Educational Posts on Loyalty Programs

Aer Lingus is adding three new routes from the U.S. to Ireland in 2016. The flights will depart from Newark, Los Angeles and Hartford and arrive in Dublin. This will mark the biggest expansion for the carrier since its launch in 1985.

Aeromexico is taking to the skies over Colorado and offering seasonal service between Denver and Mexico City. Daily flights will run from December 14 through April 4, with two flights a day during the holiday rush between December 18 and January 11.

Travelers in south Florida can now fly nonstop to Vienna. Austrian Airlines is introducing flights to the Austrian capital from Miami International Airport.

Starting in May 2016, Norwegian Air will fly to Cork, Ireland, from Boston, and then, in 2017, it will start flying between Cork and New York. These new routes  will give both U.S. and European travelers access to more connections and the low fares that Nowegian is known for.

United Airlines and Azul Brazilian Airlines have brokered a codeshare agreement. This means easier trips between the U.S. and Brazil because passengers can now book travel on both airlines using one itinerary. But you might be wondering: What about frequent flyer miles?

Alaska Airlines has been busy this season. After recently announcing a codesharing agreement with Icelandair, which includes reciprocal frequent flyer perks, the carrier is now expanding its relationship with Emirates, a Dubai-based airline.

United Airlines is turning up the heat next summer with new daily nonstop transatlantic routes bound for three European hot spots: Athens, Barcelona and Lisbon. Flights between New York and Athens will run from May 25, 2016, to October 5, 2016. Service from Washington, D.C., to Barcelona and Lisbon starts on the same day, and ends on September 6.

The surprise news this month is the merger of Marriott and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Members of both rewards programs–Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest–are wondering what it will mean for them. Details are scarce, with both programs promising to release more information soon. Let’s take a look at what we know right now.

United Airlines is expanding its global reach with three new nonstop routes from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand; Xi’an, China; and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Alaska Airlines’ generous booking policies allow you to make one free stopover per one-way domestic award ticket, or two stopovers per roundtrip. But you also get free stopovers on award flights booked with Alaska’s excellent international airline partners, including Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.

Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program for Air France and KLM, is offering three ways to earn bonus miles when you stay at hotels around the world. So if you’re planning a holiday getaway, make your reservations count for a little more, and earn enough miles to take another trip in 2016.

JetBlue has set its sights on Music City, USA, with the announcement that it will fly to Nashville from Boston and Fort Lauderdale. The nonstop flights will begin on May 5, 2016.

Alaska Airlines’ generous stopover policy allows you to take one stopover per one-way flight, or two per roundtrip, without adding any cost to your ticket. The best part is that the rule also applies to domestic flights, not just international itineraries. In this post, we’ll look at how to take advantage of these rules to visit three destinations in the U.S. for the price of one round-trip award flight.

The Airbus A380 is a massive wide-body jet that is the world’s largest passenger airliner. Since we last reported on who was flying it, Asiana Airlines and Qatar Airways have added the A380 to their fleets.

American Airlines is changing how you earn miles and qualify for elite status, as well as adjusting some of its redemption rates for award flights. These changes, which have been rumored for months, will hit the AAdvantage program starting in March 2016.

Alaska Airlines has a generous booking policy that allows passengers to make a stopover on a one-way ticket. That means that you can make two stopovers on a round-trip ticket, which is even better than United’s policy, which allows for one. In this post, we’ll show you how to use that rule to see more places without spending extra miles.

Just in time for Christmas getaways, Porter Airlines is introducing nonstop flights from Toronto to sunny Orlando, the home of Disney World and all things Mickey Mouse. The new route starts on December 19.

Delta has announced that it will be rolling out two new trans-Atlantic routes from the Midwest to Italy and Germany. The new flights are from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Rome, and Detroit to Munich. Both are slated to start on May 26, 2016.

If you’re traveling this holiday season, you can earn major bonus miles by taking advantage of the latest offers from Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France and KLM. Rent a car and earn enough miles to fly to Europe for spring break.

Delta’s free open jaw on round-trip award tickets will allow you to see more while paying the same price in miles and cash. But the airline’s booking policy is important to know about if you’re traveling to Europe, since it adds fuel surcharges to one-way flights that originate there.