The Great United Devaluation is coming on February 1st, so tomorrow (January 31st) is the last day to make award bookings under the award chart.

For reference, a comparison between old award chart and the new award chart show the damage.

Some key takeaways (from North America):

• Europe business class is going from 100k to 115k (United) / 140k (Partners)
• Europe first class is going from 135k to 160k / 220k.
• Asia business class is going from 120k to 140k / 160k.
• Asia first class is going from 140k to 160k / 240-260k (North-South Asia).
• Australia/New Zealand business class is going from 135k to 140k / 160k
• Australia/New Zealand first class is going from 160k to 160k / 260k.

In light of the Starwood devaluation in March, I booked two nights at the Moana Surfrider in Waikiki.  To get there, I flew American from New York.

American 31
Los Angeles (LAX) – Honolulu (HNL)
Saturday, April 20th, 2013
Depart:  8:00AM
Arrive: 10:50AM
Duration:  5 hours, 50 minutes
Aircraft: Boeing 757-223 (N608AA)
Seat: 6E (First Class)

As this was an early morning flight, first class was served breakfast, albeit with the enhancement of a paper menu compared to ordinary domestic first class.

On arrival, I took the opportunity to do a bit of plane spotting before picking up my rental car.

Having enjoyed my time in the lounge, I made my way to the end of the concourse to catch my flight to Newark.

Ordinarily, airport security abroad is a joy.  For our flight, bound to the United States, we got to enjoy another security screening before our gate.  There’s nothing quite like being asked to take off your shoes to give you a little reminder of home.

Lufthansa 412
Munich (MUC) – Newark (EWR)
Sunday, March 31st, 2013
Depart:  3:35PM
Arrive: 6:35AM
Duration:  9 hours
Aircraft:Airbus A340-642 (D-AIHU)
Seat: 3H (Business Class)

Upon boarding, I settled down into my seat in business class.

The menu read as follows:

I had ordered a vegetarian meal, so my service began with a salad and fresh fruit.

Shortly before arrival, we had a light stack, which in my case consisted of cheese and vegetables, along with a bowl of tomato soup.

While immigration was light at Newark when we arrived, Global Entry meant that I spent most of my time walking from the plane to the curb.

Prior to my flight to Newark, I stopped by the Lufthansa Senator Lounge.

The lounge was sharp and new feeling.

There was some cold food on offer, as well as the signature Lufthansa pretzel.

Deals We Like mentions that Citi is now offering a 100k signup bonus and a $200 statement credit (for spending $10k in 3 months) for the AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard.  This card has a $450 annual fee but includes an Admirals Club membership.

Historically, I’ve used my American Express Platinum card for AA and US lounge access, justifying the card’s $450 fee to myself with the $200 annual statement credit and the lounge access.  With Amex cardholders losing access on March 22nd, I’m looking for alternatives.  While AA considerably expanded its lounge access policies on JFK-LAX/SFO in the fall of 2012, my upgrades don’t always clear on American and I don’t always fly on nonstops from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

At the moment, I’m pondering how the Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage card can offer a 10% rebate on AA redemptions (up to 10k per year) but the World Elite card cannot.

Starwood is running another promotion very similar to last quarter’s… except a bit worse.

This quarter’s “Bring on the Nights” promotion offers 2.5k bonus points per 5 nights stayed at Starwood hotels between January 5th through April 30th.  Registration by February 28th is required.

The last promotion for 2013 offered a similarly tiered bonus system for nights but also came with double base points on stays.  I’m unlikely to go out of my way to collect stays at Starwood properties for the sake of picking up points from this promotion; but given I had 50+ nights with Starwood last year, it’s hard for me to not expect a few stays this spring.

Despite plenty of speculation that American and US Airways would certainly merge EQM balances for travel occurring in 2014, a quiet FAQ update (only appear on usairways.com!) indicates this is not the case.

“Can I combine my AAdvantage and Dividend Miles elite qualifying miles and segments to qualify for elite status? No. Because we are currently maintaining two separate programs, elite qualifying miles and segments (and American’s points) only count toward elite status in the program in which they were earned. Elite credits will not be an additive between the two programs to determine a customer’s 2014 qualification or status.”

There can be a bit of back-and-forth about the meaning of “2014”:  Is that for elite status in 2014 or qualification (for 2015) by way of travel in 2015?  Fortunately, higher-profile bloggers have looked into this important matter.  One Mile at a Time’s post is still pending an update from the airlines, but Hack My Trip confirms this reading of the FAQ.

Somewhat awkwardly, this comes on the heels of the 50% mile bonus for cross-crediting US and American flights.  Registration with US Airways (for American flights) and American (for US Airways flights) is required.

For my three nights in Munich, I opted to stay at the Westin.  Due to a rate quirk, I wound up with two double beds rather than a single bed.

Overall, the hotel was well-situated by being a short walk away from the Arabellapark U-Bahn Station.

Prior to passing through security, I took a moment to go visit the observation terrace.  The weather outside left a bit to be desired for visibility, but fortunately, most of the observation area is covered.

By virtue of having Star Alliance Gold status by being a United 1K, I visited the Swiss-run Senator Lounge.  I previously visited in March 2012 on my way to Bangkok.

The lounge had a number of hot food items available, mostly centered around pastas of various sorts.

Hiding in the back of the food area, there were two soups and bread slices available.

The Senator Lounge has a display of A340 models taking off near its entrance.

After a while, it was time to go to my gate to catch my Lufthansa flight to Munich.  Inside of Europe, business class leaves a lot to be desired.  Our late evening flight was markedly lightly loaded:  We had eight passengers on our 737–two in business class and six in coach.

Carlson is running its first quarter promotion from Monday (January 6th) to April 13th, 2014:  Stay 3 nights and earn 38k points.

Importantly, there are three take aways:

• As no further (bonus) points are earned by staying more, this promotion is geared towards the infrequent Carlson guest.
• Registration is required before the first eligible checkout date, so it’s worth registering now rather than forgetting.
• 38k points isn’t quite for a night at a top-tier hotel (50k are needed).  It’s not the promotion of yesteryear, but it’s a reasonable bonus for the odd Carlson night here or there.

A thread on FlyerTalk highlights the silent changes that happened to American Airlines’ policies as the merger festivities kicked off:

• Minimum time for checking in (online or at the airport) without baggage at a U.S. airport is no longer 30 minutes, but is the same as the one with bags (i.e. airport-dependent, and mostly 45 minutes);
• Minimum time for checking in (even without baggage) for flights departing the U.S. for an international destination is now 60 minutes. The way it’s written, this includes departures to Canada, Mexico, and non-U.S. Caribbean Islands
• Minimum time for checking in (even without baggage) has increased to 45 minutes in all hubs plus a lot of other airports:
• Airports increasing from 30 minutes to 45 minutes: CLT, PHL, PHX and PIT
• Airports increasing from 40 minutes to 45 minutes: ATL, ORD, DFW, EWR, MCO, SFO, SJU, SEA, TPA, IAD

I rarely peddle credit cards on this site (for starters, I don’t maintain affliate links), but I couldn’t help but notice the benefits on the revamped Virgin America credit card described by MileCards.

Comenity Bank (there’s an issuer you don’t hear every day) is offering two cards, a basic version ($49 annual fee) and a “premium” version ($149 annual fee).  Notably, the premium card includes a change fee waiver on VX flights.

While I’ve never paid a change fee on a revenue ticket (largely because the fees incentivize me to fly my original booking), this comes as useful perk for the VX loyalist who won’t fly Southwest (or earn MVP Gold with Alaska).

The “new” American delivered on making US Airways award availability bookable with premerger AA miles (source: The Flight Deal):

Hyatt’s changing its award chart effective January 7th (tomorrow!), bumping up the prices for Category 5 and 6 hotels slightly and introducing a new Category 7 for several of its Park Hyatt hotels.

Today is the last day to book at the old rates.

In the tradition of this blog, it’s time to summarize where I went and how I got there. I flew about 228k miles in 2013, approximately 202k of which were revenue miles. Across my revenue and award travel, all but 73k miles were in premium cabins.  This is a worse ratio (32.1%) than 2012 (22.2%).

Overall, my travel for 2013 involved four trips to Europe, three trips to Hawaii, and one trip to Asia.

I had several redemptions:

• I traveled to Zurich and Munich for Easter.
• I toured Europe over Christmas and New Years Eve.  (Hopefully, a trip report will be forthcoming.)
• I had 9 SPG award nights on the Hawaiian Islands (Maui, Oahu, and Kauai).
• My two Hyatt Suite Night Awards were redeemed at the Park Hyatt Milan and Park Hyatt Zurich, for one night each.
• I finally made a dent in my Club Carlson balance and benefited from free bonus nights at the Radisson Blu Palais Vienna, Park Inn Berlin, and the May Fair London.

I earned points and miles from a variety of sources.

• On United, I finished the year with about 102k EQM or about 208k redeemable miles by flying (or United purchases on my United credit card). I retained United 1K for what will likely be the last time.  Based on my United spending, I would have managed to earn Premier Silver (according to the 2014 PQD requirements).
• On American, I finished the year with 101k EQM. Thanks to a few Choice Fares, I picked up 215k redeemable miles. I retained American Executive Platinum.
• With SPG, I earned 52k points from hotel stays.  Somehow, I managed to hit an obscene number of stays and nights with SPG this year:  34 stays, 54 nights (inclusive of credit card bonus nights).
• With Hyatt, I earned a meager 17k points from hotel stays (13 stays, 15 nights).
• I earned about 38k Avios from paying my rent with my British Airways credit card.
• From signup bonuses, I had two suite nights from Hyatt and approximately 100k Club Carlson points.

In terms of total spending, airfare crept up from 4.42cpm to approximately 5.22cpm.  Hotel spending jumped considerably, as I wound up staying in hotels for 61 stays and 83 nights this year (to be contrasted with 54 nights last year).  Average costs per night remained nearly constant.  Rental car spending dipped ever slightly.

As far as my predictions my own travel in 2014 go:

• I expect to see far more award travel compared to previous years.  2011 had approximately 10k, 2012 had 31k, and 2013 had 26k.  I already have 23k miles of award travel for 2014, with more to come as I lock in trips before the Great United Devaluation at the end of January and US Airways’ Exit from Star Alliance.
• If I maintain a decent level of revenue travel, I expect to requalify for American Executive Platinum and United Premier Platinum (via the credit card spending threshold) in 2014.
• 2014 will likely have far fewer hotel nights and I will not be aiming for SPG Platinum 50 in any way.  This year, a confluence of several long hotel stays and American Express stay/night credits quickly pushed me from qualifying on 25 stays to hitting the 50 night mark.
• I expect to earn far more points from credit card spending than I have in the past.