The good news is that Singapore Airlines now allows its KrisFlyer members double upgrades from Economy to Business Class on aircraft equipped with a Premium Economy cabin. But the bad news is that another round of award price increases will apply as of January 24, applying solely to upgrades and premium cabins. While Singapore Airlines definitely still has one of the better products in the sky, the question is whether they don’t start to overvalue themselves. Although the price increase is rather modest – a Business Class roundtrip award flight on Singapore Airlines between Europe and Southeast Asia will cost 184,000 miles after the price increase – KrisFlyer members can also redeem only 170,000 miles for a Business Class award on any Star partner between those two regions. And are airlines like EVA Air or Turkish Airlines really so much worse? If you use an upgrade from a mid-priced Economy ticket (you can’t upgrade from lower fares), a one-way upgrade from Economy to Business Class on Singapore Airlines will cost at least 82,000 miles. In other programs, a roundtrip Business Class award flight would start at 90,000 miles…

One of the early unique benefits offered by Emirates was the complimentary chauffeur service for passengers travelling in Business and First Class, which since then has become an integral part of the premium experience on Emirates and other airlines. This service is still offered – but as of March 01 only in conjunction with a paid ticket. Skywards members redeeming their miles for travel on Emirates in Business or First Class or to upgrade to Business Class will no longer be eligible for this service. It remains just to be hoped that it will not become a new industry fashion to consider award passengers second class passengers, from which certain service elements can be taken away. With many frequent flyers redeeming their points for premium cabins – as that is where you can still achieve the best value of Frequent Flyer Programs – it would further undermine the general interest in the programs if such punitive measures became the new standard.

The Airbus 380 does certainly not sell as nicely as Airbus was hoping for – but it remains the aircraft operators are most proud of. All Nippon is the latest airline to join the ranks of operators of this type, although it will deploy the plane solely on the Tokyo-Honolulu rotation. And on the occasion of its introduction, the airline will open up all available seats in Economy and Premium Economy for redemption to ANA Mileage Club members between May 24 and July 11. Moreover, one out of every hundred members redeeming an award ticket in Premium Economy or Economy during the same period will also get back all miles spent.

As part of the strategic cooperation between Air Austral and Air Madagascar, the latter one has halted its rather modest Namako frequent flyer program and adopted Air Austral’s MyCapricorne program. At the same time, Air Austral has benefitted from the opportunity to relaunch its program. In particular, award levels on short-haul flights were lowered massively while there were hardly any cutbacks elsewhere. Bigger and nevertheless better – an encouraging start into the New Year, which hopefully will also inspire others.

It might not be the most generous promotion we’ve ever seen, but it is simple and without hidden traps, making it fairly easy to use: Until May 05, Hilton Honors members receive 2,000 bonus points for each stay in a hotel of the Hilton group. After each five stays or ten nights, an additional bonus of 10,000 points is awarded. Pre-registration is required.