I didn’t notice my account get its status upgraded, though it appears on Award Wallet (and now that I log in) as though it already has been. I received a direct mail piece from Marriott Rewards giving me Gold elite status: I was already a Marriott Rewards silver elite member, the lowest status I hold with any of the major chains. I’m currently: Hyatt Diamond. This was earned on both stays and nights. Starwood Platinum. This was earned based on 50 nights. Hilton HHonors Diamond. This was given as a targeted offer to American AAdvantage Executive Platinum members IHG Rewards Club Platinum. This is complimentary based on my non-renewing Intercontinental Ambassador status (which was itself complimentary based on my non-renewing Royal Ambassador status). Don’t get me wrong, Marriott Gold means lounge access or breakfast (but…
About Gary Leff
American AAdvantage Just Made One Shocking Change to Its Terms and Conditions
Apr
01
2015
The American AAdvantage program recently updated its terms and conditions. They added this sentence: To the full extent allowed by law, these Terms and Conditions disclaim any duty of good faith and fair dealing as well as any implied contractual terms or obligations. That’s pretty striking language — they have no “duty of good faith and fair dealing” — and my conclusion is that this means either nothing at all or at most only one thing: American doesn’t have very good lawyers.
Why You Shouldn’t Take Advantage of the 25% Bonus Transferring Amex Points to Virgin Atlantic
American Express is offering a 25% bonus on transfers of Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic through April 30. Before the end of the year American Express was offering a 35% bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic. So 25% doesn’t impress. Virgin Atlantic has one of the least valuable mileage currencies — my stretch for 8 good uses of the points shows how deep in the barrel I have to dig. The program adds fuel surcharges to awards. So while Virgin Atlantic itself has a decent business class product across the Pond, many prefer to book their awards through Delta SkyMiles (at a higher mileage cost) to avoid the fuel surcharges. If you’re looking to bulk up on Virgin’s miles, consider their Bank of America-issued credit card. American Express Membership Rewards points are too valuable,…
Review: Etihad Business Class, Abu Dhabi – Male (Maldives)
Apr
01
2015
Here I review Etihad’s lie flat business class seat for a regional flight from Abu Dhabi to Male (Maldives). Previous installments: Introduction, overview, and costs Star Alliance first class and business class lounges, LAX Etihad First Class, Los Angles – Abu Dhabi.. the 3rd Longest Flight in the World! Premier Inn, Abu Dhabi International Airport Etihad’s new business class lounge, Abu Dhabi About 35 minutes prior to departure time we headed down to our gate. Now, even though we were departing from terminal 3 (an upgrade from several past regional flights) it was still going to be a bus gate. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an airport where I have such a high proportion of bus gates — even departing long haul to destinations other than the U.S., and as I found out…
Have a Chase Ink Card? Here’s What You Need to Do Before You Lose an Important Benefit.
I returned to the country to a pileup of mail, including this from Chase: Someone has too many currently-open Ink cards. Chase is removing the ‘Lounge Club’ benefit from their Ink products. Lounge Club is the credit card version of Priority Pass, it’s a card that gets you lounge access though there are varying levels of membership. The basic free version just allows you to pay for entrance on each visit at participating lounges (American Express’ Hilton Surpass card gives you this.) The major difference between Priority Pass and Lounge Club is that the former includes several United Club lounges while the latter does not, so it’s a product that several credit cards can offer without violating Chase’s exclusivity (the initial branding was Priority Pass Select, which I first saw offered by American Express Platinum).…
How a Crew Filming the New James Bond Film Caused an International Air Incident
A James Bond film crew is in the news for their bad inflight behavior. Drunken film crew members involved in the latest James Bond movie triggered an international air alert by vomiting, urinating in the aisles and going on a drunken rampage during a flight to Mexico… The behaviour is said to have included smoking cigarettes in flight and removing a pin securing one of the cabin doors while close to American airspace. Apparently the crew in question were “[a]round 150 Spectre stunt men, camera crew and technical workers..on board the chartered Airbus A330 travelling from Stansted to Mexico City for the shooting of an ambitious opening scene based on the annual Day of the Dead festival.” SPECTRE of course is Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, the criminal syndicate and terrorist organisation…
50 Million Bonus Points, Discounted Hawaii Awards, and My Heart Stopped for a Moment.
News and notes from around the interweb: Discounted United awards to Hawaii Bonus for points transfers into Aeroplan. Unfortunately Membership Rewards transfers aren’t eligible. Starwood transfers are, though — 80,000 Starpoints would yield 125,000 Aeroplan points instead of the usual 100,000. How to make my heart stop: This came into my email inbox: Fortunately this isn’t word that my Suntrust Delta debit card will no longer earn miles for purchases. It’s just that they’re redesigning their online banking site. Which I could care less about since I only use my Suntrust account for debit purchases (and to deposit money into the account, to make more debit purchases). Everyone checking into Marriott Courtyard hotels today get 1000 bonus points to celebrate the opening of the 1000th Courtyard property in Walla Walla, Washington. (HT: Paul B.) They…
Wyndham New Program Starts May 11: Drops Price of Award Nights By As Much As 70%
It seems like hotel programs have been incentivizing booking low end hotels — keeping those cheap, making the points cost even cheaper than before — while pricing top end awards astronomically. We’ve seen massive ‘category creep’ at Marriott. Two years ago Hilton increased the price of their top awards as much as 90%. Hyatt created a new category 7 with higher prices for their most expensive properties. Wyndham is going the opposite direction. They are creating a single award chart price of 15,000 points per night. That’s an increase for the cheapest hotels, and a decrease for the most expensive hotels. Wyndham Grand Rio Mar, Puerto Rico
New Safety Concerns: Should You Fly Thailand’s Airlines?
The International Civil Aviation Organization has “significant safety concerns” about Thailand’s aviation regulator‘s standards (not about Thailand’s airlines). ICAO, a UN agency, informed governments around the world about its designation of Thailand as a “significant safety concern” on March 20. ICAO’s designation came after it determined that the “corrective action plan” submitted by the Department of Civil Aviation on March 2 to address the issues raised by ICAO were “needing revision’, ACM Prajin said this weekend. The designation is seen as a possible prelude to ICAO’s downgrading of the kingdom from the so-called Category 1 to Category 2 as result of its January audit, which reportedly showed that the DCA was able to meet only 21 out of 100 ICAO requisites. The audit covered a broad range of areas relevant to aviation safety and airline…
New York Police Officer Unleashes Rant on Uber Driver
There’s a video going around of an incident yesterday in New York where a police officer unleashes a rant on an Uber driver (“How long have you been in this country? … The only reason you’re not in handcuffs and going to jail .. is because I have things to do.. because you’re not important enough.”). Uber released a statement, The behavior in the video is wrong and unacceptable and we appreciate the NYPD investigating the incident. We are in touch with our driver-partner who was subjected to this terrible experience and will continue to provide any support he needs. From the video, posted to YouTube by a passenger in the vehicle at the time: Police abuse of Uber driver in New York City. In an unmarked car, the policeman was allegedly attempting to park…
