How to get AA elite benefits when using partner miles, business class bribery and Pepper provides points proof (Saturday Selection)

Turkish Airlines uses business class flights as bribery, Pepper providing points proof and how to get AA elite benefits on a ticket booked through a partner airline. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection, our weekly round-up of interesting tidbits from around the interwebs (links to the original articles are embedded in the titles).

Turkish business class is so good they used it to bribe a US mayor

I love flying Turkish business class. The food and drinks are delicious, the seat is comfy for a big guy like me and their Istanbul lounges are dynamite. In other words, you could totally pay me to fly Turkish Business. Evidently, NYC Mayor Eric Adams felt the same way. Over a period of several years, Adams received tens of thousands of dollars worth of business class flights, hotels and actual campaign donations from Turkish. In exchange, Turkish received some nice consideration from the mayor, including his office putting pressure on a local official to bypass fire regulations for a consular building. Adams, “a true friend of Turkey,” is now under federal indictment for bribery, wire fraud and accepting campaign donations from foreign governments. The moral of the story: if you’re going to risk going to jail by accepting gifts offered by the national carrier of a foreign government, at least make sure it’s Emirates or Etihad first class. After all this, Turkish announced that it will soon be debuting its new marketing slogan: “Business class worth getting indicted for.”

Pepper provides proof of pending points

Pepper Rewards is an app that stormed onto the scene earlier this year, selling in-demand brands at rates so low that it single-handedly depressed gift card resale rates nationwide. They’ve re-jiggered their rewards program several times while creating a confusing, two-tiered system wherein part of the bonus is paid out immediately and a second tranche is delivered in two (and now three) weeks. In addition to having odd multipliers and weird payout time frames, there’s been no way to track the quantity of rewards you’ve been given, and the two interns in the back who manually award them often do so incorrectly, leading to additional “coins” (Pepper’s rewards currency) being awarded or taken away. Pepper’s daily discounted rates have become gaudier and gaudier which, combined with the lack of clarity surrounding payouts, has made Pepper feel positively Ponzi. Our own Stephen Pepper (the Guru of Gift cards), having never gotten around to trademarking his last name, is completely unaffiliated with the Rewards app. However, He does write the authoritative blog on gift cards, gcgalore.com. Stephen wrote a cautionary tale about the developments at the Pepper Rewards that I shared in the Saturday Selection a few weeks ago. He’s now back with more news…but this time it’s positive proof of Pepper power!

Pepper has added a feature to the app that shows all of your past points earning as well as what you’re owed in the future…and it instantly updates with purchases. Imagine that! While this may just be a way of letting us know exactly how much we’re owed if they go out of business, it does make things feel a bit more above-board.

How to get AA elite benefits when booking with partner miles

Navigating the task of getting AA (or Alaska) elite benefits when booking through partners can be tricky business. The reason is that most partners will automatically apply youe elite number in their program to a booking, and it’s usually not possible to change it on their own website. I had this situation come up earlier this year during our “Flying by the Seat of Our Points” challenge. The Alaska flight that I was booking was far cheaper using Avios than Alaska miles, but I wanted my elite benefits to apply to the booking. Avios doesn’t allow you to use anything but your BA number when booking, but I was able to get my Alaska number added retroactively by going to Finnair’s website and entering my BA record locator. Bizarre, huh? Dan’s Deals encountered the opposite situation last week when he wanted to book a short AA economy flight (which is dirt-cheap on Alaska), but still get his AA elite benefits. The trick is fairly simple…don’t use your saved Alaska profile, but rather make a reservation in your name without entering ANY loyalty program info. Shouldn’t this all be easier?

Alaska adds Oman Air redemptions

Oman Air is an airline that I’ve long wanted to fly, and Oman a country that I’ve long wanted to visit. The airline’s premium products get excellent reviews, but they don’t have any flights to the US, so the only way to sample them is by originating in Africa, Asia or Europe. Our own Nick Reyes had very nice things to say about Oman Air’s business class when he flew it during 2022’s Frequent Miler Annual Challenge. Oman Air plans to eventually become a full oneworld Alliance member later this year, which will create many additional ways to skin a flight to Muscat. Although the oneworld transition has been delayed several times, Alaska Mileage Plan has unexpectedly taken the initiative to add Oman Air awards before they join oneworld (one of the exceedingly rare examples of Alaska being quicker on the draw than other airlines). So, Oman awards are now live on Alaska’s website, availability is good and pricing seems reasonable (45K in business class between Muscat and Europe). It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Mileage Plan still hasn’t added added the capacity to book awards with more than one partner, making Alaska the only connecting airline that doesn’t require booking two awards. And guess what? Alaska doesn’t fly to Africa, Asia or Europe, meaning that the only way to currently use Alaska miles for Oman tickets is to book a separate flight to an Oman gateway first. Alaska says that multi-partner awards will be live by the end of the this year and, if it happens as promised, that Oman Air frown will turn upside-down.

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