Ameniti is a joint venture of United Airlines, Starwood Hotels, Cunard Line, Condé Nast Traveler and IMG. Ameniti identifies itself as a "new, exclusive luxury travel club for the world's most discerning travelers. A members-only program, Ameniti is designed to provide business and other high-end travelers with a host of elite privileges, special services and other unique offers for all their travel needs, including air travel, hotel stays, cruises and much more."
Details of Offer
Intrigued and, admittedly impressed, by the partners in this joint venture, I continued reading. The offer included 5,000 mileage plus bonus miles for joining, and promised "that anytime you fly a qualifying flight on United, your companion flies free. You can take advantage of this offer as often as you like, as well as the many other exclusive member privileges."
Other benefits included gold status in the award-winning Starwood Preferred Guest Program, room upgrades, special rates on rental cars, paid subscription to Condé Nast Traveler magazine and more. All of this was for the "special one-time-only, introductory one-year rate of $295."
Read the Small Print
Hoping that membership would be worthwhile for my frequent trips to Hawaii, I read further into the airfare details as it pertained to domestic travel. "Whenever you book your travel in first, business or economy class on an unrestricted United full fare domestic ticket, you will receive a free companion ticket in the same class of service."
At this point, even after reading about some incidental tax and boarding fee charges that were not included, the offer still seemed attractive. Usually my wife Eileen and I pay between $800 and $1000 for each round-trip ticket from Philadelphia to Honolulu purchased directly from United's own online booking service on ual.com. The idea of paying for one ticket and getting a second free seemed worthwhile. It was here, however, that my skepticism took over.
Dig Deeper for Details
I decided to check further by looking at Ameniti's website. Reading through the same details of the airfare portion of the offer, I noticed a link to "terms and conditions." Clicking through to this link I came across 16 separate limitations to the "free companion ticket" offer. The most interesting but confusing was the statement that, "for travel within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands or Canada the discount may not be used in United Economy E,M,U,H,Q,V,W,S or T Class. This discount may not be used when the paid ticket is one of the following fares types: travel industry G class, contract, bulk, convention, tour conductor, companion, children, family plan, government, group, military, senior citizen, student, youth, infant, tour basing, Round the World, Circle the Pacific, Visit USA, Internet only, or any non-published fare."
Compare Prices
Checking current rates for travel this fall from Philadelphia to Honolulu, I received a quote of $864 for a round-trip flight with a fare class of W - one of the excluded fare classes. Needless to say, my skepticism grew stronger.
Electing to take advantage of Ameniti's Customer Service e-mail link, I dropped a note asking for the current fare for an "unrestricted United full fare domestic ticket" between Philadelphia to Honolulu. The response from Ameniti came within 24 hours advising me that "the cost without tax for a full fare coach ticket is $2367.80."
The Bottom Line
Noting that on none of our numerous trips to Hawaii on United Airlines in the past ten years have we paid more than $2000 for two round-trip tickets, it took me little time to realize that the Ameniti Luxury Travel Club was offering me nothing. In fact, including the cost of membership it would cost me almost $700 more than the most expensive tickets we have ever purchased between Philadelphia and Honolulu.
Needless to say, Eileen and I have decided to pass on the Ameniti Luxury Travel Club. Perhaps for other itineraries or for travelers who frequent Starwood Hotels on all of their trips, the club may be worthwhile.
Our advice to you, our readers, is to make sure that you check carefully into the details of this offer and any of the other numerous offers for travel clubs that all of us who are frequent travelers find in our e-mails on almost a weekly basis.
Other Options Can Save Money
On a side note, we find that using our United Mileage Plus Visa card for all charge purchases allows us to amass free miles at a rate that allows us to travel free to Hawaii at least once every few years. Our annual fee there is less than $100 per year.
There are ways to save money on travel and even earn free flights. Some, however, are much better than others.
