One Mile At A Time: "Friday, December 15, 2023, is National Ugly Holiday Sweater Day (apparently?). To celebrate, Alaska Airlines is offering priority boarding to those who wear ugly holiday sweaters on that day."
"This ugly sweater promo is valid across all Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights, and eligible passengers will be able to board early, after first class passengers and elite members (following Group B)."
The Mile Lion: "If you want to enjoy elite status benefits from one frequent flyer programme, but wish to accrue miles with another, you may have wondered whether that’s even possible."
"It is. That’s known as FQTV/FQTS splitting, and if you haven’t come across those terms before don’t worry- many check-in agents haven’t either!"
FQTV: Program for mileage earning
FQTS: Program for status benefits
Skift: "In total, around 115.2 million travelers will fly, drive, ride the bus or take the train during the holiday travel season, according to a forecast from AAA."
"Air travel is expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels, with AAA predicting 7.5 million travelers will take to the skies, surpassing a 2019 record of 7.3 million."
Points Wire Note:
Hopefully, you already have TSA Precheck and Global Entry. If you have the Amex Platinum, Amex Business Platinum, or Amex Green, now would be a great time to use your annual credit on a CLEAR membership. TSA PreCheck is great but it can be even faster with CLEAR at some airports.
One Mile At A Time: "Japan Airlines plans to initially fly its Airbus A350-1000s to New York, followed by Dallas. The intent is for the A350-1000 to enter service as of January 24, 2024, initially flying every other day between Tokyo (HND) and New York (JFK)."
"Japan Airlines will take delivery of its second Airbus A350-1000 by March 31, 2024, at the latest, at which point JL5/6 will feature the A350 daily; that’s the official plan as of now, even though seat maps haven’t yet been updated to reflect that"
Points Wire Note:
Hopefully, we'll start to see Japan Airlines open up a bit more award space in the coming year!
Skift: "Delta Air Lines is already bringing artificial intelligence into its operations. At an investor conference Wednesday, Delta executives said that they started experimenting with AI in the past month for its reservations team and to determine pricing."
"Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president, added that the carrier also started using AI to figure out how much customers would be willing to pay for premium products in addition to base fares."
"'It really automates,' Hauenstein said. 'It streamlines and accelerates our ability to move faster. So, really exciting on a whole host of fronts. But from the commercial side, that’s one where we really think it has some great power for us.'”
Points Wire Note:
For those of use who enjoy finding great fare deals, this is certainly one to watch.
Travel Pulse: "Hyatt Hotels Corporation revealed its development pipeline of more than 35 planned luxury hotels and resorts globally through 2025."
"The new and revamped properties will be branded across the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brands, and Inclusive Collection brands Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts and Dreams Resorts & Spas."
Loyalty Lobby: "Aegean is joining the ever-increasing list of airlines offering complimentary infight WiFi for members of its Miles+Bonus frequent flier program and business class passengers."
"Miles+Bonus base and Silver members can get a Text & Surf package (1.5 MB) free, while Gold and Business class passengers get the Stream package (15MB)."
Aviation Week: "The agreement, signed by Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas and Turkish Airlines' Levent Konukcu, the flag-carrier's chief investment and technology officer, also covers each airline's loyalty programs. Additionally, the airlines say they are “exploring opportunities to develop a broader loyalty agreement covering both global networks.”
Points Wire Note: We haven't seen what Riyadh Air's inflight product will look like, but this partnership should mean that we'll be able to redeem Turkish miles to book when they launch flights (assuming they release award space).
My Points Life: "IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has club lounges available at select IHG hotels and resorts. You generally will find excellent IHG club lounges at the InterContinental properties, though some IHG brand properties, such as Crowne Plaza, voco, Regent, and Holiday Inn, also have club lounges."
Some of the properties include the InterContinental London Park Lane, InterContinental Paris Le Grand, InterContinental Sydney, and more!
Skift: "Alaska Airlines Group will buy struggling Hawaiian Airlines in the latest round of U.S. airline consolidation."
"In a deal valued at $1.9 billion, Seattle-based Alaska plans to maintain and operate Hawaiian as a separate brand."
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