Venetian is offering $119 weekdays and $159 weekends through January (an extra $100 for a concierge level room). Similar deal is supposed to be available at Palazzo but I can’t get the relevant links to open myself.
About Gary Leff
Possible Window to Book Awards Using United Miles Without Starnet Blocking
One Mile at a Time points to a Flyertalk thread with some (possibly momentary?) good news on the evil practice of United refusing to allow Mileage Plus members to book awards that are being offered by its partners (and frequently claiming falsely that the seats are not in fact being made available by the partner). At the moment it seems that the blocking practice has let up some, at least for Lufthansa flights which normally seem to be the most heavily blocked flights for awards by United members. Reports are that intra-Europe flights are especially bookable, and some transatlantic flights too, including flights that Lufthansa had been offering but which United was previously blocking. So now is a good time to try to book awards with United miles, or to make changes to awards already…
150 Free American Miles for Watching a Bose Promo Video
Bose is offering 150 American Airlines miles for watching a short online video. There’s also another 350 miles if you to into a store and demo the QuietComfort headphones. If you buy they’re offering 4 American miles per dollar. The offer is valid through October 31 and miles are supposed to post in 6 to 8 weeks.
TSA Agent on PAID LEAVE for Stealing CNN Camera and Selling it on eBay
Via Online Travel Review, a TSA screener at Newark was caught stealing a $50,000 camera from CNN and selling it online. He’s accused of stealing at least 100 items. He had an outstanding reputation on eBay. The TSA defends itself by pointing out that only 465 officers have been terminated for theft in the past five years (“0.4 percent of those employed by the agency”). But that just underscores how hard it is to reach the point of firing bad agents — this one was busted by the FBI who won the auction and recovered the CNN’s camera at the guy’s house, and yet the TSA employee is on paid leave.
United Mileage Plus Dining VIP Fast Track Offer
Rewards Network used to be called iDine, and Transmedia before that. It’ll always be iDine to me. They co-brand with lots of different loyalty programs. In the old days the standard earning rate for an airline was 10 miles per dollar spent, but then they cut that to 1 mile per dollar unless you had signed up for an online account and took their emails in which case the earn rate was 3 miles per dollar. Nice for meals you’re going to eat anyway, but not enough to really re-direct my dining. Fortunately ‘VIP members’ still earn 10 miles per dollar spent (5 miles per dollar plus another 5 for rating the restaurant). But you have to get to VIP status for that to happen. Fortunately right now the United iDine partnership is offering a…
2500 Priority Club Points for $25 AT&T Cell Phone with $25 Airtime Credit Included
A couple of months ago Flyertalk member AndyAndy reported that the offer of 2500 Priority Club points for an AT&T Wireless purchase could be used for a refurbished Nokia 2610s which runs $25 and includes a $25 airtime card. Now, I wouldn’t spend $25 for 2500 Priority Club points unless my only use for those points was PointBreaks (where 5000 points can be redeemed for a free night), then it’s worthwhile. Otherwise I value Priority Club points at around 2/3rds of a cent apiece. However, since you can sell the phone on eBay even without the airtime for close to the purchase price, for those willing to go through the machinations this could be a great deal to generate more or less free points and free airtime. (Some will use different sim cards with the…
Alaska Airlines IT Challenges Prevent Them From Devaluing Miles… For 18 Days
The previously announced devaluation of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles set to take place on November 1 has been delayed until November 19th due to technical issues. So two and a half weeks more to redeem at the old rates.
$30 Off JetBlue, Book By Tomorrow
Book by tomorrow with promo code JetOct08 and received $30 off travel through December 15 (with Thanksgiving travel blacked out for the promotion). (Hat tip to Channel 9.)
Star Alliance Status Match Options for Alitalia Elites
Status match programs are exceedingly common in the U.S. but extend to very few programs elsewhere. British Midland is known to regularly offer complimentary status based on elite levels in other programs. British Airways will offer status matches as part of corporate contracts. And at least a few years ago Mexicana offered status matches as well. But beyond that, they’re almost unheard of. Although occasionally there will be a Star Alliance-wide offering, sometimes tied to distress of a competitor carrier or losing a member airline (e.g. Varig). Through December 15 there’s an offer for Alitalia elites to comp on over to the Star Alliance member of their choice. Only this time not every Star carrier is participating, notably absent are Lufthansa and Singapore. But Alitalia elites can receive status on Asiana, Thai, Air New Zealand,…
The Krona’s Collapse, for Fun and Profit
Tyler Cowen wonders if he should travel to Iceland to benefit from the collapse of their currency. Icelandair is running some amazing airfare deals. There’s a whole group of folks trying to figure out how to take advantage of Round-the-World airline tickets departing from Iceland (and thus priced in local currency, which means about a 55% discount on flights relative to bookings out of Stockholm). But best anyone has been able to figure, airline tickets are all being issued in hard currency with the ‘old’ exchange rate. Ciredt card companies are using old rates on purchases. While banks will only buy – to the extent they’ll buy – Kroner at the ‘new’ rates, they’ll only sell at the old. Some great deals should be able to be had provided you get yourself to Iceland, bring…
