NBC News in Connecticut ran a story on redeeming frequent flyer miles that was notable for how much it got wrong in only 166 words. Airline industry expert Darryl Jenkins said tough economic times are making airlines stingy with free seats. I much like Darryl, but this may be the closest to plausible thing he’s quoted as saying in the article. (It’s plausible that every quote was taken out of context and mangled…) Airlines aren’t being stingy because of ‘tough economic times’. If anything, the reverse is true. Full planes, usually not a sign of tough times, are making the seats harder to come by. Award redemption at the ‘saver’ level (i.e. capacity controlled awards, after all many airlines allow you to redeem double – or more – the miles to get any seat on…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for May 2007.
Free Hilton Gold Still Available?
May
12
2007
In April 2005 I posted that the offer to Citibank Chairmans Card holders of complimentary Hilton Gold status was accessible by anyone. Some folks kept the status after signing up. Others had Hilton take it away. Some had Hilton say they were taking it away, but the status remained… The Fatwallet discussion of this deal suggests that it still works (by phone only, no longer online). Naturally, your mileage may vary.
4000 Mile Delta Signup Bonus
May
09
2007
Through June 30, Delta is offering 4,000 Skymiles just for enrolling and entering your Starwood Preferred Guest number. Offer may be targeted, so your mileage may vary…
Flying Air Koryo
Paul Karl Lukacs is blogging about his trip to North Korea. I find his Air Koryo flight from Beijing especially interesting, having heard plenty of stories before but never having flown the airline myself. The plane to Pyongyang was an Ilyushin 62-M, built by the Soviet Union in 1979 and kitted like a set from The Spy Who Loved Me. No cool corporate off-white here. The surprisingly comfortable economy seats were covered in puke green cloth upholstery with an indistinct pink pattern. The cabin’s interior shell was cast in a shade of beige which belonged in a Southern California ranch house from the era of earth tones. The plastic window shades were not opaque but a dark translucent brown. Read the whole thing…
Beer Cozies from Girlfriend Getaways
May
08
2007
Budget Travel is giving away beer cozies for their new sister magazine Girlfriend Getaways. There aren’t a whole lot of ’em according to this post, but something about the title of the mag just sounds appealing, yknow? (I think the magazine is actually about women getting away together, so not applicable to all readers perhaps, but on the other hand . . .)
$1480 business class fare, LA/San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand
United has blown it with a decimal point — San Francisco or Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand was supposed to be $10,620+tax for full fare business but got published (fare basis CNZ) as $1062+tax or about $1480 all-in. The fare works to Christchurch, New Zealand as well. This is available at Orbitz, Expedia, United.com, and some other places. You have to fly LA or San Francisco to Sydney on United and then any carrier (Air New Zealand, Qantas, Emirates, Thai, LAN) on to Auckland (for the Auckland fare). It doesn’t appear to allow stopovers in Sydney — just connections. While the fare says ‘unlimited stopovers’ it is apparently a mileage-based fare, so stopovers cause a “HIP check” aka a check for the highest fare to any stopover and causes the price to jump accordingly…
16,000 Points for Choice Privileges Visa Signup
Read Dan emails to let me know that the Bank of America Choice Privileges Visa is offering 16,000 bonus points with signup by August 16th and $150 in spending on the card within 75 days of opening the account. Now, I’m not much of a Choice Privileges kinda guy, but this isn’t a bad deal for a no-fee card.
United GroceryMiles Bonus
May
05
2007
United’s Grocerymiles is offering 1500 bonus miles on $1500 in spending by June 15 at Safeway, Vons, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s or Pavilions. Good for folks who shop at these places anyway, it amounts to triple the usual miles on $1500 in grocery purchases over a month and a half. Of course you need to be averaging $1000 a month in groceries — easy to do at stores like Whole Foods and the like, much tougher at Safeway!And as usual, the following spending doesn’t count… Liquor, Tobacco, Fuel, US Postage Stamps, Fluid Milk, Bus/Commuter Passes, Fishing/Game Licenses, Ski Tickets, Lottery Tickets, Gift Certificate sales, Pharmacy prescriptions, Safeway Club Savings, Safeway Store Coupons, and Sales Tax.
Miles for Countertops
May
05
2007
Free Frequent Flyer Miles points to an an offer of Delta miles for new countertops.There are always miles for shopping offers, but I point this one out because I hadn’t seen it before and because it’s rather timely — I’m actually pondering new countertops in my kitchen. I don’t yet know the quality of the product offered here or how it compares on price, but pocketing a few thousand miles for something I’m goingt to do anyway always grabs my attention.Details of the offer:Delta Sky Miles are awared based on final price of purchase of installed countertops from e-counters.com. Additions to orders for non-installed items do not count towards purchase amount for Sky Miles calculation. Installed Countertop purchase price is subject to change pending on-site measurement by e-counters.com affiliated professionals, and the Sky Miles award…
They’ve Killed the Consumer Card, Their Consumer Card is Dead
To butcher Frank Fukuyama, it’s the end of credit card history and I’m the last man (holding onto a Diners Club card). If there was any doubt at all, the Freddie Awards put an end to it. The card won an amazing 9 straight awards for best loyalty credit card. Last year surprised me, but I imagine there’s often a lag in benefit changes and consumer perception, in other words the card was coasting on its past glory and reputation. This year Diners Club didn’t even garner enough votes (1%) to have their support tallied and reported. The Freddie Awards are a bit of a strange animal, a product has to clear the 1% threshold in votes — not nothing in a contest with over 400,000 voters, but not a huge hurdle — and then…
