FTU Advanced San Diego tickets are now available. The regular Frequent Traveler University events can be huge, they’ve been as large as more than 600 people. Participants often requested smaller, more intimate events allowing for greater in-depth discussion and really getting to know fellow participants. Both the first FTU Advanced and the second one each sold out in under 24 hours. The former was held at the Marriott O’Hare at the end of July, the latter later this month at the same place. More advanced. FTU events welcome everyone, at all experience levels, and of course everyone is welcome. But the program will feature a more focused conversation geared to people that have spent more time with the activity. If you’re already a guru then most of it may not be new to knew, but…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for September 2014.
IHG’s New Promotional Free Nights: No Special Gotchas, They Really Are That Good
IHG Rewards is running a super generous free nights promotion. At least it’s super-generous for some, the specific offers a member will get vary. But the base offer is pretty good where three Holiday Inn nights booked carefully can be turned into two free nights at any Intercontinental Hotels Group property in the world. Regarding the usefulness of these nights, I had already written: IHG confirmed for me that these free nights work just list their co-brand credit card’s annual free night: usable at any participating IHG property (as long as reward nights are available) But others were talking as though they thought the inventory would be more limited. This concern seemed to trace back to a Loyalty Lobby post that relayed word from IHG on the promotion terms and concluded, This seems to imply…
Did You Know That New Delta Members Can Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles (Not Counting What Amex Will Give You)
This offer has been around since 2012, but I don’t think I’ve written about it since then. Most readers probably already have Delta Skymiles accounts, but there are always new readers and folks just getting into the hobby. Overall I don’t recommend focusing on the Skymiles program, but if you’re hub captive in Atlanta, Detroit, or Minneapolis (or if you live in the Upper Midwest) then you’re going to wing up flying Delta. And it makes sense to get the most out of the tickets you’re buying anyway.
Buying the Middle Seat Next to You for More Space: British Airways Raises Price But It’s Still Cheap
Head for Points writes about the increase in price that British Airways is pushing through for buying the middle seat next to you. Truth is, this is something I didn’t know, just how inexpensively BA offered this in the past. You would pay the same fare for the empty seat as for the one you were occupying, minus taxes. For short haul intra-Europe tickets this could be $10 – $100, since the bulk of the cost of these tickets is often in fuel surcharges. A few weeks ago British Airways changed the method they use to calculate the cost. They’ve set a minimum of £40 roundtrip on short haul flights and £300 roundtrip on long haul flights. They’re basing the price on the fare you paid, not the fare at time of request. So requesting…
How the IRS is Getting in the Way of Making Travel More Comfortable
The taxation of frequent flyer miles isn’t the only time travel butts heads with the IRS. Taxes on your tickets isn’t the only other place, either. It turns out that Anchorage airport is being hamstrung by the tax code (HT: Julie D.)
Marriott Wants to Push You Into Tipping Housekeeping
Travel Update reports that Marriott wants you to tip housekeeping. [A]s many as 1,000 hotels in the Marriott system – Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Residence Inn, JW Marriott – are going to leave a special tip-reminder envelope for guests to encourage them to leave money for the housekeeper. ..Envelopes that contain the name of the person (usually a woman) will be left in some 160,000 hotel rooms in the USA and Canada, according to the AP’s story. The campaign is called “The Envelope Please.” Now, tipping at hotels is one way to get an upgrade. (Here’s how to ask for – and get – upgrades.) Tipping hotel housekeeping won’t get you much, maybe a cleaner room or extra toileteries. It’s about giving something to the people cleaning your room, rather than giving something to yourself. In general…
Here’s When You Should Still Mileage Run — Even Though Mileage Runs are Dead
Mileage running for the redeeming miles, the idea that you could fly cheap fares and redeem the miles for expensive tickets, never made much sense most of the time or for most people. By the time you factor in the value of time spent in airports and planes – your opportunity cost – you were rarely saving money. On the other hand, sometimes the flying itself was the enjoyment. Fares were cheap, promotions generous, and you’d get to see someplace new. The ‘pure’ mileage run, the straight turnaround in an airport, never made sense to me except in the most extreme cases – cheap fare during United’s quintuple miles offer years ago, long before their multiple hatchets to the award chart was one. Mileage running for status from zero never made much sense to me.…
Please Don’t Blame Your Flight Attendants: They Only Cooked The Meals, Management Gave Them The Recipe
I’ve spoken with several American Airlines flight attendants that are embarrassed by what they’re being asked to serve. I feel for them, genuinely. As one said to me, “What we used to serve wasn’t great, but it was better than this.” Dallas – Orlando clocks in at 985 miles. It used to get a meal. Now… Gone are meals from my DC – Miami flights as well. United is moving to meals on flights over 800 miles. Delta is at 900 miles, American now 1000. That’s an improvement for US Airways customers… but the issue is both whether there’s a meal and what that meal is. I used to say that US Airways elites are hungry Now many American elites are too – and some by choice. Anecdotally flight attendants are getting lots of complaints…
If You Want to Upgrade to First Class, Don’t Make This One Simple Mistake
I had to check a bag this morning. I don’t do that often on domestic flights. Since I’d have to visit the counter anyway, I didn’t bother checking in via a mobile app. My first segment was already upgraded to first class, but my connecting flight wasn’t. When the agent checked me in, I dropped off the upgrade list. I didn’t check the upgrade list once I had been checked in That is a rookie mistake. I didn’t ask about my upgrade at the club. I boarded my first flight and pulled up the mobile app and figured I’d look at the upgrade list, since I was within the window to see it at that point. My name wasn’t on it. I didn’t think this would be a big deal. I knew there were still…
What Causes a Frequent Flyer Account Audit: How to Prepare Yourself and Respond
In light of IHG Rewards changing it terms to say they’ll cancel your account if you register for promotions that they let you register for, some recent reports of Chase shutting down accounts for ‘abuse’, and an unreasonable rogue auditor at American, it seemed worth repeating advice I gave about five months ago on how to handle things if your loyalty program account gets audited. It’s not fool proof advice — that is, if you’ve actually broken rules in a serious way you can’t always save your accumulated mileage balance when you get caught. But it’s useful to understand what triggers audits, and what you can do if you get audited. You’ll also want to see: What airlines look for to crack down on the sale of miles How airlines combat fraudulent tickets to protect…
