On December 22 I posted an offer for free Hilton HHonors Gold status through May 2013. Hilton’s offer was that any Visa Infinite cardholder could have the status, and they simply verified whether a member was qualified by asking for the first six digits of the Visa Infinite card, which is the Bank Identification Number. With that as the test, it was fairly easy for folks to Google, Wikipedia is the first page that would come up, and a bank in Russia was the first Visa Infinite card listed. Apparently folks hit that code pretty hard, or at least it was talked about a lot, and so after a few days it and the others listed most obviously on Wikipedia stopped working. Folks in the comments to my original thread found that other numbers, however,…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for December 2011.
Resort Spas in the Maldives Will Remain Open
Alan H. and several others alerted me to the declaration of the Maldives government that all spas in the country had to shut down, in a bow to the country’s opposition calling for greater adherence to Islam and concerns over prostitution. Except something didn’t seem quite right about the stories and the reporting, and I couldn’t actually verify that any of the hotels actually had shut down their spas. So I very much appreciate this piece, sent along by Win which does a nice job I think laying out the situation. The Republic of Maldives is an Islamic nation, nearly its entire population is Muslim, and religious freedom is very much restricted. It is a dry country. Except at the resorts. Tourism, after all, is the driver of its economy. So ‘shutting down all spas’…
Planning for Star MegaDO 4 Has Begun!
With the first ever oneworld MegaDO just around the corner, which I’ll be blogging and am super thrilled about — an aviation-enthusiast’s dream of inside operations with American in Dallas, Boeing in Seattle, and other oneworld carriers in Los Angeles all connected by a chartered 757 party plane — it’s actually time to start the thinking, planning, and scheming for future trips. Now, for those unfamiliar, a group of frequent flyers first got together and chartered a plane and set up tours and activities with some Star Alliance airlines, enthusiasts and loyal customers that the airlines decided to pay attention to. There were crazy moments like pillow fights gone viral on YouTube and sliding down an evacuation slide in Europe. The media quickly started paying attention, there was a feature article in Conde Nast and…
50% Off Alitalia Coach Redemptions
Alitalia is offering 50% off all economy ‘classic’ (capacity controlled) redemptions booked by January 15 for travel through March 24. Somehow this promotion has been around for awhile and I wasn’t aware of it, but it certainly provides real value for instance U.S. to Italy in coach runs 25,000 miles roundtrip instead of 50,000. (A one-way ticket under this promo runs 15,000 miles.) The offer is available on Alitalia flights only, not on partners or codeshares, and isn’t available on intra-Italy domestic routes or between Italy and France. Alitalia is an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner and a Starwood Preferred Guest transfer partner, among others. Just 20,000 Starwood points are enough for a roundtrip coach ticket between the US and Italy with this offer. (HT: beaubo)
Hilton’s First Quarter Promotion – 1000 Bonus Points Per NIght Plus 5000 Bonus Per Two-Night Weekend
Loyalty Traveler brings us details on Hilton’s first quarter promo: 1,000 bonus points per night plus 5,000 bonus points for two night weekend stays from January 1, 2012 through March 31, 2012. There is no earning limit for bonus points. Stays with check-in prior to January 1 or checkout after March 31, 2012 will count for this promotion for nights stayed within the promotion period. Hilton HHonors More Points promotion registration is required before hotel checkout to be eligible for this bonus points offer. …Weekend nights include the four nights from Thursday through Sunday, but only one 5,000 point bonus may be earned per weekend. These are combinable bonuses of per night and weekend bonus, so two nights as Thursday-Friday, Friday-Saturday, or Saturday-Sunday stay earns 7,000 bonus points for the two nights and 1,000 bonus points for any additional nights of…
Christopher Elliott Plays Fast and Loose with Some Facts, Leads to Bad Advice for Travelers
Christopher Elliott is one of those great enigmas in travel, I actually like some of the things he has to say and so I think he can get a bad rap from frequent flyers at times. Though in his Travel Troubleshooter columns I think he often sides with customers and against travel providers even when the travel providers are in the right, a bit too much ‘sympathy for the little guy’ rather than a focus on justice but he frequently lets his readers vote on whether to intercede so I suppose his readers are as much at fault! Where he really misses the mark, and sometimes even goes totally off the rails, is in his criticisms of frequent flyer programs. This new piece from the January/February National Geographic Traveler is a perfect case in point,…
Big Miles for Opening and Funding Brokerage Accounts
About a week and a half ago, the excellent Gary of Free Frequent Flyer Miles posted that the supposedly-expiring Fidelity brokerage offer for United miles has been extended, and that the American and Delta offers are still available. (Last year’s offer of American Express Membership Rewards points appears not to be available any longer.) Fidelity will give you up to 50,000 miles based on the amount you deposit into your account within 90 days of opening. 15,000 miles for a $25,000 deposit 25,000 miles for a $50,000 deposit 50,000 miles for a $100,000 deposit You can choose to earn the miles currently with three different programs. And you can even earn miles, apparently, with two of the three — not just one. United/Continental offer American offer Delta offer Yesterday The Points Guy wrote that he…
2000 Free Points for Jet Airways Frequent Flyer Signup
Via Live from a Lounge, Jet Airways JetPrivilege new signups using a promo link receive a 2000 point enrollment bonus. The Indian carrier isn’t part of an alliance (though with Star walking away from Air India and Kingfisher going to oneworld, no doubt they’re in talks). They do, however, partner with about two dozen airlines including Delta, American, and United.
Starwood’s First Quarter Promo – Bonus Points on Longer Stays
From January 9 to April 8, Starwood Preferred Guest is running its first quarter promo, “Better By the Night” — double points on two-night stays and triple points on stays of three nights or longer. Registration required. It’s not as lucrative as Starwood’s summer 2011 free resort night offer, but it’s more valuable than it seemed to me at first blush for longer stays. Mommy Points, to whom a hit tip is due for pointing out the promo, notes how the promos stack. (And also points out that the non-participating properties list is shorter than in recent times for recent promos.) Two points per dollar normally Plus one point per dollar for Gold and Platinum members Plus two points per dollar for two night stays and four points per dollar for three night stays and…
A Backdoor Way to Free Checked Bags with American Airlines: Instant Kingfisher King Club Silver Status
The free Hilton HHonors Gold status offer that I posted Friday evening required you to have a Visa Infinite card, and the way the website verifies this is by having you enter the first six digits of the credit card. Which was a great opportunity to learn about Bank Identification Numbers on Wikipedia. Of course, just knowing the first six digits of any Visa Infinite card from a qualifying region of the world worked to unlock the website and take advantage of the offer. Apparently this is a popular way to verify that you have a credit card, since now Live from a Lounge brings us an offer of free Kingfisher elite status for Mastercard holders: To register, you should have an eligible MasterCard (Platinum, World, Titanium Credit Cards or a Premium Debit Card), and…
