Bits ‘n Pieces for August 1, 2012

Around and ’round we go:

  • In January of last year I explained how Hyatt Stay Certificates can be used to get deep discounts on hotel stays. I once had to book 22 room nights at the Grand Hyatt New York, getting them for $165 a night all-in compared to $519+tax prepaid on the website. Loyalty Lobby offers a nice illustration of how this technique works. Here as well is last year’s primer on getting the best hotel deals.

  • I previously blogged an offer of 500 miles for first use of Groundlink car service with promo code POINTSGL. Deals With Like came across an offer of 1000 miles which is, of course, better. Just use promo code POINTS with your first reservation and you’ll be sent a points.com code in a few weeks that you can redeem for 1000 points with your choice of American, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Alaska, Frontier, Hawaiian, Icelandair, AviancaTaca LifeMiles, or Priority Club (or, apparently, Best Buy).

  • This morning I received an offer this morning for a 100% bonus on purchase of up to 50,000 US Airways miles. They run this offer more often than they do not, but this month it’s targeted. When you go to the Buy Miles page you’re prompted this month for your name and account number even if you’re already logged in at usairways.com, and will have a message indicating there’s a bonus if you’re eligible. The miles are far more expensive than they used to be, even with this offer, but it’s a great way to top off an account towards an award if you have a specific redemption in mind.

  • Last month I blogged about a petition to have the TSA begin the open regulatory process of notice-and-comment rulemaking on nude-o-scopes that it had been ordered to do by a federal court a year ago, but had not yet begun. Today the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ordered the TSA to respond to the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s petition to require it to do just that by August 30. The petition at Whitehouse.gov has over 16,000 signatures and needs 9000 more by August 9 to require a Whitehouse response.

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. Gary – would you happen to know how the Hyatt check cert purchases are coded on credit card statements? (Random? Travel? Hyatt charge?)

    Also, it would be interesting to know how US sets the prices for their miles…+27% in 2 years! 2-3 more cycles, and it’ll be $2K for 100K miles.

  2. Can you pair the Hyatt stay certificates with elite status confirmed suite upgrades?

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