This week on Musings of The Global Traveller

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Here is what you have missed at this old site this week

How to get to Tibet

Priority Club's hard IT lesson

Mileage earning & redemption for AA/BA US-UK flights gets closer

Welcome to the year of the tiger

Jetstar consumer guarantee is useless

How to get to British Indian Ocean Territory

First class lounge suites for ANA at Narita

Lufthansa pilot strike from Monday 22nd Feb

Why I need to book a hotel during 2 hour transit

BA wins cabin crew court case

Lufthansa strike 22-25 February update

It is time to switch

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Competitours - experience Europe in personalised "Amazing Race"

Last year I wrote about the launch of Competitours - a cross between the traditional European tours, independent travel and The Amazing Race. It seems the initial tours went well for Competitours is back again for 2010 with apparently not many tweaks, at least on the surface. Published dates run from May to August.

For frequent flyers and frequent stayers, there are now discounts available if using miles for the trans-Atlantic flights and points for a couple of hotel nights.

This will be great for the young at heart, with a sense of adventure, looking for a "safe" journey. For those looking for a greater challenge and to experience more of the world, there is an alternative - the Global Scavenger Hunt. Entries are still being accepted for the 2010 round which is in April.


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Changing flight loyalty

The other day a friend was commenting to me on how much his flying patterns had changed in the 8 months since Qantas was replaced with their low cost subsidiary Jetstar on New Zealand domestic (and some trans-Tasman) routes. Like me, he was on the final Qantas domestic flight last year. Well over 80% of his (extensive) domestic travel has switched to Air NZ.

It is not hard to understand why there is a big change. The domestic airline lounges are closed and replaced by pay per use lounges. The great Jetconnect crew are gone. The simple fares are replaced with a lower base fare and a vast array of surcharges and fees. The flight schedules are still not great. Customer service is poor, with many reports of passengers denied boarding due to check in queues, passengers misconnecting with Qantas international flights and left to buy a new ticket, difficulties in obtaining refunds, and so on.

I had a look at my own travel record and noticed I've not only flown much less Qantas group flights within New Zealand but also my international travel with Qantas has similarly mostly switched to other airlines. In the 3 years prior to the change, I flew 325 Qantas flights with a mixture of domestic, trans-Tasman and longhaul flights; and also a mixture of all cabin classes (almost all business or first class for the international flights). In the past 8 months I've flown just 7 Qantas group flights. Even if I add in the 4 Qantas flights I will take over the next 4 months, my Qantas group travel has dropped from over 9 flights a month to under 1 a month - a 90% fall.

It seems I'm far from the only passenger to switch loyalty. The few times I have flown Qantas internationally the lounge at Auckland has been almost deserted. Elite and premium passengers within and to/from New Zealand have deserted in droves.


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Win 1 million Miles and More miles

Come up with a catchy name for Lufthansa's A380 and you could win 1 million Miles & More miles. Good luck.




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Bomb joke backfires

Another day, another report that someone making a joke at an airport gets into trouble. This time it was an Australian visiting Hamilton airport (source NZ Herald), who was arresting for joking about a bomb in his temporarily unattended bag and who also lost a Swiss army knife in the process.

I can't help thinking there must be more to the story.

With so few jet flights, Hamilton does not have a lot of airport security (in NZ passengers flying prop aircraft do not need to clear security). Indeed on this particular day only the 6am departure to Sydney warranted screening.

Airport security staff in NZ, whilst being professional, generally have a great sense of humour.

The article refers to the man arriving from Sydney and the alarm being raised just before 8am. The Sydney flight arrives at 12:20am. While it is possible to remain in the terminal until morning, it is neither comfortable (see my sleeping in Hamilton airport post from 18 months ago) nor commonplace - when an airport shuts down most people do not want to be "locked in".

The airport would have been noisy by about 4am at the latest and transport options into town would have been available for some hours by 8am. The airport doesn't have much facilities - a cafe, newsagent and toilets. So there was no apparent need to be hanging around for an extended period.

Why was the Swiss army knife confiscated? Since the man was landside there shouldn't have been any issue in having one in his bag. Did the security staff think it would be used against them?

In summary, while on the surface this seems like just another bomb joke incident, there are aspects which do not add up.


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How to get to | British Virgin Islands

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the Contact link at the top, or leave a comment.

British Virgin Islands

Visitors arrive by cruise ship, ferry from US Virgin Islands, or by air at Beef Island airport. International flights to Beef Island include American from San Juan and LIAT from Antigua and Sint Maartin.

TIP Air fares to Saint Thomas on US Virgin Islands are more competitive than fares to Beef Island, and there are plenty of ferries between US & British Virgin Islands (30 to 75 minute journey).


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Japan Airlines sticks with Oneworld

For the past few months I've been watching the Japan Airlines slow-moving financial drama from afar. Not only is the airline in need of significant short term financial support and a major overhaul to cut costs but they have also been flirting with an offer of assistance with Delta. This would have seen Japan Airlines leave the Oneworld alliance and switch to Sky Team.

Needless to say this would have left Oneworld with a big hole in Asia with intra-Asian flights limited to Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, ie almost exclusively all via Hong Kong.

Today, Japan Airlines confirmed it will stick with Oneworld. This is very good news.

However, those booked with Japan Airlines on future flights (this includes me) are not necessarily unaffected. Expect a culling of some unprofitable routes and probably service cutbacks also.


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ESTA a year on

It is now over a year after ESTA (the US electronic visa waiver system) has started and worth a post on how it has developed.

Despite the initial promises of saving travellers time by replacing the green I94-W visa waiver entry form, for most the ESTA application is needed as well as an I94-W form. They are progressing slowly - a number of flights have a trial for not completing the I94-W form.

I was on one of the trial flights the other day. The immigration officer was not expecting a form and didn't even ask to confirm the flight number I was on. Perhaps this was because immigration at that time was quiet with no recent arrivals of other flights? I received a card "I-94W is going paperless" which explains to any check in or gate agent who expects to find a green stub from the I-94W that I legitimately don't have one.

Hopefully it will be paperless for everyone soon.

When ESTA was introduced, the legislation provided for future introduction of a fee for cost recovery. So far, ESTA is still free (unless you go to one of the many fake sites to register). However, a $10 tourism promotion fee will be charged later this year (date not yet confirmed).

When the fee is charged, effectively ESTA will have transitioned to become a visa, albeit lower cost than regular US visas.


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A great weekend trip

It was good to be back in the air again this weekend. So many things went well, which made the weekend far more pleasurable than it could have been. I took a longhaul run - about 24 hours of flying, 9 hours of lounge time and just 2 hours landside at the destination.

My upgrades cleared, albeit at the last minute. For the outbound flight the upgrade cleared at the gate - I love the magic of getting the beep to indicate a seat change. For the return flight the double upgrade cleared at the lounge. Both flights were very full and so the upgrades were very much appreciated.

Queues were non-existent with incredibly lucky timing throughout the weekend. Check in for the first flight took a minute and I also got the boarding pass for the return flight. The 3 visits to immigration on the trip took under a minute, 2 minutes and under a minute. The middle one of these three has in the past taken me an hour while travelling on the same flight.

Security queues were also very short, about a minute each time. For some reason the extra security check at the gate for flights to USA didn't apply to me - I was directed to bypass it.

The lounge visits were longer than I'd intended but it was good meeting up with people in a peaceful environment, with good wine and food on hand.

While landside I had a short hotel stay to take advantage of several concurrent promotions. I'll get well over 20k PC points for minimal cost and effort. The check in agent was nonplussed when I checked out so quickly. "Is there something wrong with the room?" Not at all.

With such a short trip, there are no jetlag issues and I got a reasonable amount of sleep on both flights.

There were lots of special touches by the crew. My favourite was that my drink selections on the outbound flight were relayed to the crew for my return flight. So I was asked if I wanted the same again!

The only problem with the weekend? I now realise I don't have any upcoming trips in the next several weeks to look forward to.


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How to get to | British Columbia

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the Contact link at the top, or leave a comment.

British Columbia

Entry to British Columbia, Canada, is by land, by ferry or cruise ship, by train, or by air. Most international flights are to/from Vancouver airport, including the following airlines:

• Star Alliance - Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Continental, Lufthansa, United, US Airways
• Oneworld - American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Mexicana
• Sky Team - Delta, KLM, Korean
• Other selected - Westjet, Alaska airlines, some European and North American low cost airlines, EVA, Philipine Airlines

TIP Air fares to Vancouver are often considerably higher than to Seattle. However Seattle to Vancouver fares are very high so land travel may be best to take advantage - just watch out for border queues in weekends and at holiday periods.

TIP Distances can be large, so land travel to Alaska or other Canadian provinces takes considerable time.


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Airline schedule padding

The other day I came across a reference to a 1964 KLM schedule for London Heathrow to Amsterdam flight having 1 hour 0 minutes duration. The same route today has a scheduled time of 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 50 minutes duration, despite aircraft getting considerably faster in the interim.

Scott McCartney explains at The Middle Seat that scheduled flight times are continuing to grow, reflecting:

• increased customer (and regulator) demand for on-time performance
• hubs are getting more crowded
• air space is getting more crowded
• airlines flying slower to save fuel
• in the case of Southwest a change in stance from being ambivalent about arriving a few minutes early or late to preferring to arrive a few minutes early

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My Mileage Expired (times two)

Despite recently outlining the mileage expiry policies for many frequent flyer programs, I've just lost a few thousand miles from 2 different programs.

I had a small balance of Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer miles from several Silk Air flights which cannot credit to any Star Alliance program and also some miscredited miles when the PPS double dip hasn't worked properly with amounts too small to chase up a reversal. Thanks to the helpful upcoming expiry tables provided I have known for some time these miles were about to expire. I don't have enough for any award, and no matter how I looked at topping up the account I could always find more value in crediting to another program instead. So most of my balance has gone. I still have a small residual amount from a recent Silk Air flight.

Emirates Skywards is even more user friendly about mileage expiry in that you can send yourself a reminder alert on a date of your choosing, and like an alarm can then snooze and send a new reminder on another date of your choosing. I'd previously cashed out most of my accumulated miles but had a small balance some of which was due to expire at the end of January. As with Kris Flyer, to avoid the expiry I'd need to add more points to redeem any award. Since Emirates significantly devalued their program the opportunity cost of the extra points was worth more than the value of any reasonably attainable awards. So I let those miles expire also.

Combining the mileage expiries with little travel, my net frequent flyer mileage accrual for the year to 1 February is the lowest it has been in many years.


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Badly targetted frequent flyer offers

In my email inbox today was the latest in a long history of badly targetted offers from Lufthansa Miles & More.

The email included as "selected offer for your mileage balance" the Silver Promotion. Frequent Traveller status (Star Alliance Silver) can be earned by taking 30 paid flights on Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT, Adria, Croatia, Brussels, Air Dolomiti or Luxair by 31 December.

This is wrong for me on a few levels.

1. As referred to at the start of the email I have a higher elite status.


2. Not only that but I've already requalified to 2013.


3. Since I'm not based in Europe, 30 flights on those airlines would be more than enough to qualify for Senator, not Frequent Traveller status.

An example of a previous promotional mis-step by Miles and More include offers of 10k bonus miles if I make 3 intercontinental round trips in first class on Lufthansa within 6 weeks. That bonus was paltry compared with the cost of achieving it and the huge amount of miles that would already be earned (rate of 325% times mileage).

Still, it is better than Virgin Blue Velocity Rewards, which offered gold status only to rescind the offer.

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How to get to | Slovakia

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Slovakia

Source: Maros

All neighbouring countries have bus and train services to Slovakia. There are also frequent boats along the Danube (from Vienna and Budapest). Airlines flying to Slovakia include:

• Star Alliance - Austrian (Kosice), LOT (Bratislava)
• Oneworld - none
• Sky Team - Aeroflot (Bratislava), Czech (Bratislava and Kosice)
• Other selected - Ryanair (Bratislava)

TIP Several low cost airlines fly to Bratislava (flights may be seasonal).

TIP Vienna has far more flight options and is a short bus, train or boat ride from Bratislava.

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If you received this post in your feed reader or email this means the switch to the feed for the new Boarding Area site of Musings of The Global Traveller has not worked automatically for you. We're sorry about that. Please switch to use the new feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/MusingsOfTheGlobalTraveller. So you don't miss any content, we'll repost at the old Musings of The Global Traveller site for the next few days at least. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Coming soon - a new home for Musings of The Global Traveller

As mentioned a few days ago, Musings of The Global Traveller will soon have a new home.

While there are still a few more toys to play with buttons to press to complete the move, with the considerable help of the fantastic team at Boarding Area, Musings of The Global Traveller is almost ready in the new home. Go on, take a look, I know you want to.

For readers who follow by reader or email subscription, I'll advise when the feeds have switched over. You won't miss any content during the move.

Avoid 32B if flying Club Europe on British Airways

If flying Club Europe on British Airways look out for aircraft code "32B", for that is an A320 with no business seats, instead of the wider convertible seats on their other aircraft.

At the moment only the latest addition to the fleet, G-EUYF has this aircraft code. Keep an eye on the Flyer Talk end of Club Europe? thread for developments.

How to get to | Mozambique

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Mozambique

Source: Paulo Oliveira

Entry to Mozambique is by bus from all neighbouring countries, by train from Johannesburg or by air. Flights to Maputo include:

• Star Alliance - South African, TAP
• Oneworld - none
• Sky Team - Kenya
• Other selected - LAM Mozambique, Air Zimbabwe

TIP Mozambique is tricky to include on an longhaul itinerary due to the limited options and low availability for awards (particularly in premium cabins). If there is no availability to Maputo try Harare or Johannesburg with separate land travel to Mozambique.

Frequent Flyer Mileage Expiry

Edited to add - this post is no longer being maintained. However, my new site at Boarding Area has a mileage expiry post which is being regularly updated.

Prompted by US Senator Charles Schumer's attempt to regulate frequent flyer program mileage expiry, the latest Inside Flyer includes a piece on mileage expiry of frequent flyer and frequent stay programs.

They not only look at the expiry policy, which varies widely between programs, but also at how well it is communicated. I agree with Randy's wish that programs simply state the facts as they apply to each member.

Your miles will expire on {date} unless you {do this}.

Far too many programs either do not make the expiry explicit (forcing their members to hunt for the policy) or just state the policy and leave it to their members to work out what the expiry date actually is.

Here is a quick summary of frequent flyer program mileage expiry policies, in a subjective ranking from least to most restrictive. I've included rather more frequent flyer programs than are included in the Inside Flyer article, but I have not included any of the frequent stay programs expiry policies.

No expiry
Shanghai Airlines
TAP (with fee every 3 years)

No expiry for grandfathered miles
Asiana (miles earned before 30 September 2008)
Korean (miles earned before 30 June 2008)

No expiry with program issued credit card
Lufthansa et al

No expiry with elite status (any elite status unless otherwise mentioned)
Air France/KLM
Air New Zealand (gold and gold elite only)
ANA (diamond only)
Lufthansa et al
Malaysian (platinum only)

3 years after last activity
British Airways
Czech Airlines (redemptions do not count as activity)
Midwest
Qantas (until 30 June 2010)
Spanair
Virgin Atlantic

2 complete calendar years after last activity
Frontier

2 years after last activity
Alaska (account cancellation is not necessarily enforced)
bmi
Delta (12 months for brand new members)

18 months after last activity
American
Continental (account cancellation is not necessarily enforced)
Hawaiian
Mexicana
Qantas (from 1 July 2010)
United
US Airways (can pay fee to extend 18 further months)

10 years after earning
Gulf Air

7 years after earning
Asiana elite members (miles earned before 1 October 2008 are grandfathered)

1 year after last activity or 7 years after earning, whichever comes first
Air Canada (at 7 years after earning can be extended for a fee)

5 years after earning
Asiana non-elite members (miles earned before 1 October 2008 are grandfathered)
Korean (miles earned before 1 July 2008 are grandfathered)
SAS

4-5 years after earning
Air New Zealand
Qatar

3-4 years after earning
Emirates
Malaysian (can be extended 12 months for a fee)
South African
Thai

3 years after earning
Cathay Pacific
El Al
Lufthansa et al
Singapore Airlines (can be extended up to 12 months for a fee)
TAP (can be extended indefinitely, by 3 years at a time, for a fee)
Turkish Airlines

2 years after last flight activity
Aeroflot

2 years after last status earning flight (on own metal)
Aeromexico

20 months after last status earning
Air France/KLM

1 year after last earning
JetBlue (only earning from JetBlue flights or JetBlue Amex counts)

2-3 years after earning
ANA

2 years after earning
Air China
Southwest

2 years after earning with elite status or airline issued credit card
AirTran

18 months after earning
Virgin America

1 year after earning
AirTran

6 months after last time earnt 2000+ miles
Spirit

I'm not sure why Aeromexico got an Inside Flyer thumbs up when Air France/KLM got a thumbs down. Sure Aeromexico has 24 months expiry versus 20 months, but neither are particularly long and Aeromexico requires earning on an Aeromexico flight in that period whereas Air France/KLM's requirement is for any Sky Team flight.

I don't think the Inside Flyer explanation of how Singapore Airlines miles expire is clear or correct. Expiry is based on the date each mile was earned, regardless of how much or little other account activity there has been since then.

Summary

Some of these expiry policies are downright mean. Anything tied to date of earning, or requiring activity more often than once every 2 years has the effect that the frequent flyer program provides very little value for infrequent flyers. It is natural and right for the programs to concentrate on members who are high value to the airline and try to save costs by eliminating low value memberships. However, it is worth them remembering that travellers' circumstances change and an unduly harsh expiry rule can jeopardise a potentially valuable future relationship. Or, if Sen Schumer has his way, result in government interference. No one wants that!

Updated for Aeroflot and Mexicana.