It Just Got Cheaper And Easier To Fly

Delta and American Airlines just announced they are also permanently eliminating change fees just one day after United Airlines made the same announcement. Why are the airlines doing this? Well, airline experts say the companies are desperate for people to fly. The number one complaint customers have about airlines are the change and cancellation fees. 

All three airlines have waived the fees since March. 

For American Airlines, the new policy applies to domestic flights inside the US plus some short-haul international destinations. For Delta and United, the new policy applies to domestic flights plus flights to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

American is the only one that is also giving customers credit for the price difference between the old ticket and the new ticket. 

Delta and United will issue vouchers. 

Delta is the only airline that did not extend the new policy to award redemption tickets. 

Web specials and basic economy tickets are not included under the new policy for any of the big three.  

No indication yet if Jet Blue, Alaska, or Spirit will follow suit. 

This is good news for customers, we will just have to wait and see if it's enough good news to help them fly again. 

What's it like to fly during Covid

Yep, I took the plunge and flew this month. And you know what, I liked it. Let me walk you through the experience. I took Southwest Airlines because I have a companion pass which by the way is the best travel deal in the industry. You can learn more about how to earn a pass yourself by clicking here. 
I didn't like crowds before COVID so I certainly don't like them now. And here's what the airport looked like when I arrived. Honestly, this is a dream for me. 

I couldn't believe it, I even wondered if the airport was open. But it was and I went inside. Needless to say, security was also empty. I did not have any bags to check so I didn't go to the counter, but it was probably empty too. Since security was so empty, I got chosen to be randomly scanned. But if you read my blog, you will know that I almost always get stopped at security for my person or my luggage so I allow extra time. This time, they had a problem with my shoes, that's a new one for me. So they had me take them off so they could run them through the scanner and asked me to walk through again. I got flagged again so now I earned a pat-down. Then my luggage got flagged too so they opened my suitcase. Oh well, I had plenty of time so it was fine. 

Along with few people, many of the restaurants and stores inside the airport were also closed. So definitely bring food along. Southwest recently changed its mask policy and eliminated bandanas from the approved list. But they have approved masks available at the counter if yours is not acceptable. From the Southwest.com website:

Everyone was masked and sitting at least six feet apart from each other near the gate. Southwest is now asking just 10 people to line up at a time to board and through October they are not selling the middle seat. My flight had about 50% capacity, the flight at the next gate had 53 people total flying so there is plenty of room. 

I had a row to myself on all four of my flights. Woohoo! 

Once on board, most people appeared to be wiping down their seats, seatbelt and tray table. If you need help on how to do this, watch my previous post. 
The flight attendants came around twice to serve water and a packaged snack. No alcohol was allowed on the flight. 

Once we landed, it was a bit more chaotic as everyone tried to exit the plane quickly and at the same time, but overall, I felt safe and the plane felt very clean. 
Now I am 5 days into self-quarantine and so far, so good. I'll keep you posted. 

Mystery Bonus United Miles Offer Ends This Week

If you are short some United miles, then you may want to take advantage of this promotion ending this week. Check your email to see if you were targetted for the offer. If so, click the reveal offer button to see what bonus United is offering you.
I was offered up to 70% bonus, not bad. I don't usually recommend buying miles or points, but if you need to top off an account, it might be worth it.

Click the button in your email to reveal your offer. Mine said buy miles for up to 70% bonus. Sounds good, right? Yes and no. If you look further, I will actually get a 30% bonus when I buy up to 9,000 miles. Then my bonus increases to 45%. 

It only increases to 70% when I purchase 25,000 miles for $875. Not a bad deal because at that price point, each mile is valued at .02 cents. 

This promotion ends on August 27th at 11:59pm Central time. 

Marriott Amex Biz Offers 10x Points On Groceries, Gas and Hotels

Time to check your offers on American Express! Marriott Bonvoy is offering 10x points on purchases on gas, groceries and restaurants. This offer appears to be only on the American Express Business card, but you might as well check them all. 

To use the offers, you need to add them to your card first. It's easy and just takes a few minutes. Here's how to do it:
1. Login to your Americanexpress.com account 
2. Scroll halfway down the page to offers 
3. Be sure to click on add to card on the offers you like 

That's it, use the card and it will automatically credit you the extra points. It is not retroactive though so add the offer to the card before you make the purchase. 

Turn Your Leftover Southwest Travel Vouchers Into Points

 

Now great news, if you have leftover travel funds sitting in your Southwest account, you can convert them into Southwest points. Typically, these funds expire one year after issued and can only be used by the passenger they originally belonged to. Since the pandemic began, the expiration date has been extended to September 2022. But now, you can transfer these vouchers to Southwest points as well. 

Couple of notes, you will still have to pay the taxes and fees on your original ticket. Of course, you don't get the points for flying and the converted points DO NOT count towards the companion pass.

But if you don't think you are going to fly, then it might make sense. 

You will need to do the conversion by December 15th 2020 and it is not reversible. 

 

Trade Wyndham Points For Double United Miles

Here's an interesting one if you have some Wyndham points in your account, but you really would rather have United miles. Through August 31st, you can redeem your Wyndham points for double United miles. With this promotion instead of redeeming 6,000 Wyndham points for just 1,200 United miles, you will get 2,400 United miles. 

Just login to your United miles account and click on Mileage Plus Program, Earn Miles. 

You will see the promotion about halfway down the page and if you click on it, United will give you a drop-down menu of how many Wyndham points can be redeemed for United miles. 

The minimum is 6,000 Wyndham points. 

You can probably get more value out of Wyndham points by booking Wyndham hotels, however, if you have a trip in mind and need United miles, then this might be a good hack for you. 

Stay 2 Nights, Earn 1 FREE at any Wyndham

If you are planning a road trip or taking a child to college, you might want to stay in a Wyndham family hotel and earn an extra night. The promotion runs through September 10th though you must register by September 8th. Here is the fine print:

1. Register before you book your stay

2. Book your 2-night consecutive stay by September 8th and stay by September 10th

3. Earn 7,500 bonus points

Wyndham has three tiers in its reward chart for hotel rooms, 7,500, 15,000 and 30,000. You can find thousands of hotels in the 7,500 tier or of course, you can use this promotion to top off an account. You can only qualify for this promotion once. 

Wyndham covers brands like Super8, Microtel, Ramada, Days Inn and more budget type brands. But the brand also includes some independent hotels like the New Yorker in NYC and all-inclusive resorts. 

A few other details about this promotion, not all of the Wyndham properties are included in this promotion so watch out when you make your reservation. Plus stays booked with points are not eligible. 

However, if you book a stay at a budget brand and then use the points to stay at a nice hotel or all inclusive resort, yep, might be worth it. 

Get Bonus Southwest Points on Groceries and Gas

Starting August 1st, you can earn 5x Southwest points on grocery and gas purchases up to $1,500 each month. It's being offered on co-branded Chase credit cards like United, IHG and Southwest. If you were targetted, you should have received an email. But it's worth confirming by checking to see if you are targeted here. The offer is good through September 30, 2020. 

Get Bonus Southwest Points on Groceries and Gas

The bonus points DO COUNT towards the companion pass so this is an awesome way to get closer fast. The Southwest companion pass is the best travel perk in the business. It's buy one, get on FREE flights for the year you earn it plus the following year. Usually, you need to earn 125,000 points in one calendar year to qualify for the pass. But this year due to the pandemic, the threshold has been decreased to just 100,000 points.