Let me forewarn y’all up front, this post is a true meandering rant without focus, just working through some thoughts on why I blog, on helping others, and on my own selfishness that I do feel rather guilty about this morning. It won’t teach you anything about travel, won’t help you in any way to read. So you may want to stop right here… When I first realized I had a knack and affinity for travel and deals I was about a year into my first job after college. I was the office “web guru” which back then meant that I knew all about “that internet thing.” All things technology interested me, because I was finishing college just as the internet was really taking off and breaking into the mainstream. And at the same time,…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2009.
Congress Wants to Shrink Your Carryon!
It’s bad enough the government is concerned with what’s in your carryon (liquids). Now CrankyFlier points to H. R. 2870: To standardize and clarify the dimensions of carry-on baggage and personal items on air carriers. The proposed legislation will limit carry-on bag dimensions to no more than 22 inches by 18 inches by 10 inches for a total of 50 inches. It would also make the TSA reinstall those obnoxious bag sizers on the security machines Cranky points out that most airlines already permit only 45 total inches. But a handful of carriers do permit larger carryons — Southwest, for instance, is more generous allowing proposed maximum of 50 inches, and Airtran allows a full 10% more than that. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) issued a press release encouraging the government to get involved.…
Buying Money With Your Credit Card to Earn Miles
The Flyertalk.com thread on buying coins from the US mint with your credit card (free shipping), receiving the coins and depositing them into a bank, and using that account to pay off your credit card, is approaching 2500 posts. Fortunately, Flyertalk member crabbing wrote us a handy Frequently Asked Questions summarizing the details of the deal and how it works. where do i buy direct ship dollar coins without paying for shipping? the $1 coins available for purchase at face value with free shipping are available here. why aren’t the most currently available coins listed? some time, maybe a few months, after the coins are introduced, they usually become available for direct shipping. what do i have to do to get free shipping? free shipping is available on qualifying orders of coins listed on the…
Priority Club 50% Off Any Hotel Anytime Gift Card Redemptions for Australia Residents
Yesterday it was United extending double elite qualifying miles to residents of Australia. United of course is competing with several carriers now in the US-Australia market (no longer just Qantas, and no Air Canada via Vancouver, Continental Micronesia to Cairns via Guam, and Hawaiian via Honolulu do not count). Today, I see that Priority Club is introducing Any Hotel, Any Time cards in the Australia market and offering them at half price. You have to have an Australia address on your Priority Club account to take advantage of the offer, and can only ship the cards to an Australia address, so you do need to know someone in Australia. Priority Club introduced the concept that you can be loyal to them, and take your rewards anywhere. Normally not a good deal, though, a $250 card…
Canada Ends Haphazard Occasional Taxation of Miles Earned From Business Travel
Though rarely enforced, Canadian law actually considered frequent flyer miles earned from business travel to be taxable income. Miles earned from personal travel were different, but if the employer was paying for travel and the employee was benefiting this was considered to be a taxable benefit. This rule has now changed. Canada will not consider miles ot be a taxable benefit even if earned from company-paid travel, as long as the frequent flyer member does not convert the points into cash. It’s just way too complex an issue to tax and handle evenly across taxpayers. Points are earned from multiple sources, both business and personal travel but also credit cards and online shopping to name just a few. Which points are redeemed for travel? How much are those points worth? Does it vary based on…
10% Off Air Canada Domestic
As announced in this Flyertalk thread, Air Canada is offering a 10% discount on Canadian domestic flights for travel through December 10 with promo code XJWC63Z1.
W San Diego – Extreme Wow Suite
I spent last weekend at the W San Diego, which has been in the news lately because the property is being take back by its mortgage lenders. Like many hotels, occupancy and rates are down. This one was acquired at the height of the real estate boom, fetching a real premium, and the owners decided it didn’t make sense to go on making the interest payments. So apparently they believe it’s now worth less than the $65 million they owed on it, despite having paid about 50% more than that three years ago. At the same time, with recent rates as low as $119 the hotel becomes an exceptional value. I had my own special rate, and when I checked in on Thursday night the clerk at the desk informed me that I was going…
Moving Down Under for Double EQMs on United
Lucky points out that United has extended its double elite qualifying miles offer through October 15 for residents of Australia and New Zealand. As he explains, “There has never been a better time to move to Australia….” The terms and conditions of the offer say Offer valid for Mileage Plus members, who currently reside in Australia or New Zealand, as determined by the mailing address on their Mileage Plus account at the time the bonus EQM are posted. (Emphasis mine.) Now, you’ll have to keep your ‘new’ address Down Under until the double elite qualifying miles post. Which means that other offers that come along which are restricted to U.S. residents would be mutually exclusive with this one. But some folks may make that virtual ‘move’ to boost their accounts, I’d imagine…
Using Priority Club Cash and Points Option for Discounted Points Purchase
Priority Club’s new cash and points option allows you to, in effect, purchase points when making an award booking at a discounted three-fifths of a cent per point. Normally point purchases cost 1.15 to 1.35 cents apiece. Cash and points award nights are cancellable, and when you do cancel you get your full points refunded to your account (provide you cancel by the cancellation deadline). You don’t get your points and cash refunded. As a result, the cash and points award option is a backdoor way to discounted points purchase even when you aren’t looking to book an award night. Why might you want to do this? Well, one reason would be Priority Club offers “PointBreaks” awards, room nights at select hotels for only 5000 points. Using the cash and points backdoor for points purchases,…
A Summary of Posts from My 2009 Star Alliance First Class Award Trip: 5 Different International First Class Products and Visits to Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Chiang Rai, and Seoul
Washington-Dulles-Tokyo, ANA First Class Tokyo-Hong Kong, ANA Business Class W Hong Kong, Fantastic Suite Hong Kong-Ho Chi Minh City, United First Class Sheraton Saigon, Towers Suite Touring Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok, Lufthansa First Class Royal Orchid Sheraton, Junior Suite Bangkok-Chiang Rai, Thai Airways Business Class Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Room and Resort Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Food Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Gym, Pool, and Spa Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Photos Around the Resort Touring the Golden Triangle Le Meridien Chiang Rai Northern Thai Cooking Class Chiang Rai-Bangkok, Thai Airways Business Class Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel Bangkok Thai Airways First Class Departure Experience, Lounge and Spa Bangkok-Hong Kong, Thai Airways First Class Hong Kong-Seoul, Asiana Business Class W Seoul, Junior Suite Asiana First Class Lounge, Seoul…
