Randy Petersen has some big news from the co-branded credit card world. Delta is introducing a credit card which offers the ability to earn an unlimited number of status miles (with enough spending on the card, of course) and gift those status miles to yourself or others. Continental has something similar with their expensive premium card, up to 28,000 elite qualifying miles per year and the ability to drop those miles into your account whenever you wish, but the earning ratio is rather poor — just 2,000 qualifying miles for each $25,000 in spend. Delta’s offering appears to be actual unlimited qualifying miles, and a much better earning ratio: 15,000 qualifying miles for each $30,000 in spend. This is huge. I could earn Delta Platinum on that alone and gift someone platinum as well! It…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for April 2008.
Bali and Beijing Trip Report Wrapup
Here’s a guide to all of the posts from my recent trip to Bali and Beijing in Lufthansa First Class and Thai Airways First Class. Hope it’s been a useful and enjoyable read. Lufthansa First Class: Washington-Dulles to Frankfurt A Complimentary Day Room at Frankfurt: Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch Frankfurt Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt to Singapore Singapore Airlines Short-haul Business Class: Singapore – Denpasar (Bali) Intercontinental Bali Resort & Spa – Jimbaran Bay Bali – Central Mountain Tour Bali – Dinner at Mozaic Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay Balinese Cooking Class Thai Airways Business Class: Denpasar, Bali to Bangkok Bangkok Overnight at the Airport Novotel Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Beijing Westin Beijing Financial Street One Day to Tour Beijing Beijing’s New Teminal 3 Lufthansa First Class – Beijing to…
JetBlue Fly Two, Fly Free – May 1 through June 18
JetBlue is offering $25 off and 50 TrueBlue points for tickets purchased with an American Express Card by May 13, 2008 for travel between May 1 and June 18, 2008. On top of the discount, this amounts to “fly two, fly free” which is a pretty good deal.
Cell Phone Use Abroad
Via PointsWizard, Gadling offers simple instructions on using your mobile phone abroad. Or you can read my more advanced approach of an Icelandic sim card and callback service.
Delta Giving Away More Elite Qualifying Miles, This Time With Hilton
Through May 31, Hilton family stays of two or more nights earn 1,000 Delta Medallion Qualifying Miles and 1000 bonus Skymiles. Registration required. Between the personal and small business co-branded American Express cards which offer alite qualifying miles along with Hilton stays, it’s possible to become a Platinum elite without ever setting foot on a Delta plane (but that’s probably overkill). Such folks don’t even need the double elite qualifying miles for flights offer…
Just 7 Hours Left to Buy
Via TravelTech Talk, 1 Sale a Day has a prepaid AT&T sim card with $10 call credit shipped for $3.99. Strikes me that it can’t hurt to have another number. And swapping cheap prepaid sim cards isn’t crazy if you pair the strategy with a free Grand Central number where you can change the number it forwards to at will. Maybe it’s just the tech geek in me, and there’s no useful purpose to this, but $3.99 and $10 credit sure isn’t much lost. Update: Flyertalk’s ScottC offers more details It’s on the GoPhone plan, so there are 2 options: No daily charge, minutes are $0.25 $1 daily charge, but minutes drop to $0.10 (daily charge only applies when you actually make a call) + FREE AT&T mobile to Mobile
Someone Up There Has a Cruel Sense of Humor
Lifted straight from Joe Sharkey: The Gods Must Cut It Out Now: British Airways and BAA, the operator of Heathrow, have plenty of blame to share for the recent mess following the opening of Terminal 5. But today, B.A. had to cancel 114 flights at Heathrow because of snow. In London. In April. It must make Willie Walsh feel like Dante Hicks at the end of Clerks. (Where he asks Randall what’s his encore…)
Where Not To Stay in Las Vegas
Here’s a hint. In case this wasn’t obvious, avoid the Tropicana. The owners of the embattled Tropicana hotel have placed a bounty on bedbugs, offering housekeepers $25 a pop for each one brought in alive. The offer was posted in the hotel’s housekeeping offices, raising eyebrows among workers wondering whether they should pull out magnifying glasses while changing sheets. “Don’t forget to check for bedbugs!” one flier exclaims in English and Spanish. “Check every room — every day.” The posting features enlarged images of the minuscule bloodsucking menaces. Well, at least they’re trying to get rid of them.
You Can Help Solve Heathrow’s Baggage Mess
I haven’t had a chance to post this earlier, but several days ago an online game started making the rounds. You play British Airways CEO, and your task is to round up all the stranded bags at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and get them on their way…
Trip Report’s Final Flight: Frankfurt Back to Dulles
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Washington, DC (IAD) 1:15pm Lufthansa 0418, Boeing 747, First Class, Seats 81C, 81A Scheduled Flight time: 8h 45m The flight was 100% full in economy and business, and packed to 12 out of 16 in First. This would be our most crowded F cabin of the trip. After our hour-long delay we were onboard and ready to go. Only we weren’t. Apparently there was a problem with an indicator regarding one of the doors and its associated slides. They thought it was fixed, but it wasn’t. So another call to the mechanics, and we sat on plane for about two hours while they worked out the troubles. Plenty of drink services in First, and they eventually served the canapé as well while we were still on the ground. Clearly the FAs…
