Here’s some news that I didn’t cover in separate posts this week, but might be useful for some of you:
I’m also going to be having a tricks and glitches section (see below) to hint at certain loopholes and strategies that have changed throughout the week. Note that I’m going to exercise my discretion on revealing anything so I may not respond to all questions.
Alaska Mileage Plan 40% Buy Miles Promotion
40% Promotion
Alaska MileagePlan is selling miles again with a 40% purchase promo, which ends will end March 15. The promotion runs as follows
- Buy 5,000 – 19,000 miles: get a 20% Bonus
- Buy 20,000 – 34,000 miles: get a 30% Bonus
- Buy 35,000 – 40,000 miles: get a 40% Bonus
The total cost for maxing out the purchase is $1182.50 USD for 56,000 miles, including GST/HST for Canadians (although you could move to the US*). This means the cost of the miles with a 40% purchase is around 2.11 cents. You can do this cheaper for just around 2 cents if you use the accelerator but it’s definitely more hassle and riskier especially if you don’t plan to fly the tickets (and cancel them within the 24 hour period).
Total Cost
You can purchase miles here.
Etihad is getting new amenity kits for Business and First Class, via AUSBT
They look really nice, and will feature Le Labo products in First Class and Korres in Business Class. The kits will be designed by Sougha, a social enterprise initiative based in the UAE.
New First Class Kit
Isn’t that ironic, after the fare yesterday?
For those who got into the fare I strongly suggest checking out your eticket numbers and document them in the event you need to file a US DoT complaint, as they were still pending when I ticketed yesterday.
Wyndham Devalues Airlines Transfer Ratio
Change
This is an awful and unfriendly move towards the customer, as there was no notice at all.
Previously the transfer ratios 2.5:1 in the following increments.
- 8,000 points to 3,200 miles
- 17,500 points to 7,000 miles
- 30,000 points to 12,000 miles
The new redemptions start at 6000 points for 1200 miles, which is a 5:1 devaluation. Basically they devalued the currency by 50% without advance notice. That’s absolutely rediculous. Thankfully, I transferred my account balance out as soon as the Wyndham points posted from the Daily Getaways promotion in June last year, which essentially allowed me to purchase miles at 1.35-1.5 cents.
Unfortunately I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it but with programs that tend to devalue without notice (such as Wyndham and Lifemiles) you want to keep your account balance as low as possible (rather than keep an emergency stash just enough for one ticket somewhere) because in the event they do announce a devaluation you likely won’t have time to react.
Today is that LAST DAY (only a few hours left!) before the new United award chart kicks in. Get booking now if you haven’t already!
Tricks and Glitches
Unfortunately it seems that Aeroplan has corrected the YQ glitch that has been hovering around, as I’m having trouble dumping all the YQ on AC flights with Aeroplan. So it seems that they have fixed the loophole, for anyone who understands what I’m talking about.
A C3 destination with a certain Central American mileage program seems to have loaded business class award space via Beijing on the seasonal flight, which means another TPAC non-United option opens up for under 30k.
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Oh no, no more AC fuel dump? @@
you mean, for once, AC’s IT department actually exists? I hate this “enhancement”
Thanks a lot for the “C3” info. Hopefully it will last.
You may however choose more cryptic wording (e.g. “under $400” instead of “##k miles or $###”).
A hint for the C3 destination. Can it be found as an xPEK in this version of the *A schedule? Thanks http://www.staralliance.com/assets/doc/en/services/tools-and-downloads/pdf/StarAlliance.pdf
Dear Jeff,
I was just introduced to the concept of FD literally 24 hours ago through randomly browsing FT. I could not sleep reading the “Tricking” thread and got through the first 200 pages as well as the last 100 pages however most of the encryption is just too difficult for me to understand. I’ve done google searches, read from the milepoint forum, also some of the blogs. I’d love to get the hang at it as well. I am finishing up college this year and I’d love to be able to travel on budget for a bit. I am willing to spend time to learn and definitely share once I get the hang at it. I spent the past few hours trying myself: I’ve taught myself ita matrix, tried tons of combination of searches in the middle east, hawaii, south asia (I also live in Canada so I’ve mainly looked at Air Canada flights from YYZ to C2/C3). When I was able to see a change in YQ from $580 down to $500 I was really excited. However after few more hours now I really could not find any 3X that could bring down the fares even a little bit more. I wonder if you could take a few minutes to shed some light on me. Even some hints of where I could find more resources. Please feel free to shoot me a reply or email or something…
I really appreciate any feedbacks.
Thank you,
Denmark
In my experience it’s been a lot of playing with ITA and just hoping something works. I’m sure there’s some strategy to it, but I’ve never gone too in depth with dumping. I’d say the best way to learn is to start helping in the trick-it thread. You give some to get some.
Hi Jeff,
Do you mind sharing that YQ dump glitch since it is gone already？
Really curious about that technique. never heard about that
Thx
Basically certain open jaws would dump all YQ with aeroplan reward tickets on AC metal.