Via TM Travel World, Goldpoints Plus has a redemption sale offering 50% off the points required for stays at participating Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Edwardian Hotels, and Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts In addition, there’s a 25% discount at “participating Country Inns & Suites By Carlson and Park Inn hotels.” This is valid for stays between April 1, 2010 and May 31, 2010. Now, I don’t have a ton of Goldpoints, and I generally consider their progam to be the weakest (plus I’m not a fan of most Radisson properties), though the program has recently increased the value of points. But this could be a good opportunity to use any stray points, and there’s a free silver status promo that’s still live and which many…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2010.
United Door-to-Door Baggage Delivery for only $25
Taken straight from One Mile at a Time: For a limited time United is offering their Door-to-Door baggage service for $25. That’s the same price as actually checking the first bag, and cheaper than checking the second bag (for those of you that are stuck paying bag fees). The United site says this service is normally $79 or $99 (or depending on where on the page you look, normally $149). You’re without your bags longer, but it’s a decent deal, and you don’t have to do the schlepping. Not bad.
Official Entry Thread: 2 Lucky Winners Get a 2-Night Stay at Any Hyatt Place Hotel + Personal Assistant Services
As I described several days back, Hyatt is offering two of my readers a 2-night stay at any Hyatt Place and two months of personal assistant services from TaskUs.com. This is the official entry thread. Regular readers know that Hyatt Gold Passport is a loyalty program that’s come a long way over the last year and currently offers one of the very best top tier experiences, and they’re promoting their limited service Hyatt Place brand as a great work-life balance. My own view is ‘more hotel properties is better’ even if Gold Passport Diamond status doesn’t get you as far at Hyatt Place as say at a Park Hyatt — but the less expensive hotels are a great way to requalify for status and earn Faster Free Nights credits when that promo is being offered. To…
Planning to Fly from London During the British Airways Flight Attendant Strike
I have a British Airways flight coming up during the impending British Airways flight attendant strike. So here’s my thinking. British Airways says their full (very small) operation at London City Airport will proceed unaffected, that all their long-haul flights at Gatwick (far fewer than at Heathrow) will operate, and that they will operate ‘many’ long-haul flights at Heathrow. I’m supposed to fly from Heathrow. But I’ve got a good shot of making the flight out. Here’s why: I’m on a route with two flights a day, I’m flying the (1) later afternoon flight (2) operated by the larger aircraft. So I figure they’d tend to want to operate the larger aircraft and all other things equal the later flight would be easier to operate. And in fact, in the first days of the planned…
Mileage Run… On a Private Jet
Musings of the Global Traveller discusses an offer that’s been fleshed out on Flyertalk: using an offer from Lufthansa Private Jet of 50,000 miles (which count towards status and HON Circle) per international segment that lasts through early June. You need to get a group together to make the costs work out, but it’s a ‘cheap’ way to earn the incredible HON Circle status level in style. HON Circle status perks include access to the fabulous Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Lounges, Senator status for partner, 6 upgrade e-vouchers, frequent op-ups, guaranteed seat availability and improved award availability (eg additional award seats on Lufthansa and Swiss plus all Miles & More customers can benefit from premium cabin awards on Singapore Airlines 77W and A380 aircraft) which will come in handy given the number of miles…
The KLM Lounge in Toronto Isn’t As Bad As Lucky Said
He thinks it’s rather mediocre but he’s wrong, it’s much, much worse. The SATA flight was delayed, the place is packed, barely a seat. At least they’ve decided to pre-print the codes they give you to access the internet. But you have to actually track down a staff member to get you one. The line waiting for codes became several people deep. They had tomato bisque warming in a pot with a big sign declaring, “Made Fresh Today!” Perhaps that’s even true, given that today began 23 hours and 15 minutes ago. There’s dim sum, but I get orders of magnitude better in the frozen foods section of my Asian grocer. Otherwise there’s a coffee machine, self-serve alcohol, and a limited selection refrigerator. And not nearly enough seating. It felt like the C7 Red Carpet…
Believe It Or Not, I have Yet Another Free Giveaway in the Queue
Already mentioned, a chance for a trip to Australia… a two-night Hyatt Place stay… well, there will also be a high-end laptop bag/briefcase coming down the pike as well. Stay tuned! And I’ve just learned that I may have another set of Hyatt nights to give away on Twitter, more in the coming days, follow @garyleff!
I’m Giving Away a 2-Night Hyatt Place Stay + Personal Assistant Services for 2 Months
Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. Over the last year they’ve really stepped it up a notch. First, they matched Starwood (and Hilton) on award redemption by making all standard rooms redeemable with points. Then, they punched up their elite benefits, as the first to offer free internet to all elites and by offering not just catch as catch can suite upgrades based on availability at checkin but four confirmed at booking suite upgrades a year for diamonds. That way Hyatt’s top tier elites can choose to have suites when it matters most to them, not when they show up and get lucky. (One of the most frequent complaints from hotel loyalty program elites is getting the big room on their own business stays…
Great BoardingArea.com Giveaway Coming March 22!
It’ll be offered in conjunction with the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card — a card I recommended back in October for high-spend road warriors, the card earns triple Membership Rewards points on airfare. Here’s how Randy Petersen describes the prize. a trip for two to the Gold Coast of Australia. All air, hotel, etc. will be paid for and this is a revenue ticket, meaning lots of bonus miles. (Get it? Gold card, Gold Coast? Heh.) And what’s more, the winner will even get the cash necessary to cover taxes incurred by winning the prize. Each participating BoardingArea blog will get to give away one finalist entry. The more BoardingArea blogs you read, the better your chances to win. And c’mon, we’re not that popular as far as these things go, your chances are actually…
Terrorists, Please Identify Your Luggage
Jeffrey Miron reports that lon Amtrak requires luggage to have identifying tags, or security will confiscate them when unattended. A strong message to terrorists: put your (a?) name on the bag, or else!
