Milenomics² Podcast Episode 235: A Merger, A Match, and a Trip Where Nothing Works

0:23 Alaska/Hawaiian Merger

• Prevailing sentiment seems to be this will go through

• Heightened Barclays Hawaiian card offers (70k Personal + Business)

• MR -> Hawaiian 20% Bonus (ends Aug 31)

• Will Hawaiian miles convert to Alaska 1:1?

• Time to speculatively generate Hawaiian miles?

• What does the answer to that question depend on?

• Alternative Viewpoint: 1MR->Cash out at 1.1 Cents used to pay Fluz fees can earn an Alaska mile with an Alaska Credit card paid off with Taekus.

• If you can earn 2x Alaska miles with Fluz (Fuel... RIP) then this becomes even better than a MR->Alaska transfer.

• Reminds me of the Alaska/Virgin America merger–I thought I’d use Alaska to book onto VX flights, but that didn’t work! By the time they got rid of VX Metal they also cancelled the routes I liked. 

14:02 JetBlue Status Match/Challenge

• It’s…complicated

• Basically get some level of Mosaic for 3 months with challenges to maintain for another year or two depending on timing (when you sign up, when they process the match, if/when you meet hurdles)

• Good write-up from Dans Deals

• Said to be “ongoing” as in this is how they’re going to do things for a while with no scheduled end date as of yet

• Puzzler: How on earth can I earn Tiles w/o being able to earn the Barclay card?

• Update: I earned TrueBlue points and tiles from Qatar award booking! Wild.
  

20:02 Altoona - Boston: A Trip Where Nothing Works

• Booked Contour AOO - PHL, AA PHL - BOS through BofA Elite Concierge

• Results in 2 record locators

• It shows in the AA app, but check-in has to be done with the first carrier

• To fish out the record locator, I have to find my Contour record locator and that’s buried somewhere in my email and my ability to perform mobile email search stinks

• Contour texts a couple hours prior to departure saying out flight is delayed 45 minutes

• Our connection is only 40 minutes so it’s pretty clear we’re going to miss out next flight

• Think Fast: How do you go about being reaccomodated on a later flight?

• The original flight we were on might itself be delayed, and moving to a later flight might actually result in even further delays

• If we wait and do nothing (for example try to patch it up in PHL) there might not be enough time or seats on the next flight

• Tried to change in the app. Says I have to contact my travel agent (which is BofA, as if I’d contact them. Ha!)

• Contour gate agent in Altoona is telling people they can only help if “it’s more than two hours” (what does that even mean?)

• DM AA on Twitter and they accommodate us on a flight that’s 2 hours later than our original flight which we barely make because the Contour flight ends up being even more delayed than they originally said

• Once AA changed the flight I can no longer interact with the flight in the app (say to get a boarding pass or select a seat). Says I need to check in for the first flight in order to interact with the reservation. I’m like, “I’m already on the first flight!”

• Finally get to PHL, take a shuttle across the airport, arrive to the gate just as they’re boarding, get the gate agent to issue a boarding pass

• They assigned us exit row seats, which was nice but man - we’re so far off realizing any AA/Alaska status benefits it’s comical. We’re not even on the upgrade list.

• When malfunctions abound like this you’re just happy to get home that night rather than spending the night in a PHL-airport hotel.

• Good news/bad news: Route change. Contour now only flies to CLT rather than PHL out of Altoona. Flanking to State College airport instead which has an AA flight to PHL and is more integrated than Contour.

31:29 Uber/Lyft Shenanigans

• Go to book an Uber home in BOS and it quotes us $80 for Uber X

• Lyft says $38 for Comfort, so go with Lyft even though I have Uber credits

• Guy arrives in a Honda CR-V with different plates than the Hyundai Kona EV Lyft said he’d be driving. Driver says Lyft is messed up ever since he switched to driving a Hyaundai while his Honda was in the shop. Oh well! We go with it anyway because we had to wait 20 minutes for him to show up.

• Lyft ends up being $61. Why? I don’t know. But I don’t like any of it.

34:37 Labor Day Plans

• Discuss: Is Labor Day a good holiday to get away?

• Robert: Bermuda

• Sam: Local Vacasa