Michael Finney's Consumer Blog

Should you buy Frequent Flyer miles?

Most airlines give frequent flyer miles for traveling and using their credit cards. They will also sell them for cash; so should you buy? The math, at first doesn’t look promising. The average well spent frequent flyer mile is worth 1 ½ cents. Most airlines sell the miles for double that, 3 cents. You get about half what you pay for. But if you work the system you can do better. Miles are often put on sale so your cost can drop to 2 to 2 ½ cents per mile. Now if you just need a few more miles to make a frequent flyer trip -say 1,000 more miles- the slight up charge can be worth it because you can purchase a $600 dollar ticket for the miles you have on hand and another 30 bucks. Strategic mile buying works, buying just because you can, will cost you.

How to cash in on the latest airfare war

The low cost airlines started a fare war yesterday when JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America all announced deep cuts. There are flights to southern California for $50 and flights to New York City for $150. Now American Airlines has jumped into the fray. An example of the sale is a flight from Oakland to Chicago for $204. You have to book right away and most travel has to be completed by the middle of June.

United/Continental merger not perfect

Continental Airlines is officially no more. Over the weekend United and Continental airlines finished their merger becoming the largest air carrier on earth. At one point about a quarter of all flights were 30 minutes or more late, but by the end of the weekend nearly 85% were landing on time. This was a huge undertaking and despite scattered issues, United is to be congratulated. If you have United or Continental miles be sure to log in and make sure your account is being transitioned. There are some reports this morning that there is more work to be done. 

Study: When, where, how to fly

Thanks to scientists at Harvard and MIT, the days of flight delays and missed connections may be over.

Is it cheaper to fly or drive?

Everyone is trying to save a buck these days, so a question many are asking themselves about vacation is this: Is it cheaper to fly or drive? This calculator figures it out for you. It includes costs like spending the night in a hotel because you drive and using ground transportation at your vacation spot if you fly.  Time spent traveling is calculated as is the wear and tear on your car.

Mechanic hid on US Airways flight

Next time they are patting down your 3-year-old, think of this story: a mechanic is found to be a stowaway aboard a US Airways jet.

>>Here are the details: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/06/us-airways-stowaway/174509/1?csp=Travel

One airline collects nearly a billion in bag fees

Yesterday the media was all over the airlines-make-a-lot-of-money-on-checked-bags story. Nearly $3.5 Billion. But here's what they didn't tell you: one airline is the ninja of baggage fees. It collected nearly a billion dollars by itself.

 

>>Check here to see how much money each of the big airlines made on luggage.

Make sure to get your free miles!

You have seen those Netflix deals where you get frequent flyer miles for signing up, right? Well the idea of FF mile sign up bonuses is really catching on.  Open a savings account with Fidelity, a brokerage account with TD Ameritrade or take out a mortgage with Chase and they'll dump a boat load of miles in your account. Even Nutrisystem is offing a signing bonus. So don't go out and get a new loan just to get miles, but if you are getting a mortgage anyways - or signing up for any new service - ask about miles.

Fight breaks out on plane over seat recline

On a recent United Airlines flight a fight broke out when a passenger reclined his seat. According to press reports the passenger in the seat behind the recliner (the reclinee?) felt like the seat had come into his ‘personal space’. Some believe it is rude to recline an airline seat… but if that is true, why do the seats recline? What do you think?

Airline fees going down? You bet

Airline fees going down? You bet.

Frontier Airlines has reduced its "change fee" from $100 to $50 on Economy fares. It is also discounting the first checked bag fee for guests checking bags online at FrontierAirlines.com. It is not much of a savings $15 rather than $20. Still five bucks is five bucks.

Another perk for frontier travelers: the airline will no longer charge a flat fee for checked bicycles. Two wheelers will be considered standard baggage.