US Airways and United are partners, but that doesn’t mean they charge the same number of miles for a First Class award seat to the Aloha State. US Airways charges 70,000 miles round-trip; United requires 20,000 more. However, because they’re partners, booking through US Airways gives you access to United’s First Class at the lower mileage rate. Starwood Preferred Guest Card holders get an even better deal because of the 25% bonus on mileage exchanges: 60,000 Starpoints yields 75,000 US Airways miles. (Caution: Don’t exchange those Starpoints with United. The exchange rate is two Starpoints for one mile—worse than the dollar/euro rate.) Keep in mind that from both Los Angeles and San Francisco United offers three or four flights daily to Honolulu, so if there are no award seats from your departure city, connect on the West Coast. (The same goes for getting to Maui: connect in Honolulu if you have to.)

Delta’s Different BusinessElite Seats to Europe Breed Confusion

About two years ago, Delta announced a new Business Class seat offering a 180-degree, ful

[caption id="attachment_5282" align="alignright" width="300"]

Delta’s new BusinessElite lie-flat seats[/caption]

l-flat bed in the aircraft’s BusinessElite cabin. The long-awaited new seat will finally debut in April on Delta’s new Boeing 777LR (Long Range) for ultra long-haul routes, like JFK to Mumbai. Next summer, Delta rolls out the new Business Class seat on its JFK and Atlanta-Heathrow routes flown by B767-400ERs. Bravo!

However, BusinessElite travelers on Delta’s 757 fleet, which flies from JFK to Brussels, Edinburgh, London-Gatwick, Manchester, and Paris-Orly, have less to cheer about. They also get a new seat, described as a “recliner,” which offers a mere 55 inches of pitch and a 14-inch recline.

Virgin America EleVAtes Mileage Program—Slightly

Virgin America’s mileage program is called EleVAte, and in our August issue we graded it a “D-” because it lacked something fundamental: a redemption option! That’s right: You could accrue miles, but not spend them. Since then, the carrier has further supported the program-to-nowhere with the introduction of an affinity Visa card through Barclays. So is it now “an industry-leading loyalty program” as Virgin’s press releases claim? Hardly, but its marks are creeping higher.

For now, we can only raise the grade to a “D” because, while there’s now a redemption system, the program still has serious deficiencies.

• No upgrade option (usually the best return on miles invested).
• Credit card points apply only to Virgin America flights.
• No mileage-purchase or mileage-transfer options.
• No special ground services for elite members.
• Best redemption value of a mile for a First Class ticket is a relatively low 2¢. (Based on redeeming the lowest First Class fare with points. With Virgin’s fare-based plan, as the price of your First Class ticket goes up, the value of your miles goes down.)

Highlights of Virgin America Visa card

• Triple points on Virgin America purchases; 2,500 bonus points after the first purchase.
• Free one-way domestic coach ticket (must apply by Nov., 30, 2008).

For more information, and to enroll, visit www.virginamerica.com or call (877) 359-8474.