The Upgrade Travel Blog reminds us that some US domestic carriers, most notably United, still allow you get get a voucher when a fare you’ve already purchased goes down. American used to do it domestically but no longer does, unfortunately. The piece reports that USAirways offers this feature. What I hadn’t realized (I admit, somewhat embarassingly) is that United will let you go through the process online — a huge benefit for people like me who hate the telephone.
About Gary Leff
Getting Value for the Money at Pizza Hut
I like to get the most out of every dollar, as regular readers of this blog can imagine. But this is going too far, even for me. But then I also can’t remember the last time I was willing to eat at Pizza Hut. I make no claims to the veracity of this story, by the way. Hat tip to I Will Teach You to Be Rich.
Zengo Restaurant
Last night I had dinner at Zengo in Washington, DC, part of the small Modern Mexican chain. The restaurant came highly recommended by Tyler Cowen. Things did not start out promising. I pulled up at 7pm for our 7:15pm reservation. The valet parking attendants were standing around. They weren’t moving the cars that were already there, and they ignored us (and several more cars that pulled in behind us). Traffic in an already busy area backed up. After waiting 15 minutes, I called into the restaurant. I explained that I was outside waiting for parking and that a problem was developing. I was told “the valets are a different company so there’s nothing I can do, but I’ll tell the manager.” The manager came out and the valets took my car. By this time the…
Change in T&C for free electronics
Mar
11
2006
Freepay, aka Gratis Networks (the free iPod folks), has made a really annoying unilateral change to their terms and conditions. First, you’ll have only 90 days start to finish to complete their requirements. Second, you now have to place your orders by mail instead of electronically and there are deadlines for doing so. Apparently this was announced March 1 and everyone with existing accounts therefore has until the end of May to finish their existing free electronics offers. Here’s the note sent out to all accounts: Important Change to Terms & Conditions With a start date of March 1, 2006 – users of FreePay websites have 90 days to complete all offer requirements. Upon completion of all offer requirements, existing users will need to print a “Redemption Form” that must be filled out in its…
Change in T&C for free electronics
Mar
11
2006
Freepay, aka Gratis Networks (the free iPod folks), has made a really annoying unilateral change to their terms and conditions. First, you’ll have only 90 days start to finish to complete their requirements. Second, you now have to place your orders by mail instead of electronically and there are deadlines for doing so. Apparently this was announced March 1 and everyone with existing accounts therefore has until the end of May to finish their existing free electronics offers. Here’s the note sent out to all accounts: Important Change to Terms & Conditions With a start date of March 1, 2006 – users of FreePay websites have 90 days to complete all offer requirements. Upon completion of all offer requirements, existing users will need to print a “Redemption Form” that must be filled out in its…
Change in T&C for free electronics
Mar
11
2006
Freepay, aka Gratis Networks (the free iPod folks), has made a really annoying unilateral change to their terms and conditions. First, you’ll have only 90 days start to finish to complete their requirements. Second, you now have to place your orders by mail instead of electronically and there are deadlines for doing so. Apparently this was announced March 1 and everyone with existing accounts therefore has until the end of May to finish their existing free electronics offers. Here’s the note sent out to all accounts: Important Change to Terms & Conditions With a start date of March 1, 2006 – users of FreePay websites have 90 days to complete all offer requirements. Upon completion of all offer requirements, existing users will need to print a “Redemption Form” that must be filled out in its…
Fun Ball
Starwood’s marketing gurus — and their consultants, presumably — have run amok. Someone needs to get back control of White Plains. They’re rolling out a partnership between W Hotels and Victoria’s Secret, as though the opportunity to buy naughty nighties from the minibar is going to enhance the experience of cool or make customers want to choose the hotel. (The pickup scene in the hotel lobby bar is another matter, indeed.) Sponsor the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Fine. Offer experiential rewards at the event for redeeming lots of Starwood points. Fine. And if you want to include lingerie next to the condoms, W baseball cap, and Jim Bean on the minibar price list I guess that works (though I doubt one size fits all!). Perhaps even include a list of lingerie in the room services…
1000 Bonus American Per Night at Hyatt
Mar
09
2006
In addition to Hyatt’s offer of 1000 Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles per night, they’re also putting the choice of 1000 American Airlines points per night on offer as well from March 15 through June 30.
Others rate the best domestic first class experience
CNN Money runs a Fortune piece on the best domestic first class cabins. Their take is similar to mine. United takes top overall nods. They sum up Northwest nicely:Two words: Avoid DC-9s. On those old planes, you only get 34 inches of pitch (JetBlue offers the same in coach). Not that the rest of the fleet is much better — the maximum you’ll find is likely a measly 36 inches.
It pays to be a procrastinator
Mar
08
2006
Last month I reported that American Airlines was offering 2500 miles for test driving a Lincoln. (250 miles also on offer for watching a video about Lincoln.) Now they’ve upped the offer to 5000 miles for a test drive (and 50,000 miles for purchase, along with the original 250 miles for watching the video). I’ll finally get off my duff and go for a test drive this weekend! The new 5000 mile offer does say that it was targeted, though I have no idea if there’s actually a way for them to check who got this in their American Airlines eSummary. You might just use the old 2500 mile offer, but I’m going to use the new one.
