Today is free hotel status day here at View from the Wing. To add onto earlier posts about signing up for accounts that start off with elite status, it’s worth highlighting that you can still get Le club Accorhotels top tier Platinum status without actually staying at Accor Hotel properties. It turns out that Frequent Flyer Italia (yes, the blog is written in Italian but Google translates) flags that you can get this status when you own 50 shares of Accor hotels. You used to be able to
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Picking Your Onboard Meal in Advance, Cooking in Your Hotel Room, and Earning the Most Points Eating Out
News and notes from around the interweb: I’m pretty sure I once posted a video of a flight attendant making grilled cheese sandwiches with the iron in their hotel room. What about hot dogs, hamburgers, eggs, and toasted marshmallows? (HT: Liz M.) I’d prefer to order room service. Leveraging your dining out: How to earn miles when you dine out at restaurants. The Ins and Outs of OpenTable for reservations. And the best card to use at restaurants to pay your bill. British Airways will introduce pre-order meals in business and first class. This is more like what American Airlines has, where you order from what would be on the plane anyway (and thus make sure you get your first choice) rather than what Singapore Airlines and others (like Thai) offer where you can pick…
Free Langham Hotels Elite Status
The free mid-tier elite status offer has been extended through the end of 2014 for Visa Infinite cardholders and HSBC Premier members and perhaps others. Langham Hotels 1865 Voyager status normally requires 5 stays within 12 months. Key benefits are: complimentary room upgrade subject to room availability) free internet access 6pm late checkout welcome amenity Use this link to go to the enrollment page. Then enter the invitation code 453826123 into the top box and click ‘enter’. Membership tier should change to ‘Voyager’. The offer is valid through December 31, and status is scheduled to last for 12 months once you register. Status should get renewed with just two stays per year. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just…
Free Marriott Silver Status
A Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card comes with Gold status and United MileagePlus Gold members and above get free Marriott Gold status. But if you don’t have any Marriott status, then the company you work for may give you Silver just for showing up. I’ve covered this before, two years later the advice is the same. Here’s how Marriott signs up people at the Silver status level from a variety of companies that they have corporate agreements with. There’s a simple link, the format is http://www.joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=COMPANYNAME So the link for Accenture is http://www.joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=ACCENTURE And the link for the University of California is http://joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=UniversityofCalifornia … to give a few examples, each of which open new accounts at the Silver level. You can try to enter your own company name to see what’s offered, if anything. (For instance,…
Delta Hates Their Customers, But You Can Earn Tons of Points With GoBank
More big news out today in frequent flyer-world: Expertflyer, a pay service I subscribe to, has been forced by Delta to stop displaying upgrade inventory on the site. An educated consumer is Skymiles’ worst customer. Some customers may again sign up for GoBank, an account with a robust bill pay feature that you can load with gift cards at Walmart. Hyatt has a targeted promotion out for up to 50,000 bonus points. I wasn’t targeted, lots of Diamond members I know were. More nights, more points – while 5 nights earns 5000 points, 20 nights through November 30 earns a total of 50,000. The bad news: I’d guess this won’t stack with — and thus could take the place of — a fall promotion. How much does a union drive up hotel costs? I’ve heard…
What’s the Busiest Airline Route in the World?
Thrillist has a piece today declaring the airline route that’s “the most popular/busiest in the world” Hong Kong – Taipei. At 4.9 million passengers last year. Wait just one second.. That didn’t sit right. That’s only about half the passengers as the route with the greatest passenger volume. And it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what’s going on here. The data being reported was for the busiest international routes by passenger volume. All of the many routes with more passengers are domestic ones. Here are the busiest international routes by passenger volume last year: And here are the busiest routes with most passengers, without excluding domestic flights. (Passenger count reported in thousands.) The latter data is showing 2012 passengers, and the chart with international routes only is passenger totals for 2013,…
International Travel: Power Converters and Adapters in Europe and the Rest of the World
I answered a question earlier today that I realize could be useful to others — it’s basic stuff for the seasoned international traveler, but worth sharing for the first-timer going abroad: power adapters and converters. A converter alters the power so that it matches the needs of your device. For instance, Europe runs on 220 volt electricity while the US is 110 volt. Most devices do not need a converter. Nearly all modern electronics are dual voltage meaning they work on both 110 and 220 volts. You do not need a converter just an adapter so you can plug them straight into the wall. This almost certainly true for your laptop and mobile phone. On the other hand hair devices (curling irons, flat irons, hair dryers) that aren’t dual voltage [and most aren’t] will need…
How Your Kids Can Help You Earn Miles… Once You Divorce
It’s said that, evolutionarily, engagement rings are diamonds because less expensive items would be given out by men much more frequently. Since they’re so expensive, most men can only give them out to a but one woman. And by handing over a large portion of one’s net worth, it serves as a hostage to ensure fidelity. On the contrary, I always thought that Diamonds were for buying online from Costco and returning in-store. Well it turns out that engagement, and marriage itself, has a back-end approach to mileage-earning if things don’t work out. And I don’t mean lawyers who take compensation in the form of gift cards purchased at office supply stores, or who take payment directly by credit card. Now I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life to earn miles. I…
The Truth Behind UberX, Restrictions on Using American Miles to Hawaii, and an Illegal Drone Over Beijing
News and notes from around the interweb: 24 Hours as an UberX driver. Worth a read. Relatedly, UberX cuts prices by 10% in Dallas. The Ultimate Guide to Booking Award Tickets Using American AAdvantage Miles needs to be updated to reflect that American’s partner Hawaiian Airlines cannot be combined with other airlines on a single award “to/from Central, South America or Transatlantic”… same source also flags that Cathay Pacific awards cannot be changed within four hours of flight. New discount airline launches between the US and UK in October, with prices currently from $545 roundtrip. An illegal video of Beijing using a drone A private jet with no windows that boasts panoramic views. A riddle wrapped inside an enigma… Qantas has been making big changes due to big losses. Still, they’re expected to lose ~…
When Do Hotels Make Their Rooms Available On Points?
We know how it generally works for airlines. They make seats available as ‘saver’ awards when they don’t expect to sell those seats for cash. A year in advance they’ll have some idea what seats those might be, and may make some award seats available when the flights are loaded into the schedule. Very close to departure they’ll have a pretty good idea which seats that haven’t sold will go out empty, which is why the very last minute can be about the best time to book awards (but also a gamble, because sold out flights – which many are nowadays – won’t be bookable at saver award prices). Hotel programs generally work differently. The economics aren’t always the same but in general most now offer a room for points whenever the base or ‘standard’…
