For the past week, my Facebook feed has been full of ice bucket challenges to raise awareness of ALS and funds for the ALS Association. Somehow I’ve been lucky enough – or inconsequential enough – to escape being called out for an ice bucket challenge. Enter frequent flyer guru Randy Petersen. Randy challenged me from a Sheraton. I find myself on the road at a W, sans anything resembling a video camera other than phone and without any editing software. Nonetheless, and with it given that nearly everything that can be done with an #IceBucketChallenge has already been done, I take my ice bucket and pass on my contribution and my toast on behalf of this disease. Will the three people I’ve challenged come through? You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals…
About Gary Leff
Buying Lufthansa Miles Cheap, More Qantas Award Seats, and How to Enjoy Vacation
Today’s frequent flyer news to know: Can you undo a Chase Ultimate Rewards redemption? One amazing benefit of the British Airways Visa is the companion award ticket. Spend $30,000 on the card in a year and a second passenger gets to fly for no additional miles on an award redemption (still need to find 2 award seats, and pay taxes/fuel surcharges). Roundtrips are no longer required to use the companion award. 10,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles for a $160 Economist subscription. I’ve said that Atlantic City is the saddest tourist destination in the United States. Here is more evidence. How to maximize your vacation even when you have to work. One of the tips at TripAdvisor is mine. Qantas is adding an additional 3 times weekly Melbourne-Los Angeles flight. Any time there are more…
You May Be Able to Sign Up for 50,000 Hyatt Bonus Points – Even If You Weren’t Targeted
Hyatt has a targeted 50,000 point bonus offer out. I wasn’t targeted for it. There are also several smaller targeted bonuses out. I wasn’t targeted for any of them, either. I’ve gotten some reports, though, of customers getting added to the promotions by asking. I inquired with Hyatt what the policy is here. This is what they wrote back: We have made some allowances like this, but it is not a general rule. We have some review on a case-by-case basis for each member that make an inquiry. “Your mileage may vary.” But it seems like it could be worth asking, especially if you have plenty of Hyatt stays upcoming. Here’s the offer. Between September 1 and November 30, your qualifying nights (excluding MGM M Life nights) earn: You can join the 40,000+ people who…
“One Card to Replace Them All” Ready to Ship!
When ‘Coin’ was announced back in November, an app you’d manage on your phone and a single card onto which you could load your many credit cards… and gift cards.. cough.. it was greeted with a great deal of excitement. (See “One Card to Replace Them All (in Your Wallet)”) There were skeptics. The battery doesn’t last forever and isn’t replaceable, it isn’t going to work with EMV Chip cards that I can imagine. But it’s still a pretty cool innovation though of course there are others in the market. I just had to have one, so I placed an order. They said it wouldn’t be available until summer. Tick, tock. Today I got an email that I could set up my account to begin the process of ordering one for shipping. I bought two,…
LEAK: New Bose Noise Cancelling Headsets – QC25 – May Be Out Next Month
Bose QC25: Bonusfeber breaks the news and fortunately Google translates. A video briefly leaked on Vimeo which has since been pulled down. Bose is trying to keep the details quiet and refuses comment. Since Bose is the leader in frequent flyer noise cancelling headphones, their latest product is news. And it’s time for a refresh. They’ve got more photos and detail. 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!
BIG! 90,000 Mile Bonus Offer for New Virgin Atlantic MasterCard!
PointsCentric uncovered a 90,000 mile signup bonus for the Virgin Atlantic co-brand credit card. They used to offer the card as an American Express (one of those oddball American Express cards not issued by American Express). Now it’s a MasterCard. It’s advertised as a signup bonus of up to 90,000 miles but I wouldn’t think about it that way. There are several pieces to the bonus, and you should probably take less than the full miles.
Cathay Pacific is Launching a Boston Flight.. With First Class!
Cathay Pacific will start Boston – Hong Kong service in May of next year. This is exciting because Cathay Pacific is my overall favorite airline, and their Hong Kong – New York JFK service is my favorite flight in the world. When I first saw the news I thought it would be like the Newark and Toronto, with three classes of service — Business, Premium Economy, and Economy. Instead it’s like New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, and San Francisco with 4 classes of services — the three above plus a first class. The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, will carry 275 passengers and offer first class, business class, premium economy, and economy cabins. Here’s the schedule: The 16-hour Hong Kong flight is scheduled to run four days a week, leaving Boston on Tuesday, Wednesday,…
HOT DEAL: Free 2-Day Weekend Car Rental from Avis
A week and a half ago I wrote about how you can get instant and free car rental status from Avis and from National. PointsCentric points out that when you sign up for your Avis status you will be given a free 2-day weekend car rental. [W]hen I got my confirmation email from Avis above, notifying me of my Avis First status, it included the perk of a free weekend rental! No previous rentals required! That email happened a few days ago but I waited to blog about until I received the coupon code and could test whether it works and it does. Sign up online for Avis First status. You’ll need to enter a MasterCard credit card as your payment choice. Just pay attention to the welcome email! You can join the 40,000+ people…
United Adding First Class Meals to Flights of Just 800 Miles
As American and US Airways split the difference on meal service and eliminate meals from nearly all flights under 1000 miles, United decides to go the opposite direction. Scott Mayerowitz reports that United will add back meals in domestic first class for flights of 800 miles or more. That would make United the most generous of the big 3, since Delta is sandwiched in the middle at 900 miles.
How Important Are Elites to Starwood? Uber to United and Hyatt? and Hyatt Bonuses
News and notes from around the interweb: The importance of loyalty to Starwood: 2% of guests deliver 30% of profit, and over 50% of guests are SPG members. Another underscoring as well of customization to meet guest needs. (HT: Alan H.) In addition to Hyatt’s 50,000 point bonus offer there are several offers between 2000 and 10,000 points that you may be eligible for. I apparently wasn’t targeted for any of them. Win 140,000 Hawaiian miles plus stays at the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider. What do people remember when their plane almost crashes? (HT: Hans M.) United’s mobile app now integrates with Uber Hyatt now embeds Uber in its app, too. I wasn’t totally impressed by Hyatt’s 40% bonus on purchased points so I’m not jumping on the offer of up to a 30%…
