Last Call to Cordoba
FCF has published many fare alerts on American Airlines’ great non-stop deal to Cordoba, Argentina from Miami. Well, it’s time to grab this deal before it disappears forever because American is cutting the route as of May 6. Current Business Class fares start at $1,902 round-trip to Argentina’s second most important city.
Korean Air Mileage Program Devaluation
Korean Air’s SKYPASS has announced major changes to its program, including moving from a region-based award chart to one based on flight distance. In effect, it’s a huge devaluation. At least the airline is giving plenty of notice before the changes take effect in April 2021.
So use your Korean miles now–or Marriott points via transfer to Korean–as it will cost many more miles to book after the changes go into effect next year. U.S. to Korea will go from 160,000 miles (current price) in First Class to 240,000 to 270,000 miles. Business Class will go from 125,000 miles (current price) to 160,000 to 180,000 miles. More details here.
More Flights with British Airways’ New Business Class
FCF wrote about BA’s new Business Class seat back in October, at which point the new seat could be found on select Toronto routes only. Three months later, BA will start taking delivery of four more new A350-1000 aircraft—all with the new seat. As they come on line over the coming months, all four will fly to London from Austin, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, starting on March 26, and Boston as of August 1. While most of BA’s international flights will get the new seat over the next few years, the A350 is the only aircraft that will guarantee these seats. As always, during new seat and aircraft roll-out, know that the schedule is subject to change, sometimes even without notice.
American’s Award Prices Spike to as Much as 960,000 Miles for Business Class
Even though American Airlines has an “official” award pricing chart, it seems to charge whatever it darn well likes for an anytime award, these days, so hold onto your hat with the examples of AA’s new pricing below:
Los Angeles to Sydney in Business Class: According to AA’s pricing chart, the highest rate using miles should be no more than 195,000 miles one-way (AAnytime Level 2), but in reality, American charges as much as 480,000 miles one-way. Yes, that would be 960,000 miles round-trip. Worse: a sign of bad things to come.
Dallas to Kong Kong in First Class: According to the airline’s published pricing chart, the highest rate should be no more than 210,000 miles one-way (AAnytime Level 2), but American charges as much as 460,000 miles one-way. Surely that’s “UnAmerican!”
Dallas to Rome in Business Class: AA’s chart shows the highest AAnytime rate at 135,000 miles one-way for Business Class, but we found it as high as 400,000 miles one-way.