In light of my recent four hour ordeal getting Expedia to fix a ticket that their ‘elite’ agent screwed up during re-issue, I thought it would be worth explaining why (and when) I continue using third party booking services like Expedia and Orbitz. First, cash rebates. Sites like Big Crumbs will give me a cash rebate for my Expedia purchases, regardless of the airline I’m ticketing. They used to offer 1% but are now offering a flat $3.20, great for cheap itineraries and less rewarding for expensive ones, but multiplied out by tons of itineraries especially ones I book for family and friends, it adds up. Second, Expedia’s own rewards program adds an additional 1% to 2% rebate for use on Expedia-booked travel. The more points you redeem at one time, the more they’re worth.…
About Gary Leff
How Do You Use a Concierge?
USA Today ran a piece on hotel concierges, the upshot is that they’re extremely useful but that some travelers don’t take full advantage of their services because they’re intimidated or unfamiliar with them. On the whole that hasn’t been quite my experience, I’m neither unfamiliar nor intimidated and yet I find most concierges to be of limited usefulness. There are truly connected concierges, on rare occasion I had heard of the lead concierge at the Hotel Arts Barcelona getting guests into El Bulli when there was a same-day cancellation. But on the whole, I’ve rarely found concierges who could get me in somewhere that I couldn’t get into on my own. I do use concierges for simple restaurant reservations outside of the United States, I find that their English is better than I’ll find at…
Another TSA Employee Arrested
“A Few Bad Apples” Police have arrested a Transportation Security Administration employee who stole about $50,000 worth of electronics from travelers’ luggage at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Nelson Santiago, 30, of Hollywood, was arrested after an employee with Continental Airlines saw him slip an I-Pad computer out of a suitcase and into his pants on Monday, said Dani Moschella, spokeswoman for Broward Sheriff’s Office. Every time these stories come out, whether for thefts or child porn, we’re told that the rest of TSA’s employees are great, they’re all thoroughly ‘screened’, and that there are just a few bad apples.. (HT: Alan)
US Airways 50% Bonus on Sharing Miles
In June (and many months previous) US Airways offered a 100% bonus on purchased miles. This month, through July 31, US Airways is offering a 50% bonus on transferring miles from one account to another. The maximum bonus under the offer is 25,000 miles. They’ve offered a 100% bonus on shared miles in the past, so I won’t be jumping on this 50% bonus without a specific award to top off for. But I do appreciate the bonuses, the best bonus offer is the one that’s running at the time you need one for an award. So certainly one for the arsenal if you’re putting something together during July. You just need to know someone with a few miles you can have, or have family members whose accounts you can raid.
Milepoint is Giving Away Two Tickets for the Star Mega DO (Plus Free Hotel Nights)
Randy Petersen posted today that he is going to give away two tickets for the the Star Mega DO trip: a flight charter experience that begins with executives from United and Hyatt in Chicago, tours the Bombardier factory in Montreal, and offers a chance at United’s flight simulators in Denver. Past Mega DOs have been written up in the Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast Traveler (and elsewhere), and last year’s pillow fight went viral, here’s the Today Show clip. Randy is even covering the hotel nights at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, Hyatt Regency Montreal and Grand Hyatt Denver — and flights to and from the charter. Two seats, two ways to win. The Milepoint thread “Fly With Friends: Win Free Tickets for the Star Mega DO” will move to a new location each day.…
Expedia Screws Up Re-issuing a Ticket … and Makes it Right!
Sometimes I agree with Christopher Elliott, sometimes I don’t. In his travel troubleshooter columns I think he often sides with travelers against traveler companies when the travelers themselves are at fault for their predicament but undoubtedly he does a great service for folks who get caught up in a frustrating bureaucracy. Last week I decided to play Christopher Elliott. I was contacted by a traveler who was mid-trip, on flights he had booked through Expedia. I often prefer to book my hotels at least directly with a hotel chain, only a few hotel programs will honor elite benefits on bookings made through third party websites (Eg Hyatt, Marriott) and most will not award points and stay credits on such stays. But airfare — at least on a simple trip when changes aren’t involved — is…
Anti-aspirational awards
Loyalty Traveler extensively discusses the second least appealing development in loyalty programs, ever: the limited time ability to redeem Accor A|Club points for Motel 6 stays. The least appealing loyalty program news ever was, in my view, this. I’d sooner redeem my Aeroplan miles for an LCD toaster.
12 Issues of Travel and Leisure for $5
For the next four days, a year of Travel & Leisure magazine is available for $5. I’m not subscribing because I don’t especially like ‘paper’ but if you enjoy magazines and travel you may be interested. Sadly, if you don’t want to pay $20 a year after your first year, you’ll need to cancel your subscription once the your $5 year is depleted.
United’s Frequent Flyer Program Will Be Called Mileage Plus, What’s More Important is What We Still Don’t Know
United today announced what everyone already knew (or at least expected to a 98% approximation), that the surviving frequent flyer program in the United-Continental merger would be called Mileage Plus, and not Onepass. Mileage Plus was the larger program and significantly more brand value that they couldn’t walk away from. It would have been silly to create an entirely new name, as well. Lots of little details to be ironed out in the merger, and I provided an update over the weekend on much of what we know. United’s posting to Milepoint by Scott O’Leary mentions several outstanding issues still to come. Perhaps the biggest unanswered question not listed is whether the new program will engage in Starnet blocking. For those unfamiliar, this is the practice whereby Mileage Plus programmed its computers to say that…
Star Mega DO Registration is Live, Sign up Now for the Experience of a Lifetime
Over the weekend I shared details of the upcoming Star Mega DO. Events kick off September 5 with an optional European program (and deeply discounted business and economy tickets between New York and Munich). Last year’s event featured an after-hours party in Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. The year before there was even an emergency slide popped for members of the trip. The full event begins at the Park Hyatt Chicago on Wednesday, September 7 with management of United and Hyatt. The next morning there’s a behind-the-scenes tour at O’Hare, followed by a champagne magic show in the Red Carpet Club, charter flight to Montreal for an Air Canada and Aeroplan program and a Bombardier factory tour. It’s on to Denver for a United training center tour and a charity auction for flight simulator…
