As posted on Flyertalk, Thailand’s Members of Parliament fly free domestically and earn miles for doing so. Thai Airways tried to stop awarding miles on these free tickets, and got called to the carpet. Furthermore, He said the House committee also asked THAI to allow MPs to fly business class instead of economy class. Phaichit said the House panel would also ask the Finance Ministry to consider allowing MPs to fly international flights for free on both THAI and other airlines. As Mel Brooks would say, “It’s good to be the king.”
About Gary Leff
How to earn a rebate on Priceline now that eBay Anything Points is ending?
With the demise of the eBay Anything Points program, it looks like the best kickback deal on Priceline purchases is now Ebates which offers a 3% cash rebate. They’ll give you $5 for signing up, too, though they won’t cash out the $5 until you’ve earned an additional $5.01 through purchases. They also give $5 to you for each person you refer (so if you use my link above, we each get $5) but again you can’t cash this out until you’ve earned $5.01 in shopping rebates. Not hard at all, a single Priceline purchase of $167 gets you there for instance. Ebates is not the only way to earn something for Priceline purchases, to be sure, it just looks to me to be the best remaining deal. AirMilesMart gives 1 point for every 2…
Double Miles Flying Delta in September and October
Aug
11
2005
In September and October 2005 Delta is offering double miles on flights booked at Delta.com and paid for with an American Express. Registration required.
So I didn’t actually get any travel tips, but…
Via HotelChatter, Tara Reid really digs the Hotel Grande Bretagne. Tara’s description of the property? Absolutely incredible. This hotel’s on my list, probably for summer 2006 on the way to Crete or Sardinia.
Southwest Guts the Rapid Rewards Program
Aug
10
2005
As reported by NotiFlyer, Southwest is imposing capacity controls on its awards. Currently an award ticket is good on any seat. There are a few blackout dates, but otherwise award tickets aren’t restricted. As a bone to members, Rapid Rewards credits will expire after 24 months instead of 12. They’re also removing blackout dates, but blackout dates are meaningless once you introduce capacity controls. Now they’ll be able to allocate as many as zero or one seat on a flight. Who needs blackout dates? Southwest is headlining the change to 24 month expiration of credits, and buries the news in the middle paragraphs. Clearly an attempt to divert attention from the real bad news and soften the blow. Rapid Rewards members, you have my sympathy.
Black Card Bling
Book an escort with your American Express Centurion card and get an extra day free.
The problem with generic luxury
Jet Set Lara, the blog of an international escort, offers some observations on the generic sameness of many Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels. I have a recurring nightmare. In it, I wake up in a hotel room. The bed is perfect with four down pillows, 400 thread count linens, and a 2000 coil pillow top mattress. The clock radio is blaring classical music having been left on as some sort of primitive turf marking by the housekeeping staff. Oh – there is the green/gold bedspread rolled up behind the pale yellow armchair, along with the two overstuffed decorative pillows that will be placed back on the bed when it is made up. Ah yes, there are the faux-tique writing desk and armoire. Rubbing my eyes, I trudge to the bathroom – as I thought –…
Juniper Bank to issue Visa for Merged USAirways-America West
Aug
09
2005
When the USAirways-America West merger was first announced in May I noted that a key detail was a planned cash infusion from a credit card partner in the neighborhood of $300 million. It was curious that the partner wasn’t named, while Bank of America was already partner to both airlines. So, despite the Charlotte Observer calling the news “somewhat unexpected”, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Juniper Bank (which issues Frontier and Airtran cards) will become the issuer of the USAirways card.Taking the place of Charlotte-based Bank of America will be Juniper Bank, a subsidiary of British-based Barclays PLC, which agreed Monday to pour $455 million into the merger between US Airways and America West Airlines. In exchange, Juniper will have the exclusive right to market the US Airways credit card beginning in 2008,…
Undersea Accomodations
The Vancouver Sun runs a story on the emergence of underwater hotels. The Maldives Hilton already has an underwater restaurant. This property has been on my list of places to check out, but has been bumped down a notch since I’ve recently been to Bora Bora Nui. How many overwater bungalows do I need to stay in in a year? When the fully underwater properties are completed, perhaps even by the end of next year, they’ll no doubt make the list at UnusualHotelsoftheWorld.com. (Hat tip for the news article to Tripso.com and for the Unusual Hotels directory to Marginal Revolution.)
Free iTunes Download
Aug
08
2005
Sign up to receive information about a checking account with Wells Fargo Bank and you’ll be sent a code for a free iTunes download. You can get one download per email address you use to sign up. (Hat tip to the Flyertalk S.P.A.M. forum.)
