cut. Just too many bloggers blogging about MS endlessly to create traffic (and some to sell plastic) which hurts the ones who are really good and who work at this “:craft”. I don’t like the word craft..neither I ever liked the word “hack/hacking”.
@ Andy: Let’s face it, you just like to argue 🙂
@ Nick & Charlie: Thanks for that, I learned something. I fear one day I may get to that spot and need to whore myself out to “make the cut”. So I stick with my difficult and low paying CC.com banner. I still shake my head how PM&M maintains them! Anyways, this is just the most ridiculous and unfair practice I have seen. Basically, in order to keep them, you must become a, well, Titan…#sucks!
@ Brenton: Thanks for laying out your pretty good argument. I think…again….it comes back to the different goals for people in unique situations. I have enough Avios & stick with short distance coach awards.
@ BOP: Thanks again. Have fun in Singapore!
If Andy really thinks international coach is the way to go, he won’t Fly Like An Eagle. More like a Space Cowboy.
First, I used to be fine with flying wherever in coach. Just give me a ticket.
Then I learned a few tricks of the trade and was fine with 6 hours of torture.
After the major devaluations, I realized I was OK with 8 hours and decided to push for 10.
My last summer flight to Rio proved that I didn’t know myself. A 10-hour flight in misery was too long.
So, it’s back to 8. Flying to Barcelona in Y in a couple of months, so will see if the 8-hour threshold stands, or it’s back to 6.
But the point is, I will keep flying even if they remove the premium class from the sky. By that time, someone will have come up with low side-effect pharmaceuticals that can help people cope. Perhaps the airlines.
And what the hell, George, you’re right, I do like to argue. 🙂
Andy
Right you are. I’ll keep flying when we can only get coach. Gary Leff does and says he’s lovin’ it!
Right again on those pharmaceuticals. I’m from Colorado so we’ll just bring our own lunch.
Fly like an eagle…