Yesterday morning I posted about an interview with the retiring Bill Marriott, including his thoughts on the future of hotel rooms and on in-room porn. Now, I love reader email. But let’s adopt a good practice for when you reach out to me directly about a post, for advice, just to share your story, or because you’re bored and don’t feel like emailing your cat. When the urge strikes you to share your stories with me of watching in room porn? Don’t. That is all.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2012.
Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives
Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home Once we cleared customs —…
50% Bonus on American Express transfers to British Airways Avios
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the changes made to the British Airways frequent flyer program back in November. I think the best way to explain it is that they’ve absolutely gutted the award chart, at least for anyone living outside of a oneworld hub city. And they’ve increased the prices of many, many of the best awards. What they’ve done is (1) priced each flight segment separately as its own award, you don’t get any connecting flights included in an award, and (2) priced longer travel more expensively than shorter travel. So flying Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, which used to be a value or at least competitively priced under the British Airways program, is now super expensive. And flying beyond Hong Kong will make you choke. And of course British…
Why You Can’t Upgrade an American Airlines Ticket That’s Priced Without Fuel Surcharges
As I was booking working on booking a confirmed upgradable ticket for myself on American Airlines to Europe (lowest paid fair plus Executive Platinum ‘eVIP’ systemwide upgrade, using Expertflyer to find ‘C’ inventory which is business class upgrade space), it occurred to me to share something that’s probably totally obvious for many of you: You can’t save money with a ‘fuel dump’ on an American Airlines ticket you intend to upgrade. And that brings us to a bit of a roundabout explanation. Some of you won’t need it. But a bit of the basics. Back in March, 2010 Airfare Watchdog ran a post on forcing airfare pricing to drop so-called fuel surcharges, often saving hundreds of dollars on an international ticket. This was a popular trick discussed in online forums, but the broader world’s attention…
5000 Free Spirit Airlines Miles
I love Spirit Airlines, I really do. I mean, I don’t want to actually fly them but I’m glad they exist. They charge for water. They’ve charged extra for online booking. So you save money by buying your tickets at the airport but checking in online. (This makes no sense!) They charge for oversized carryons. And they have the greatest ads ever. And they hate their customers. Still, since some folks will take free miles wherever they come, via Mileage Saver I’m passing along 5000 free Spirit Airlines miles for Hertz #1 Gold members (err.. Gold Plus Rewards member).
Retiring Bill Marriott on Porn, Light, and a Muddled Mitt Romney
The Associated Press’ Scott Mayerowitz interviews Bill Marriott who at 80 years old is stepping down as CEO (though remaining Chairman) of Marriott. He still owns 10% of the company worth $1.2 billion. Scott reports that Bill Marriott drove the company’s foray into hotels and out of restaurants (like Big Boy and Roy Rogers). You get the flavor of an old school hands on guy from the piece, averse to debt and conservative in management style. That’s certainly reflected in their hotels, and even in their loyalty program — which still seems to attract a fervid fan base in spite of offering one of the least reward elite levels (the most stringent requirements for top tier status at 75 nights, yet specifically excluding suites from the upgrade benefit and only promising ‘subject to availability’ late…
Getting Starwood Gold Status Without Meeting the Stay Requirements
Several readers, including Delta Points, emailed me this morning about an offer for free Starwood Gold status after one stay in the Asia Pacific region paid for with a World Mastercard. (The full list of participating properties is here.) As New Girl in the Air observes, if you aren’t already a Starwood Preferred Guest gold member and since you have through March 31 of next year to use this promotion, it’s worth registering just on the if-come. Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status basically gets you: 50% bonus on points earned on-property 4pm late checkout, guaranteed, although subject to availability at resort and conference properties Avoid the worst room in the house (they call it an upgrade to a better room in the same category, I suggest you more or less avoid the room over the…
Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male
Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home We caught a cab from…
Frequent Traveler University Saturday Schedule Published
Frequent Traveler University is being held at the Sheraton Meadowlands on April 27 and 28, following the Thursday evening Freddie Awards and the Friday Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit. The Saturday schedule will feature Randy Petersen, The Points Guy, Mommy Points, Daraius of Million Mile Secrets, legendary frequent flyer Steve Belkin (“beaubo” – known for hiring disabled rice farmers to fly in and out of the Golden Triangle area of Thailand for the miles, among other exploits), and Tommy Danielsen Milepoint co-founder and organizer of the MegaDOs. I’m also speaking in three slots as well. Your organizer is, as ever, Milepoint co-founder Pizzaman. 9:00am – 915am: Welcome, Tommy Danielsen 9:15am – 10:30am: Resolved: that Delta Skymiles Offer Superior Value. A Debate Between Brian Kelly (Affirmative) and Gary Leff (Negative) Alternate session: Introduction to miles &…
Alaska Airlines ISN’T Adding Restrictions to its Visa Companion Certificate
Yesterday in the comments on the blog, eponymous coward (whom I seem to remember is responsible for originating the line that “US Airways is the official consolidator for Star Alliance premium cabin fares”) noted that the Bank of America website now listed their Alaska Airlines co-branded Visa as offering a $99+tax companion certificate valid for coach travel. This issue raised quite a bit of concern on Milepoint. The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature companion certificate benefit is one of the real values in all of travel — every year cardholders get to take a companion along on any paid fare for $99 plus tax (it used to be $50, alas). The key element here is that the companion ticket books into whatever fare class the paid ticket is booked in. There are no fare restrictions. There…
