Use Your Airline Miles To Redeem Free Ebooks

Over at my other blog, Brad's Reader, I talk a lot about ebooks and other technology related to reading, writing and publishing. I just posted an article about how Diesel eBooks is partnering with Koinz Media so customers can use their airline miles to redeem free ebooks.

Here's a reprint of that post:


This will be a tough dilemma for readers who love to travel. You can now redeem those hard-earned airline miles for ebooks. Diesel eBooks has partnered up with Koinz Media, a rewards points company, will now let people choose ebooks.

In a statement, Koinz Media said:

"eBooks are available instantly to reward members that redeem their credit card reward points or airline miles at their loyalty portal. Diesel provides a vast selection across all the leading eBook readers and we are thrilled to be bringing this selection to our partner banks, airlines and hotel programs" Anu Shukla, CEO of Koinz Media Inc.

For someone like me who loves to travel, it will be hard to decide whether I want free travel or free ebooks. Of course, I don't travel all that much so I'll be paying for both in the foreseeable future.

American Airlines Regrets Selling Lifetime AAir Passes

It's the dream of airline enthusiasts like myself to have unlimited air travel. Well, American Airlines made such dreams come true back in the 80s, but it came with a hefty price tag: $350,000.

The AAirpass allowed the lucky few who could afford it to fly with virtually no limits. Now American is regretting that decision because of AAirpass holders like Jacques Vroom. He estimates he has flown around 40 million miles. And American estimates he's costing the airlines millions in revenue each year.

American alleged that he sold his companion tickets to people he didn't even know, to destinations all around the world. Vroom maintained that he wasn't selling the seats, rather, they were paying for his business services (he worked as a direct-marketing consultant).

Vroom even used the massive amount of miles he earned to give to AIDs patients so they could visit their families.

American has sued Vroom, who has countersued American. The airline alleges fraud while Vroom maintains he did nothing wrong and the terms of his AAirpass said nothing about selling seats.

My little post here hasn't done this story justice. You can read the interesting and lengthy write-up in the LA Times.

Where's The "Spirit" In Spirit Airlines?

The story about Jerry Meekins, 76, of Clearwater, Florida has been making waves on the internet these last few days. Meekins suffers from esophageal cancer and was unable to use his $197 ticket on Spirit Airlines because he is too sick to fly.

When he tried to get a refund from Spirit Airlines, they simply responded with a big: "No."

Spirit Airlines is a no-frills, nickel-and-dime you carrier that advertises extremely low fares. The catch is that they charge you for just about everything, from carry-ons to snacks to a $10 reservation booking fee. I think they even charge you a fee for every fee you pay.

"We have a $50 safe landing fee"

Seriously though, when contacted about Jerry Meekins' case, Spirit issued the following reply:

"Our reservations are non-refundable, which means we don't do refunds and we are not going to issue Mr. Meekins a refund. We offer our customers affordable travel insurance to cover a variety of unexpected circumstances that may arise and many of our customers choose to take advantage of this option. We receive many requests for refunds every day for similar situations. It wouldn't be fair to bend policy for one and not all. We will not make customers who follow the rules pay for those who don't. It's just not fair."

What's really not fair is that an airline can't spare to refund $197 to a man with terminal cancer.

I've worked for many customer-service oriented companies in my day. Each has their own rules about dealing with customer refunds. I understand that. Sometimes though, the rules need to be bent a little to help someone out.

I hope Spirit Airlines comes to their senses and gives Meekins a break.

Photo Credit: Alaskan Dude. Used under the Creative Commons License.

American Airlines Expands AAdvantage Program

If you're a member of American Airlines' AAdvantage program, your award booking options just got a little better.

According to this American Airlines press release, they are partnering up with British Airways and Hawaiian Airlines.

The release says:

American Airlines AAdvantage® members can now book award travel via AA.com on British Airways, a oneworld® alliance member and joint business partner, and on Hawaiian Airlines, an AAdvantage participating airline. These expanded options offer customers a more convenient way to book one-way, round-trip and multi-city award travel on one or a combination of participating airlines on AA.com.

In addition to Hawaiian Airlines and British Airways, you can also book award travel on Alaska Airlines as well, all from the convenience of the AA.com website.

On November 29, 2011 AMR Corp (American's parent company) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Earlier this year US Airways hinted that they might be interested in a takeover. As of this writing, the merger is still on the table, but there have been no formal plans released.

Photo Credit: Flickr user BriYYZ. Used under Creative Commons License.

Airline Photograph of the Week

Photo of two 747-800s. Air France is coming in for a landing and United is waiting to depart on August 25, 2007.

On the few occasions I've flown on a 747, it has never ceased to amaze me how big they are. Yeah, yeah, they are now dwarfed by the A380, but the 747 has been around for a while and I consider it a classic.

Boeing began development of the 747 back in the 1960s. On January 15, 1970 the first flight, a Pan Am 747 Clipper (Clipper Victor), departed Dulles International Airport. First Lady Pat Nixon performed the christening ceremony.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Ack Ook. Used under Creative Commons license.

Welcome To The Airline Man Blog

Thank you for visiting. The mission of this blog is very basic: Give you news, reviews and flying tips to make your travel more enjoyable. I'll also mix in some of my classic commentary in there as well.

There's a lot of other people who love flying as much as I do, or even more. If that's you, I hope to create a community of avid flyers that can talk all-things-airlines.

I've been following the airline industry for almost 20 years. I still love flying, despite the hassle of security and the airlines' love of taking away valuable leg room (This is always an issue with me because I'm a tall guy).

Thanks again for visiting. I'm going to plunge right into the world of airlines, so stay tuned and enjoy the ride.