Stealth Devaluation – Both US Airways & American Airlines

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It’s not so much the devaluations themselves that bother me.  The other major airlines United & Delta did their devaluations last year and United actually gave several months advance notice.  It’s the fact that this time there was NO ADVANCE NOTICE!

The travel blogosphere is up in arms starting with Dan’s Deals reporting that stopovers (at North American international gateway cities) would be eliminated.  Then Lucky posted on One Mile At A Time the further bad news that AAnytime AAwards were increasing with detailed charts.  Travel Summary chimed in with the US Airways increase to the popular North America – North Asia award which went from 90k in business class to 110k.

Now those 3 changes had very little effect on most birders and eco-tourists.  We tend to plan in advance and use Saver Awards (capacity controlled and best booked way in advance), not the more expensive AAnytime awards.  The North America – North Asia route wouldn’t be on a typical eco-travel itinerary.  The loss of the North American gateway stopover could affect Americans who want to visit Grandma in LAX enroute to Australia or Brazil.

But all of the above pales in contrast to the loss of the OneWorld Explorer award.

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This gem of an award was perfect for anyone wanting to avoid American’s strict routing rules and hop around various destinations as they wished.  As long as you used at least 2 OneWorld carriers, you were fine.

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This would have allowed me to go from Brisbane to South America via the USA and have a few stop-overs and I was eyeing one for 2016.  Ironically, I have the miles but not the cash to pay for the lodges and birding guides which is why I have to allow a couple years to save for it.

The obvious lesson here is don’t hoard your miles – spend them!  Devaluations can come at any time, though ideally we would at least get some advance notice.   I wish I could be redeeming my miles more often but as a birder, I can’t use miles to pay for the vast majority of my ground expenses so I am pretty well stuck.  Cash is a lot harder for me to get than miles!

US Airways Share Miles Promo Back April 7 – 13

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Do you have your eye on one of the new OneWorld partner awards now that US Airways is on board?  Are you short the miles you need for the trip of your dreams?  For the next week, you have the chance to buy miles via the famous share miles promo!

You need to share your miles to a friend or family member, then they can share back to you for maximum effect.

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Earn award travel faster

You can buy miles for yourself, gift miles to friends and family or share your miles. It’s the quick and easy way for you or someone else to reach award travel.

Watch out for the bonus thresholds.  For example sharing 29,000 miles gains a bonus of 21,750 but simply adding another 1000 miles to your purchase gets a bonus of 30,000 miles!

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Birding Foxes Lair, Narrogin, Western Australia

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Foxes Lair is a small reserve on the outskirts of Narrogin, Western Australia.  It makes a perfect complement to nearby Dryandra Woodland, especially for parrot watchers.

Google Maps don’t show it but it is where I have made the yellow highlights.

Foxes Lair

It’s well worth planning both a morning visit and an afternoon visit here as you can get different birds.  I saw more Carnaby’s Cockatoos & Galahs in the morning and in the afternoon, I got my first look at Red Capped Parrots and Regent Parrots and of course more Port Lincoln Ringnecks.

Here’s a few pics of the birds I saw over 2 days.  Sorry about the silhouettes of the Carnaby’s Cockatoos, it was around 5:30am-ish!  You can see birds both on the side of the road near the caravan park opposite Foxes Lair and then drive into the reserve where there is a car park and a few trails you can follow.

You can stay in Narrogin where there are several options such as Bella’s Country Place (where we stayed-my review), Albert Facey Motel & Narrogin Motel.

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Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis)

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The Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis) less commonly known as the Stanley Rosella, Earl of Derby’s parakeet or Yellow-cheeked parakeet, is the smallest species of rosella and is found in the South West of Australia in Eucalypt forests and timbered areas.  I took the first 2 photos at Dryandra Woodland and the last one at Stirling Range Retreat.

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And here’s a close up from Wikipedia as my shots don’t do this beautiful bird justice!

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Although Western Rosellas can theoretically be found anywhere in South Western Australia, they are sadly becoming harder to find.  I was really happy to have 2 sightings during my trip in Feb 2014 – Dryandra Woodland & Stirling Range Retreat.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT WESTERN ROSELLAS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

Birds in Backyards

VIDEOS

Everyone loves a picnic!

 This is on my other post but it’s worth watching again, especially if you really care about these beautiful birds.

Lodge Review: Bella’s Country Place, Narrogin, Western Australia

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Bella’s Country Place is a fairly new bed & breakfast in the town of Narrogin near Dryandra Woodland.  It has all the charm you could hope for in a small town B&B and Lizette, the friendly, cheerful owner goes out of her way to make her guests feel welcome.

I wish I had gotten more photos but I was so distracted by all the birds in the area, I had completely forgotten to get photos of the rooms!  There are some pics on their website, some rooms are ensuite and some have shared bathrooms.

What I really liked is that the house is far enough from town so there is a lot of birdlife nearby but it’s close enough for quick trips into town for meals or shopping.  There is also a well-equipped kitchen if you choose to self-cater and some washing machines and a clothesline which is great news for birders on a budget.

Breakfast is included in the very reasonable rates and Lizette is happy to prepare packed picnic breakfasts if you are making an early start to Dryandra for birding.

IMG_4707 IMG_4703 IMG_4702I really enjoyed my stay at Bella’s Country Place and am happy to recommend that birders heading to Dryandra Woodland and Foxes Lair stay here!

Avios Quick Tip – Bargain Destinations From Your Home Town

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Since the OneWorld alliance is becoming more valuable with the new partners joining up, here’s a quick tip for Avios members to help you find bargain destinations from your home town.

We know that awards are distance based as below.

Avios Award Chart

Let’s see where I could go with Avios for less than 10,000 Avios one way.  To do this, I use Great Circle Mapper.

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http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?R=650nm%40BNE%0D%0A1151nm%40BNE%0D%0A2000nm%40BNE&MS=wls&DU=mi

Do you see where BNE repeats 3 times in the url?  Simply substitute your own home town airport code for BNE.  The smallest circle will give you destinations for 4500 Avios.  The middle circle gives you destinations for 7500 Avios and the largest circle gives you destinations for 10,000 Avios.  Even though cities aren’t named on the map, most people have a pretty good idea of what potential destinations would lie within each circle.

Then use the Great Circle Mapper to get the exact distance to make sure it’s within range.  For example on the first map, there are a lot of enticing Pacific islands in my largest circle – including Fiji!  Brisbane to Fiji, Port Moresby (as a birding jump-off point), Vanuatu or most of New Zealand for 10,000 Avios on Qantas!  Even better – Noumea, New Caledonia for 7500 Avios!   A reader has pointed out that some of these destinations are not currently available as awards on Avios even though they are available through QFF.  These flights are QF codeshares with Air Pacific, Air Vanuatu and Air Niugini, and not QF metal.  Some routes can be done via SYD or CNS using QF metal but it would be 2 sectors so not the bargains I had hoped for on Avios.  

Just another reason I hate the codeshare system!

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If you are trying to get your head around the new US Airways routes available to OneWorld members, let’s draw the map from their hub at Charlotte (CLT).  As long as US (or AA, TAM or any OneWorld airline) flies there, I see lots of bargains to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, Colombia & Venezuela!

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Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia

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Dryandra Woodland offers amazing birding only a couple hours drive from Perth!  Use your miles to get here and then hire a car so you can explore this beautiful park on your own.

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Although you could visit Dryandra Woodland as a day trip from Perth, I highly recommend staying a night or two here so you can visit all the water holes and birding areas.  You can stay either in the park or in Narrogin, about a half hour’s drive from Dryandra.

The Lion’s Dryandra Village has the advantage of being right inside the park so no commuting and you can easily do the night tour at Barna Mia.  You do need to be completely self-sufficient and bring your own food and bed linens.

IMG_4587 IMG_4588 IMG_4590Otherwise you can stay in the closest town of Narrogin where there are several options such as Bella’s Country Place (where we stayed-my review), Albert Facey Motel & Narrogin Motel.

The official park website has a brochure you can download.  I have marked some prime birding location in yellow on the screenshot below.  The Old Mill Dam was the best place, I personally saw several Western Rosellas, Australian Ringnecks, Rainbow Bee-eaters and more (see bird list links below).

Dryandra birding spots

The bird list is very impressive and Frank O’Connor’s website has some great location details complete with co-ordinates for your GPS.  Eremaea also has a bird list for Dryandra Woodland.

Here are some photos I took at Dryandra Woodlands.

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Australian Ringneck

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Common Bronzewing

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Scarlet Robin wants a bath

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Some New Holland Honey-eaters join in.

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TBD

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Western Rosellas wait for the chance to drink.  I was really happy to see them after I saw a video that they were disappearing.

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Although this Ringneck didn’t approach too close to the Rosellas, they still flew off when he was joined by others.  It’s clear the Ringneck is the dominating species.

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The Kookaburra wasn’t fazed by the Ringnecks at all or vice-versa.

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Rainbow Bee-eaters put on a great show diving down for a drink and quick bath.

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Willie Wagtails were everywhere!

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A few kangaroos came down for a drink.

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More Bee-eaters

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Australian Magpies were also everywhere!

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More Australian Ringnecks

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Hogsback, South Africa: Cape Parrot Project

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This is one of the areas I will be visiting in 2015 on my big Africa trip.  This newsletter and video describe some of the conservation efforts to save wild Cape Parrots in the area.

Children learn about conservation

Please read this latest National Geographic NewsWatch blog:
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/05/involving-children-in-conservation-is-easy/

The Cape Parrot Project and our community-based conservation project, the iziKhwenene Project, are multi-generational projects that aim to stimulate positive change for Cape parrots, other threatened forest endemics (e.g. the Hogsback frog), local communities, and the degraded Afromontane forest patches they all depend upon for food, shelter and environmental services. We are working more and more with local children and through our “micr0-nurseries” and “Forest Custodians Program” hope to establish them as the future stewards and custodians of the communally-owned indigenous forests near their homes.  Please watch this amazing 14-minute video on the iziKhwenene Project to learn more about our work.

 

 

Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus)

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The Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia.  They are brilliantly colored birds that grow to be 19–24 cm (max 28 cm) in length, including the elongated tail feathers.

IMG_4441 IMG_4445a Close up from Wikipedia.

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Rainbow bee-eaters are a common species and can be found during the summer in forested areas in most of southern Australia excluding Tasmania. They migrate north during the winter into northern Australia, New Guinea, and some of the southern islands of Indonesia.  They may be found in open woodlands, beaches, dunes, cliffs, mangroves, woodlands and they often visits parks and private gardens.  The first two photos above were taken at the watering hole near the Dryandra Village.  They were quite entertaining as they whizzed down for a drink at the speed of light!  Dryandra Woodlands is an easy 2 hour drive from Perth.

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Known to the Noongar as “birranga”, the bee-eater’s beauty and character set it apart from other birds and it is the traditional totem of an important family group in the eastern Wheatbelt..

An Aboriginal Dreaming story tells how birds came into being when a rainbow shattered and its colourful shards fell to earth, and the basis for such a tale can be appreciated in the rainbow bee-eater’s startling yet muted oranges, gauzy greens, powder-puff blues and soft yellows.

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Australian Wildlife Conservancy

VIDEOS

Nice close up footage eating an insect

Feeding chicks in a nest

 

TAM & US Airways Join OneWorld Alliance

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Although I am not sure what time in which time zone, sometime within the next couple of hours, TAM and US Airways will have officially left Star Alliance and joined OneWorld.  If you are a member of American AAdvantage or British Airways Avios, this means you now have 2 new airlines to book awards on!  If you are a member of US Airways Dividend Miles, this means you will now be booking your awards using the OneWorld alliance partners. You will find US Airways listed as an American Airlines affiliate since they are in the process of merging.

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US Airways also plans to continue partnerships with some Star Alliance airlines on an individual basis –  Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.  We still don’t know if you will be able to mix awards using OneWorld airlines and these individual partners.  Some of the partners such as Air New Zealand & Singapore Airlines will end this agreement in June.

HEADS UP TO ECO-TOURISTS

With TAM in OneWorld, this creates a nice opportunity for cheap award flights around Brazil using Avios!  I’ve highlighted a few destinations in yellow in the route map below that are of greatest interest to birders.  Brazil is a very easy country to get around and it is very simple to book most of the best eco-lodges online so this will make it easy to create your own individualized birding itinerary!

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US Airways has added more routes within the USA and to Europe and a few routes to the Caribbean which may be helpful.

In just one more month, Sri Lankan Airlines also joins OneWorld and opens up more possibilities to this gorgeous country with amazing birds that I was blogging about for a couple months!