It’s Wednesday. It’s time to get over the weekly slump and start thinking about the glory of the weekend, the time when you can plan a quick getaway, at least in your mind. Here are the most important stories around the travel world today…
Qatar Airways Trickery With “R” Business Class Fares…
Many airlines famously boast on their respective sites that you’ll always earn miles and status for any business class fare, and most say the same for economy. That’s mostly true, but Qatar Airways has recently rolled out a very, very tricky fare, a restricted business class fare “R” class, which doesn’t earn a thing! Most annoyingly, they are using this fare class for most of their global sales as well as popular routes. So for now, if you find an unbelievable deal and excitedly enter your frequent flyer number, watch out for the dreaded “R” selling class, which will keep you from earning anything. Shame on them!
Update 4/9: BA will award Avios + Tier Points from May 1 On R Fares… Hooray!
Air Canada Adds Free Stopovers, Just Like Icelandair
Inconvenience is a hard sell in travel. When my destinations are served by direct flights on many airlines, it’s hard to convince me to take a connection, even if marginally cheaper. To sweeten the deal, Air Canada has now joined Icelandair’s strategy of offering free stopovers and making them glorious. Icelandair famously added a stopover buddy this year, where you could stop for free in Iceland and have an airline employee show you around. Air Canada is going with the same concept, allowing free stopovers in Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal buddy may or may not be included…
American Copies British Airways 7500 Mile Awards… Sort OF.
British Airways has forever been the strange but true best option for short flights in America, until February of this year they required just 4,500 miles one way for flights under 650 miles in distance. They abolished that distance and moved to one short distance number: 7,500 miles one way for any flight under 1,151 miles. Well, to somewhat even the tables, American Airlines have created a new lower award, also at 7,500 miles one way, for distances up to 500 miles. It’s not as generous as British Airways, but it’s a strong value for short, expensive last minute flights.
