Apparently tourism to Afghanistan is on the rise. BILLIONAIRE Aga Khan, who’s about to open his multimillion-dollar luxury property in central Kabul – the Kabul Serena Hotel, with rooms from $250 a night – has good timing. Travel to Afghanistan is gaining momentum, relatively speaking. Tourism deputy minister Nasrullah Stanikzai told NYP Travel that this past summer the country saw an increase in the number of tourists over summer 2004 (numbers were not available), and that most were from Korea, Japan and Europe. I still wouldn’t fly Arianna Afghan Airlines, though they’ve at least upgraded their website somewhat in the past 18 months.
About Gary Leff
Self-Service Combining of Your USAirways and America West Frequent Flyer Accounts
In the Spring, USAirways and America West are going to combine their frequent flyer programs. But if you want to combine miles in your account, perhaps it will help you claim an award now or you want to use miles from one program to take advantage of the award chart of the other, you don’t have to wait. America West frequent flyers can move their miles to USAirways, and vice versa, on their own with no restrictions. (America West miles can be used to claim USAirways Star Alliance awards now!) Just go to points.com and register your USAirways and America West frequent flyer numbers. You won’t be charged a fee, and you can swap miles between the two accounts at a 1:1 ratio instantly. Join the free service. If you’re not already a member, you…
An Easy Credit for Completing a Freepay Electronics Offer
Dec
03
2005
Freepay (the freeipods folks) require you to complete one of their marketing offers in addition to referring friends who do the same. I recently completed an easy one that still showing available on all of the electronics offers I’ve checked, so I thought I’d pass it along. The 30 day free trial of RealArcade GamePass works like a charm. The credit posts in a couple of days, you have a month to cancel, and cancellation is a snap and hassle-free. You can even cancel on the weekends (no waiting for weekday business hours, though admittedly I did have to hold for a few minutes). I’ve been told — though haven’t tried this personally — that the RealArcard trial will work more than once. In other words, you can use it on more than one free…
Another Holiday Online Shopping Promo
Dec
03
2005
Continental is offering 1000 bonus miles for shopping with three different retailers during the month of December.
The End of Diners Club, I No Longer Recommend This Credit Card
This just in from Diners Club, points will no longer be able to be transferred to USAirways, Northwest, America West, or Continental* effective January 1. United transfers go away April 27. Guess what they call this? Naturally, an enhancement. They’ve added a program where you can pay points for travel directly, at a value of 1.25 cents per point. Don’t do it, it isn’t worthwhile. (Okay, it’s better than the 1 cent per point at Capital One but that’s not saying much!) When Diners Club became a Mastercard, I accepted the end of two billing cycles to pay and higher foreign currency conversion rates. It was worthwhile to me in exchange for broader acceptance. But they’re clearly devaluing the program. One of two things must be happening: either the programs being discontinued have exclusivity provisions…
More kudos!
I understand that View from the Wing has been named Budget Travel‘s “Blog of the Week” .. thanks!
Priority Club Shopping Bonus
Dec
01
2005
When I listed holiday shopping promos last week I left out the offer from Priority Club: double points for paying with Visa and threshold bonuses for various spend levels (up to 10,000 bonus points for $1000 in spending). Spending at 23 merchants count towards the bonuses. Thanks to the MilesLink newsletter for the reminder.
End of Year Mileage Runs
Joe Sharkey writes the obligatory end of year story on mileage runs, bringing the practice of last minute flights to earn airline status to a mainstream audience. Among folks I know this is common — at the end of year when realizing you’re a few miles shy of that coveted top-tier elite card, and in some cases even throughout the year. And it isn’t just airline runs, either, but last minute dummy stays at local hotels to rack up those coveted upgrades to suites. If you’re working on your own end of year strategy and need some assistance just drop me a note and I’m happy to help. Be sure to tell me the number of miles and segments that you have at present, how many more it take to reach your goal, where you’re…
Mexican Getaway
HotelChatter visits El Tamarindo and comes away impressed. It’s on my list of places to visit for a few nights to get away from the cold and burn a few Starwood points.
Foolproof logic on why you should send me money
Marginal Revolution offers a compelling reason why you should donate to support a blog: Efficiency says that goods with zero marginal cost should have a zero price but without prices not only is the incentive to produce diminished but so is information about what to produce. (See Coase’s 1946 classic, The Marginal Cost Controversy, JSTOR). Donations allow prices to be set at MC while at the same time providing a (noisy) signal about where true economic value lies. In particular, Tyler and I know that we can appropriate more of our marginal product from professional work than we can from blogging yet it is conceivable that our marginal product is higher in blogging. Thus, to decide how much to invest in this venture we markup donations to get an estimate of our social value and…
