Today is the last day to book under the ‘old’ award chart, before the January 15 devaluation. I made a bunch of bookings, some for myself, some for others’, and got my account down to almost zero before virtually every Hilton hotel in the world becomes a more expensive redemption. Now, some of these bookings will inevitably be cancelled, so I’ll get some points back. And I’m not really a chicken little here. I earn and burn pretty much in concert, I want to earn points in one period and spend them in the same period so I’m not really effected by inflation. And I can earn more points pretty well as quickly as I want to. But to get the most out of the points I halready have banked, redeem away I did… Y’all…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for January 2010.
35% Off Beds and Bedding at W Hotel Store
Promo code V4NT8 is good for 35% off at the W Hotel Store. Some will prefer to wait until the 40% off offer comes back around, but if you were considering getting a W Hotel bed, and didn’t want to wait, this is still a perfectly reasonable offer.
Asiana Brings First Class Back to Frankfurt
Beginning April 1, Asiana returns 3-cabin equipment to Europe with a 777 flying Frankfurt- Seoul. Even though the 777 has only 8 first class seats, award availability is excellent, they release two seats up front on plenty of flights.
American Offers Miles for Donations to Haitian Relief
American is offering miles for donations to the American Red Cross to help with Haitian earthquake relief. Through February 28, the offer is 250 bonus miles for a minimum $50 donation, or 500 bonus miles for a donation of $100 or more. Contributions must be made online at the designated American Airlines site for the Red Cross. You then have to forward your email donation acknowledgment from the Red Cross to ReliefMiles@aa.com. They instruct, Please do not to change the subject line, but do provide your AAdvantage number in the email. Miles will post to the member’s AAdvantage account approximately 14 days after the receipts are received. And the name on the donation receipt must match the name on the AAdvantage account. (Via @LauraBly)
New Priority PointBreaks
The new Priority Club PointBreaks list is out. That’s the offer to redeem a specific limited set of hotels for just 5000 points per night. The following Intercontinental properties are on the list: Dallas Tashkent Nairobi Jakarta Cali Kiev Adelaide Of course, sometimes properties that start off on the list get pulled within hours or days rather than lasting through, say, the end of March. And at other times other properties pop up that weren’t on the initial list. If you want one of these hotels, or any on the new list, don’t wait and book now because the one you want could well disappear. At 5000 points per night it’s often worthwhile to just straight up buy the points necessary for a stay if you don’t already have Priority Club points.
5000 Free Spirit Miles for a Donation of $5 or More to Help Haitian Relief Efforts
I’m not usually a fan of Spirit. They’re staffed by the ex-US Airways people who first declared that loyal customers flying on low fares offered for sale by the airline weren’t valuable. And that same Ben Baldanza became famous for poor customer service skills. And I wouldn’t actually fly Spirit except as a truly last resort (though the 13-year old boy in me does like their advertising see for instance here, or this commercial (YouTube)). But Spirit is doing something really quite commendable, offering 5000 miles for making a donation to Haitian earthquake relief. Qualifying donations are those of $5 or more made to UNICEF, American Red Cross, or Yéle Haiti. And you have to complete and submit their form by January 17, 2010. The bonus will be awarded to the first 200,000 members who…
New Blogs Worth Visiting
As though I don’t have enough on my plate! But both have real potential. Shoes Off is a new BoardingArea blog by a TSA Screener (“TSA Tina”) and she’s rather funny and isn’t a total TSA apologist, either, she makes fun of passengers sure but she also comes down pretty hard on the Newark screener who wasn’t at his post when the student went airside to express love and the government cleared the terminal and re-screened everyone as a result. (Frank Lautenberg, by the way, is a moron — blame the screener don’t grandstand against the kid.) Some other new miles and points blogs have appeared on the scene, Greekquentflyer and Ahlay Travel who today publishes the British Airways Gold elite US phone number, reporting that they don’t require you to enter your Executive Club…
What Elite Status Levels Does Richard Quest Hold?
In part two of the CNN Business Traveller “Mileage Millionaires” segment for January, I do feature somewhat prominently. Frequent commenter on this blog, Gene, makes an appearance talking about the recent US Airways 250% holiday shopping promotion. I found interesting that at 4:25, Richard Quest does the elite status card throwdown. Assuming he was using his own cards for this, he’s got: Hilton Hhonors Silver Starwood Platinum United 1K Hyatt Diamond Hertz Five Star Intercontinental Ambassador He opened by tossing out a Citibank American Airlines credit card. C’mon Richard, that had better not be your primary mileage accumulating credit card. He also tossed out a card he identified as Platinum, it was blue in color and I couldn’t make out the program, it was right after Hyatt Diamond, before Hertz Five Star. Anyone catch what that…
Whose In Charge of Enforcing the No Fly List? TSA and US Airways Disagree
A man with tuberculosis was added to the no fly list, apparently by the Centers for Disease Control, but flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco anyway. The CDC says there was little risk to passengers because the flight was less than 8 hours. If that’s true, why was he not supposed to fly in the first place? Sounds to me like either the no fly list in this case wasn’t necessary, and the CDC screwed up, or it was necessary and someone else screwed up. But the actions (adding to the no fly list) and the statements (no risk) are difficult to reconcile, outside of bureaucratic covering up after the fact. More interestingly, though, the TSA and US Airways are pointing fingers at each other. The airline told Eyewitness News it is up to the…
CNN Business Traveler January, “Mileage Millionaires”
I was just watching the January episode of CNN Business Traveller. It debuted at 9:30 GMT this morning, and isn’t yet available to watch online. This month’s episode is on frequent flyer programs. I was interviewed for it in early December. Since then they reconceptualized the episode, opening with the new security procedures coming down the pike (Nude-o-Scans) in the wake of the wannabe pants on fire bomber, and then explaining that elite program membership helps speed through the airport. Can’t speak to the content, though, because about 10 minutes in CNN broke into the show for a press conference by General Douglas Fraser, US Southern Command, talking about the US response to the earthquake in Haiti. An important major story, put my frequent flyer obsession on hold, but at the same time I was…
