AAdvantageGeek offers a rundown of the comings and goings in the new American Airlines Buy Onboard menu. Apparently the Boston Market carver sandwiches, the turkey, and the snack box are gone, along with the chocolate covered waffle. In there place you’ll find a California Cobb Salad and a Briscuit, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich, both of which sound quite good in their descriptions. There’s also an oatmeal, cranberry, and chocolate cookie that I’m guessing I could do without. I’m interested because I have a flight later in the week where I don’t expect my upgrade to clear (the flight was showing “F2” — only 2 first class seats for sale — even before the Executive Platinum upgrade window opened and now shows only “F1″…) and because Executive Platinum members are entitled to a complimentary buy onboard…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2012.
Miles and More Earning, Redemption, and Status Changes Coming
Miles and More is making a bunch of changes, some of which are positive but on the whole will not please elite members. Effective September 1, top tier HON Circle status credits can only be earned from premium cabin fares. HON Circle Members are guaranteed the ability to book business class travel, even if business is sold out, but that will now require the highest (most expensive) booking class. I didn’t realize that wasn’t the case already and do understand that if they’re going to oversell the cabin it needs to be for full revenue. Discounted business class (Z) bookings will earn fewer miles — 1,000 award on domestic flights (down from 1500), 1250 within Europe (down from 2000), and 150% of flown miles for intercontinental flights (down from 200%). And Z is no longer…
Hilton’s Second Quarter Double Points or Double Miles
Via Deals We Like, Hilton HHonors’ second quarter promotion is double points or double miles April 1 through June 30. Not an exciting promotion, nothing that’s going to convince me to make stays I wouldn’t otherwise make. At the margin whether this induces me to stay at a Hilton versus some other chain, it probably won’t and will especially depend on the full gamut of what other chains are doing during the same period for their promotions. Nonetheless, it’s certainly worth registering for, better to take double points or miles than to leave them on the table. And I always suggest registering even if you don’t think you’re likely to make a stay during the promotion period, I find I often surprise myself with such things and I’d otherwise forget to register later. Sadly there’s…
La Quinta: Cheap, or Value?
Yesterday I noted that I had never stayed in a La Quinta, but was willing to participate in their points program (for free points). Eli emails to take issue with my giving the chain short shrift: Actually, you’re missing out. When we had to cut costs last year, we decided to stick with La Quinta for almost all..travel for my center. And I don’t regret it. For business travel, in some ways, it’s BETTER than more upscale. For example, most rooms have six outlets right by the desk rather than the 1 or 2 you typically get at full service hotels. (I had to plug in my cell phone in the bathroom at the Waldorf Astoria.) In room standard amenities are almost an exact match for mid-priced business oriented hotels..plus a minifridge. Breakfast is also…
Tons of Priority Club Bonuses
As always the source for Priority Club bonuses is Priority Club Insider. And there are a bunch of new ones out there… Priority Club isn’t my favorite program because there isn’t much of an elite level, generally benefits aren’t required to be honored on award stays, and there’s no way to use points for a better than base-level room. But it can be lucrative for earning lots of bonuses, turning a few stays into plenty of points. Largely because they run targeted promotions that will often post for whomever registers for them. The key to Priority Club is to know the bonuses and register for most of them. They won’t all post, you never know which ones will and which won’t, and sometimes your luck is better than other times. But occasionally you hit the…
Weekend Travel Tips from the Radisson Blu Chicago
The Radisson Blu Chicago recently asked me to contribute some ‘expert travel tips’ for their “Tips for Weekend Getaways” — I wasn’t compensated for them, but I usually respond helpfully when asked for this sort of thing, sometimes travel providers offer something in return which is when I try to share those things as contests on the blog. There was no such contest here, but since I did pocket 55,000 bonus points from the end of year Club Carlson promotion celebrating the hotel brand coming to the US I had a bit of a soft spot for them. The tips are a bit basic for the median reader here, perhaps, but mine or tips from Rachel or Jessie will be useful. Just Another Points Traveler recently toured the hotel and provided an extensive report. I’m…
TSA Agent Arrested for Dealing Heroin Near Elementary School While Wearing Her Uniform
“A few bad apples” which of course should in no way impugn the hard work that thousands of TSA employees do to protect us, every day. And yet this somehow doesn’t surprise me at all.
Epic Rap Battles of History: Gary Leff Takes on The Points Guy at Frequent Traveler University
Here’s a list of battles by most casualties from Wikipieda. Then there was Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, “The Thrilla in Manila” And there’s my favorite epic rap battle of history, Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris. On April 28, we put all of those to shame. The Frequent Traveler University schedule features Brian Kelly (a.k.a. The Points Guy pitted against me, in an epic showdown. Resolved: that Delta Skymiles Offer Superior Value. A Debate Between Brian Kelly (Affirmative) and Gary Leff (Negative) Will you be in attendance for this dramatic mileage battle? Will you be able to tell your grandchildren that You. Were. There.…? Who has the better position here? Who will win?
300 Free La Quinta Points
Via the Traveler’s Loophole, La Quinta Returns will give you 300 points for filling out a form, as a thank you for having read their newsletter. Now, I’ve never stayed at a La Quinta. (Perhaps by chance and perhaps because I once looked up the name in the Urban Dictionary — here’s a hint, definitely don’t do that.) But that’s never stopped me from participating in a loyalty program before, or even achieving status, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never actually flown british midland even though I’m a Gold member of their Diamond Club program. And in this case, 300 points are 300 points.
Court Slaps Lufthansa for Making Award Chart Changes with Insufficient Notice
Thanks to the wonders of Google translation, this article in German provides an update on a court case against Lufthansa for changing their award chart without reasonable notice. A regional court in Cologne ruled for the plaintiff, Lufthansa was unreasonable in offering only a month’s notice of changes, though they would have been reasonable to offer four months’ advance warning of their new award chart. The Hamburg-based IT Professor Tobias Eggendorfer had accumulated in his account a total of 887 000 bonus miles. Early last year, changed the conditions from the Lufthansa so that in future an average of 15 to 20 percent more miles for the intercontinental flights in Redeeming should be required. The judge stressed that Lufthansa is generally entitled to change the terms and conditions for their bonus program because it constitutes…
