I wrote about “Starwood-in-Iraq” back in 2004. There were ITT Sheraton properties in Baghdad and Basra prior to the first Gulf War. After the war and despite economic sanctions those properties continued to use the Sheraton name. They had no economic relationship with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and the international chain explicitly tried to distance itself — especially after the Basra property was bombed and the Baghdad hotel attacked. Now Starwood returns to Iraq — but to the ‘safe’ part. They’re planning to open three hotels in Erbil by 2015. The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan will feature a Sheraton, a Four Points, and an Aloft. Erbil features regular air service to Dusseldorf, Vienna, Cairo, Dubai, Larnaca, Beirut, Frankfurt, Amman, Istanbul, Doha among other cities and includes service with all three major airline alliances plus several…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for December 2012.
New ‘Official’ 40,000 Point Signup Bonus for the US Airways Mastercard
US Airways Premier World MasterCard® 40,000 miles after first purchase I’ve been touting the 40,000 point signup bonus for the US Airways Mastercard for awhile, the link I’ve been using has been www.mostmiles.com/chairman. Because it’s been the best available offer, 40,000 points after first purchase and fee waived the first year. Every time I post about this, I get questions. Because the web page says it is an “Exclusive Offer for Chairman’s Preferred Members Only” — people who fly 100,000 miles or more on US Airways each year. Although I had no problem getting the card using that offer, and I am not a US Airways elite member. And I haven’t heard of others with difficulties either. The application page recently changed to say that it was only for US Airways employees. It asked applicants…
30% Off Gift Cards for Discount Site Jetsetter.com (And Why I’m Not Stocking Up)
I’ve had run-ins with Jetsetter in the past. And I don’t entirely trust them in honoring referral credits. So I’m not going in on this deal, but some will find it of use. JetSetter (not a referral link, feel free to leave yours in the comments) is a website that offers high-end(ish) travel deals at a discount. Via Online Travel Review they’re offering 30% off of gift cards. $25 off a $250 gift card $75 off a $500 gift card $200 off a $1000 gift card $500 off a $2000 gift card $1500 off a $5000 gift card So you can pre-purchase discounted travel at a discount. As Jared writes, “You can, of course, buy yourself a gift card, meaning that you can save up to 30% off everything on Jetsetter forever. Not too bad, considering that…
Flying Blue 50% Off Awards Through End of February
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program has posted details of its 50% off promo awards for travel December 30 through February 28. Here are the discounted awards for travel between specific cities in North America and all of Europe. The only city offering discounted business class is Chicago, KLM business class between Chicago and any destination in Europe is 25,000 miles each way in business class. You can fly from Chicago to anywhere in “Europe 1/2/3” which are: Europe 1: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom Europe 2: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden Europe 3: Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Western Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine. I don’t…
Marriott Brings Back MegaBonus Starting in February
Marriott’s regular, somewhat lucrative free night promotion returns in February (registration required by March 15). Every two stays between February 1 and April 30 earns a free night Can earn up to 3 free nights Free nights are good for hotels up to ‘category 4’ These are great in that two cheap one-night stays earns a free night on top of the regular points. But the value of those free nights are capped, since you can’t redeem them at the better Marriott properties. They generate the most outsized return at hotels which are extremely seasonal — expensive at some times of year, deserted and cheap at others, and the way demand averages they’re category 4 and yet pricey in-season. South Florida has a few of these, for instance. I’ve used mine in the past at…
The Wall Street Journal on End of Year Mileage Running and Elite Status Buy Ups
Pizzaman points to Scott McCartney’s piece in today’s Wall Street Journal on mileage running for (and straight-up buying) elite status. Do it for the Points wonders if all of this exposure — in the Wall Street Journal! — will wind up killing the golden goose of earning status cheap and leveraging it for huge benefit in the coming year. But the Journal piece begins with a headline cost of ‘$4000 to $7000’ which I think will scare most folks away. And indeed I wouldn’t spend that much to earn status, either. Indeed, if you have to start from scratch and fly a ton at that price point just to earn status, you probably aren’t doing enough flying otherwise where that status is going to be meaningfully worth it, and you can likely use that cash…
Why You Want to Get Started with the AviancaTaca LifeMiles Frequent Flyer Program Right Now
Even though I think that frequent flyer programs moving to a ‘revenue-based’ model (where the number of miles you earn is based on how much you spend for your tickets rather than how far you fly, and where the number of miles an award ticket costs depends on the price of the ticket rather than where you are flying from and to) could go a long way towards undermining the exceptional value of the programs we enjoy, I’ve decided not to worry about it — for one simple reason. If several U.S. frequent frequent flyer programs go revenue-based, we still have non-U.S. programs where we can achieve superior value. And the fact is that many of these programs offer superior value now, they’re right in front of us. The risk that our favorite programs like…
Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur Tours: Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles I had only two days to spend in Kuala Lumpur. It’s a city, not quite as friendly and easy for first time visitors and Singapore and…
United Eliminates Elite-Only Space for 3-Cabin First Class Awards
United posted on Milepoint that they will no longer offer extra award space for three-cabin first class flights starting February 1. I wanted to let you know about a change we’ll be making to the way we allocate MileagePlus award inventory for United Global First and United First on 3-cabin aircraft. As many of you know, we currently use the same fare class (ON) for both upgrades and Saver travel awards redeemed from MileagePlus Premier Platinum, Premier 1K and Global Services accounts. A consequence of this pairing has been fewer seats being available for upgrades. To remedy this imbalance, we will begin using ON exclusively for upgrades into United Global First and United First on 3-cabin aircraft effective February 1, 2013. Having a dedicated fare class for these upgrades will enable us to offer differentiated…
Hyatt Announces Changes to Award Categories for Some Hotels in 2013
Each year most hotel programs re-categorize their hotels. They have different categories, in the case of Hyatt it’s one through six (Starwood for another example is one through seven). And each category has a price per night in number of points. Usually on an annual basis – although sometimes less frequently and occasionally throughout the year — hotel chains will shift some hotels up or down in category, increasing or decreasing the number of points that specific hotels cost to redeem for. Hyatt has announced their changes for 2013. These changes go into effect February 7, which means until that time you book under the ‘old’ rates. If a hotel is going up in price, lock in your future reservations now to save points. What’s more, if you make a reservation now for a stay…
