2008 Frequent Flyers Should Act Now to Avoid New Fees, Award PriceIncreases
 

Frequent Flyers Should Act Now to Avoid New Fees, Award Price
Increases

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/u...0&u=SL4F6B4DC5

Posted August 26, 2008 at 2:19 pm ET by Tim Winship
Photo: PhotoDisc

Do it now.

Specifically, use your frequent flyer miles to book that award trip
now, before newly announced fees and increased award prices take
effect.

That's the best short-term advice for frequent flyer program members
whose airline programs have announced new policies that will make
award trips more expensive, either in cash or mileage terms, or both.

Following is a checklist of upcoming policy changes that consumers can
avoid by acting sooner rather than later.

Alaska Airlines

Members of Alaska's Mileage Plan program have until September 30 to
book domestic coach awards at the current 20,000-mile level. On
November 1, the price of that award rises to 25,000 miles, as do the
prices of a number of other award types.

Also on November 1, Alaska will impose a $25 fee for award tickets
issued on partner airlines.
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American

On October 1, American will increase prices for a wide range of award
flights and upgrades. (The full list is here.)

Among the changes that will cause the most pain to the most program
members is a new $50 cash payment in addition to the 15,000 miles
required for a one-way domestic upgrade from discounted coach fares.
That means that a round-trip domestic upgrade will cost 30,000 miles
plus a $100 co-payment.

Continental

Beginning September 3, Continental will stop offering last-seat
availability on some flights, even if members of their OnePass program
are willing to redeem twice as many miles for an unrestricted award.

So if you plan on using Continental miles for a hard-to-book flight,
don't dawdle. Reserve now, while you still can.

Delta

When Delta's much anticipated three-tier award chart takes effect in
September, the price of completely unrestricted awards will rise—in
some cases precipitously.

An unrestricted domestic coach ticket will increase from 50,000 to
60,000 miles. An unrestricted award ticket to Asia will cost 370,000
miles, up from the current range of 240,000 to 300,000 miles.

So if you anticipate needing an unrestricted award—most likely in
cases where you're hoping to fly on a popular route, during a high-
demand period—you can save miles by booking before the new policy
kicks in.

Frontier

On September 15, Frontier EarlyReturn members will pay more miles for
awards, and more cash for various program-related fees.

The price of an award ticket for travel within the contiguous U.S. and
Canada will rise from 15,000 to 20,000 miles. Award tickets to Alaska,
Mexico, and Costa Rica will also cost 5,000 more miles.

On the fees front, non-elite program members will have to pay $25
every time they have an award ticket issued. Frontier will also
increase existing fees for rush ticketing, ticket changes, and award
trip cancelations.

Hawaiian Airlines

On September 1, Hawaiian Airlines will increase mileage requirements
for HawaiianMiles award flights.

For transpacific flights, one-way coach awards will rise from 17,500
to 20,000 miles for SuperSaver awards; from 25,000 to 30,000 for Saver
awards; and from 35,000 to 40,000 miles for Anytime awards. Comparable
increases are in store for first-class and inter-island awards.

Northwest

Beginning on September 15, WorldPerks members will pay a fuel
surcharge when booking award tickets as follows: $25 for domestic
flights; $50 for transatlantic flights; $75 for intra-Asia flights;
and $100 for transpacific flights.

While the fees and award price increases discussed above can be
sidestepped for now, by snagging awards before the new policies are in
place, they will eventually become permanent features of the programs.
And they're just the latest in an extensive list of recent changes
that have been slowly but surely chipping away at the programs' value.
The long-term question looms ever larger: Is it worth my time, money,
and energy to bother participating in these programs at all?