IHG Rewards Free Night Promo: Here’s how it works and why you’ll want to play Earlier in the week I wrote that IHG Rewards – the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and related brands – would be bringing back their fun, complicated, and rewarding “Big Win” promotion for the fall under a new name. IHG’s Into the Nights Promotion turns out to be easier and more rewarding than past versions. Registration is required and the promotion period runs through the end of the year. Different members get different offers. Generally unengaged, irregular guests with the chain get easy offers and regular guests get tougher offers. (Members opening a new account seem to get the easiest offers.)
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American Express Eliminated Online Message Customer Support
I like doing customer service with credit card companies online, in writing. I don’t like calling. I don’t really like the phone anyway, it’s more of an intrusion. I prefer to compose my thoughts clearly and crisply, and not have to wait in real-time for the company to respond, to transfer me around, to re-explain things. I like a written record of the company’s response. That way if they don’t deliver, I can refer them back to their commitment. They get to record phone calls, it’s not nearly as convenient for me to do so. Unfortunately American Express has gotten rid of their online email customer support leaving chat as the online option. The online ‘secure message center’ – where you log into your account and send an electronic message – is gone. This isn’t…
Is British Airways Going to Move to a Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Program?
Earlier I wrote about whether American appears to be taking the best approach in integrating airlines first as part of its merger with US Airways and only then evaluating whether to make a shift similar to United and Delta in terms of awarding miles on the basis of money spent on tickets rather than miles flown. In making the case that American should be moving quickly on IT investments (that he suggests would be in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars!), he suggests that American needs to do this to keep up with joint business venture partner British Airways. If anyone reading this were CEO for the day would you not have the topic on your plate right now? Or would you rather in two years, when you decide to move to a…
Andaz Maui Decides They Don’t Like Freeloading Diamond Members Anymore
Mommy Points let me know that the Andaz Maui breakfast — that I raved about just six weeks ago — has tightened up their benefit for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond members. They’ve created a new, lower level buffet (the “Ka’ana Pantry” rather than full buffet) which they allow Diamonds to supplement with an entree and side off of the menu. Andaz Maui Had One of the Best Breakfast Offerings in Hyatt, the Chain With the Best Breakfast Benefit Hyatt offers the most generous top tier breakfast benefit — full, not continental, breakfast in hotels without a club lounge offering. I rate the Andaz Maui’s breakfast a notch behind the Park Hyatt Hadahaa in the Maldives (better setting), Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris (more refined, and room service option), and Andaz 5th Avenue (room service). It’s…
Why American Has Its Frequent Flyer and IT Priorities Right (and Randy Petersen is Wrong)
Doug Parker said that American AAdvantage wouldn’t be going revenue-based at this point, that their key metric is combining the AAdvantage program with Dividend Miles, and that once they accomplish that they’ll evaluate what’s next. In his opening remarks to the September issue of Inside Flyer, Randy Petersen seems to push for a revenue-based program now. He asks, Really? How could the topic not even be on the plate right now? Let’s see, the change in both the Southwest Rapid Rewards and Delta SkyMiles programs reportedly cost tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in technology changes to cconvert to revenue-based programs – and both were delayed upwards of two years because of technical hurdles associated with the change – and the topic is not on the table at American? … I…
Spirit Airlines Promotes Low Fares With Naked Photos of Jennifer Lawrence!
In Spirit’s latest, they offer: Spirit wins, because they get the Wall Street Journal to cover their ‘low fares’ at virtually zero cost. “Our bare fare was hacked,” reads a Spirit Airlines promotion emailed to consumers Wednesday, just days after hacked nude photographs of a handful of celebrities surfaced online. “We feel naked; you were never supposed to see this Bare Fare! It was meant for a special someone (who isn’t you). Now it’s all over the Internet for you to take advantage of as you see fit.” Spirit has promoted its Bare Fare program before, but the cheeky references to the weekends’ high-profile photo deluge are new. “We thought the cloud was our friend, y’know, because we spend so much time flying with ‘em,” the promotion says, referring to reports that hackers accessed the…
50% Bonus for New Air Canada Flight Bookings for Travel Through April 2015
Frequent Flyer Bonuses flags a lucrative Aeroplan bonus miles offer for flying Air Canada. It’s a 50% bonus on Air Canada (and Express and rouge) flights booked between September 2 and October 31 for travel between October 1 and April 30, 2015. Registration is required. 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!
About That 50,000 American Airlines Bonus You Can Get…
American Airlines Credit Card 50000 Bonus Miles: Monday I wrote about the 50,000 bonus point offering for signing up for the Citibank American Airline small business credit card. The link I had been using for a long while stopped working, but a reader provided me with a new one. The deal lives on. And indeed, 50,000 miles for the card is a good deal. It’s no fee the first year, and with a low spending requirement. It ‘stacks’ with the personal card. You can get 50,000 for both. Here’s Why (and how) you should get a small business card. I failed to make one important point in the post, because it wasn’t news – the 50,000 point personal card signup bonus is still available. I’ve gotten emails from several readers since I wrote the post…
Improvements Coming to Starwood Elite Upgrades: “SPG Preferences” and More!
Starwood introduced a whole new suite of elite benefits two and a half years ago. The one most initially prized was “Suite Night Awards” — Platinum members who stayed at least 50 nights a year would receive 10 nights that could be confirmed into suites in advance of arrival. How Upgrades in Advance Work Now Some members have had good luck with these, and of course it depends on the hotel (primarily how many suites they have) and when members stay (competition for those suites). But on the whole there’s also been much frustration over the ability to actually use the upgrades. In fact, at the end of 2013, unused suite night awards had their validity extended through the end of April 2014. These upgrades are not really ‘confirmed’ the way we usually think about…
The Guy Who Sparked the Knee Defender Controversy Plans to Keep Using It!
The passenger who touched off a media firestorm over use of the ‘knee defender’ and who caused a United flight from Newark to Denver speaks out. Scott Mayerowitz of the Associated Press scored an interview with James Beach, the man who touched off the firestorm. And all I can say is… wow. On the one hand he says he is “embarrassed by the way the confrontation unfolded and that he regrets his behavior.” The knee defender is against the rules at all of the major US airlines and he acknowledges that passengers have a right to recline their seat, but he plans to continue to use it anyway. Here’s how he goes about it: “I put them in maybe a third of the time. Usually, the person in front tries (to recline) their seat a…
