british

Double Miles SEA-LHR

Double Miles SEA-LHR

Alaska Airlines is running a promotion where you can earn double miles SEA-LHR when you fly on British Airways and credit the miles to your Alaska Mileage Plan account. All you have to do is register online before your first flight and then fly direct from Seattle to London on British … Read more

Airline Mistake Fare Analogy

Here is my airline mistake fare analogy I came up with after the recent British Airways ordeal: You go to the Apple Store. You see a Macbook priced at $600. “Wow!” you think. “That is an incredible deal! I’ll buy one.” You take it to the cashier. Cashier rings it … Read more

British Airways ticket canceled

Today I had my British Airways mistake deeply discounted ticket canceled.  Early Thursday morning (August 20, 2015) British Airways had an extremely good sale on first class tickets from various German cities to Kuala Lumpur and Sydney.  So good, in fact, that British is now calling it an “invalid fare” and ended … Read more

Changes in Alaska Mileage accrual with Partner Airlines

KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | PH-KCA | "Amy Johnson" | Toronto Pearson Street Festival

In just a few days, there have been some big changes in Alaska mileage accrual with partner airlines.  It’s all bad news unless you are paying for premium classes.  The changes (so far) are on British, Air France, and KLM.  Earning was also drastically reduced on Delta earlier this year.

For all three airlines (BA/AF/KL) you now only earn 25% of actual miles flown for the lowest fares.  The most expensive Economy tickets do still earn you actual miles flown.  You also still earn bonus miles based on your status with Alaska, but those bonuses are based on earned (not actual flown) miles and do not count towards elite status.  A few of the fare classes that formerly earned zero miles now do earn you miles, so that is one positive change I suppose.

The scene is much better in the top tier tickets.  

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Mileage Run Dubai in First Class on British Airways

Boeing 777-236ER - British Airways (G-VIID)

Last week there was some buzz over a (possible) mistake fare from Dubai (DXB) to Austin, Texas (AUS) on British Airways and partner airlines, all in First Class.

I use the term “mileage run” in the title of this post, but really it is hardly a milage run for two reasons:

  1. It was $1500 and
  2. It was only one way

Mileage runs are usually cheaper (this one, for me at least, worked out to be 7.4 cents per mile).  And having a one way from the middle east is not super helpful.

I learned about the deal while in Disneyland with my nephew and other family members and only had my iPad available to work on the itinerary.  I booked through the devil OTA because by the time I was ready to pull the trigger, BA.com had already caught the mistake fare and removed it (but Expedia was still live).  I wanted to make sure that all my segments were in First Class (some BA flights from LHR to US cities do not have a First Class, only Business).  My ticket has been confirmed and I even was able to choose my seat.  Others in the Flyer Talk forum have not been as lucky, no clue why mine ticketed while others have not yet.

Here is why I decided to book this deal:  

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