Now this is downright wrong, since it’s not just obtaining a discount from United – it’s denying that discount to whomever is rightly in possession of the certificate numbers you wind us using. Shame, shame.

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I’ve appreciated the emails, the calls, the writhing pains of withdrawal. The last month has been so busy with work and travel and mostly mentally draining. There have been a hundred things I’ve meant to write about… Continental’s mileage devaluation, new credit card offers, this and that scheme or deal. I just haven’t had it in me. But I’ll be back by this week. I promise. So don’t go anywhere!

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Expedia has launched a new VIP program for their frequent customers that is strangely like… their old VIP program. The program is called ElitePlus and offers fee waivers on changes and cancellations made through Expedia as well as a special phone number for assistance. Most of the world avoids Expedia change fees by making changes directly with an airline, for instance. But existing Expedia VIP’s (what they used to be called) got their fees waived. And a special phone number. That last part is a real perk, I’ve heard of 3-hour hold times when contacting Expedia but I’ve always had my calls answered right away. Sure, there are other throw-in benefits of dubious quality, such as ‘special sales’ (more spam?). The announcement email, though not the website, notes that Expedia elite members will get access…

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Through November 30, American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to Starwood, Hilton, Priority Club, and Best Western.In most cases this still won’t represent a good value. In fact, with the bonus, Hilton transfers are still shy of 1 Amex point to 2 Hilton points — which is what you can get all the time with a small dance of going Amex to Hawaiian to Hilton.Still, in the past I’ve transferred Amex to Starwood using a similar promotion. The normal rate there is 3:1 and this makes it 2:1. But that was before the Starwood devaluation…(Hat tip to the MilesLink Newsletter.)

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It’s not just miles and points, I’m looking for deals in just about everything that I do. I don’t always sweat the small stuff, a dollar here or there, but if it isn’t costly to do so I will (I’ll grab frequent flyer miles or Fatwallet cashback even on a $15 purchase). I scrounge for coupons when making online purchases, I used to find Googling the online store’s name and ‘coupon’ would work but there are so many bogus coupon sites looking for their own referral commissions that it’s a pain to sort through. In addition to searching Ev Rewards for the best shopping portal returns, I also head over to the Hot Deals forum at Fatwallet (and to a lesser extend Slick Deals) and search for the merchant I’m buying from, it’s amazing how…

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Scott McCartney’s latest column is on the various flight status websites you can use to track a flight, monitor position, gate changes, etc. Frequent travelers know that airline websites, and those from the major booking services, are often lacking. The conclusion of the piece? That my own favorite and most used, FlightStats.com, comes out as most useful and reliable. (This is also the one which the KVS Availability Tool integrates with.) Not mentioned in the piece, one of my favotire tricks for United Airlines flight status is to check United Cargo, when a flight is delayed this site will give you the real reason why — useful when the airline doesn’t want to give you compensation, claiming that a delay is due to ‘weather’. Update: Upgrade: Travel Better reports that American’s cargo website offers useful…

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