My top posts for 2010 over at Boarding Area

Nearly a year ago I moved my blog from this site to Boarding Area, home to several blogs with a business and frequent flyer travel focus. I notice there are still many people reading this old site - please click here to the Boarding Area home of Musings of the Global Traveller.

The most popular posts of 2010, based on views, made in the other location are:

1. All A380 routes - all scheduled routes operated with A380 aircraft (all airlines) [continues to be updated]
2. Frequent flyer mileage expiry - mileage expiry policies for all major frequent flyer programs [continues to be updated]
3. Lifetime elite airline status - lifetime elite status qualification and benefits for all major frequent flyer programs [continues to be updated]
4. Super easy Star Alliance gold status with Aegean - by far the easiest way to top elite status with Star Alliance, and is still live
5. New Qantas first class (A380) - now 2 years old but still popular as it remains one of the better first class offerings in the air
6. A380 business class comparison Emirates, Qantas and Singapore - surprisingly more popular than my A380 first class suites comparison Emirates, Qantas and Singapore
7. HON Circle mileage run by private jet - a number of readers got this airline status (with extra special benefits) for low cost, and in great comfort
8. US tourist tax (ESTA fee) starts 8 September & already inflated
9. Frequent flyer questions on status - part of a series of posts answering questions from readers of Wendy Perrin's Perrin Post
10. bmi Diamond Club timeline for closure revealed by Lufthansa

Non-contract alliance lounges

Elite frequent flyers look for lounges operated by alliance airlines to maximise the benefits. Elite status passengers can be flying any alliance airline to gain admittance to the appropriate airline operated lounge subject to lounge access rules and access to the portion of the terminal, whereas contract lounges are only available to those flying the specific airline(s) which has contracted for access.

Despite flying to 700 destinations in 142 countries (as at December 2009), Oneworld has about 300 non-contract lounges in only 133 destinations. I've visited 63 of these lounges, in 19 different countries.

It is similar with Star Alliance - they have 1077 destinations in 175 countries (as at December 2009) but only 350 non-contract lounges in 165 destinations. I've visited 109 of these lounges, in 35 countries.

Despite the gaps (some of which do have contract lounges available to elite and premium passengers), the global coverage of airline lounges is rather good. This is invaluable to people who are always on the move, although I wish more lounges have my two "necessities" - showers and internet computers.

Upcoming Airline Alliance Changes

There are a number of upcoming changes to the three main airline alliances, so I thought it would be useful to summarise. I've included known changes but excluded speculative future members - only those confirmed by the alliances to be joining are mentioned below.

Airline	Oneworld	Sky Team	Star Alliance
Continental		out 24 Oct 2009	in end Oct 2009
Copa		out 24 Oct 2009
Brussels			in Oct 2009
Mexicana	in Oct 2009
TAM			in early 2010
Aegean			in mid 2010
S7 (of Russia)	in 2010
Vietnam		in 2010
Air India			in 2010, maybe

Continental has a few days in between leaving Sky Team and joining Star Alliance - it was a bit too hopeful to have a seamless transition.

Air India was originally scheduled to join Star Alliance in March 2009 but is reportedly nowhere ready (alliances have a long list of criteria which new members need to comply with).

Confirmed future alliance members sometimes become partners of some airlines within that alliance ahead of the join date. This means codeshares, mileage earning (although not necessarily status mileage), and award redemption. It doesn't usually extend to status benefits. An example of this is Brussels Airlines is already a partner of Lufthansa and Miles & More frequent flyer program.

Partnerships with non-alliance airlines also sometimes change when airlines join or leave an alliance. For example Continental ends it's OnePass partnerships with Alaska, Horizon and American Eagle on 24 October 2009.

Airline lounges - my second home

As I have been asked about airline and airport lounges a lot lately, I figure it is time for another blog post about them. Airline lounges can generally be accessed by:

• paid club membership - of the specific airline's club or a partner airline's club with reciprocal useage rights
• pay per use membership
• frequent flyer elite status
• airline class of travel

So far, I have never bought club membership or paid for day use of a lounge. Despite this I have used over 260 lounges in over 120 airports worldwide, several of them over 100 times. The quality of lounge varies widely from the luxury of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal with dozens of fine single malt whiskies, to a peaceful oasis of calm in what is otherwise a horrid airport (lounges in Dhaka and Lahore spring to mind), to the downright nasty crowded rooms (such as the LAT Lounge at Beirut which makes the Red Carpet Club at Los Angeles look good!).

What do I look for in a lounge?

Showers

Most airline lounge users do not shower in the lounge. However, for me it is an invaluable asset and I wish more lounges had them. Whether it is because I'm in the middle of 2 or more days constant flying, or because I'm rushing straight from work to flight to work with no time to visit home or hotel in between, I use airline lounge showers very frequently.

Of course not all showers are equal. Most have towels, soap and other amenities. Some do not. I bring my own towel just in case. Some have toilet and basin in the shower room, others do not. Some are heavily used and require lengthy waits (eg Lufthansa Frankfurt nonschengen B lounge in the morning and evening).

The best airport showers I've had are in the Los Angeles Air New Zealand lounge. It is great to wash away the hassles of security (and often lengthy immigration queues too) in the middle of 30 odd hours of flying. Oh yes, the cabanas at Cathay Pacific Hong Kong The Wing First Class lounge are also pretty nice.

Business facilities

I'm in the minority here amongst business travelers, but a lot of the time I travel without a laptop. Downtime in transit is an opportunity to catch up on messages and get some work done. For this reason I wish every airline lounge had free internet computers, preferably with printers and photocopiers available. Free local calls are a nice bonus if available.

The best airport lounge business facilities I've used are the bookable rooms in the Melbourne and Sydney Qantas First Class lounge. Not only do they have all of the above, but also little things like office stationery (pens, pencils, paper even a stapler & sellotape). To keep any meetings confidential there are also privacy blinds and enough space and chairs for a few people to use the room at once.

Lounge agents

When things go wrong, as they are bound to from time to time, having good airline agents in the lounge who are authorised to fix things is invaluable. Not only does it save time queueing at a desk in the main part of the terminal or on hold on the phone, but by getting quick access you sometimes can take advantage of fleeting opportunities.

One example is in the United San Francisco Red Carpet Club (RCC) a few years ago. I had one of those tricky itineraries flying to Anchorage via Portland and Seattle, having just arrived from New Zealand. The weather along the west coast was bad with many flight delays. My flight to Portland was delayed a couple of hours which would likely mean misconnecting with the once a day flight from Seattle to Anchorage. I spotted the issue when a delay announcement was made at the gate and headed straight back to the RCC with it's service desk inside. The nice agent in the lounge quickly saw the problem and rebooked me on the nonstop flight to Seattle that was just about to board. If I'd tried calling or heading to the landside service desk I wouldn't have even reached an agent in time to take this option.

The extras

Showers, computers and good agents are the 3 things I really look for in an airline lounge. Other stuff, however, may be the difference between a good lounge and a great one. Here are some examples of lounge extras I like. See if you can pick which lounges I am referring to?

• children's play room, complete with playstations - less noise in the main part of the lounge and keeps kids away from the computers
• air hockey table - for the inner child
• special lounge security and immigration to bypass the regular ones - faster and less intrusive
• great picture windows overlooking tarmac, runway and scenery
• wide selection of magazines and newspapers
• great restaurant quality food and drink with proper meal service
• Fauchon green tea ice cream
• spa or massages
• sleeper rooms, complete with wakeup service so you don't miss your flight
• bar tenders that remember my order and have it ready when they see me coming

When do new elite cards get sent out?

I requalified for Priority Club platinum last month and they've already mailed the 2010 card to me. Most of my frequent flyer programs mail out elite cards only near the end of the membership year rather than when I've requalified. Sometimes they send them out too close to the end of the year and it doesn't arrive until after the following year has started - which can pose problems where partner lounges require sighting of the card as proof of eligibility (thinking of British Airways at London for example).

The oddest one I've come across so far, though, is Hilton HHonors, which used to mail out cards with an expiry date years ahead - ie assuming that you will keep requalifying. Which reminds me, I should get a new card from them soon.

2009 - A Year of Opportunities?

A little late, but here are my views on the travel landscape this year as it pertains to frequent flyers in particular.

The financial turmoil means flight and hotel bookings are way down overall, and particularly on some routes. As some bloggers have, correctly in my view, noted we can expect some good sales, and there are a range of other impacts.

First, the downturn in travel is uneven. Business travel will be much less than in recent years. This affects some aspects of travel more than others. Secondly, leisure travel is impacted through reduced discretionary spending.

What does this mean for savvy travellers?

Discounted fares and sales

Airlines that rely heavily on business travellers and premium leisure travellers will in general find 2009 hard. Expect sales and inducements to buy up to first or business class, particularly on certain routes most impacted. Normal wisdom is to book well ahead to get the best deals but this year year the reverse may be true. Not only are advance sales lower thus discounted fares will be available closer to departure than normal, but airlines will try to encourage demand through sales. Already some airlines have been offering last minute sales at very low fares.

Conversely low cost airlines may have less need for sales as people switch from perceived high fare full service airlines to perceived low fare reduced service airlines.

A similar logic applies comparing longhaul/expensive routes with shorthaul/cheap routes – demand drops on the former and may increase on the latter.

For some airlines or routes the impacts may be more subtle. People switching from business to economy travel may result in sales in premium cabins rather than the usual economy class sales.

Capacity reductions

Another airline response is to reduce capacity, through less flights and/or using smaller aircraft. This means schedules may change more than normal this year. For 2009 I’m being less aggressive on connection times and the long sequences of flights in a row that I sometimes do.

Frequent flyer status

Business travel is the bread and butter of many airlines. With business travel slashed, the airlines will be looking to retain as many customers as they can. So qualifying thresholds will not be increasing. It should be easier to get a status match, and frequent flyer programs may more readily requalify those who just fail to meet the requirements and/or fail to requalify but have a long elite history. Some FFPs may also offer inducements to their best customers to maintain the amount of flying – eg Air New Zealand has introduced a gift for a small proportion of top tier gold elite members based on a higher level of status earning.

Awards

As with discounted and sale fares it should generally be easier to nab awards in 2009, especially in first and business class. However, on heavy leisure routes it may be more difficult with people economising by using miles instead of cash to pay for their holiday travels. I also expect more awards to be available at short notice.

Will 2009 see Singapore Airlines finally making available their new/best first and business class on awards? Currently A380, 77W and A345 awards are not available in first at all, and only available in business class using expensive Kris Flyer awards.

Operational upgrades

Airlines should have less need to op-up passengers. However some exceptions come to mind. For example British Airways longhaul aircraft have a relatively high proportion of premium seats and some passengers who would have booked in business class choose instead to book into economy. Under pressure to fill seats and with more empty seats in premium cabins, airlines may oversell economy by more than currently, and on the more popular routes there may still be a reasonable number of op-ups required.

Upgrades

Mileage, voucher or complimentary status upgrades should be easier to obtain. Some airlines, such as Lufthansa, are managing op-ups by encouraging people at check-in to use their miles to upgrade.

Fees

In 2007 a number of airlines added new fees and increased existing ones to generate revenue. I see this trend continuing in 2008, but with perhaps more fee waivers for FFP elite members.

Packages

To try to induce demand there may be more extras thrown in for little or no cost to the air fares. Eg ground transport, cheap accommodation, sightseeing tours.

Hotels

Higher end hotels and those that normally do a lot of convention business will also be impacted. Expect more deals in 2009, and some hotels that haven’t yet opened may delay their opening until the economy improves.

Summary

I expect there will be lots of opportunities in 2009 for savvy travellers. However these will be much more in some areas than others. Those that adapt to the changed circumstances, and are the most flexible, stand to benefit the most.

New Qantas First Class (A380)

I blogged previously that I'd been invited* by Qantas on a promotional A380 flight before scheduled service begins. What I didn't dare hope for, though, was that I'd be seated in their new first class for the flight. Woohoo.

Source news.com.au

I'd seen the publicity materials from Qantas when the new product was launched, and had been underwhelmed. Perhaps it was because Emirates and Singapore Airlines had both taken the opportunity to add fantastic new first class products on their A380s that expectations were too high.

Having sat in the seat for a couple of hours I think the pictures do not do it justice. For sure it is not as good as the top notch suites, but it is much better than the current Qantas First Class. I'd rank the new first class upper quartile rather than leading.

The cabin most definitely family unfriendly - you cannot easily see a small child in another seat, and also cannot reach across to refasten belts. While not enclosed ala Emirates or Singapore Airlines, there is a reasonable amount of privacy at least while seated or laying down. Stand up and you can see all.

I've posted a full review on Flyer Talk.

Here are a few snippets.

... overall the cabin is of airiness.

The seat faces forward for take-off and landing. There is limited legroom but with plenty of knee room in this position. Other than take-off and landing, there does not seem much point in the forward-facing position. All the other features of the seat are best used when the seat is swivelled.

There are plenty of places to put little things, but only 1 spot to put a laptop bag or similar - under the ottoman. There are two swivel triangular drawers under the small shelf at far right. A couple of cubbies up against the seat when swiveled. The lower one of these is partially blocked when in bed mode, but as a secure place to put things while sleeping it is inferior to BA first and business, or NZ business, for example.

The main table is inbetween the cubbies and the shelf and well positioned for eating alone or with someone else at the ottoman. The table however is not as large as NZ or CX business class, so it will be cosy for two.

There is a recessed drink/glass holder in the shelf, and also behind the head when in bed mode. Good for putting a water bottle in, but watch out if resting a glass on the shelf!

There is a pop-out coat hook to hang your jacket when you first arrive while waiting to hand it to an attendant, or on landing after being handed it back. There is also a hook on the seat wall to hang the headphones so you don't need to stuff them into a cubby or have them loose on the tray table or shelf.

In swivel mode there is decent legroom regardless of how far reclined the seat is. In bed mode the length is reasonable, the bed is flat (arm rests drop to lie fairly flush) and reasonably comfortable.

The master controller is wall mounted, and can also be lifted out of its socket. It reminds me of the one Emirates has in first class on A345 aircraft. The controller operates IFE, seat positions, blinds, lights, privacy screen, etc. It is touch screen, but also has buttons for preset seat positions, overhead lights and a crew call button. There are 7 different directions the seat can be adjusted (including massage functions), and 5 preset seating positions.

* The invite was offered due to my frequent flyer status, not for any publicity in this blog or elsewhere.

The Qantas A380 also has a new IFE system, which appears to be much better than the existing system. More on this later.

Any seat awards

This year it seems to be the fashionable thing for Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) to add a new award category for any seat awards.

Yesterday, Singapore Airlines announced Full Awards. Perhaps so-named because you need to have a full mileage account to make use of them? Unlike any seat awards at other FFPs, Kris Flyer (the FFP of Singapore Airlines) blocks some seats - namely the A380 First Suite. All other seats appear to be available, but at a hefty cost. For example Australia to Europe round trip in first class (not A380) is 1,558,000 miles.

Any seat awards work slightly differently at other FFPs. Here is a summary.

• Singapore Airlines - fixed cost up to 1,558,000 and exclude A380 First Suites, taxes charged separately, excludes Silkair (a subsidiary airline)
• Qantas - variable cost (explicitly based on fare @ A1c per point) and some over 2,000,000 have been reported, include all seats, taxes optionally included (at extra cost) or charged separately
• Virgin Blue - all awards on Virgin Blue are any seat, variable cost (loosely based on fare), include all seats
• Air New Zealand - most awards solely on Air NZ are any seat (exception is business class awards for elites at limited availability), variable cost (based on fare @ NZ$1 per airpoint dollar), include all seats, taxes included for domestic itineraries and charged separately for international itineraries
• various US-based FFPs - standard awards at double the cost of saver awards (ie fixed cost)

With most US-based airlines hurting financially, how long will it be before their any seat awards change to high variable mileage costs?

I'm ungrateful for extra space in economy?

Air New Zealand has been improving their economy class on some aircraft types.

First to be improved was the 737 used on major domestic routes. The first several rows have been designated as Space+ with a few extra (valuable) inches of seat pitch. Space+ is not treated as a separate cabin but rather like United Airlines' economy plus it is available for free to those with status or Koru Club membership (unlike United this includes Star Alliance gold members), and also available to those on full fares. All 737's have now been fitted with Space+ seating.

Next up is the 767 used on shorthaul and secondary longhaul international routes, and the A320 used on shorthaul international routes and the odd domestic positioning flight in place of 737. Again, the front of economy is being converted to Space+. I flew the first 767 to be converted the other day and I sure appreciated the spacious legroom. The other major change on 767 and A320 aircraft is they are getting new in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems. Not only does every seat get a personal TV screen with audio-video on demand (AVOD) but USB devices and ipods can connect to it.

Further, Air NZ has started gate to gate IFE on all international aircraft that are fitted with avod. The IFE system is switched on when boarding begins and switched off on arrival back at the gate. On long flights this may not make much difference, but for short 3 hour hops this adds about 40% more viewing time (games are switched off for takeoff and landing). I've experienced this a few times in the 747 and 777 aircraft and it has made a big difference on short flights in particular. No more carefully picking short movies to watch. Unfortunately on my flight on the improved 767 the IFE system still had gremlins and we didn't have any IFE at all. (NZ made up for it with a voucher in compensation.)

Short flights on 747 and 777 aircraft are also having a further change. From December premium economy will not be sold and instead premium economy will be used as the Space+ zone.

It all sounds very good, and it is. These are some of the most comfortable economy products anywhere.

Why am I ungrateful then? It has dawned on me that I can get a much better seat on a 45 minute domestic flight or 3 hour international flight, at much lower cost, than on the long 10-14 hour longhaul flights which cost so much more. It is a bit back to front - normally the best product is saved for the longest, most high yielding routes. The optimist in me hopes that Air NZ is working on the problem and will have some improvements to announce soon for longhaul passengers.

A charge for all checked bags

American Airlines (AA) has taken the low-cost carrier (LCC) approach with their latest baggage fee. All checked bags will be charged for most domestic economy passengers. Exemptions to the first bag luggage charge are given to those flying on first and business class fares or awards, or paying full economy fare, or an anytime AAdvantage award, or anyone with any oneworld elite status at the date of travel (as well as anyone else flying with them). Those passengers who are upgraded at the last minute (eg operational upgrades) will not be exempt from the fee unless they also fit another exemption category. Perhaps the list of exemptions will get simplified at some stage.

From 15 June, the first bag is $15 (each way), the second $25, the third $100, and so on. At least they haven't tried to put on the LCC spin of "it is a discount for no checked bags", as Australian airline Jetstar does for example.

Expect the overhead bins to be even fuller, at least until AA is forced to either back down or restrict and enforce carry-on items to 1 bag plus 1 personal item. Having elite status to enable boarding early will be more important than ever to claim the bin space by your seat.

As with fuel surcharges and the earlier introduction of baggage fees for the second checked bag, I'd expect other airlines to quickly follow suit.

More miles - 3 free tips

Sorry it has been a while since I last blogged here. It has been a busy travel month even by my standards as I have passed through 18 countries on 5 continents. When I travel I have more time to ponder and notice things - look for a few upcoming posts on this.

1) I got an email recently from AAdvantage offering miles to subscribe to some of their email offerings. These are the same offerings which I subscribed to last year (and got bonus miles for then), so it is worthwhile unsubscribing to stuff you don't need. The only catch is to unsubscribe after the promo period (in this case I've diarised for the 3 months subscription that is required to earn the miles). For a minute effort I will get a modest bonus, and the price sure is right.

2) Normally I stay in the same hotel chain where it is available because I struggle to maintain high (meaningful) hotel stay program status given my schedule (lots of overnight flights and same-day return trips) and the locations I visit (lots of places with no or few chain hotels). However, lately I've been staying in a few different chains due to location, cost and availability issues. So, what I have done is use these odd stays to credit to various lesser used frequent flyer programs (FFPs) as an easy way to extend the mileage expiry out several more months. For some of these frequent flyer programs I am yet to set foot on one of their aircraft but have almost enough for a basic award, again with just a bit of effort here and there to credit some hotel stays or pick up the odd promotion (such as surveys).

3) I have a lot of flights of many different airlines and so it can be hard keeping track of the frequent flyer miles, hotel points and status earnt. I spent an hour or so the other day reviewing 5 of my accounts which I had credited recently. The result - I found several uncredited flights (which will net me about 70,000 miles when they eventually post), some more flights were I was given too few miles (an extra 3000 miles have already been credited), a couple of flights were the miles credited seems too low (still being investigated by the frequent flyer program), 3 missed hotel stays (2 have credited already which requalifies my status in that hotel program), and another where they forgot to give me points for incidental spend. Not a bad return for an hour of my time (plus maybe some more chasing up). Although ideally these would all credit correctly in the first place. One account took me more time than the others to go through, because they had reversed and re-credited many transactions, and not always at the same rate which then meant more reversals and re-credits.

I'm still looking for an easier way to reconcile my accounts than the spreadsheet I currently keep. If anyone knows of software please let me know.

On line check in (OLCI)

The Cranky Flier noted a new feature offered by Ryanair following their website changes over the weekend, on line check in (OLCI) up to 5 days before departure, and wondered what the point of it all is.

I've wondered as well, ever since Air New Zealand rolled out OLCI at time of booking for their domestic flights (subject to a few conditions) last March. Yes, Air NZ allows you to check in up to 12 months before departure. Presumably they expected the increased numbers of no shows and passengers requiring changes after checking in would be more than offset by efficiency savings at airport check-in. I'm not yet convinced this is the case - 12 months is a long time for changes in plans to happen, and if passengers lose the print out (or fail to save the generated pdf) they will still need to check in at the airport (either at a counter or using a quick-check machine). Anecdotally I've noticed an increase in the number of passengers being paged for boarding.

Cranky Flier has me thinking a bit more though. Given there are no ID checks for domestic travel in New Zealand, what is the boarding pass required to do? (1) It reminds the passenger of the flight number and departure time (the gate number is not available when OLCI'ing a long way before departure). (2) The printed barcode provides a quick way for the gate agent to confirm the passenger has boarded - however this can also be done by typing the seat number. (3) Possibly used for tracking of checked luggage? I'm not sure on this as it has been many years since I've checked bags when flying Air New Zealand. (4) It provides proof of eligibility for using the lounge (though a non-foolproof method in the case of OLCI as frequent flyer status or airline club membership may change between check in and departure).

That is all, at least for Air NZ. The boarding pass is not needed to clear security. There is no stub retained by the gate agent for reconciling passenger numbers. The boarding pass is not used to identify where passengers are (except possibly for those checking in manually at the airport).

Are there other airlines that allow OLCI so far before departure? The ones I am aware of that are more than 24 hours before departure are

• KLM - up to 30 hours
• Cathay Pacific - up to 48 hours
• Singapore Airlines - up to 48 hours
• Ryanair - up to 5 days
• Air New Zealand - from time of booking.

Note rules may vary slightly in respect of connecting or return flights, some destinations/origins may not allow OLCI, and some passenger types are not eligible for OLCI.

More BA baggage woes and some other bad BA news

British Airways is yet again in the news for a poor baggage situation at London Heathrow (LHR). Apparently only T4 is affected. With limited capacity to handle baggage by hand, there are restrictions in place. These vary by day, whether originating in London or transitting, by class of travel and elite frequent flyer status. So for the latest check the BA website here.

In short, some passengers are limited to carry on only. Fortunately this increased to 2 bags earlier in the year. Unfortunately we still have the liquids restrictions.

I do wonder though how much thinking went into this statement.

On Thursday 21 February, transfer passengers through London Heathrow Terminal 4 should not bring luggage to be checked in as they will not be able to travel.

So someone flying on BA from Sydney (leaves shortly as I write this and arrives on Thursday 21 February) and transferring through T4 can or cannot have checked bags? Isn't it a bit late to advise these passengers now? In general transferring passengers have the least flexibility in terms of being able to convert to carry-on only for luggage.

I think the rules BA has established for allowing checked baggage in the short term until the situation is resolved, while no doubt well meaning, are rather too complex to be well understood. Be prepared for longer than normal queues at check in, and also at security.

For once it appears the airline is not to blame for the problem which is attributed to computer errors and thus responsibility of airport operator BAA (source BBC News). Still one can't help but wonder why BA seems to attract so many problems compared with other airlines.

It was only a few hours ago I speculated that BA's latest announced fuel surcharge increase was being timed to get all their bad news over well ahead of T5 opening in 5 weeks time. BA have also been in the news recently for losing a major court case on overcharged fuel surcharge (yes ironic timing leading some to wonder how much of the latest increase is to pay the refunds of the lost case). They are also threatened with strikes by pilots and cabin crew (more on this soon).

New Qantas First Class Lounge at Bangkok

Further to my entry on the new Qantas lounges at Sydney and Melbourne, I recently also got to use the new Bangkok lounge. This took a long time to open following the move from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi airport, and with the high standards set elsewhere a nice lounge was expected.

The new lounge is indeed quite nice, although a far cry from the new super lounges in their local hub. With both Qantas and British Airways having flights similarly timed for Sydney to Bangkok to London Heathrow and return, the high loads in the premium cabin and high numbers of One World Emerald customers, the lounge is unfortunately too small - being half the size you'd hope for the number of passengers. Granted there are only two times a day when the lounge is busy (or indeed open). Still, it wouldn't have taken much effort to coordinate with Cathay Pacific, whose lounge next door sits shut at the time of the Qantas and British Airways flights, to make a bigger combined lounge.

Singapore Airlines - oops they did it again, or show me the money

Just 2 months after a significant devaluation of their Kris Flyer frequent flyer program, and on top of big surcharges on paid fares on the new 77W flights (the new product), Singapore Airlines is again annoying some of their most valuable customers.

They have announced sweeping changes to the PPS Club qualification requirements and benefits in a double whammy that appears to be focussed on cutting costs instead of rewarding loyalty. Qualification is harder, so the ranks will be thinned, and the benefits have been cut back, reducing the incentives to qualify.

The PPS Club, for readers who may not be aware, is not a frequent flyer program in the normal sense, but rather a benefits package only awarded to passengers who fly Singapore Airlines a lot in first or business class. There are 3 tiers with the following qualification requirements (currently). For simplicity I won't go into the sector method of qualification which is broadly similar.

• PPS - requires 50,000 miles within a year in Singapore Airlines first or business class (approx 3.5 round trips between Europe and Singapore in business class or 3 in first class).


• PPS Solitaire - requires 500,000 cumulative miles in Singapore Airlines first or business class.


• Lifetime PPS Solitaire - requires 1,875,000 cumulative miles in Singapore Airlines first or business class (yes that's right nearly twice the mileage required for lifetime status on United Airlines, American Airlines, etc and only in first and business class)

Clearly to qualify PPS you need to spend a lot of money on Singapore Airlines flights.

From 1 September, the new qualification will instead be based on revenue. Spend S$25,000 a year on SQ first and business class (excluding taxes and surcharges) and you get PPS. Spend S$250,000 within 5 consecutive years and you get PPS Solitaire. Lifetime PPS Solitaire will be closed - with existing members grandfathered.


Lounge and check in benefits have also been cut. PPS benefits will still be better than star alliance gold (eg Kris Flyer Elite Gold) benefits, but not by as much as currently.

The new rules will continue to reward high end business travellers based in Singapore or nearby, at the expense of nearly everyone else in the PPS ranks.

According to the Singapore Airlines spin, the rationale is that currently (1) PPS is too easy to attain for passengers flying frequently between Singapore and Bangkok and Jakarta, (2) the lounges are overcrowded and (3) it is unfair that some customers pay more to get the status than others.

In my view, (1) could have been solved by reducing the PPS earning rate for those sectors (similar to the reduced PPS earning on Kuala Lumpur flights), and (2) shows the lounges (especially at Singapore Changi airport) are too small and inadequate for the ongoing growth they have experienced. The third point is part of an ongoing trend for frequent flyer programs (FFPs) to start recognising revenue ahead of distance. So far this FFP revolution is occuring mainly in asia-pacific and europe.

It is amazing that an airline as successful as Singapore Airlines is in attracting profitable first and business class paid passengers, now decides that the customers are the problem! Instead of rejoicing at how well they have done, they seem to be cutting costs and squeezing every last cent they can. Is Singapore Airlines becoming too arrogant for it's own good?

Easy status requalification

It seems Qantas is keen on keeping up the numbers of elite members of Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) program. Many people have reported having retained their status on minimal flights on Qantas, or even having credited no flights in the whole membership year.

There seems to be 2 approaches - one is those who previously qualified Gold or Platinum with plenty of extra status credits than the minimum are automatically requalified a few months before expiry of their status. The second is for those who previously only just qualified, for whom QFF asks for expected travel pattern for the upcoming year - ie looking for an excuse to retain your status.

For those who are in between status levels - eg easily qualifying for Silver but not on track for Gold, QFF is providing double status credit offers to help them up to the next level.

Nice for QFF members. I can't help think that Qantas is getting ready to spin off their frequent flyer program (having inflated the number of elite members in the process).