American Express Membership Rewards points usually convert 3 to 1 into Starwood.Through August 31st the ratio is 2 to 1 — which equates to a 50% bonus.No registration is required.
About Gary Leff
7-11 Promotion
Free Slurpees this Sunday. And 7-11 takes Diners Club, too. So I almost want to pay for my drink.
WebFlyer Rolls Out Beta of New Tool
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is “how can I combine my miles from programs X and Y to get an award?”I’ve written on this before, such as here and here. Now WebFlyer has introduced a tool to answer the question for yourself, plugging in the program you want to move miles into or out of, and generating a list of methods for how to do it.The new tool is here. It isn’t 100% exhaustive yet – the tool didn’t offer any suggestions for converting USAirways points into American miles, although Points.com does offer the exchange. It also doesn’t have all the fine print, such as exchanges out of USAirways via Points.com require the person making the exchange to hold a USAirways Visa. In a similar vein, I was told I could…
Tidbits from David Rowell
David Rowell’s “TravelInsider” newsletter has some interesting tidbits today.On the economics of lost luggage Lost luggage may become less common on Delta flights. Not because they too are going to eliminate checked bags, though! They have committed to spend $15 – $25 million over the next two years to equip all their airports so that every checked bag gets an RFID chip placed on its tag, enabling Delta to track the physical whereabouts of every bag. At present only 0.7% of the bags DL transports go missing, and so you might think it very altruistic of DL to add this helpful extra service. But that 0.7% represents 800,000 lost bags every year, and it costs Delta $100 million every year to resolve lost bag problems. A $25 million investment to massively reduce the number of…
New Zealand’s Slide Back Towards State Ownership of Transportation
Tyler Cowen is writing about the New Zealand government’s renationalization of its railways and its 2001 bailout of Air New Zealand in exchange for an 83% ownership stake. Did privatization fail? It is unlikely that New Zealand should have a rail system in the first place. Imagine 3.6 million people living in a country about the size of California. About one-third of them live in or near Auckland. The rest are widely scattered across two (technically, three) islands. When you privatize something that shouldn’t exist in the first place, you are asking for political and economic trouble. It is no surprise that the company wouldn’t invest much in the system. … It was never the case that flights to and from New Zealand would cease or even dry up. But there was never any guarantee…
Mentioned in Frommer’s
Under the title “Read What We Read,” Frommer’s describes View from the Wing thusly: If you’re a crazed, obsessive frequent-flier-mile fanatic, you’ll love Gary Leff’s dry but informative View From The Wing (www.webflyer.com/blog/), where he collects oddball shopping discounts and the best obscure ways to earn frequent flier miles. If you’re not an airline coupon-clipper, you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about. Check it out, though – you might love it.
20% off a Borders, Brentano’s, and Waldenbooks
Valid July 9th – 12th. Print this coupon for an in-store discount.
Notes from Citibank
Loyalty programs count on rewards going unused. Citibank reveals that in Australia its proprietary rewards programs assumes that a third of all reward points will go unused. Meanwhile, Citibank is pushing their Diners Club product in Taiwan with new perks:Under exclusive privileges, cardholders can get discounts of up to 65 percent on their Cathay Pacific business class tickets. Those who love to wine and dine can access premium boutique wineries via the Diners Wine Connoisseur Club and Club Gourmet. In addition to getting airport VIP lounge access in 85 airports worldwide, the card grants users VIP priority check-in service for EVA Airways flights and free business class upgrades with UNI Air if they pay for their economy class tickets with their Diners Club card. Being Spas, one of the premium spa chains in Taiwan, also…
United Member-Get-Member Bonus
Refer up to 4 friends to United. Each one who signs up will earn you 1250 miles. Each one who flies a roundtrip in “V” class or higher will earn you 5000 miles. The promotion lasts through September 15th and can earn you up to 25,000 miles.
Hotel Ratings Inflation
Joe Sharkey’s column in Sunday’s New York Times highlighted hotel rating inflation, with some properties now claiming “six star” designations and one even claiming seven. Meanwhile, there’s a proliferation of websites and guides offering star ratings of properties, and there’s little consistency or quality control among many of them. Beyond those basic points, of course, the article degenerates into silliness: that a good rule of thumb is “about $100 a star,” that Westin is on par with Four Seasons and Peninsula properties, and that Radisson is a four star chain.
