Travel the past couple of days has been brutal, with storms and an FAA outage snarling flights. One passenger was forced to endure an 18 hour delay – and was rewarded by an American Airlines flight, operated just for him.
Rampers showed up to load bags – just for him. He was called to board his flight – by name. And the crew did their safety demonstration – just for him.
Bilt Rewards, the program that rewards you for paying rent, has the most lucrative partnership with Lyft. You earn their transferable points for rides you would take anyway, in addition to points earned on your credit card for the spending. For Rent Day – Bilt has lucrative special offers on the first of every month – Bilt and Lyft are offering free ride credit. All Bilt members are eligible for a $10 ride credit Members with the Bilt Mastercard receive a $20 ride credit If you ride Lyft on July 1 (Rent Day) you get an additional $5 credit. Link your Bilt and Lyft accounts in the app, if you haven’t already, and you should because you earn Bilt points for your rides and this is better in my view than earning Delta, Hilton or…
When a flight has numerous passengers with wheelchair assistance on boarding, and then most of those passengers get off themselves and walk out of the terminal – walking right past the waiting wheelchairs on the jet bridge – it’s known as a “miracle flight.” Here’s one recent Southwest Airlines flight where 20 passengers used wheelchairs to board, and only 3 used them to get off. 17 passengers experienced an inflight miracle.
Rewards are not for everyone. If you can’t be strategic, if you can’t handle your finances, then you shouldn’t play. Dave Ramsey profits off scams but also has advice that is helpful to a segment of the population that can’t manage money. The problem is that Ramsey thinks it applies to everyone, and he’s wrong.
It’s true that travel alone doesn’t make you interesting, but what you get out of travel can. And it’s also possible to do the uninteresting things, while still getting something out of travel more broadly.
Timeshare presentation deals can be pretty lucrative. There may be a great rate on a stay and then credits to spend on property and even points in a loyalty program, and all you have to do is give up a bit of time on your trip to listen to a sales pitch.
I’d far prefer a good deal plus points! But I don’t want to give up time on a trip.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Children are allowed in business and first class because airlines want to sell tickets. Families buy more than one ticket at a time! While airlines promote buying up to a premium cabin for rest, they don’t promote the product you’re buying as child-free. And as a business or first class passenger you don’t have a moral claim to inflict the screaming on other passengers in the larger economy cabin.
Cabin crew on this flight were great. Sometimes not proactive, and I had a drink order simply forgotten, but they tried to work with what they had and that was really appreciative. When they apologize for it, I sympathize with them. They are being given business class tools (and a photocopied menu isn’t even that) for international first class, but that’s not their fault at all.
Virgin is offering 30% off the number of miles required for upgrades and award travel on several routes. Eligible routes: London Heathrow and Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington Dulles; Manchester and Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York JFK, Orlando; Edinburgh and Orlando. Book June 23 – July 24 for flights departing by September 30. Cash cost (taxes, fees, and surcharges) are not discounted. Chase, Capital One, Citibank, American Express and Bilt points all transfer to Virgin so it’s easy to access these points if you don’t already have them. Pay attention to the aircraft you’re flying, for instance Airbus A350s have the 2019 seat and there’s a new seat for A330s while you’ll want to avoid 787s. Retreat Suite, Credit: Virgin Atlantic In the…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
