Submit a comment at Things in the Sky and make Lucky’s brother laugh at One Mile at a Time. Wow, that’s four free Hilton night giveaways at the same time, courtesy of BoardingArea.com. Thanks, Randy!
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2010.
United Announces New Award Chart Effective April 27
United has announced a new award chart set to take effect April 27. On the whole the changes aren’t drastic, split up a couple of regions, and basically copy Continental. They created separate regions for Northern and Southern South America. Currently the cost of an award from North America to South America is 55,000 miles in coach, 100,000 miles in business, and 135,000 miles in first class. Under the new award chart, “Northern” South America is 35,000 miles in coach, 70,000 miles in business, and 90,000 miles in first. Meanwhile, “Southern” South America remains at the old (55/100/135) pricing. So this is actually an improvement, awards to Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela are less expensive. Awards to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay remain the same price. Business Class between…
Another Free Hilton Night Opportunity
Marshall Jackson on Travel is also giving away a free Hilton night. And like my giveaway, you just have a leave a comment to enter. And as of this writing, there are only 9 entries. So time to jump over there and throw your hat in the ring!
Enter Here to Win a Free Hilton Hotel Night
Thanks to Hilton Hotels and BoardingArea.com I am giving away a free Hilton hotel night. And this is the official entry thread. Specifically, I’m offering a Hilton “Be My Guest” free night certificate valid “for one night of complimentary lodging [room and tax only] at any participating Hilton Hotel in the United States” with an expiration of June 30, 2010. To enter, just leave a comment in this thread! Any comment will do. One entry per person, please. The contest will run through noon Eastern time on Friday, February 19. And one commenter will be selected at random as the winner. I’ll be traveling when the contest closes but it shouldn’t take long for me to announce who has won. You have a pretty great shot of winning. I don’t have all that many readers,…
How the Hilton Free Hotel Night Giveaway Will Work
Thanks to everyone for the input on how I should manage the giveaway of a Hilton “Be My Guest” free night certificate (valid “for one night of complimentary lodging [room and tax only] at any participating Hilton Hotel in the United States.” Most folks didn’t like “enter as many times as you want.” I enjoyed watching my comment count go up when I gave away the travel power strips and allowed unlimited entries. But this time we’re going to try something new. Some commenters suggested that entering require some kind of value-added on readers’ part, leaving a tip for the community of readers. Others suggested that entry require some statement about how the winner would use the certificate, at some level getting at how much a winner deserves the certificate. Either of those would require…
Do Your Own “Amazing Race”
Steve Belkin (beaubo on Flyertalk) — one of the most creative and original thinkers about miles and points out there — sent me a note about his new service offering a real life “amazing race,” Competitours. Now, I’m not the first to write about it, it’s been widely covered (e.g. on Gadling). They offer a European trip where you compete against other teams in daily dasks towards a cash prize. Here’s how he describes it: Challenges will be held in a variety of must-see bustling big cities, under-the-radar cool spots and off-the-grid rural villages. The challenges will absorb teams in the diverse and fascinating cultures, peoples and places of four surprise European countries. There are no auditions, extreme stunts or need for physical fitness or speed. Mastering the challenges is based on teams being savvy,…
Frontier Finally Posts Missing 1000 Signup Bonus Miles (after Manually Posting it for Many)
One of the more contentious posts I’ve made recently was on a Frontier offer of 1500 miles for signing up for their frequent flyer program. The offer expired December 31. While 1500 miles were on offer, only 500 posted. And many folks were banging their heads against the wall to get the missing 1000 points. No one at Frontier seemed to have good information. Those that followed up, after much back-and-forth, would up getting the additional 1000 miles posted. The thread generated 40 comments. We’re not patient folks, are we? I followed up, got my promised missing 1000 miles, and thought that was that. Except I checked all my frequent flyer accounts this morning (via single click using Award Wallet) and noticed that another 1000 points posted to my Frontier account! Posting this could well…
Don’t Just Read Me, Listen to Me Also!
The new Upgrd podcast is live and this week I join them as a guest, talking about award redemption and also the status of Japan Airlines (which subsequent to recording wound up sticking with oneworld and American — pretty much our prediction). I’m recording with them again tomorrow evening, so the award booking theme is going to be a recurring one.
Stupid Government Tricks: Foreign Visitors Edition
Kiwi Flyer reports on the Alice in Wonderland world of ESTA, the US government’s “Electronic System for Travel Authorization.” Despite the initial promises of saving travellers time by replacing the green I94-W visa waiver entry form, for most the ESTA application is needed as well as an I94-W form. …I was on one of the trial flights the other day. …I received a card “I-94W is going paperless” which explains to any check in or gate agent who expects to find a green stub from the I-94W that I legitimately don’t have one. Hopefully it will be paperless for everyone soon. When ESTA was introduced, the legislation provided for future introduction of a fee for cost recovery. So far, ESTA is still free (unless you go to one of the many fake sites to register).…
Hilton Deflects Criticism of their Devaluation: Fair or Not?
Nicholas Kralev covered the Priority Club Luckiest Loser campaign this week. In the promo, Priority Club — which naturaly has had its own devaluations — calls out Hilton for the magnitude of theirs. And as I’ve noted before, it’s an especially deep devaluation at a time when hotel occupancy and room rates are suffering in unprecedented ways making the chnages uniquely egregious and difficult to justify. Kralev quotes Steve Sickel, who’s in charge of the Priority Club program: “In my 17 years in the loyalty business — first at Continental Airlines and now at InterContinental — I’ve never seen such a drastic devaluation,” Hilton downplays the changes: Hilton also sent me some numbers that surprised me. Of nearly 3,500 hotels around the world, only 354 were assigned a higher category in January, and 547 actually…
