Monthly Archives for May 2015.
Last night I dreamt I was in the American Airlines Admirals Club in Los Angeles (although the woman sitting at the desk was one of the gems from the Washington National club.
I watched as a passenger had the agent there run her credit card to fund a bank account. I was a little bit excited for a moment, thinking you could charge bank deposits at American Airlines lounges when I woke up.
Citi Prestige offers an airline credit, lounge access, a big signup bonus and then a variety of perks like free rounds of golf and 4th night free on hotel stays. How much is all this ‘stuff’ worth, anyway?
Singapore Airlines is offering 50% off economy redemptions through its KrisFlyer program for 28 destinations. Since Singapore is a transfer partner of so many programs (Amex, Starwood, Chase, Citi) you probably have access to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
Under United’s new mileage-earning program, miles are earned based on the price of the ticket not the distance you fly. And they seem to be stamping out, one by one, the places you can go to still earn full mileage — United airline partners, one by one, are reducing the miles earned on United discount fares. This is no accident. When will there be no options left?
Now it was really time to head home from my Maldives trip, having had my fill of Sri Lankan food for the day. We checked out of the Hilton and made what was nearly an hour’s drive in traffic to the Colombo airport.
Once there, though, things moved quickly. I had boarding passes from the day before, picked up in Male for both Colombo – Dubai and Dubai – Dallas. And there was pretty much no wait at all for immigration formalities or security to head to the Emirates lounge while waiting to fly Emirates first class to Dubai…
American is actually making premium cabin – business and first class – award space available on its own flights to Europe for the winter months. That means no fuel surcharges, even to London, where you can connect beyond using British Airways flights.
A collection of interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
Etihad’s operation is really good considering the contraints the airline faces — for US-bound flights (security) and the rest of the world (insufficient airport facilities). Here’s what their problems look like, and how to plan around them.
It’s back to the future for American Express Membership Rewards and their new partnership to allow you to use points at Chili’s. Radisson Hotels used to share a loyalty program with TGI Friday’s. That was a bad use of points, and so is this. But with a few points you can get a quesadilla explosion…
Since I didn’t have much time, and I’m not an expert on either Sri Lankan food or getting around the capital, I decided to hire a guide for a few hours on my day in Colombo.
I found an excellent guide, and since it’s Sri Lanka it was reasonably priced. We began at the floating market, stopped at a street vendor and for some dessert, and at a Sri Lankan vegetarian buffet.
I will never look at eating my fruits and vegetables the same way again, and especially loved the kottu, made of roti, vegetables, egg, meat, and spices…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
