Flexible travel dates in response to the COVID-19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) first surfaced in December 2019, and began to spread within China in January 2020. By late January 2020, there was more attention being paid to its virulence and contagiousness, with fears that another SARS-like event would happen. Currently, there are over 95,416 confirmed cases and 3,286 deaths according to the tracker by Johns Hopkins.

Understandably, travel to the region has been rattled. Flights to and from China and Hong Kong have been cancelled, and even travel bans and restrictions have been placed by even the most democratic of countries (i.e., the United States).

I had booked a ticket to Taipei ...
In October of last year, I had booked my ticket out to Taipei as I normally do. Taipei is one of my favorites in Asia for various personal reasons. Taiwan has a special status in the world: China strongly believes it is theirs and would consider it a part of China, whereas Taiwan views itself as its own country.

This distinction is important because when all the flights were being cancelled to China (including Hong Kong), Taipei was not considered a part of that ban. Being anxious about the possibility of having to do a quarantine myself, I cancelled my flights. I no-showed at the hotel and forfeited a non-refundable hotel rate. In all, I was out by roughly $600.

I was supposed to go to Taipei again in mid-March. Luckily, I did not book my ticket or accommodations.

People, in general, are hesitant to book. Reports are now that there is an outbreak in Italy, Iran, South Korea, and Japan. It is unknown when and where the next outbreak will be.

United Airlines is cutting routes both domestically and internationally
According to View From the Wing, United Airlines is cutting 10% of its domestic (US/Canada) flights, and 20% of its international routes (cancellations to China have already been included).

Airlines are offering increased flexibility
For the most part, all tickets need to be booked directly with their

1) United Airlines: Flights booked between March 3, 2020 and March 31, 2020 will include free flight changes over the next 12 months. However, it only covers the change fees; passengers are still required to pay the fare differences. Passengers may also choose to cancel flights; the residual value of the ticket can be applied to any new booking up to one year from the original ticket's issue date.

2) Air Canada: "A one-time change fee waiver will apply to tickets purchased between March 4 and March 31, 2020 for travel within 12 months of the issue date on your original ticket, provided changes are made at least 14 days before your departing flight. Kindly note that any fare difference will apply." Tickets must be on a 014 ticket stock and must be purchased from Air Canada.

3) American Airlines: "If you purchased a ticket on American Airlines between March 1, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. CT and March 16, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. CT, you may change your flight once without paying a change fee if the change is made at least 14 days in advance of your outbound travel date. Tickets must be purchased for travel between March 1, 2020 and January 26, 2021." New Travel must be completed within one year of the ticket's original issue date.

4) Delta Airlines: No change fees for all tickets purchased between March 1-31, 2020. "Tickets can be changed one-time to an alternate itinerary." Fare differences will apply. If you wish to cancel, applicable change fees and fare differences will apply.

5) Alaska Airlines: For tickets purchased between February 27, 2020-March 31, 2020, tickets may be cancelled with the funds deposited to the passenger's online "My Account" Wallet. A one-time change may be made with the change fee waived; travel mjust be completed by February 28, 2021.

6) Westjet, Canada's second largest airline, does not offer any change policies.

I think I can actually book that ticket to Asia again in the fall!

Promo: Marriott's Elevated Earning

Marriott's first promotion of the year was released today: Elevated Earning. The registration link is live.

Register by May 31, 2020 for stays between March 17, 2020 - June 14, 2020, earn 2,000 points after your second stay. All properties are eligible, and the earning potential is unlimited.

Compared to IHG's most recent 4x the points event, where after the 3rd stay one earns 4x the points, this is a rather weak promotion.

2,000 points, in my estimation, is worth roughly 0.6 cents CAD a piece. So with this promotion, you get the equivalent of $12, regardless if you stay one night or 28 in a row.

Let's hope the next Marriott promo is more generous.

Air Canada bonus aeroplan points

I've never quite understood why, but the Aeroplan promotions on Air Canada's website are always kind of hidden.

The promotion I stumbled upon today is this one: Travel to the US: Make your miles take off

This promotion began February 25, 2020. Register and book by March 20th, and travel by June 30th to destinations in the USA to receive:

• 50% bonus miles on two one-way segments to/from the USA and back on Standard fares (i.e., fares earning 50% AQM and Aeroplan points)
• 100% bonus miles on two one-way segments to/from the USA on Flex or higher fares (i.e., fares earning 100%+ AQM and Aeroplan points)

Interestingly enough, according to the fine print, if you book two people on the same ticket, only the first person listed on the ticket with a valid Aeroplan account will receive the bonus. So if possible, book separately. This may be difficult to do if you're using a customer care voucher as those vouchers will let you save on up to 4 people traveling on the same ticket. I'm not sure bonus Aeroplan points are even worth it if it means foregoing the use of those vouchers. 

Registration is required. You can register at the bottom of this page. 

Alaska Airlines To Join the Oneworld Alliance

It was a while ago that I last wrote about Alaska Airlines. I had promoted this as a backup program to for anyone who flew and collected miles on Star Alliance-based programs (I have since flirted with Asiana, United, and now Air Canada). 

I had written a post about the flexibility of Alaska Airlines, and about the benefits of "going at it alone." Back then (~2013), they were partners with numerous Skyteam members (KLM, Air France, Delta, Aeromexico, and Korean Airlines) as well as Oneworld members (American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and British Airways). They had absolutely no Star Alliance members. What a perfect complement for those who don't normally fly on Skyteam or Oneworld member airlines with regularity, but don't actually want to lose out on any miles that could potentially be earned?

Something that was also unique was that all airline partners counted towards status for Alaska Airlines. This, of course, was not a big deal given that the benefits of status were only really for travel on Alaska Airlines, and Alaska Airlines had a minuscule footprint compared to its partners.

Then there were some changes that weren't so good
Delta started to encroach upon Alaska's Seattle hub and began to compete with Alaska. Finally, in 2017, Delta and Alaska severed their relationship: they were no longer code-sharing, and there were no longer reciprocal mileage earning benefits.

In 201, American Airlines had taken steps to do something similar. Reciprocal elite benefits were taken away (waived checked baggage fees, priority boarding, preferred seats). Members could no longer earn miles on domestic flights that were not under a code-share agreement). In October 2019, more changes were announced: Alaska Mileage Plan members could no longer earn or redeem on American Airlines' flights and vice versa except for on code-share flights after March 2020.

And then something big happened 

On February 13, 2020, Alaska announced that it had full intention of joining the Oneworld alliance. This was a complete reversal of the cuts made to its current Oneworld world partner, American Airlines.


Some of the notable pieces of this release are that:

• Effective immediately, one can redeem points again on all American Airline flights, and use the AAdmirals club from American Airlines
• Effective in Spring 2020, one can earn points again on all American Airlines flights
• Effective in Summer 2021, Alaska can earn and redeem on all Oneworld partner airlines, and elite members will have full reciprocal benefits within the Oneworld partner airlines. 

What it doesn't say (but seems obvious to me), is that once Alaska enters into the Oneworld alliance, its relationships with the other "global member airlines" will likely have to cease. This means that it will likely no longer be a good backup for those who are occasional flyers with Skyteam airlines. And of course, people will be comparing why one would want to choose American over Alaska when it comes to crediting points from flights. One will need to understand

• points earning ratios
• changes to mileage requirements for earning status
• changes to minimum spend requirements (currently Alaska does not have any whereas American does)
• changes to redemption costs 

More details to be released soon, we hope.

Things I Love About My Favorite Airline App: United Airlines

Every major airline has an app. And after having used many airline apps (American, Delta, Alaska, Air Canada, Qantas, and more), I have decided that my favorite and most functional app has got to be United Airlines'.

Here is what I wish all apps had:

1) An easy introduction page with all the vital (and bonus) information

Of note, there's access to your membership number (greyed out), one's account balance, one's status tracker (to always show you how close or how far you are from your next status goal), and how many upgrade points you have available, if you choose to use them.

What is unique about United's app is that they include your lifetime miles. If any program's million miler status is actually important to the program itself, it should make one's progress towards that aspirational status clear. I am, apparently, over 700,000 miles away from that goal. 

2) Future flight bookings and the ability to check in by clicking on the booking

I don't have an upcoming flight and so I can't really demonstrate. However, it is easy to access all of my upcoming booked flights. One can view details about the flight and make changes to or cancel the flight. One can check into the flight and store boarding passes for flights.

3) Flight arrival times and departure times are easily found and easily interpreted.   

Flight information is bold and clear. If there is a delay, there's typically a small message above the flight information telling you what is happening or why it is delayed. You can click "where is this aircraft coming from" to help you decide when it is time to go to the gate: obviously if the incoming flight hasn't arrived yet when it is officially boarding time for your flight, there's no point in leaving the lounge to go to the gate. Grab another drink in the lounge. Not every airline has this feature.

4) Accurate, clear information about where you are on the standby list and upgrade list and

5) A seat map that is always up to date and always viewable, even until two days after the flight. 

There is no question about where you are on the standby list and the upgrade list. Unlike other airlines, once the flight is closed, you can still see what the list looked like. You can use this information to let you know how likely the flight is to be full when you're flying this route in the future. If you're into seeing who is non-rev and upgrading, you can figure that out easily (everyone from And, R. and below are are non-rev). Furthermore, the seat map is always active and up to date which is also a nice source of information.

I quite like that once the flight is closed, you can pull up the seat map to see if that empty seat beside you really is free -- you can move your baggage from under the seat in front of you one seat over to increase legroom. Very hand to know.

6) Ability to book flights and check out award seats

Like with virtually every airline app out there, you can book either award seats or revenue seats. If you lived in America, you could purchase and pay for the seats right on the app itself. What I wish was for the ability to pay using other currencies; Canadians aren't allowed to buy tickets because most of us do not have an American address (for the credit card) nor a USD-funded bank account. 

It seems pretty basic, but all of the features make the app very functional to me. If it could allow me to book things in Canadian funds, I think this app would be kind of perfect. Now I just have to wait for the other airlines to catch up ...