A little over a month ago an offer came out promising up to 90,000 miles for the Virgin Atlantic co-brand credit card. Now, these are Virgin Atlantic miles which aren’t the most valuable. And the offer required a whole bunch of spend. So it’s wasn’t the greatest card offer out there. In fact, I view the card as 82,500 miles for $15,000 spend and wouldn’t take it all the way to capture the full offer on the table. But it was from an issuer without too many co-brand cards (my only current Bank of America card is an Alaska Visa), and it’s potentially a lot of miles. The link for the offer appeared to die, so it seemed like the chance for this was gone. But it turns out that another link still works. This…
About Gary Leff
Mileage-earning Opportunity Begins to Slam Shut, Plus Crabs on a Plane and Donating to US Customs
News and notes from around the interweb: US Customs and Border Patrol accepts donations. (I’d definitely rather tip housekeeping at Marriotts) A US Airways flight was delayed because a box of live crabs spilled out in the cargo hold during flight. Some Chase cards treating online Serve reloads as cash advances. They’re not wrong… The Forward Cabin likes the American Airlines buy-on-board Chicken Cobb sandwich. So do I. Scott Mayerowitz covers the fascinating case of Marriott’s big fine over blocking guests use of their own wifi. This was at the Gaylord Opryland, and convention exhibitors there pay hundreds of dollars for wifi so the hotel didn’t want them using their own. The actual FCC order is here. The ultimate teenage girl travel accessory (HT: Alan H.) Also from Alan, an excellent blow by blow account…
Are Airlines Becoming Less Dependent On — and Even Giving the Finger to – Their Bank Partners?
When economic times were tough for the airlines, really from 2001 through 2011-2012 or thereabouts, the airlines relied on the banks and the sale of miles to keep them going. There’s long been speculation about the spinoff of frequent flyer programs like United MileagePlus (which had long ago been formed as a separate entity, UAL Loyalty Services), since the program was deemed to be worth more than the airline itself at one point.. largely because of the ability to sell miles, and no one is a bigger buyer of miles than credit card issuers providing rewards to customers. But as the economy has gotten better for the airlines, as planes are flying full and yet they’ve managed to maintain capacity discipline so they’re enjoying higher fares, the airlines don’t seem willing to be so subservient…
Easy IHG Rewards Club Free Nights Via Best Rate Guarantee: Now Must Claim More Than 24 Hours Out
Last month I wrote a guide to getting free one-night stays at IHG Rewards Club properrties. No points required. IHG Rewards Club (the program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and related brands) will give you the first night of your stay for free if you make a successful best rate guarantee claim. If you make one-night stays, then you’re really looking at staying in hotels for free. They’ve updated the Best Price Guarantee terms and conditions to require that you submit claims at least 24 hours prior to the hotel’s check-in time for your reservation. Reporting to IHG of a Claim. You must contact us using the online claim form within twenty-four (24) hours after completing your valid room booking on any IHG website to make a claim under the Best Price Guarantee. In…
Questions That Are Rarely Asked
Reader J.J. wonders, How come flight attendants have to pick up the cups they serve drinks in prior to takeoff, but they let me keep the Starbucks coffee I brought on board myself? Sort of like Gallagher… If 7-11’s are open 24 hours a day, why do they have locks on the doors? 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!
Earn 1000 (Stackable) Bonus Hyatt Points for Each Stay Through the End of the Year
Hyatt is running a targeted 50,000 point promotion through the end of November. I wasn’t targeted, but fortunately it was still possible to sign up. That period is shaping up to be super generous because it will stack with the 1000 bonus points per stay they’ll give you through the end of the year for booking with their mobile app or mobile website. I shrugged my shoulders at Hilton over 1000 HHonors points but do see value in 1000 Hyatt points. That’s the thing about hotel programs, they’re all on different point ‘scales’. A top tier Hyatt will cost about a third as many points as the top-end Hilton. The trick here is that the stay has to be booked and consumed between October 1 and December 31. Annoying, I may have to cancel and…
Business Travelers: Unchain Yourself From Your Expense Reporting Tool
In one of my least-read posts of the month, I wrote about business booking and travel expense management company Concur working to allow consumers to book travel on airline websites while still leveraging negotiated corporate discounts, and handling expense tracking. Gee, I wonder why that wasn’t sexy? (This post was read fewer times, even, than the one about my regulatory comment filed with the Department of Transportation about new proposed transparency rules for ancillary fees. Now that means it was unpopular. Egads.) Still, it’s sort of important. I don’t think anyone actually likes Concur, but it’s a giant. They’ve been acquired by SAP. And Concur users, you have an ‘out’. An expense reporting tool that I actually find to be innovative — Expensify, whose motto is “Expense Reports That Don’t Suck” — has an offer…
American Announces 4 New Cities Served from Miami: What it Tells Us About Their Strategy
American has announced a flight expansion from Miami. They’re adding once-daily service starting March 5 to: Austin Kansas City Salt Lake City San Antonio All will be operated by Boeing 737-800 aircraft, and will bring the total of cities served from Miami to over 130. Each of the flight pairs is an early morning (or in the case of Salt Lake City, redeye) departure for Miami and an evening (7:50pm or 7:55pm) return. That means they’re looking at these flights as bringing passengers to Miami rather than serving the local Miami market. These flights also work well to take passengers from these cities through Miami to some of their Latin American destinations, and are good for returning from those destinations that have daytime service to Miami. It’s interesting to see American building up Miami. It’s…
Is American Airlines Creating a New Revenue-Based Top Elite Status Tier?
American Airlines held a dinner in New York for Concierge Key members. Concierge Key is status has for spend and traveler influencers. When it first started it didn’t confer any elite status in the AAdvantage program, now it comes with Executive Platinum status and Admirals Club membership. I believe Concierge Key members no longer pay cash co-pays if using miles to confirm an upgrade. If I had to guess, I’d think that there are between 10,000 – 15,000 Concierge Key members but I am not certain of this. Unlike United’s Global Services, it doesn’t directly put someone at this level higher up on waitlists such as the upgrade queue. (There are reports of inventory management opening up confirmed upgrade space on occasion, but otherwise a Concierge Key member doesn’t generally trump an Executive Platinum on…
Starwood Pulls Their Terms and Conditions Changes Off The Website
Yesterday morning I wrote about Starwood’s new terms and conditions. Lots of cleanup, new sections and changes related to the introduction of SPG Pro, there were also some rather odd additions like an agreement that any Starwood member won’t challenge the chain’s trademarks and that gifting awards to others when you’re not staying won’t earn stay or night credit towards status for either the gifter or for the guest. These were terms that were set to go into effect on October 15. And no doubt that will happen, at least in some measure similar to what was posted yesterday. But this morning the terms and conditions have reverted to the older May 2013 revision. The changes that had been posted to Starwood’s website are gone. Either a technical glitch, or someone at SPG decided the…
