A Hong Kong-based journalist emails to ask, “Why are US airports so bad?” The thing about US airports is they aren’t all bad. The most frequent experiences that non-US residents have are bad, but that’s mostly a function of Miami, New York JFK, and Los Angeles (the international terminal – egads – even with recent improvements). The airports that such folks see represent the worst of American aviation. Now, I actually like JFK’s terminal 7. It’s small and easy in/out. And terminal 8 is rather attractive. Much has been made of the massive revamp of the Delta terminal. But the airport itself remains a mess: there terminals aren’t connected at all airside, and in many cases you even need to go outside and cross a road to reach the interterminal train. You can’t even get…
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500 Free United Miles
You can have 500 free United MileagePlus miles just for joining their free dining program. (HT: Mommy Points) There’s no restaurant spend required, the miles are just for doing the online signup by July 10. If you do credit dines at participating restaurants to the program, though, they’ll give you 500 more bonus miles for each of your first five qualifying transactions within 30 days of creating your online profile. For an overview of dining programs and bonuses see How to Earn Miles When You Dine Out at Restaurants. 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.…
The “Up in the Air” Deleted Scene That Shows Us Just How Much Has Changed in Four Years
Here’s a deleted scene from the film Up in the Air where George Clooney’s character is defending his refusal to ever spend any of his miles. Gosh, how dated and quaint that seems. Looking back on it, and I’ve been giving the same advice for at least the past dozen years — to earn and redeem in the same period, not to save miles for some future time, that acrrued miles will never be worth more in the future than they are today so earn, burn, and earn some more — but never before has that advice seemed more sound and more timely. The passage of the last four years, but more specifically the past 15 months in particular, shows that. Since Ryan Bingham wanted to earn 10 million miles (in the book, which bears…
Stay 3 Get One Free, Stackable Bonus and Discount, and Uber’s New Loyalty Program (Bits ‘n Pieces for May 15, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Blogger and Milepoint co-founder joins Boarding Area and introduces himself. Please check out his site and give him a warm welcome! Uber is launching a loyalty program #UberLoyalty. It’s only in Phoenix so far, but could serve as an interesting test to roll out more broadly. They’ll reward the top 500 riders each month in that city with uber credits, hotel stays, and other benefits. Up to 50% bonus on purchased Amtrak points through June 30. Alitalia is offering a 30% bonus and 20% discount on purchased miles. Best Western Free Night After Three Stays from May 19 through September 1. Must register before your stay and no later than August 10. Bonus can only be earned once and used by January 31 at Best Western properties in…
Reciprocal Upgrades Coming to American and US Airways in a Few Weeks, But How Will it Work?
In a piece about how US Airways and American are offering the same exact flights for different prices, Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal gets this statement from American Airlines: American expects to be able to offer reciprocal upgrade benefits within a matter of weeks, spokesman Casey Norton said. This doesn’t come as a surprise, they’ve been working on the functionality and want to roll it out as quickly as they can. But this is the first time I’ve seen them put what’s this close to a timeline to it — they don’t say the number of weeks (since they’ll go live as soon as they’re confident the IT works), but they are saying ‘weeks’ and not ‘months’. This is important as they integrate the airlines and convince their best customers at each airline…
Why You Should Get the US Airways MasterCard Now
The US Airways Premier World MasterCard® This card is offering 40,000 miles after first purchase (no minimum spending requirement). These miles will ultimately be combinable with miles in an American AAdvantage account. That means you can get American Airlines cards too and you’ll be able to pool the miles when the two frequent flyer programs combine, or possibly even earlier. You will not be able to apply for the card once the American and US Airways programs combine. This card is from Barclays, and Citibank will become the exclusive issuer of new American Airlines credit cards. But if you have an existing Barclaycard account, you can keep it. If you hope to get more than one US Airways MasterCard, it’s best to sign up for one now. Barclays is tougher on getting second cards than…
Why Hotel Programs Should Keep Points Prices of Their Best Properties Low
Hilton HHonors so devalued their program last year that top-end hotels which once cost as little as 32,000 or 40,000 points per night on a 5-night stay like the Conrad Maldives cost 80,000 or even 95,000 points a night When I had breakfast with Hilton HHonors Vice President Mark Weinstein last month, he explained the bind they’re in, with room rates rising and hotels full their hotels have to be compensated more for award nights. And I told him that doesn’t mean they want to pass on the corresponding increase to their members in all cases; that members and the program can benefit by keeping the cost of certain aspirational properties more modest even if that means holding onto them as a loss leader. That’s because they’ll build loyalty and put heads in beds throughout…
The Most Useful Travel Websites
I’m not sure if I’ve just become curmudgeonly (“they don’t make them like they used to”) but despite an explosion of travel websites I haven’t updated my mental model of those that are actually the most useful in several years. So I thought I’d list the travel sites and tools that I find the most useful, and hopefully you can chime in with the ones you use. I’d love to be educated, shaken out of my complacency and usual routine, and learn about something new. Awardwallet. The free version suffices for most anyone’s needs, it’s a great tool for tracking all of your miles and points in one place, and it lets you have one-click login to your accounts as well. They offer some social and trip organizing features as well, though I don’t use…
The Best Airline and Hotel Mistake Deals — and What to Do When You Find One
Frequent flyer award tickets are one thing, you can get amazing value. But when airlines and hotels give away their product nearly for free, you can do even better — and usually without having to constrain yourself to dates that are available on points. here are some of the best deals that have come along, and what to do when they appear.
$15 Fare, Mileage Purchase Discount, Award Redemption Discount, and More Kickstarter (Bits ‘n Pieces for May 13, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Frontier comes to Washington Dulles with $15 fares. Of course your trip will cost more than that once you pay fees for carry on bags. JetBlue is offering 20% off award redemptions made through tomorrow. United is offering up to 35% off on the purchase of miles. But that’s still over 2.4 cents a mile so not a very good deal. Travel is Free has a kickstarter to raise funds for an adoption. Meanwhile pfdigest is raising funds for a hostile takeover of Citibank. All inspired by this? How to activate $200 Visa gift cards from Staples.com without waiting for activation codes. 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…
