Back in December I wrote an extensive post on the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York. Bottom-line is that there were a few things that could be improved, but that I thought it was likely to become my default property in Manhattan. I spent the weekend there, this time in a suite. I had a Gold Passport Diamond suite upgrade that needed to be applied to a stay by February 28. I paid one night of the stay (always worth considering if you qualify for status based on stays rather than nights, plus when there’s a decent promotion based on stays it can be advisable as well though the new Hyatt promo which is based on nights doesn’t begin until April 1) and redeemed for the other night. The suite upgrade would technically apply only…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2011.
Would You Blow Off Dinner With Friends for Denied Boarding Compensation?
Lucky is taking some heat over on his One Mile at a Time blog for planning to meet some folks for dinner taking a bump instead, blowing off plans and friends for $400 in vouchers. Now, in fairness to Ben he actually thought he’d wind up making the dinner, maybe 15 minutes late. Because of another flight delay and some additional flight changes, he wound up with a second voluntary denied boarding. (Read the whole story, he was very creative and had a great strategy — worth learning from.) I used to take bumps all the time years ago, I haven’t taken any in a really long time, I’m almost always wanting to get where I’m going with enough commitments on the other end and downline consequences for missing a flight, that the compensation rarely…
The Voyage Home: ANA First Class, Tokyo – Washington Dulles
This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn” Past installments: Prologue: The decision-making and booking process Washington Dulles – Chicago in United First Class and the Greatest Airport Hotel Ever, the Intercontinental O’Hare Alone in First Class on ANA, Chicago-Tokyo Singapore Airlines First Class, Tokyo-Singapore JetQuay Planeside Pickup in Singapore Intercontinental Singapore Ambassador Suite In and Around Singapore Tetsuya’s Restaurant Waku Ghin at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore Iggy’s Restaurant in Singapore JetQuay Departure from Singapore Changi Airport Thai Airways Business Class Singapore – Bangkok – Phuket Sala Pool Villa at the Westin Siray Bay, Phuket Fly Solo in First Class Again! Thai Airways Phuket – Bangkok – Tokyo and…
Poor Elite Treatment on Discount and Award Stays: I Am Not My Rate!
One of my favorite resorts is the Intercontinental Bali. The service is great. I wouldn’t stay at the ‘regular hotel’ it’s large and busy and there are just so many wonderful and inexpensive places in Bali to go. But their club lounge experience is really nice, it’s peaceful, and it represents just a phenomenal value although pricing is certainly higher than it was a couple of years ago. There are three separate ‘wings’ of the hotel, the main property, the Sinjara wing, and the Club wing. As even an regular ‘ol Ambassador you can expect an upgrade to a Duplex Suite, they don’t upgrade generally between the wings though so if you want club you need to book (or buy up to) it. Historically they were very generous with upgrades, as a Royal Ambassador in…
General Principles for Booking Award Seats to Australia with American Airlines Miles
I summed up some advice for booking Australia flights with American miles over on Milepoint and thought it might be worth reproducing the advice here as well, since Australia is one of those really frequent questions that I get (and that I’ve touched on before). 1. BA/QF/CX loads their schedules ~ 355 days out. Their members can book flights beginning that early. 2. Interestingly, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan partners with these three programs. Alaska doesn’t load its own flight schedules until 331 days out but they can book award seats on QF/CX/BA 355 days out, no problem. In fact, you can book a partner award 355 days out and then call back later to add in Alaska segments once the Alaska schedule loads and they won’t charge you to make the change! 3. But American…
Avis Decides to Sell Me a Car Instead of Renting It
I was shopping for a 2-day rental car this morning, and I searched for 48 hours plus 30 minutes. I was curious how it would price, since Avis will still give you a 30 minute grace on the return. I actually probably needed an extra 30 minutes even beyond this, but it was really just to see the price. Well, they sure taught me! It was going to be a very expensive rental! I was thrilled to see the option to rent a hummer! But at $3400 that was going to be a little bit outside my budget for a weekend vehicle. Alright, I bet there are other rental companies at the same airport that would have rented for less, and even if I had booked it I bet it would have given the folks…
US Airways Woke Me Up This Morning
I’m scheduled to be on a flight late tonight. At 5am this morning my phone rang, waking me. It was a US Airways robocall letting me know my flight — a full 15 hours later — was cancelled. They give a phone number for re-accomodation, it would be much easier (especially if they’re going to wake you at 5am) if they would say something like “press 1 to be connected to US Airways specialists” instead of reading off a phone number. It’s a little early to make sense of the number. Now, it wasn’t a weather cancellation but they quickly offered me another flight that worked for my schedule and had me in not too far off the original plan. Of course I went to check in and the reservation was ‘out of sync’ so…
How Should I Burn My Last 25,000 bmi Miles?
I’m down to a little over 25,000 bmi Diamond club miles, what should I do with them? The expectation was that Diamond Club would get folded into Miles & More by this summer, but that plan appears to be on hold. And I guess that also means if I want to be a Lufthansa Senator (not that I really do, I just love the name for the status) that I’ll have to qualify for bmi Gold status this year — assuming that the program gets folded into Miles & More next year. Which is still an assumption. But I don’t want to wind up with a stash of Miles & More miles. They’re not great for a US-based flyer except single-continent travel, their award chart in premium cabins is pretty expensive for travel to, say,…
Frequent Traveler University Program Announced
I should have been more on top of this, considering that I’m speaking as part of the agenda, but Lucky scoops me on the schedule for the day at Frequent Traveler University. Events begin Friday evening, April 29 with cocktails at the Sheraton LeGuardia East. THen the educational program is as Lucky posted: 850a-900a Opening Remarks MORNING: EARNING 905a-1015a Part 1: Earning By Flying Fare Classes: How Flying 1 Mile Could Earn You 2.5 miles or .25 miles! Elite Status: How to Transform Precious Metals Into Precious Bonus Miles! Mileage Running: How To Top-Off Your Account To Achieve Elite Status or Reach Award Redemption Threshold 1015-1030a Break 1030-1140a Part 2: Earning By Buying Credit Cards: Sign Up Bonuses and Most Points Per Dollar of Spending Mileage Transfers: How Credit Card, Hotel and Your Best Friends…
Changes Coming to Priority Club Over the Next Two Months
Via Priority Club Insider, Business Traveler reports on Priority Club’s planned ‘revamp’ in the coming two months. The piece is light on specifics but does mention the introduction of “a ‘flights anywhere’ function will allow travellers to redeem their points on any flight globally” which sounds tremendously like “SPG Flights” — directly spending points to buy airline tickets, which is almost certain to be a low value reward (too many points per dollar of airfare). The rest of the piece focuses on introduction of mobile platforms, and revamping lobbies to accommodate small business meetings, so doesn’t give much to go in as far as a revamp of the program itself is concerned. Surely there’ll be more than a flight option? Priority Club sorely needs: Ability to spend additional points for upgraded rooms Real elite benefits…
