Author Archive

Is GarudaMiles the best frequent flyer program? Certainly not, as it has many weaknesses, such as a segment-based reward pricing that often makes the rewards overpriced.

But like most programs, it can still be an option under certain circumstances. And one of these circumstances is rather unexpected.

At the end of February, the program launched a partnership with Emirates, which complemented the long-standing partnership with Etihad. But now it got even better: The program now also has a partnership with Qatar Airways.

For all customers who enjoy traveling with these three quality carriers but don’t want to commit loyally to one of them, GarudaMiles now offers the clever option to pool miles with these companies in one program, giving them a certain sense like that.

Of course, Garuda also maintains Frequent Flyer partnerships with all SkyTeam airlines.

Vietnam Airlines’ Lotusmiles program is turning 30 years old.

On this occasion, all rewards on international Vietnam Airlines flights are discounted by at least 30% during off-peak periods – on some routes even by 50 or 75%. These bookings must be made by May 31 for flights until December 31.

At the same time, the program increased award prices as of April 01 though – only slightly on Vietnam Airlines, but catastrophically on partner airlines. Since awards in Business Class were already quite expensive before on Vietnam Airlines, they are not really interesting, even with a 30% discount.

However, things look differently in Economy Class, where you can now fly roundtrip from Vietnam to Australia for 56,000 miles or to Europe for 63,000 miles. And if you choose, for example, the new Hanoi-Milan route, the roundtrip with a 75% discount costs only 22,500 miles in Economy Class (or 80,000 miles in Business Class).

Flight schedules of airlines are a rather complex matter and are difficult to adjust at short notice – and even more so to the daily whims of a US president.

Airlines worldwide, however, are facing more or less drastic declines in bookings for flights to the US, which for many represent the most profitable business sector. And so, despite the upcoming peak travel season, one sees promotions in frequent flyer programs that would be unthinkable in normal times.

As such, Air Canada offered 6,000 bonus miles to its Aeroplan members for new bookings for flights to the USA over a period of 14 days – for flights until December 15.

ITA is a bit more optimistic and has a double miles promotion in its Volare program for flights to and from the US  “only” for flights from May 04 to June 30, for bookings made by April 30.

And this is surely just the beginning, as airlines and hotels will lose patience in the coming weeks…

To achieve Gold or Platinum status in Accor’s ALL program, you normally need 30 or 60 nights per year, respectively.

Thanks to a new partnership, however, just one night is now enough – though not in a hotel, but rather on a train. Accor has recently invested in the luxury train operator Orient Express, which offers various itineraries within Italy.

ALL members now receive not only points, but also, as permanent offer, direct Gold status for bookings in the Deluxe cabin (which you probably can’t really call 2nd class…) and Platinum status for bookings in a suite.

The eight different routes each last 1 or 2 nights, but they cost no less than 30 or 60 nights in an upscale mid-range hotel…

But even if you use more “normal” trains, you now have the opportunity to collect frequent flyer miles across Europe.

Thanks to a new partnership between Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program and the booking platform Trip.com, you now earn one mile per EUR spent on train bookings through Trip.com.

The offer applies to over 1,000 railway companies, with Trip.com promising the best prices. And the offer applies not only to long train journeys but also to regional routes or special operators like Heathrow Express.

In parallel to the Flying Blue miles, you can also collect Trip Coins in the Trip.com Rewards program.

If in the same message, somebody states “exciting changes” and “look forward to”, then you should already be careful. And if that somebody is Miles & More, which is not really known for a customer-focused program, all alarm whistles should go off.

As of June 03, the program will change the pricing of award flights on Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian flights to a fully dynamic pricing. As no further details are provided, it is clear that this will result in a massive increase of award prices for most flights, deteriorating as such the little remaining value of the program.

One small rescue remains though for those requiring some predictability of their loyalty program: Pricing for partner airlines will remain based on a published award table. Prices in that table will also change – notably increase in Business and First Class -, but mostly at moderated levels, unless for Business Class flights between Europe and Southeast Asia, which will increase from 142,000 to 200,000 miles.

The interesting point is though that not all members of the Lufthansa Group will apply that dynamic pricing: Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Discover and ITA will remain at a fixed pricing – as the other airlines outside of the Lufthansa Group using the Miles & More program as their own program, such as LOT or Luxair.

Dynamic reward pricing hardly has any friends among frequent flyers. Of course, this way one has access to more reward seats, but only at prices that are not attractive.

Until now, this could be circumvented by using rewards with partner airlines/programs in such programs (or for such airlines), to which a fixed pricing still applies – provided one finds such seats.

For frustrated Lufthansa customers, however, we no longer recommend Air Canada’s Aeroplan program in this regard: That is because as of March 25, it will start applying the dynamic pricing model not anymore to Air Canada flights only, but also to some first airline partners. Although Lufthansa is not yet among them (but “only” United, Emirates/FlyDubai, Etihad and a few smaller Canadian airlines), the trend is certainly not going in the right direction for savvy frequent flyers, whose primary goal is to maximize the value per redeemed mile.

The recent program changes in Emirates’ Skywards program can certainly be interpreted as the airline wanting more members to use their points in Economy Class rather than in higher cabins.

This is also emphasized by a current promotion: For bookings made by March 31 and departures until January 06, 2026, a 25% reduction in the mileage price is applied to all Economy Class award flights with partner airlines.

The offer is valid on all partner airlines, except for FlyDubai and easyJet – leaving 16 airlines from Air Mauritius to United Airlines.

The days when Southwest Airlines was the rebel of the US aviation industry are probably over for good. Thus, Southwest also does not resist the general trend in the USA of devaluing frequent flyer programs.

Without any advance notice, the earning rates for non-refundable fares, which most customers use, were drastically reduced in its Rapid Rewards program, from 8 to 6 points for Wanna Get Away Plus fares and from 6 to 2 points for Wanna Get Away fares.

This way, Southwest will at least save enough money in the short term to hire a marketing agency that can come up with a new name for the program. Because the Rewards are certainly no longer “Rapid” like that…

Although Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program has become the negative example in Europe in recent years regarding price transparency – a title that will probably be taken from them by Lufthansa in a few months (see above) – the miles still have some value.

So, a current promotion with Hertz is indeed of some interest. For bookings until April 02 (and rentals until June 21), you will receive 2,000 bonus miles for rentals of at least three days (and up to 5,000 miles for longer rentals). Together with the generous regular credits of 6 miles per EUR for base members, this results in a total of 3,800 miles for a 3-day rental at 100 EUR per day.

If you choose an electric car, you even double the base credit and end up with 5,600 miles which, despite the Flying Blue devaluations, look better than the standard credit of 500 miles  you would receive with most other programs.