News and notes from around the interweb: 24 Hours as an UberX driver. Worth a read. Relatedly, UberX cuts prices by 10% in Dallas. The Ultimate Guide to Booking Award Tickets Using American AAdvantage Miles needs to be updated to reflect that American’s partner Hawaiian Airlines cannot be combined with other airlines on a single award “to/from Central, South America or Transatlantic”… same source also flags that Cathay Pacific awards cannot be changed within four hours of flight. New discount airline launches between the US and UK in October, with prices currently from $545 roundtrip. An illegal video of Beijing using a drone A private jet with no windows that boasts panoramic views. A riddle wrapped inside an enigma… Qantas has been making big changes due to big losses. Still, they’re expected to lose ~…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for August 2014.
When Do Hotels Make Their Rooms Available On Points?
We know how it generally works for airlines. They make seats available as ‘saver’ awards when they don’t expect to sell those seats for cash. A year in advance they’ll have some idea what seats those might be, and may make some award seats available when the flights are loaded into the schedule. Very close to departure they’ll have a pretty good idea which seats that haven’t sold will go out empty, which is why the very last minute can be about the best time to book awards (but also a gamble, because sold out flights – which many are nowadays – won’t be bookable at saver award prices). Hotel programs generally work differently. The economics aren’t always the same but in general most now offer a room for points whenever the base or ‘standard’…
When It Makes Sense to Spend Your Miles for Magazine Subscriptions
Using miles for things other than travel has been an increasing trend, the loyalty programs have been offering several new options over the past few years — whether it’s redeeming miles for other travel like hotels and rental cars, or for LCD toasters. The idea is that miles are a general currency, they can be spent like money. Heavy travelers may not want more flights. And if there are limited award seats available getting members to spend miles on other things satisfies those members rather than frustrating them. But frequent flyer programs can buy saver awards (likely to go unsold, spoiling inventory) at a deep discount, a much deeper discount than they can buy toasters — especially since mileage programs aren’t usually the ones in the fulfillment business actually warehousing and shipping the toaster. So…
Here are Secrets Holiday Inn Express Tells Hotel Owners. Now You Know, Too.
Aug
17
2014
Hotel franchise manuals contain all sorts of interesting tidbits, from the specific details of brand standards (the experience they’re obligated to provide to you as a guest) to how they allocate rooms for reward nights. Back in December I shared juicy tidbits from Best Western’s document. Loyalty Lobby mentioned that the Holiday Inn Express franchise manual (from 2012) could be found online, unprotected. So I googled it. Here is the .pdf. It tells you everything from the maximum price to send a fax or for photocopies, that all Holiday Inn Express hotels must provide complimentary tooth brush, tooth paste, comb, and razor/shaving cream, and that the hotel’s computers must load McAfee protection software, among other items. Here are some of the things that I found interesting. Hotels are required to set aside at least 5%…
1000 Bonus American Miles for $200 Online Shopping Spend
Aug
17
2014
The American AAdvantage online shopping portal is offering 1000 bonus miles for spending $200 or more, cumulatively on purchases (all of your purchases can add up to $200 – it doesn’t have to be for a single item), through August 25. No registration required. In other words, make your online purchases by starting at the AAdvantage online mall and clicking on the retailers you’ll buy from at their site and you’ll pick up an extra 1000 miles on top of the miles you’d normally earn for doing so. The AAdvantage portal is run by Cartera commerce. I interviewed their President earlier this year, and tried to shed some light on how these online shopping portals – which offer you a rebate for the shopping you’ll do anyway – work. Meanwhile, the Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal…
Free Office Lounges Around the World With Internet and Coffee
Aug
17
2014
Regus has furnished offices all over the world. You can rent an office for a day, a week, whatever you need. They also have ‘business lounges’ which are open lounges in their offices, with wireless internet and coffee and tea. Some people like to use them, but I’ve never found it all that much more appealing than going to Starbucks or a similar venue. Even business lounges can be expensive to use, I suppose there are people who pay for it (you can even earn American Airlines miles if you do). But they’ve long given away free access to use their business lounges, which can’t cost them much to do. I have a ‘Gold’ membership from them, which I think was marketed to me in an email from American AAdvantage. Gold ‘sells for‘ $600 per…
Get Visa Expediting Services for Free (or Discounted) Through Next Month!
I do my own visas where needed, and I’ve never used a service. But it can be a pain in the bum and having a professional handle it can save time and hassle that many consider worth the money. One company offering this service is Allied Passport & Visa and they’re points and miles community members who participate in and even write for blogs at times. Since I haven’t used the services I haven’t written about them, but they came up with a great offer for readers of the blog that I couldn’t resist passing along. I like that their website has examples of how to fill out forms. Often the forms aren’t really clear and I worry that I’m answering a question wrong, that I’ll run into problems getting approved or worse. They’ve offered…
Woman BUSTED for Using Her Breast Implants to Smuggle Cocaine
Get it…? Spanish police have arrested a 43-year-old Venezuelan woman who landed in Madrid’s international airport trying to smuggle 3.7 pounds of cocaine via her breast implants. She appeared nervous going through customs, was searched, and eventually ‘copped’ to smuggling cocaine in her breast implants. Just replace saline with cocaine (they even rhyme) and you’ll usually get through (airport security mantra, “you don’t get on until we get off” notwithstanding). You just have to hope that the cocaine doesn’t leak, or the mule may die of one massive overdose. (HT: Alan H.) 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 can also follow me on Twitter for…
The Card That Earns More Than 2.6% Back on All Spending (Beats Fidelity and Arrival by 20%+)
Cash back credit cards: KL shares the link to a new card offer that will provide a bigger rebate on general spending than pretty much anything out there. It’s bigger than the 2% cash back on everything with the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express. It’s bigger than the 2.2%+ rebate towards travel from all spending on the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard. But you have to have $100,000 in cash and investments that you can deposit with Bank of America to take advantage of the offer. Bank of America Travel Rewards gives you 1.5 points per dollar on all spending. That equates to a 1.5% rebate (2500 points = $25). Bank of America Preferred Rewards members earn an additional bonus of 25%, 50%, or 75% depending on the volume of assets on deposit with…
Airport Strategies, Uber and Uber for Planes Behave Badly, and Boeing’s New All-Coach Planes
News and notes from around the interweb: ‘Uber for private planes’ is probably illegal. Because you can’t charge for a seat on a plane unless you have federal permission to do so. The real Uber… behaving badly (HT: Reid F) Pittsburgh is no longer a US Airways hub, so the airport is struggling. In search of new revenue they’re turning to… fracking. Who would have guessed? Southwest Airlines interested in all-coach configured Boeing 737s. The best airport perks. Can tall grass prevent bird strikes? 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 can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
