News and notes from around the interweb: Upscale Mexico and Caribbean beach deals available Chase is offering $500 for opening a checking and a savings account. Barbecue throwdown: Kansas City vs. Central Texas (the latter is of course better). Facebook game for free Avios points Enter to win a 2 night Marriott stay in the DC area and $50 Uber credit. 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 Gary Leff
Booking the Domestic Holy Grail Award Seats: Premium Cabin Transcons on United, Delta, American and JetBlue
The only domestic market that’s truly premium is New York to key business markets on the West Coast, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles has Hollywood and studio contracts, San Francisco banking. Of course New York is one of the most important and lucrative (and competitive) aviation markets in the world, and connecting all of these three cities with London and Tokyo completes the business holy grail. The New York domestic routes, as a result, compete not just on price but also product. I went to see American’s new premium product back in December before it launched. And I flew the inaugural commercial flight for the aircraft, Los Angeles – New York. Business class on board the aircraft is extremely similar to what United offers on the routes. Of course, American has first class…
US Airways Raised Price of Share Miles Ahead of Their 100% Bonus ‘With a Twist’
US Airways is back with a 100% bonus on shared miles, but two things are different this time. They’ve increased the price of transferring miles from one account to another to 1.5 cents a mile. The bonus doesn’t all go into the account receiving the transferred miles, half the bonus goes to the mileage recipient and half to the original accountholder this time. The value proposition is different than before, so let’s talk about what it costs and whether it’s jumping on.
American’s Ongoing Problem Booking Awards on Etihad
For a little over two weeks American AAdvantage has been unable to book award seats on their partner Etihad. That’s a big deal, because Etihad has a fantastic onboard product and because their awards are generally very very easy to get. Etihad has scheduled flights between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Chicago, Toronto, Dallas, and Los Angeles. All but Chicago and Toronto feature a first class cabin. I’ve flown Etihad first class: Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Washington Dulles Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf New York JFK – Abu Dhabi They’ve been my go-to for travel to the Maldives, the Middle East, and India. If you’re looking to book an award using American miles, see the Ultimate Guide to Booking an Award Ticket Using American…
COPA Wants You To Know You Can Still Earn Miles Based on Distance Flown When Crediting to United MileagePlus If…
COPA wants you to know that you can still earn points based on distance flown with their airline as long as you buy your tickets through them, and not off of United.com. That’s because — even though COPA is a part of the United MileagePlus frequent flyer program and MileagePlus will be awarding points based on ticket price starting in March 2015 — MileagePlus will continue to award points based on distance flown for tickets sold by their partners for travel on their partners. In other words, if you buy a COPA ticket and fly on COPA, that earns miles based on distance — not revenue — even under the new post-March MileagePlus rules. The same remains true for other partners, of course. If you buy a Lufthansa ticket and fly Lufthansa, and then credit…
Extreme Hotel Deal Alert Website (and Other Offers and Updates)
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Worst hotel view ever. Site worth subscribing to: Extreme Hotel Deals. Cheap rates, discounts, and single night mistake rates. You can’t filter emails by city though so a lot of what they find – amazing offers – won’t be applicable. Earn points for getting your friends to stay with Marriott Rewards How SeaTac’s $15 minimum wage is doing. Despite the naysayers, I tend to think that where there is large immovable capital investment and a fixed customer whose attention can’t readily be drawn elsewhere, a plan like this can work. But there will be unanticipated adjustments… and it isn’t always the same workers who get paid more, the airport will attract more skilled workers and we’ll see some adjustments to how work gets performed. Oh, and, uh, Happy…
Is Your Personal Travel and Financial Data Safe? Do You Care?
Travel providers store our credit card information. Airlines may have our date of birth, passport number, and Known Traveler or Redress number. They know where we’re going. They know where we’re staying. There’s identity theft. There’s stalker risk. And there’s corporate espionage. Following a venture capitalist you might know where they are investing. Following the travels of a lawyer you might discern the confidential and privileged business of a client. And that doesn’t even touch on the information held by banks we do business with, which are themselves travel providers through their co-brand relationships. So I was intrigued when jamesb2147 pointed me to Google’s report on use of encrypted e-mail. My working model has always been that the big banks and financial institutions have high security standards, and companies that have data interfaces working with…
What London Heathrow Was Like.. 50 Years Ago
I enjoyed this 1964 look at London’s Heathrow airport this Sunday morning. I liked this line: “Heathrow is known the world over as the pilot’s ideal of what an airport should be.” Although the video recognizes capacity problems at Heathrow (“in a few years’ time.. it won’t be able to cope with the air traffic flying in and out of London”), which despite constant construction projects and interminable delays haven’t been solved some 50 years later. 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!
The Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur’s Suites, Views, and Lounge Nearly Blow Me Away
Previous trip report installments Introduction: Maldives and Malaysia in First Class, How I Booked It and What it Cost Etihad Lounge and First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport Etihad’s Abu Dhabi first class lounge, and business class Abu Dhabi – Male Maldivian Domestic Lounge, Flight, and Boat Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Boat Transfer, Maldivian Domestic Flight Kooddoo – Male, and Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Male – Kuala Lumpur I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur in November 2012 shortly after it opened. At the time the opening staff was still working on property, drawing on Hyatt employees from around the Asia Pacific region. My impression was of a gorgeous hotel, with nice suites, and a friendly staff. But I thought that the…
How to Book British Airways First Class Awards Without Fuel Surcharges
One Mile at a Time, who has called British Airways first class ‘the world’s best business class product,’ finally relents a bit and says that BA first class is pretty decent if you set your expectations appropriately. I’ve pushed back on Lucky when he’s called BA first class a good business product, although in fairness I think he first said it after flying BA’s 747 which I do find to be less good than what they offer in other aircraft. The forward pair of two seats is actually completely open to the cabin and I can hardly call it first class. BA first isn’t the sort of ‘customized’ service that you get on many airlines. Their food isn’t as high-end or varied. They offer respectable champagne, for sure. Their amenity kits and pajamas are quality.…
