I was reminded by this Flyertalk thread that Sixt still comps status — rental car status based on airline or hotel status — and history holds true, there isn’t even any verification of your actual airline or hotel elite status. When I got my Sixt Platinum card (based on real status, but no proof submitted), it was valid for 4 or 5 years.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for October 2009.
Venezuela Nationalizes Margarita Island Hilton
The private owners “imposed conditions” on holding a conference there last month with Moammar Gadhafi and Robert Mugabe. Even though seemingly on-face reasonable, the conditions couldn’t have been particularly onerous, and the hotel was already majority govenrment-owned. Nonetheless, it angered Hugo Chavez. “To hold the conference we had to ask for permission… and the owners tried to impose conditions on the revolutionary government. No way,” AFP quotes Chavez as saying. “So I said, ‘Let’s expropriate it.’ And now it’s been expropriated.” This isn’t the first time that Chavez nationalized a Hilton, previously taking the Caracas property. And yet foreign companies continue to invest and do business in Venezuela. So I don’t have tremendous sympathy for them, actually. According to the Hilton website it’s business as usual: Hilton Margarita & Suites is open and fully operational.…
Hilton Planning to Devalue HHonors Points January 15
With the worst hotel revenue and occupancy recession in decades as a backdrop, this Flyertalk thread broke the news that Hilton is devaluing their points. Hilton posted new points requirements on their website, but promptly pulled the information. [W]e do have an update to point redemption amounts and hotel categories beginning January 15, 2010. A representative of Hilton HHonors confirmed that a change was coming, but that they weren’t ready to share the details: Later this month we will be announcing the updated reward chart, which will go into effect mid-January 2010 In contrast, as a result of the recession, Starwood reduced the points cost of a large number of their properties this past February — and I fully expect that they will do so again this coming February. Hilton on the other hand appears…
United’s Unlimited Complimentary Domestic Upgrades: the Other Shoe Drops
As I posted yesterday, United is ending 500-mile upgrade certificates and going to unlimited complimentary upgrades. This change on its own is on the whole good for 1K (100,000 mile) flyers. They won’t have limited free upgrades, having to pick and choose which domestic flights to use them on. It’s not good for lower-tiered elites, who will now have to compete against 100,000-mile flyers (and Global Services members) on every flight. Unsurprisingly, though, this change comes along with some other tweaking which is not good. As speculated yesterday, confirmed regional upgrades go away. Currently 1K members get up to 8 of these a year (promotions aside) and they’re good for confirming a domestic (including Hawaii) upgrade at time of booking from any fare. While there are no more 500 mile upgrades to worry about, there…
AwardWallet: Ask And Ye Shall Receive – Additional Programs Supported
Over the weekend I reviewed what I consider the 3 best services for tracking your miles and points: Miletracker, Mileage Manage, and Award Wallet. I noted the limitation of Award Wallet that: They support most of the major programs, to be sure, but they still need to add several — I can’t check my ANA or Mexicana balance with Award Wallet yet, and I can’t check Diners Club Well it appears that they’ve already added All Nippon Airways along with several others — China Airlines, Virgin Blue, Polynesian Blue, Pacific Blue, V Australia, Turkish Airlines, and Aeromexico. I also pointed out to them by email a glitch where they weren’t always showing an expiration date for Alaska Airlines. They let me know they’ve fixed that as well. I could still use Mexicana and Diners Club…
If Hotels Were Like Aid Agencies
Following Jonathan Rauch’s If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care, NYU’s Bill Easterly offers If Hotels Were Aid Agencies… Me: Hello, I have a reservation for this evening, for a non-smoking room with one double bed. Hotel: Yes, the Hotel Reconstruction and Development Bank has approved an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction (OAPR) grant for this purpose. Me: So can I have my room please? Hotel: The OAPR committed the room, but in order for the room to be disbursed you have to present an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction plan, to be approved by our board. Here is the OAPR Preparation Guidelines and Best Practices Sourcebook (hands over thousand page document). (hours later) Me: Thanks for approving my OAPR plan, now can I have my key? Hotel: The OAPR is a collaborative effort involving…
Double Points on Virgin America
Register, book by October 18, and travel by December 15 for double Virgin America Elevate points.
United to Move to Unlimited Complimentary Elite Domestic Upgrades Second Quarter of 2010
Lucky beat me to the punch. United, under the signature of Robert Sahadevan who is Vice President for Mileage Plus, announced on Flyertalk that they will be moving to ‘unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades for elites’ beginning in the second quarter of next year. United, along with American, has retained the 500-mile upgrade system where flying earns domestic upgrade certificates that can be redeemed for future travel. Since you had to fly 10,000 miles on United or United Express to earn 2,000 miles worth of upgrades, many heavily domestic flying elites found themselves either purchasing more 500-mile upgrades or sitting in coach some portion of the time. American offers unlimited complimentary upgrades to their 100,000 mile flyers. United will now offer them to all elites, joining the majority of the industry. This will mean several things.…
20% Discount on United Domestic and Canada Coach Awards
Through October 19, for travel between January 10 and April 30, 2010, United is offering roundtrip awards in the U.S. and between the U.S. and Canada for just 20,000 miles instead of the usual 25,000. The offer applies to flights on United and United Express only, no partners, and the award must be booked online. April 1, 2, and 5 are blacked out for this discount. A pretty sure sign that the airline is seeing light bookings for the start of next year, at least after the busy leisure travel holiday season ends.
Recurring Bad Advice on How to Secure an Upgrade
TripBase offers upgrade advice from Jonathan Marks, a global investment banker and frequent flier has an envious track record of bagging flight upgrades. He’s agreed to share his secrets, helping us to reach that first class cabin! There are a million of these silly upgrade articles out there, why am I bothering to comment on this one? Because I got pitched the post, they wanted me to link to it. I was going to ignore it but I htought I would take stab number 72 at putting the silliness to bed. As usual there’s a kernal of truth, but on the whole the advice is msileading at best. Ah the elusive flight upgrade. Everyone wants one but noone knows how. Read on for my upgrade secrets, guaranteed to improve your chances of flying like a…
