Through the Lens, a flight attendant with some err.. habits.. when checking in a hotel room, shares her regimen. None of this is new to me, but I like to pretend that staying in nicer places I don’t have to have the same concerns. She’s not especially graphic in describing most of the things she’s avoiding, and her tips are probably good ones. It’s worth reading her post, but you may wish you hadn’t! She says her routine isn’t particularly extreme compared to that of some of her flight attendant colleagues, I am almost afraid to know what they do… Do you worry about your hotel’s cleanliness? What steps do you take to protect yourself, or do you just not worry about it? Share in the comments.
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American Express Permits Re-allocating Credit Lines Again
Up until a year or so ago, if you had more than one American Express credit card you could move around your credit lines online. If you had $20,000 total in credit you could move it between various cards as needed. Then all of a shutdown they shut this down, and they wouldn’t re-allocate credit lines over the phone either. I get caught with this, actually. I moved all my credit over to my Starwood American Express card leaving my Hilton Amex with a whopping $1000 credit line. So when American Express sent me a generous promotion for spending beyond a certain low threshold each month, I had a hard time taking good advantage of it. Well, I can confirm that American Express is once again willing to let customers re-allocate credit lines. I spoke…
Randy Petersen Blogs the Star Alliance MegaDO
It’s a rough time of year at work, and my days are filled either with late nights at the office or with long days spent on regional jets and long drives in a rental car. What that means is that I’m missing the Star Alliance MegaDO. Randy Petersen is blogging it, though, a must read. Randy’s initial post describes the event as The most infamous mileage run ever conceived is ready for flight with nearly 250 frequent flyers from around the globe gathering in Chicago, New York, Frankfurt and Oslo to partake in a series of flights that serve no purpose other than to boost one’s mileage balance and to be able to talk about frequent flyer miles non- stop for four whole days … might as well include the nights as well. But it’s…
Amazing New British Airways Visa Will Still Carry Same $75 Annual Fee
I’ve gotten several questions about the new British Airways Visa offered by Chase that I wrote about yesterday. The most common one is about the annual fee. I speculated that it would remain $75, as the card is currently priced. But it’s a good question. Jennifer Saranow Schultz has confirmed (in the comments to her post) at the New York Times’ Bucks Blog that the card will in fact still have the same $75 annual fee. I’ve put a question out to Chase’s reps on this whether someone who has had a British Airwaays Visa in the past, but is not a current cardholder, might be eligible for the signup bonus? Chase cards generally restrict signup bonuses to first-time cardholders, once for each card product. So whether a former BA Visa cardholder can receive the…
Analysis of Singapore’s December 1 Award Chart Changes
The Global Traveller offers his analysis of the changes in the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer award chart that I recently mentioned. He reiterates my point about the value in 50% mileage cost for one-way awards. That’s a big improvement. The reduction in the number of zones on the award chart means some awards become more expensive. The Delta chart has more zones, however, and generally higher prices for premium cabin awards. The nice benefit for Virgin awards is that multiple flights can be combined for a through ticket, Kiwi gives the example of North America to Africa which used to require two awards but can now be done as one. At the same time, however, award prices go up. Meanwhile, Air India awards don’t change. Thanks for the recap, Kiwi Flyer!
10% Bonus on Marriott Gift Cards
Through December 31, Marriott is offering a 10% bonus on gift cards with promo code MMF. They’ll add 10% to the amount you purchase. Now, this isn’t enough of a bonus to send me off on a spending spree. But for those who would consider Marriott gift cards anything, it’s worthwhile. It’s marketed to Marriott “associates, franchisees, owners and their friends and family” but will work for anyone.
100,000 Mile Signup Bonus for British Airways Visa, and it Gets Better From There
A couple weeks back I posted the amazing new British Airways Visa proposition – 1.25 miles per dollar but more importantly a free companion award redemption voucher for spending $30,000 on the card in a year. Well, it gets better. Much better. I don’t usually reply to press release/pitch emails that I get, but I just got in my email box. The signup bonus on the Chase co-branded British Airways Visa is going to be 100,000 miles: 50,000 BA Miles after first purchase, and 50,000 more miles after spending $2,000 on the card within three months. Wow. Spend 30,000 miles on the card and you’l go from zero to 137,500 BA miles and have a free companion redemption voucher good for a second person traveling in the same class of service. That’s just incredible. I…
100% Bonus on US Airways Purchased or Transferred Miles
Through the end of the year, US Airways is offering a 100% bonus on purchased or transferred miles up to 50,000 miles for each of the “buy, share, or gift” options. This is better than the offer from July/August which only included bonusing purchased miles. This time transfers are included. With this offer you can buy 40,000 miles for $1030, get 80,000 miles in return, and fly business class from the US to Europe. Or if you and a friend each have 40,000 miles, you transfer to each other for $430 apiece, and you now both have 80,000 miles — enough for a business class Star Alliance partner award to Europe. (Hat tip Ian.)
2500 Continental Miles for Opening a Sharebuilder Account
There’s no account minimum and you get 2500 miles after your first stock purchase by December 31.
Singapore Award Chart Changes, and Introduction of One-Way Awards on Partners
Singapore is introducing new partner award charts. Some mileage prices are going up, such as North America is being combined into a single zone rather than having West Coast separate from and at a lower price than East Coast. On the flipside, one-way awards are being introduced on most partners for 50% of the mileage price. So far there’s limited discussion at SQTalk and Flyertalk. Personally, I’m just waiting for Singapore to decide to open up premium class awards on their Boeing 77W long-haul aircraft…
