Malaysia Airlines lost contact with Boeing 777 flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur shortly before 11am Eastern. Reports are of 295 people aboard, and that the plane went down along the Russia-Ukraine border. There are, apparently, no survivors. Footage of the scene can be found here. There is speculation that the plane may have been shot down. Downed over land, the plane’s data and voice recorders will almost certainly be found. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of everyone on board. And my hopes go to Malaysia Airlines. Although it is far from the most pressing thing for today, following the tragedy of flight MH370, this will obviously weigh heavily on the future of the company which is already facing financial struggles. I flew with them in May…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2014.
Avianca Lifemiles Planning BIG Changes to their Award Chart
No one sells miles as aggressively these days as Avianca’s Lifemiles, a member of Star Alliance and a program that has been strategically very useful. I’ve viewed the program as the most generous in the Star Alliance because: No fuel surcharges Reasonable award chart One-way awards at half the price of roundtrip Cash and points option The biggest drawbacks have been dealing with telephone customer service (they’re better by email), restrictive routing rules (like no mixed cabin awards, all flights must be in the same booking class), and that they’ve made changes to their program without notice. Let me say that again. They have a history of making changes without notice.
FARE WAR: $520 East Coast Hawaii Fares
The Flight Deal notices a fare war that Delta has intitiated out of two US Airways hubs. You can fly from Charlotte or Philadelphia on Delta to Kauai roundtrip for ~ $520. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday departures are eligible.
An Airport Hotel Needs to Be Able to Reliably Get You to the Airport
I’ve stayed at the Sheraton LAX countless times (and reviewed it here). LAX doesn’t have very many nice hotel properties, and the Sheraton has always been reasonably reliable. Plus there’s a Starbucks in the lobby that opens at 5am. I usually say that my criteria for choosing an airport hotel is: The one attached to the terminal, if price allows. If no property attached to the terminal, then whichever has been most recently renovated. Take New York JFK, a true pit for airport hotels, 7 years ago the choice was the Hilton Garden Inn – most up to date. That was replaced by the Sheraton. Now the go-to is the Hilton JFK. I recently stayed at the Sheraton LAX again. There’s nothing attached to the terminal. All hotel shuttles are generally slow because getting in…
American Will Pay You to Suggest Changes to the AAdvantage Program!
Suzanne Rubin, President of the American AAdvantage program, e-mails: I wanted to pass this info along in case some of your readers are interested in turning their passion for the AAdvantage program into a career. We are always looking for exceptional candidates that would also bring enthusiasm to their job. I’m guessing many of your readers fit the bill! Here’s the job: Analyst AAdvantage This position will be responsible for supporting a strategic assessment of all elements of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program. Position will identify and recommend opportunities for changes to AAdvantage to enhance customer loyalty and drive incremental value to American through the elite program and through mileage earning/redeeming. Position will be involved in innovative loyalty projects, including leveraging flight data, competitive data and customer data in order to design and implement AAdvantage…
Free Points Giveaway, 100% Transfer Bonus, and Double Miles for the Whole 4th Quarter!
News and notes from around the interweb: I’m giving away 75,000 Hyatt points! You can enter up to 4 times. I received an email from Avianca LifeMiles that their 100% bonus on transferred miles has been extended through July 21. A resort that hides bottles of rum in the water Up to 30% off Hyatts in Asia through July 20 Fly Copa airlines in August or September and then all of your Copa flights October through December earn double United MileagePlus miles. Registration required. Starwood is offering 35% off award redemptions at 6 of their most absurdly priced resorts. You can join the 40,000+ 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. You…
Kimpton Hotels’ New Loyalty Program Revealed. And It Isn’t Better.
Kimpton Karma Rewards: I haven’t written a lot about Kimpton Hotels. They’ve had one of the most rewarding loyalty programs. My theory has long been that the smallest chains are most likely to be rewarding because they need to incentivize customers — staying at a Hyatt rather than a Marriott or Hilton is a conscious choice. It doesn’t happen by default. Marriott and Hilton are everywhere, you can just show up in a city and there will be one. You go out of your way to stay loyal to one of the smaller chains, and it’s no accident that the better loyalty programs belong the chains with a smaller footprint. I have limited personal experience with Kimpton, I’ve eaten in restaurants or frequented bars at their hotels more often than I’ve stayed with them. And…
Get These 50 Free Miles, and Save Hundreds of Dollars
Fuel surcharges can be astronomical when redeeming British Airways points. Transatlantic award flights can set you back over $600 in fees on top of the mileage cost of your tickets and on top of the usual airport and international taxes. British Airways points are fantastic for short, non-stop domestic flights. And also for short non-stop flights between the US and South America: no fuel surcharges. It’s somewhat ironic that flying to Europe on this flagship European airline is so costly. But there are three primary ways to avoid big fuel surcharges when using British Airways points to fly across the Atlantic:
Giving Away 75,000 Hyatt Points to Celebrate Hyatt-MGM in Las Vegas
Here’s the scoop: The Hyatt Gold Passport – MGM M Life partnership is the richest in Las Vegas. It lets you earn and redeem points across both programs, and get status recognition too. You can get Hyatt Platinum status just for having the Hyatt Visa. And Hyatt Platinum gets you Gold status and recognition at 12 resorts in Las Vegas – upgrades, priority checkin, buffet line passes, VIP night club access. Hyatt Diamonds get even more (I love skipping the taxi queue). There’s a new website for this relationship that features free room, points, and experience giveaways. I’m giving away 75,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points to a reader drawn at random from those leaving comments on this blog post, continue reading to learn more.
New Air Conditioning Tax, another Marriott Devaluation, and Get Your Hyatt Status Now!!
News and notes from around the interweb: My post yesterday which revealed President Obama’s choice in credit cards drew this reaction on twitter: Pro tip: Don’t pose with your credit card when standing in front of photographers. The replies are worth the read. Two months ago I explained that you can have top tier Diamond status from Hyatt with very little effort. And while we know that Diamond trials will not be going away, Running with Miles speculates that they could be changing. Perhaps trial Diamonds members won’t get confirmed suite upgrades in the future until they’ve completed their challenge? The Marriott Plus Points program (up to 2000 free points per month), which was just introduced in May, has been gutted already. Etihad is launching San Francisco – Abu Dhabi service in November. That flight…
