Alitalia’s business class award availability between the US and Italy is really good. And their business class product is much improved, too. But if you believe Delta.com, the award calendar is going to make you think there’s nothing available. Here’s a search at Delta.com for two business class seats, New York – Rome, in June. It’s all blue which means high level awards only. The entire month, which means 162,500 miles each way or 325,000 miles roundtrip per person. But it isn’t true.
About Gary Leff
If You’re On the Terrorism Watchlist, You’re Not Allowed to Sit in an Exit Row
Toqueville passes along a piece about the blogger who is on a terrorism watchlist because of a conviction related to his animal activism in the 1990s. He chronicles his experiences. And one of the things I learned was that if you’re on a watchlist, you’re not allowed to have an exit row seat assignment. This one rather befuddles me. Someone who gets super duper screening and is deemed not a safety risk, so they can fly, is still too much of a safety risk to sit near the emergency exit. The blogger speculates why Terrorists hate humans so much we would physically block exit points in the event of a crash and/or fire. They make you do that weird verbal confirmation thing after the fight attendant recites that exit row speech, and we’re known for…
US Airways MasterCard 10,000 Mile Anniversary Bonus Will Continue!
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Some US Airways MasterCard cardholders signed up for an offer that included not just a signup bonus, but also an annual renewal bonus. I have a card from awhile back that had a $0 fee the first year, 40,000 bonus miles after first purchase, and this 10,000 mile annual bonus. That bonus makes it worth it to me to keep paying the annual fee. That, and I like…
One-way Flights to Europe for $100!
WOW Air is really their name, they’re a low cost carrier with initial promo fares for US service that are advertised from Washington DC (but really departing BWI) and Baltimore to London, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik as low as $99-$125 one-way. Return flights are slightly higher, but total trip costs under $300 to Europe are pretty amazing and it’s certainly a great way to get buzz going for a new airline no one had ever heard of before. The flights do not start until March 27 for the 6 weekly Boston – Reykjavik flights (with connecting service beyond Reykjavik) and until June 4 for Baltimore – Reykjavik. So you have to make your purchase pretty far out. BUt that also means these fares are for travel during peak season to Europe, too! Their website isn’t great,…
Why Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades are Bad for Frequent Flyers
Over the weekend I took a domestic flight on American Airlines where the first class cabin was only half full. There were two factors at play, as I tweeted, 1) it’s Saturday 2) I like the @AmericanAir upgrade system please don’t change it.. American and US Airways Have to Decide How to Handle Upgrades as Part of Their Merger With the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, the two carriers are in the midst of working through their differences and figuring out the policies and procedures that will prevail when the two airlines actually combine into one. In a practice common to US airlines but not really done in the rest of the world, premium cabin seats on domestic flights that the airlines doesn’t sell are released as upgrades to elite frequent flyers. US…
Do You Dispute Small Charges? Or Am I Just Being Petty?
I checked into a Hyatt Regency property late on recent evening. Three’s a store in the lobby, and it had just closed. I asked at check-in whether there was anywhere else I might get water. The agent checking me in just told me to take the bottles in the room, they have a price tag on them but they don’t charge Diamond members. I thought that was nice — I remember three years ago at an event in Denver Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell mentioning to me they were looking at making bottled water a Diamond benefit. It’s a small item, but you get into a hotel and it’s nice to have that by your bedside at a non-extortionate price. As these things go, though, I took one of the two bottles and the charge did…
Cathay Pacific About to Rebrand, Focus on Its Core Asian-ness By Becoming an Online Travel Agency
The American Airlines rebranding was incredibly expensive. And while it’s true that the new composite aircraft they’ve ordered need painting rather than brushed metal, painting all the aircraft anew – not to mention changing all the signage, even making new napkins and updating websites, was a huge undertaking. I’d suspect it didn’t help them on net to sell a single additional ticket, or a ticket they would have otherwise sold but at a higher price. Now Cathay Pacific is about to reveal a brand refresh. Here’s the concept: “‘Travelling well’ will be a core part of the brand refresh” reveals Dane Cheng, Cathay Pacific’s Director of Sales & Marketing. “We see Cathay Pacific as global brand which is not just about the airline but about the lifestyle, about travelling well and travelling in style and…
Rwanda Screening US Passengers for Ebola, 2.25% Rebate on Amex Gift Cards, and a 2000 Point Signup Bonus for New Members
News and notes from around the interweb: TopCashBack is offering a 2.25% rebate on the purchase of American Express gift cards today only. So I was wrong when I said I didn’t expect to see anything over 2%. (HT: Frequent Miler) Rwanda now requires US passengers to be screened for Ebola (HT: Alan H.) The Atlanta airport’s wifi is unconstitutional 2000 JetBlue points for new members who register and book a flight by November 21 for travel through November 21. (HT: S.) Air France and Delta have offered to give up some slots at New York JFK to satisfy the EU 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…
Credit Card Bonuses: The Most Alluring Thing on the Entire Internet?
There’s a tremendous volume of spam that this blog attracts, sometimes close to 10,000 comments per day. I imagine it’s because of the search value in the blog, and that it’s been around for more than a dozen years. Much of it is well handled by the spam plugins set up with WordPress. Some of it I have to go through manually. And if I ever make a mistake and mistag a comment that you’ve made, I deeply apologize. It’s rare, I may not know if it has ever happened and I’m generally pretty good about getting that stuff right. But the volume means that sometimes I could make a mistake. Please let me know if it happens to you and I’ll retrieve your comment. Most spam is obvious. I came across the least obvious…
US Requires 6 Percent of West African Passengers Traveling to U.S. to Re-Route to Stop Ebola
For those clamoring for a travel ban, the U.S. has ordered that passengers coming from 3 West African countries are only allowed to enter via five airports. Passengers coming from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea may only enter the U.S. at New York JFK, Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago O’Hare. Those are the airports where $19 an hour EMTs will look for Ebola as passengers turn up. And that’s where 94% of those passengers are flying through anyway. So 6% of passengers coming from those 3 West African nations, who might have planned to, say, fly via some European city to Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, or Seattle will have to re-route. A travel ban is both unnecessary and likely ineffective, but politically it is sometimes helpful to “do something”…
