Citibank has introduced ‘price rewind’ where you can register a Citibank-issued credit card and they’ll search for price drops on the items you purchase. When a price drops $25 or more you can apply for a refund of the difference in price. This is especially interesting to me because about a month ago I purchased something on Amazon for $185. Three weeks after my purchase the price dropped to $140. I thought I could get the difference credited to me, but I was wrong. Amazon at least used to offer a 30 day pricing guarantee. But multiple calls to Amazon at first yielded clueless agents who knew about no such policy, and other agents who confirmed that the policy is actually seven days. So I was out of luck and made no headway. American Express…
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Hawaiian Airlines Jacks Up Redemption Prices for Virgin Atlantic Flights
Hawaiian Airlines has had one of its best redemption values gutted, though the program remains the only way to book award tickets on Virgin Atlantic without paying egregious fuel surcharges. Business class between the U.S. and U.K. was 100,000 miles roundtrip. Period. No regions, no fuss. Business class beyond the U.K. — to anywhere else Virgin flies — was 140,000 miles roundtrip. Now, with no notice whatsoever, Hawaiian has broken things up into more regions and increased the price of awards. Here is the new business class award chart. All good values end, it has always been that way. That’s why you jump on the great deals while they’re around, rather than waiting to use them at some point in the future. Of course there will be more great deals that come along. But to…
American Airlines Bankruptcy Update: No More Flying, Focus to Shift to American Way Magazine
From the Onion: “Our first love is and always has been our travel and lifestyle magazine—in fact, distributing American Way is the reason we first got into air travel back in 1930,” said former American Airlines CEO and current American Way editor-in-chief Thomas Horton. “Sadly, the publishing industry is changing, and we can no longer afford to use the seat-back pockets of a major international airline to maintain our print circulation. It’s simply not a cost effective way to run our magazine.”
Wall Street Journal Coverage for the Star MegaDO Boeing 787 Charter
The Wall Street Journal‘s Scott McCartney writes about the recently-completed Star MegaDO. Sadly I wasn’t able to go on the trip. The scheduled dates for the event made sense because that’s when United would most likely be able to make the new Boeing 787 available for a group of frequent flyers to charter, mere days after its entry into commercial service. And the dates for the event also coincided with when we would be able to get on United CEO Jeff Smisek’s schedule. Securing the best plane and the head of the airline certainly trumped my availability. So while I helped to put the trip together, I couldn’t go on it. So I thoroughly am enjoying reading accounts of the event, including Scott’s. Question from frequent flier: Why can’t I use miles instead of cash…
There’s No Room Service? My First Ever Stay at a Hyatt Place
When I was early on in high school I watched the pilot episode of Beverly Hills: 90210. Back before it became just an evening teen soap drama, it started as a fish out of water story — Minnesota teens dropped into the fast-paced extravagant world of Beverly Hills (as portrayed through the lens of Hollywood). I expect this to begin as something of a reverse-90210, I’ve written about how I believe that a hotel should offer 24 hour room service, or at least access to a fresh pot of coffee (with fresh milk, not a package that requires no refrigeration) 24 hours a day. So take what Mommy Points calls “Mr. Fancy Pants” and drop him in Minnesota, or a limited-service hotel property. The truth is that I’m incredibly economical in my hotel stays, I’ve…
I’m Quitting All Frequent Flyer Programs and Cutting Up My Cards
… because Christopher Elliott is just so darned compelling. Oh, wait, he’s played the ‘quit your program, miles are worthless’ card before. I rebutted him then. And he’s still wrong. Brazenly, shockingly wrong. Frequent flyer miles offer an amazing value for those that are paying attention to how to make the most of them. For those who are casual consumers, they are $20 bills on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up at little to no incremental cost and for activities you’ll undertake anyway. Sure, folks can make errors in judgment about their value. But the prescription for that is to provide better information, not misinformation designed to encourage people not to bother. Instead, though, Elliott says: My advice? Don’t just say “no,” but, as an old coach I knew at the Naval Academy would…
Up to 25% Bonus for Converting Points to Aeroplan
Through December 17 Aeroplan is offering up to a 25% bonus when converting points from other programs into their miles. Points converted from hotel programs, credit card programs, points.com, and car rental programs all add together and the total number of miles moved over to Aeroplan during the promotion period determine the bonus you earn. Eligible partners: Financial: CIBC, BankofAmerica, Diners Club Club Rewards Hotels: Starwood, Marriott, Hilton, Club Carlson, Best Western, Wyndham, Choice, Accor, Coast Rewards, Shangri-La Car Rental: Hertz Other: Points.com American Express Membership Rewards transfers don’t count for the promotion. Whenever Aeroplan runs similar offers, and it happens not infrequently, they exclude Amex from the bonus. For points.com, only conversion from a member’s mileage account with another program into Aeroplan will count, trade transactions with someone else do not count for the…
New 50,000 Point Signup Bonus for Citi Executive American AAdvantage Mastercard
There’s a new, better offer for the Citi American Airlines Executive Card which offers 40,000 miles after $3000 in spend within 3 months and another 10,000 miles after $10,000 spend within 12 months. Hat tip for the offer goes to Million Mile Secrets, though I’ve seen others write about this new offer without attribution. Now, 50,000 miles after $10,000 spend is certainly not better than the signup bonus that’s available on the regular Citi co-branded card (also 50,000 miles, lower spend requirement, and fee waived the first year instead of a $450 annual fee). So this isn’t your first choice credit card just for the bonus miles. However, For folks who have recently had a Citibank American Airlines credit card, this is another bonus option, even without putting $10,000 on the card for the full…
New Challenges in Finding Air France Business Class Award Space
In the comments to my primer on using FlightStats.com to find available flights (both revenue flights that have availability when you face irregular operations in your travels, and award space on several airlines as well), worldtraveler2018 asks: Gary, Is it correct to say that Air France no longer shows Business Class Award fare class O anymore (e.g., thru ExpertFlyer)? I checked ExpertFlyer for JFK-CDG flights on 12/24 and don’t see any O fare, but I found Business Class award space at airfrance.com. “O” is business class award and upgrade space on Air France. Historically it has been viewable at FlightStats.com and also at Expertflyer. Unfortunately it seems that ‘O’ inventory no longer shows up in either place for Air France transatlantic flights. It does still show on other routes such as intra-Europe flying and Paris-Asia.…
United CEO Jeff Smisek Uncut
MilepointTV has several great videos from the just-completed Star MegaDO IV. One I wanted to highlight though is the complete, uncut presentation given to the group by United CEO Jeff Smisek.
