ATX Fun — Austin-San Antonio Fun, Travel & Educational Opportunities
How Austinites Can Have Fun, Travel Cheap, Learn Something, Save Money and Enjoy Life!
This sale price comes and goes. Round-trip from Austin to the four northern cities is $177, one way is $89. Round-trip to San Diego is $157. You may have better luck finding a date pair at these airfares by specifying a 7-day (or longer) stay.
Dates in January, February and March. Virgin America / Alaska Airlines.
This EscapeATX post gives the details to San Jose, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. This EscapeATX post gives details on the Austin-San Diego fare.
http://www.secretflying.com/2016/07/san-francisco-kahului-hawaii-341-roundtrip/
Maui is a beautiful island in the state of Hawaii.
Nonstop Flights: Dallas to/from San Francisco $137 r/t – American / United / Virgin
Fly Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, late August through September.
These low fares are not likely to be around long, so book now and you will have 24 hours to cancel free of charge.
If you have status on one airline or hotel chain, you may be able to have another airline or hotel chain match it. So, for example, if you are Gold on American Airlines and are a nobody on AirBerlin, you can request a status match on AB before your next flight and receive the privileges that your new (temporary) AB status grants.
This post from Dan’s Deals is a very useful summary.
Roundup Of Airline And Hotel Elite Status Match And Challenge Offers
The airlines covered in the blog post are AirBerlin, Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Turkish, United and Virgin America.
The hotel chains covered are Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood.
If you have any airline/hotel status and plan to fly or stay in any of those named brands, you are in luck!
Credit card bonuses are the driving force behind the miles-and-points game that many play. Card issuers offer huge numbers of frequent-flyer miles and hotel loyalty points to those who sign up for and use certain credit cards. But, the signup bonuses aren’t the only benefit of those cards. This blog post lists nine more:
Of the nine listed, I believe that these are the most valuable to many frequent flyers:
– American and JetBlue airlines and IHG hotels, a 10% rebate on awards
– American Airlines, reduced mileage awards on certain (changing) routes
– Several airlines, free in-flight wi-fi
– United Airlines increased award availability
– United Airlines upgrades on award travel
– Virgin America, waived cancellation and change fees
The blog post linked above has the details and tells which credit cards give which benefits.
So, say you have Gold, Platinum or Executive Platinum (or the equivalent) on an airline, and you would like to fly Virgin America (VAm) but have no status with them. Now you’re in luck!
Virgin America has Elevate Silver and Elevate Gold levels, and will match you into one of them if you have status on American, Delta, Southwest or United.
The Southwest Airlines rule is peculiar…VAm will match you into Elevate Gold if you have a Companion Pass on SWA. Many of us don’t think of the Companion Pass as a status level, but evidently VAm does.
American Airlines has pushed way past the line when it comes to the fee for changes to an existing reservation. For a domestic ticket it’s $200, and for international it’s up to $750!
https://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/aacom_services_charges.jsp#ticketing
In my case, due to my AAdvantage status there is no or low charge for changes and cancellations. But to the ordinary flyer, perhaps with family in tow, these charges are serious money.
They should investigate Southwest Airlines, which has NO CHANGE FEES and NO CANCELLATION FEES.
A second airline has decided to be almost as friendly as Southwest…Virgin America. When purchasing a ticket online at Virgin America, you will see an option for their $25 “Plans Change Pass.” If you select it, then you can change your reservation later at no cost.
UPDATE: The Washington Post newspaper reports that President Obama plans a visit to Cuba next month.
As the United States slowly opens up access to Cuba, airlines are applying for airport “slots” so they can provide scheduled service to the island nation.
Cuba recognizes that a huge influx of Americans would overwhelm their tourist facilities.
Must purchase by midnight Pacific Time on February 7, 2016. You need to go online and join their (free) Elevate program first. Fly from San Francisco to Honolulu or Maui. Valid for Coach only.
There is no universal answer, because the value of a point/mile depends strongly upon whether you prefer to fly Coach, Business or First Class; whether you prefer upscale or downmarket hotels; and whether you have status in a particular program.
Given all that, here is the updated list of values from The Points Guy:
http://thepointsguy.com/2016/02/february-2016-monthly-valuations/
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