News and notes from around the interweb: How I Lost $1,350 by Falling for the Same Internet Scam Twice in One Week — a cautionary tale about working with mileage brokers. (HT: Jeremy) Starwood’s new Luxury Privileges (similar to Virtuoso and American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts) is valuable at some W hotel properties. How to Spot Pickpockets in Paris — as it happens it was my last Paris trip that prompted me to write Common Tourist Scams and How to Avoid Them. Cathay Pacific launches 4 times weekly service between Hong Kong and the Maldives and finding two business class awards on the days the flight operates is quite doable. From the US to the Maldives via Hong Kong, though, prices as two awards using American Airlines miles. You can join the 30,000+ people…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2013.
Two Offers for Free Instant Top Tier Hotel Status from Accor
Instant Platinum (top tier) status in the Accor Hotels loyalty program comes around with some frequency, usually the signup link doesn’t stay active long — sometimes days, sometimes just hours. There are currently two active offers that I am aware of: Offer with a landing page, in Polish (use Google Chrome, it auto-translates). I wrote about this offer a week ago and it’s still live. Offer with no landing page (doesn’t say what you’ll get, but currently working). This one is from Loyalty Lobby. You must open a new account, it cannot be applied to existing accounts. And when you do so you must use an email address that’s not currently on file with them. Even if you don’t frequently stay at Sofitel, Novotel, Pullman, Mercure, and other related properties frequently, you never know when…
Together Our Travel Tips Can Rule Fresno! The Best Things to See, Do and Eat in an Underappreciated, Over-traveled City
(With apologies to Harvey Korman for the title..!) Thanks to everyone for participating in the National Car Rental “Underappreciated, Over-traveled” travel tips contest and giveaway. Though the entries are on the light side relative to many of the giveaways I do — because I actually required you to offer a legitimate travel tip for Fresno in order to enter — I was somewhat surprised to have well over 300 entries between comments on the blog and twitter submissions! One grand prize winner will receive: $250 AMEX gift card National Extreme Sport Duffel National Case Logic Zippered Tech Journal National Ultimate Privacy Luggage Tag National 14oz Striped Coffee Tumbler National BicRoundstic & Notepad Five additional winners will receive the following prize pack: $50 AMEX gift card National Extreme Sport Duffel National Ultimate Privacy Luggage Tag National…
In Which I Defend and Congratulate the TSA..(!)
The TSA is an easy target. Most of what passes for airport security is really security theater, designed either to make us feel safe or to appear that the government is doing something. All of this is reinforced by manufacturers selling expensive equipment. So it’s easy to point to stories like the screener arrested for stealing from a passenger who had a conviction for theft before even being hired by the TSA. Foreseeable, much? (Not the first questionable pre-employment screening, who can forget the Catholic priest dismissed over child sex abuse who became a TSA groperscreener?) Which is why each of these stories, taken together, sure looks like a pattern rather than a one off (a few bad apples who in no way undermine the hard work that thousands of men and women at the…
Hyatt To Get New Options in Mexico and the Caribbean
Fresh off their strategic partnership with MGM Resorts in Las Vegas to partner up with the 12 participating M Life hotel properties there, and also a deal to grow in Paris and the South of France, Hyatt has entered into a deal to invest in Playa Hotels and Resorts. Hyatt will spend $100 million for a 20% ownership stake and $225 million for convertible preferred stock in Playa, a privately held hotel-investment company. …Playa’s hotel portfolio will include 13 resorts totaling about 5,800 rooms across the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica. Playa will sign franchise agreements with Hyatt for six of the 13 resorts, which will operate under Hyatt brands after renovations are completed. Under the agreement with Hyatt, Playa will have certain rights to operate Hyatt-branded all-inclusive resorts in five Latin American and Caribbean…
When You Achieve Status With an Airline or Hotel — Should You Stick With Them, or Go for Status Somewhere Else too?
Reader TonySCV asked, Once you achieve top tier status with A[merican Airlines] (for example), would (or should) you try for a different status (such as [Alaska, United, Delta], etc. or just continue to credit to A[merican]? This is a common problem for loyalty programs, and it’s why several seek to reward customers for going beyond ‘just’ top tier. A perfect example is this year’s “Elite Rewards” from American which get really rewarding for folks meeting thresholds beyond just 100,000 miles flown. Loyalty Programs See This as a Real Conundrum So while it may seem like an obscure problem to many readers, something that doesn’t affect a ton of people — making top tier status is hard enough, who makes top tier and then could keep going and earn status somewhere else? But it’s a real…
One-way Tickets to New Zealand as Low as $380
@realandylutern tweets, Dirt cheap one-ways to AKL in late August, as cheap as $339 from SFO/LAX, book on ua dot com And in fact, the deal isn’t as limited as just being from San Francisco as Los Angeles, though the cheapest fares are from there, and though it does appear to be limited to August travel. It’s bookable at United.com. The Flight Deal is now covering this as well. These are one-way fares, and not roundtrip, so book paid tickets to New Zealand and award flights one-way back. TFD finds prices for these one-way as: Sample Prices: Newark – $458 Dallas – $458 DC – $523 Los Angeles – $389 San Francisco – $389 Note also that while domestic segments will earn miles, the fare on Air New Zealand will not earn miles when crediting…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 19, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: A coffee pot at the Johannesburg airport that dispenses free coffee when you yawn 5% off Priceline bookings Inside the Mansion at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Impressive place. And a write-up of the Hyatt-MGM partnership launch party which was held there last night. United.com is displaying award space on EVA Airways again. Qantas is introducing car service on departure in arrival for Los Angeles and Dallas – Australia flights. Other international destinations over 12 hours will be rolled out next year. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. Don’t miss out!
Good News: American’s Suzanne Rubin to Remain at the Helm of AAdvantage After US Airways Merger
Per Traveling Better, Suzanne Rubin will remain the President of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program after the airline’s merger with US Airways. The combined American-US Airways loyalty program will remain on the AAdvantage platform, and it’s a much bigger program than US Airways Dividend Miles — a true multi-billion dollar business in its own right — so it certainly makes sense to keep leadership in place. It’s also been profitable even as American itself struggled over the past few years. Former AAdvantage head Maya Leibman (Senior Vice President, Technology and Chief Information Officer) was already announced to be staying on — logical as they’ll be using the American IT plaform. Former AAdvantage head Derek DeCross remains VP of sales. American’s Vice President of Marketing, Rob Friedman (another former head of AAdvantage!) will be leaving however.…
The End of Airline Alliances: Is Skyteam Crumbling, and Will it Just Be the First to Fall?
Several readers pointed me to an Economist piece on Skyteam’s crackup and the future of airline alliances. SUMMER has not been kind to SkyTeam, one of the three big airline alliances, which has suffered two very public snubs by incumbent and prospective members. In late June Craig Kreeger, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said that his carrier’s much-mooted membership of SkyTeam was unlikely to materialise any time soon. “For now, Virgin Atlantic remains very happy with the partners we have,” he said, in reference to Virgin’s recent transatlantic tie-up with US-based Delta Air Lines. Less than a week later Reuters quoted a “source close to [Aeroflot’s] board” as saying that the Russian carrier would leave SkyTeam if its management could do so without political interference. In fact, Skyteam has even more issues than that. Flying…
