Tyler Cowen points to the biggest travel risk of all, and it isn’t terrorism, disease, or plane crashes… it’s traffic accidents, “the largest cause of nonnatural death among U.S. citizens overseas.” Get a car with functioning seat belts and air bags, and make sure the brakes, lights, and windshield wipers work. And know the local driving customs: “A stop sign is meaningless, or speed limits are meaningless in some countries,” Ms. Sobel said. “If you assume it is safe for people to cross certain streets in some areas of Egypt and Kenya, you are making a potentially fatal mistake.” Ms. Sobel and others advise against driving at night. They also note that headlights are often turned off to save batteries — a false economy since the battery would not drain with the engine running properly…
About Gary Leff
Airtran Free Flight Certificate Actually Doesn’t Promise… Anything?
Consumerist has the story on an Airtran free flight voucher that can’t be redeemed… because it doesn’t actually promise a free flight? Clearly something else is going on here, like the voucher not being activated somehow, and it thus becomes one of those frustrating endeavors with customer service agents who aren’t empowered to solve problems, where the customer gets caught in a bureaucratic sink hole. Still, it makes for an amusing exchange: When Brett called a customer service representative to redeem the voucher, the story changed. He was told there was no free flight on file for him. Brett writes: I told him I had a voucher, and he said, “but does it actually say you get a flight on it.” I read it carefully and it didn’t. It was deceptively nice and apologetic, and…
Best BA Visa Offer
Apr
18
2007
The usual offer for a British Airways Visa is 15,000 miles with first purchase, and the card comes with a $75 annual fee.Now there’s an offer of 20,000 miles with first purchase, though still with the fee (unlike the United, American, etc. cards there’s no first year fee waiver). As one Flyertalk member wroteAs you only need 25k round trip to upgrade from WT+ to www.newclubworld.com fully flat beds, and the fares start at $650 rtn incl tax with no co-pay, AND you earn 125% of miles on the WT+ ticket you purchase (making the net cost of a US – Europe rtn upgrade around 15k miles) then yes it’s a great deal. Absolutely worth the $75. If you don’t already have a British Airways account, signing up for the Visa will get you one.
Malaysia Free Signup Miles and Elite Status Roulette
Apr
15
2007
Through June 30 Malaysia Airlines is offering 1000 bonus miles for signing up for their frequent flyer program, and 1 in 25 new members are automatically granted Silver elite status.With Enrich Silver, you will be able to enjoy more benefits and privileges such as: Golden Lounge Privilege Programme Additional 5kg Excess Baggage Allowance Priority check-in at the Business Class counter Telephone check-in
When it pays to make your customers wait
Apr
15
2007
British Airways is earning a million pounds a year off its pay-service helplines. British Airways has been criticised after it emerged that it is making at least a million pounds a year by charging UK customers to telephone its helplines, .. British customers pay above-national rates to call the 0870 numbers. BA makes about 2p a minute for every call to its bookings, reservations and customer care phone lines – including those dealing with lost luggage. With 15,000 customers calling every day, this works out at just over £1 million a year in revenues if each call is three minutes long. However, so deluged has the call centre been in recent weeks that many customers have been left on hold for well over 20 minutes. British Airways actually makes money by losing your luggage and…
5000 Free Miles for Signing up with Delta Skymiles
Apr
14
2007
Sign up for Delta Skymiles by June 15 and receive 5000 Delta Skymiles — no other activity required. This doesn’t appear to be targeted. While there’s the usual boilerplate about taxes and fees on awards and Skymiles redemption seats being limited yadda yadda, the stuff that’s actually specific to this promo in the terms and conditions is quite limited:Bonus mile offer valid for new SkyMiles members only. Valid e-mail address required for enrollment. Please allow 2-4 weeks to receive confirmation of bonus miles.
500 Free Miles with United, Continental, or Delta
Apr
14
2007
“Thanks Again” is a program that offers miles for shopping with small merchants that don’t have their own rewards programs, so far mostly dry cleaners. You register a credit card and when you spend with participating companies you get miles for the transaction, a la iDine (aka Rewards Network). There aren’t a whole lot of companies working with them, at least so far, so it’s not that attractive. Plenty of folks may be skeptical of giving them credit card numbres, although they do appear quite legitimate. Personally I used a Visa gift card with about $7 left on it, although some might prefer to use one-time use credit card numbers. Why? Signup bonuses. You can earn your choice of 500 United, Continental, or Delta miles just for signing up. The program is also available with…
Alaska Visa Signup Bonus Extended
Apr
14
2007
The current expiration date for the Alaska Airlines 20,000 mile bonus for new Visa signup is April 30. It may be extended — it’s been extended twice already — but if you’re interested, grab it now.20,000 miles is enough to upgrade a transcon roundtrip, plus they throw in a couple of club passes and a $50 companion certificate. Not bad for $75.
Visiting Cyprus Thanks to Alitalia
A couple of weeks ago I visited Cyprus for the first time, taking advantage of the Alitalia mistake fare from a year or so back (CAD $39 + tax, Toronto to Cyprus via Milan and/or Rome with stopovers permitted in both directions). This was perhaps the best mistake fare ever. Oh, sure, British Airways once published North American to pretty much anywhere in Europe in World Traveller Plus for $20 + tax. But this was a business class fare, earning business class miles, and turned out to be changeable without a refare (once-only, via a special Alitalia representative in New York). However, it was an Alitalia fare and they’re not the easiest carrier in the world to deal with. I suffered several delays (3.5 hours on my return flight due to an aircraft change and…
PointMaven, from the makers of MileMaven
Upgrade Travel blog profiles PointMaven, the sister website of MileMaven.PointMaven is a search tool for hotel bonus offers, just like MileMaven helps find airline bonus offers. If you’re not tied to a specific program for loyalty (e.g. elite status – upgrades) reasons, you may want to choose your travel provider based on the points you can earn. Of course, price doesn’t come into the equation with this tool, just miles and points. But it’s a great way to find bonuses you’d have never known existed. And for that matter, if you’re clearly stuck in a specific property or flying a specific airline, it’s a good idea to check this site anyway for possible bonuses to register for and rack up more points for the travel you’re going to take anyway.
