For the past three years my primary carry-on bag has been the Briggs & Riley 20″ widebody. It’s been a great bag, barely scuffed after three years of travel. Briggs & Riley offers a serious lifetime guarantee on their bags, which to me simply signals that they’re well-built. I don’t pay extra for a bag because of the guarantee — you’re going to always have to go through the hassle of getting the guarantee honored, handling the shipping, and the future is uncertain enough — for any company and for how well a guarantee will be honored down the line — that I don’t make a purchase with the expectation that the promises will be delivered on. Tumi’s guarantee, for instance, used to be far stronger than it is today. But reports are that the…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for September 2012.
Bits ‘n Pieces for September 27, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: United is offer a 40% discount on purchased miles — again — through October 31. They offered it in September and August and April. I’m not a buyer given the price of a bit over 2.2 cents and that I have a large United balance, but it’s a good way to top off towards a specific award. (HT: Lucky) Global Entry — which expedites immigration, and can also be used to get TSA PreCheck — is being offered to Loews Platinum elite members. It’s also offered to United Platinums and 1Ks. And American Express Platinum reimburses the fee as well. Cranky Flier realizes that what the TSA does is security theater, not security. An interview with Ed French of Marriott Rewards. Correctly I think he notes that the…
Up to 15,000 Bonus Virgin Miles for Hilton Stays
One of the things I miss most about british midland, with its acquisition by British Airways, is that it was my go-to program to credit Hilton stays to. Hilton offers ‘double dip’ and on cheap short stays “points and fixed miles” was my favorite earning option. I’d receive 1000 bmi miles per night up to three nights per stay. And that’s in addition to Hilton points. Most of my Hilton stays are short, and a one-night Hilton stay will still earn 1000 Virgin miles. Plus I usually credit my one-day Avis rentals to Virgin for 1000 miles as well, so that becomes my go-to strategy. Virgin Atlantic’s miles aren’t the greatest, the fuel surcharges are high, but at 1000 miles per rental day and per one-night Hilton stay they do rack up pretty quickly. So…
Finally Back at the Andaz 5th Avenue
This was only maybe my sixth stay of the year at the Andaz 5th Avenue. I’ve been trying out a variety of hotels this year in New York — sometimes due to location (like the Conrad New York when I was attending an event there, or the Renaissance Newark for the Freddie Awards), sometimes due to getting simply too good a deal to pass up (the couple of times I stayed at the Andaz Wall Street), and sometimes because the 5th Avenue Andaz was full and I don’t have deep enough pockets to cover a Diamond guaranteed availability stay (so I took refuge at the Grand Hyatt and the Parker Meridien). Every time I stay in New York and it’s not at the Andaz 5th Avenue, I’m disappointed. It’s not the single best hotel in…
American, British Airways, and Iberia: Big Bonus Miles to Europe for Higher Fares
Yesterday I saw American’s American’s progressively bigger bonus on European flights, saw that only higher fares qualified, and didn’t get especially excited. This morning I realized that it was worth paying more attention to — because some of the fares that qualify for the bonus aren’t actually that expensive, that many folks will find themselves flying on qualifying fares anyway, and that the increment to ‘buy up’ to a qualifying fare is in some cases not that much and potentially worthwhile to earn the bonus. So it made sense to post about this. Here’s the offer: The More You Fly. The More You Earn. Fly round trip between the U.S. or Canada and Europe on First Class, Business Class or select Economy Class fares* and start accumulating American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles. You will earn…
Bad Advice from a ‘Passenger Rights Group’ that Seems to Know Little About Air Travel
Wandering Aramean asks, “What to do when the industry’s largest consumer advocate is so wrong?” He explains, “For better or for worse the largest airline passenger customer advocacy group in the United States is FlyerRights.org.” And then shares this gem of advice from the group on how to deal with the current pilot sickout and work slowdown at American Airlines: [I]f you have stacked up the frequent flyer miles we recommend you immediately book your trip on AA or a code-share partner just to avoid the risk of losing those miles in the event AA shuts their doors. Wandering Aramean points out that this hysterical advice is being given in the organization’s fundraising, and that the advice is silly because American Airlines isn’t going out of business and their frequent flyer program isn’t ending. In…
Bits ‘n Pieces for September 25, 2012
News, notes, and minor items from around the interweb: Club Carlson is offering a 50% bonus on points purchases through November 10. That makes the cost of points $0.00467 apiece. You can buy points in 1000 mile increments plus 50% bonus, up to 40,000 points per calendar year. Not a phenomenal deal in and of itself, but I do have a bunch of Club Carlson points from their big 50,000 point bonuses. This might be useful for a top-off. JohnnyJet flew Korean Air on his honeymoon to Bali, and his Toronto-Seoul segment was in first class. Especially timely trip report for me, since I have Korean Air’s first class booked as well and there are very few recent trip reports out there. (He also notes that you can call Korean Air reservations to request a…
Presidential Hotel Preferences
Where do they stay on the campaign trail? FoxNews.com reports on the hotel preferences of the Presidential candidates. Obama leans Hyatt while Romney’s travel spend goes to Marriott (where Romney is a former member of the Board of Directors). Ann Romney has said she likes Hampton Inns for free Wifi, but Fox News can find no indication that she’s ever stayed in one. Luxurious digs aren’t limited to the Romneys, however, with the piece reminding that shortly after the last election Michelle Obama took the kids to the Presidential Suite at the (Marriott…) Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. (HT: uggboy on Milepoint)
Cathay Pacific Introducing New Regional Business Class Product
Yesterday Cathay Pacific announced their new regional business class product. Cathay Pacific has an outstanding long haul business class.. fully flat, direct aisle access, they took the innovative seat that US Airways first introduced and improved on it. But their regional (intra-Asia) product is fairly antiquated. I’ve written about it in the past, such as here and here. I’d liken it to flying in United’s old recliner-style business class seats, better than US domestic first class for sure and better than flying business class inside Europe by miles, but not the same seat you get for transpacific or transatlantic flying on better carriers — and not what Singapore offers on its new regional (Airbus A330-300) product, examples here and here. Here’s how Cathay describes the new regional product: The principal feature of the new product…
US Airways Offers Free Elite Status Challenge With New Lounge Membership
US Airways is certainly one of the most creative airlines in monetizing the benefits of elite status. They were the very first ones to come out with getting a credit card equating some of the benefits of bottom-tier elite levels (priority checkin and boarding). They once ran a promotion where all miles earned through their shopping portal counted towards status at the end of a year. They’ll even straight-out sell you status – if you literally have one mile flown during the year they will sell you top tier elite for $2999. (You can’t buy preferred miles and segments to meet one of their status challenges, however.) US Airways doesn’t offer status matches (giving you the status you hold on another airline in order to entice your business). Instead they offer a status challenge —…
