Ridiculously Extraordinary writes about being inspired by my post about little white lies I tell airline agents when booking awards to get American Airlines to release a domestic flight in advance of an international award segment. Now, the author originally wanted something that isn’t possible: So while I was booking my flight to India a couple of months ago I settled on flying American Airlines / British Airways. I wanted to fly Cathay Pacific, but didn’t know how to get the person I was speaking to at AAdvantage to give me the CP ticket. She told me only the AA/BA flights were available. I knew that wasn’t true, but I didn’t know enough to get around it. On an American Airlines partner award you need to route from the US to India via the Atlantic.…
About Gary Leff
Goldpoints Increases the Value of Points!
Kudos where they’re do, and what a contrast to Hilton’s January points devaluation. Loyalty Traveler lays out the significant point reductions that Goldpoints Plus is requriing for free nights at their top-end hotels: The cost for a free night reward in the top three categories of their six hotel reward tiers has dropped. Over 300 hotels at the top of the Carlson hotel chain require fewer points for free night rewards. The highest Gold Points Plus category-6 rewards were 90,000 points for a free night and are now only 60,000 points. In addition to lowering points at the high end categories, the program has eliminated FlexNights which were a 50% premium for peak demand rewards. To repeat: Top tier hotels have dropped from as high as 135,000 points for one free night to 60,000 points…
Expedia $10 Off Per Night at Prepaid Hotels
Expedia is offering $10 off per night on “Expedia Special Rate” hotel rates (minimum 2-night stay) with promo code 10WINTER. Book by April 30 for travel through May 31. Not enough of a discount to make it worth my booking with Expedia (even as an “Expedia Elite”) when I won’t get elite benefits or stay credit with Starwood, Hilton, etc. At least Marriott provides elite benefits on stays booked from any source (including Priceline). In fact, last weekend I spent a night at the Renaissance Boca Raton, Pricelined for $96 (web rate was $229). I got an upgraded to club level (last time I Pricelined there I had an executive suite), access to the closed club lounge (raid the refrigerator for bottled water), and coupons for full breakfast buffet (due to closed lounge). I’ve blogged…
3000 US Airways Miles for a 3-Day Rental
The 3000 US AIrways mile bonus for 3-day Avis rentals that’s targeted to US Airways elite members doesn’t seem to be restricted to elite members. For a rental a week and a half back, I had the following activity post to my US Airways account today: AVIS 2010 PREF. MEMBER 3000 MILE BONUS I am not a US Airways elite member. Oh, and in addition to the 3000 bonus miles I received 150 miles (50 per day x 3 days).
5000 bmi Miles Per Wyndham Rewards Stay in February
This Flyertalk thread notes a bonus to celebrate bmi becoming a new partner with Wyndham Rewards: 5000 bmi miles per stay through February 28. The bonus can be earned a maximum of 4 times, doesn’t require registration, just choose bmi miles as your earning preference and provide your Diamond Club number. I guess I’ll be scouring the area for a cheap Knights Inn or HoJo’s that I can check in and out of four times this month for 20,000 miles… Update: From the comments, beaubo notes that bmi now allows household accounts, so “that 20K up to 6 people, amplifying to 120K BD which is a US-Asia Business Class roundtrip with no co-pay!!!”
Is Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” Hard Work? Is This Blog?
A 10-year old kid smacks down Anthony Bourdain for his ‘rough life’ flying first class and eating good food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQk5NlGEBs&feature=player_embedded It’s a funny clip, especially around 50 seconds in after Bourdain patronizes the kid. Sometimes the commenters on this blog do this to me… (HT: Marginal Revolution)
Online Booking Site Elite Status Remains Unrewarding
This afternoon I received my renewal email for Expedia’s Elite Plus program. I’m not sure plus what, exactly. They offer a dedicated phone line where you don’t have to wait on hold for interminable amounts of time, and they waive their own imposed change fees (that you wouldn’t have had to pay if you’d book your travel through the airline or hotel directly anyway). At least this fee waiver used to be part of the program, I can’t seem to find it on the website any longer. And I haven’t found their ‘elite’ customer service to be better, just faster to pick up the phone. Beyond that they give you “early access to sales” and “exclusive offers.” I think I’ve been in this program as long as it’s existed, and had some sort of VIP…
Conrad Miami One-Bedroom Bay View Residence
Last weekend I stayed at the Conrad Miami. Hilton isn’t especially known for their Diamond treatment. Diamonds get full breakfast, access to a lounge when not on the executive floor, and promised upgrades aren’t meaningful (i.e. they don’t offer suite upgrades as part of the rules of the program). Then again, do I really count as a real Diamond? I made my status with a quick $40,000 churned through a Hilton Surpass American Express. In other words, it was earned quickly with a bit of credit card spend, not through loyalty to the chain. So I’ll take what I can get! And at the Conrad, I got more than I was paying for (a $220 rate, I believe): a one-bedroom bay view residence. Valet parking on arrival was excellent, a staff member read my luggage…
I’m Giving Away a Free Hilton Hotel Night
I’ll be back with y’all shortly with details. But… I’ve given Hilton quite a hard time lately, from their points devaluation to my contention that they were being insufficiently generous with program member donations to Haitian relief. But now I have something positive. A Hilton Hotel Be My Guest Certificate valid through June 30 “for “one complimentary lodging (room and tax only) at any participating Hilton Hotel in the United States.” Many thanks to the folks at BoardingArea for making this possible, as well. I’ll shortly announce rules (there really aren’t any, just instructions on how to enter and by when) for the giveaway and we’ll give this ago. There was great interest last time I did a giveaway, and that was just for a power strip. I figure a hotel night ought to be…
1000 Miles for New US Airways Dividend Miles Accounts
US Airways is offering an account signup bonus. Enter promo code E110 in the promo code box on the signup page to earn 1,000 bonus miles, which should post to your account within four weeks. Offer is valid through April 18. (HT: Frugal Travel Guy.)
