Author: Mark

At the start of each year, the World of Hyatt announces its annual category changes. As such, it recently announced an updated chart, coming into effect on March 22. It is also worth noting that World of Hyatt is introducing peak and off-peak rates at the same time. So, from 22 March, each hotel will have standard, peak and off-peak rates. To keep it simple, the following calls out the changes in the Standard Points requirements. What’s Changing? This year, there are four hotels in Australia changing categories, and in each case, they are going down a category. As a…

Alaska Airlines has announced plans to join the Oneworld alliance by the middle of 2021. This will bring benefits for frequent flyers of other Oneworld members, such as Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines. The plans to join Oneworld comes after a year in which a few other membership changes have been announced. Over the coming months, we will see Royal Air Maroc join Oneworld. We will also see LATAM wave goodbye to the alliance. What does this mean? First up, it is worth noting that Alaska Airlines will be a full member of Oneworld. So,…

World of Hyatt is offering double points in its latest instalment of Bonus Journeys. Running from 15 February to 15 May 2020, the double points are on offer from the second stay. Bonus Journeys Promotions The key details of the promotion are: Registration is required by 31 March 2020 Stay Dates: 15 February – 15 May 2020 Earn double points at participating properties, including Small Luxury Hotels of the World. You will start earning bonus points from your second stay You can earn a maximum of 100,000 bonus points with this promotion. Within those requirements, there are two main restrictions to…

Here is a bit of a rare opportunity from Qantas. The chance to snap up some discounted Premium Economy and Business awards at a discounted rate. While Qantas run promotions from time to time offering discounts on Economy awards, it is unusual for the discount to be on offer for premium cabins. On the downside, the offer is only available on selected routes across the Qantas network. But, having said that, if the stars align for you, then there is no reason not to take advantage of the offer. Offer Details You can take advantage of this promotion between now…

Marriott Bonvoy has just published its annual list of award category changes. The changes are coming into effect from March 4, 2020, which is just under one month away. In the Marriott Bonvoy program, these categories are important in that they determine the number of points you will need for an award night. Change Details As usual, this list sees a large number of adjustments. In this round, over 2,000 properties will be changing categories. In total, there are 1,686 properties moving up, while 499 move down. From an Australian perspective, there are six hotels in this country changing, four…

Velocity has increased the number of Velocity Points that members with elite status receive on airport rides made with ridesharing company Ola. This increase is effective immediately and doubles the number of points that a Platinum member can earn. Details The increased earn rates are available on selected airport rides. In the case of Ola, this means airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Avalon, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The bonus points are in line with the bonus that elite members earn on flights. As a result, on airport rides there is a  bonus of 50%, 75% and…

Virgin Australia has announced its withdrawal of services between Australia and Hong Kong. This comes with the announcement that they have decided to suspend the Sydney-Hong Kong service from 2 March 2020. This follows the previous announcement that the Melbourne-Hong Kong services would be withdrawn from 11 February 2020. Virgin went one step further and confirmed that this service would not be returning. As a result, Virgin Australia will no longer operate services to Hong Kong. It is not surprising that it has come to this. Despite heavily discounted fares, Virgin appears to have struggled to fill planes on the…

IHG Rewards Club has launched a new promotion offering up to quadruple points for stays between 15 February 2020 and 15 May 2020. In a way, it is similar to a promotion run last year that also offered up to quadruple points. And while the structure is similar, there is one significant difference. This time around, the promotion is based on the number of nights you have stayed, rather than the number of stays that you have made. How does it work? Register for the promotion by 15 April 2020 Stay between 15 February 2020 and 15 May 2020. IHG…

BP and Qantas have kicked off the first stage of their new partnership. From 1 February, Qantas Business Rewards members can earn Qantas Points when buying fuel with their BP Plus card. The changes come into place after BP ended its partnership with Velocity. However, the full changeover to Qantas is going to take some time. The retail customer is going to have to wait a little while longer. BP and Qantas are still going through the process of getting ACCC authorization for the partnership. At this point, that approval is expected later this month. As such, we may see…

LATAM and oneWorld have announced that LATAM will exit oneWorld from 1 May 2020. This is 5 months earlier than had been expected. Qantas had previously indicated that the departure would occur in October 2020. It seems, however, that LATAM has been able to negotiate an earlier departure from the alliance. At noted below, the Qantas Frequent Flyer charts advise that Status Credits will be awarded for flights through to October. Update Nov 2020: LATAM will exit oneWorld on 1 October 2020. As a result, Qantas has updated its earning tables. According to a note on the Qantas Website Note:…