Intelligence – February, 18 2011

Intelligence – February, 18 2011

Effective Jan. 19, 2010, Chase will no longer partner with American AAdvantage and AAdvantage members will no longer be able to earn miles for opening a home equity loan or line of credit with Chase …

South African Airways and Qantas Frequent Flyer are now airline partners and Qantas members can earn and redeem points on SAA flights within South Africa and between South Africa and Australia …

Costco is a new Choice Privileges partner and members can redeem 16,000 points for a one-year Costco Gold Star membership or 32,000 points for a one-year Costco Executive membership …

Wyndham Rewards has expanded its program to include properties in Mexico. Members can now earn points or miles for stays at Wyndham Hotel Group properties. Previously, members could only redeem points for stays in Mexico. Guests who choose AeroMexico miles for stays can earn double miles for stays through Feb. 10, 2010 …

Telecom company Simizy and Swiss-Belhotel International are the newest partners to join Etihad Guest. Etihad Guest members can earn 500 miles per stay at Swiss-Belhotel and 750 miles for buying a SIMizy starter pack …

United Airlines will introduce daily seasonal service between Chicago and Rome from May 1 through Aug. 31, 2010 …

Electricity provider Energy Plus is a new United Mileage Plus partner and members in Connecticut, Texas and New York can receive 3,000 bonus miles for signing up for new service plus two miles per $1 spent on the supply portion of their monthly bill …

Walmart is a new TAP Portugal Victoria partner in Brazil and members can earn miles when shopping online at www.walmart.com.br/tapvictoria. … Marriott has teamed up with online cell phone retailer Wirefly and Marriott Rewards members can now earn 7,500 points for purchasing or upgrading their cell phone and service plan with Wirefly …

Virgin America has expanded to South Florida. The new twice-daily nonstops connect both Los Angeles and San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. This is Virgin America’s 10th destination …

Emirates is to launch daily nonstop flights between Dubai and Amsterdam beginning May 1, 2010 and to Tokyo beginning March 28, 2010 …

JetBlue has extended the time frame when members can book flights. Customers can now book 10 months in advance …

View from the Wing (access through BoardingArea.com) blogger Gary Leff was recently featured as a “mileage millionaire” in a CNN article. To read the article, visit www.insideflyer.com/link/?2042. As one FlyerTalk member said, “An interesting read. Motivating too!” …

Of the proposed tie-in between American Airlines and British Airways, Virgin Atlantic released a press release that said in part, “The proposed BA/AA and Iberia alliance would have appreciable and lasting negative effects for both long-term competition and consumers.” …

At press time, WestJet Airlines announced it is pushing back its introduction of a frequent flyer program and credit card program because of problems created with the rollout of its new reservation system; but the FFP should still debut in 2010.