I don’t know why I read these things, they always make me want to throw my laptop, but the 2009 Travel & Leisure World’s Best lists are up. The Hay Adams is not the best hotel in DC. The Marriott in Budapest is not better than the Four Seasons George V in Paris (neither is the Westin Milan, which was a perfectly respectable city hotel when I stayed there two years ago — but the 4th best city hotel in Europe? That’s absurd.) Perhaps I’m most offended by three “Couples” resorts — and for that matter a Sandals — on Jamaica being rated above the Aman resort property in Turks & Caicos, which doesn’t even make the list of best resorts in the Carribean. But then the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort gets ranked as the…
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The Hidden Value of the Asiana Award Chart and Asiana American Express
In my extensive post discussing the best rewards credit cards, I briefly mention the Asiana American Express card from Bank of America (which earns 2 miles per dollar spent!). I posted my credit card commentary on Flyertalk this morning, and Flyertalk member Guava went into extensive detail on why he values the Asiana Amex more than I was giving it credit for in my post. Because this advice is rather unique I will quote at great length. Bottom-line the card is useful especially to those who earn their miles predominantly from credit card spend and who want to redeem in particular from the Eastern U.S. to Europe or for upgrading from full fare coach or paid business class on Star Alliance partners. Not my redemption pattern, but it does match that of some readers, so…
New York, LA, Miami, or Chicago to Buenos Aires $287
Mexicana fare QLABUE, 2-day minimum stay. Non-refundable coach. Best way to find availability is to go to matrix.itasoftware.com and choose month-long search, from JFK (or enter LAX) and destination EZE. That will pull up a calendar showing the departure dates with the $287 fare available. Only available a few days in August, for instance, but every day in November. Last day of travel under this fare is December 9. This amounts to $59 each way plus taxes and fees.
Too Bad They Don’t Name the Resort…
A Polish woman is suing an Egyptian hotel, “claiming her daughter got pregnant using their mixed swimming pool.” The bizarre claim surfaced as Magdalena Kwiatkowska demanded compensation after her 13-year-old daughter came back from the family holiday expecting a baby. Apparently the daughter claims not to have met any boys on the trip…
Continental Gets DOT Antitrust Immunity Approval for Star Alliance Integration
The Department of Transportation has granted final approval to antitrust immunity for Continental’s entrance into the Star Alliance. The Department of Justice had opposed the move, despite being late to the party and despite strange objections about the risk of “monopoly profits” as though they hadn’t looked at an airline balance sheet in 8 years. Naturally, DOT had to make some face saving concessions for Justice. The limitations, also called “carve-outs,” affect four transatlantic markets, four markets between the United States and Canada, and all markets between the United States and Beijing, China, it said. “The Star carriers may continue to serve these routes, but they will not be covered by the grant of immunity at this time.” In addition to clearing the way for coordinating on frequent flyer benefits, the ruling permits Continental to…
Mileage Manager Introduces Integrated Award Search Tool
One of the most frequent questions I get is “how do I find the award seats I want?” I’ve tried to give some answers on this blog, for example here. I even wrote a piece in Inside Flyer on the subject. That’s me trying to teach folks to fish. But not everyone has the time or inclination, and it’s not an easy endeavor in any case. I used to be able to direct folks to Award Planner, a pay service full service travel agency that specialized in booking awards. But they ceased operating. Wendy Perrin frequently recommended them in her annual Conde Nast Traveler piece on the best specialty travel agents. LaDonna — and others — were great. I never talked with Randy Petersen about why he shut down that part of his business. I…
Continental Temporary Online Booking Bonus
Through August 31, Continental is offering 500 bonus miles for booking online and paying with a Mastercard. The bonus is valid for up to 4 purchases. (Hat tip to lucky.)
Buying Coins for Miles Now Unlimited?
Frugal Travel Guy reports that the $2500 per person cap on Presidential Coin orders has been lifted. US Mint Deal is Going Wild The cap has come off the US Mint deal on the Native American coins and I’m hearing some huge numbers of coin deliveries. One reader said he and his mom are getting 20K coins per week. I know of another that has deposited over $60K in coins. Five minutes ago I just picked up the UPS box delivered with 2500 coins to meet the minimum spend on the new US Bank Flex Awards offer Katy got. That was enough for me. How are you guys moving these large numbers of coins to and from the bank? Katy and I live in small town America and have a banking relationship with our locally…
Priority Club Extends Free Night Promo Through August 15
The Priority Club stay 2 earn a free night promo which I discussed here has been extended through August 15. The promo website doesn’t say that. It was leaked in Asia but nothing online. Now folks who registered for the offer previously show it in their online accounts with the new expiration date. No need to re-register. Update: Offer extension doesn’t appear to be automatic for everyone, some folks still see an end date of the promo of July 3. And re-registering for the offer doesn’t appear to be working at the moment, either, though folks seem to be successful calling in. I imagine this should all sort itself out in a few days, the key will be to determine in your online account whether you are in fact registered for the promo with an…
If You Plan to Convert Choice Hotel Points to Southwest Rapid Rewards Credits, Do It Now!
Choice hotels is devaluing their transfers to Southwest Rapid Rewards by 25% effective July 9. 6,000 points will yield 1.5 credits instead of the current 2. So if a Rapid Rewards transfer was in your future, the future is now (or at least tomorrow). Note that Choice will only transfer up to 32 Rapid Rewards credits per day, so if you have more than 72000 Choice points to transfer you’ll need to break up it up between today and tomorrow. The overall change itself doesn’t bother me too much, I don’t ever like devaluations of course, this isn’t one I participated in. Though it was certainly of benefit to many, especially those who had transferred large numbers of Amtrak points to Choice (or even large numbers of Continental points to Amtrak to Choice). What I…
