British Airways is offering a 25% bonus on hotel points converted into Avios through January 13. Eligible partners are Starwood, Club Carlson, Marriott, Hilton, Priority Club, Hyatt, and Shangri-La and no registration is required, the bonus is automatic. This bonus will get plenty of coverage, and is already getting coverage, the usual take is that it’s a good deal to transfer Starwood points. SPG certainly provides the most dramatic points into miles examples, because Starwood points are usually the best for transfers to miles anyway. 20,000 Starpoints normally yield 25,000 miles. With this bonus that’s 31,250 miles. So the illustration is 20,000 Starpoints to 31,250 miles — it looks like a bigger bonus than it is. Remember it’s just a 6250 point bonus. And 6250 BA points aren’t enough to get me to give up…
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Category Archives for General.
Instant Club Carlson Gold Status for New Account Signups
Club Carlson is offering instant Gold status for new members of their program. Club Carlson is the loyalty program for Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns & Suites. They’ve been aggressive with big bonuses over the past year and a half, and just introduced a credit card that gets you second night free on your award redemptions. This offer is targeted at Platinum and Gold members of the Jet Airways JetPrivilege program. Gold status gets you: 50% bonus Gold Points on your Club Carlson stays 2,000 bonus points for online booking Upgrades Early Check In and Late Check Out on request, subject to availability The offer is supposed to be available through March 31 but my bet is that it’s pulled more quickly than that. Club Carlson is usually pretty generous with status…
New York City Passes New Regulations to Allow Mobile Taxi Apps
On Tuesday night I flew into New York and took a cab downtown. The cab’s meter wasn’t working, or so the driver said, and we agreed on a fixed price to my hotel. I know what a ride costs and wasn’t going to overpay. And I negotiated a discount for cash. But the cab driver — who was going to get paid the same amount regardless of the route — decided the best thing was to take surface streets despite no traffic at almost 10pm, not wanting to pay tolls. He also wanted to finish the trip as quickly as possible and pushed the envelope on every red light we approached. The cab couldn’t have had much of a suspension system, I was so thrown around that by the time I made my hotel I…
Bits ‘n Pieces for December 13, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Mommy Points reports that the Hyatt Union Square in New York will open as a Gold Passport category 5 hotel. Hyatt 48 Lex is category 4, an amazing redemption value (and eligible for the Hyatt Visa annual free night) so one assumes it too will eventually become category 5. The Hyatt Place Midtown will be category 4 when it opens. Very Good Points didn’t have a very good stay in Langkawi, I’m certainly glad that I chose the Andaman rather than the Sheraton! Dan’s Deals has a 40% off discount code for the W Hotels store, which also covers beds and bedding. Better than the usual 35% discounts that float around. LufthansaFlyer reveals Lufthansa’s first class holiday duck.
Delta Goes on the Record About Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Programs
USA Today covers the impending risk of changes to frequent flyer programs, moving from rewarding miles flown with an airline to the amount of money spent — turning the legacy frequent flyer programs of airlines like United, American, and Delta into the much more modest offerings of Southwest and JetBlue. The piece is titled Frequent-flier rewards: Change is in the air and Randy Petersen predicts this is going to happen: “I would suggest by this time next year there’ll be at least one, if not more, of the major carriers that have adopted this kind of new normal among frequent-flier programs,” says Randy Petersen, publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, which closely follows loyalty programs. “I think in five years we will have forgotten about the old system.” I’m quoted making the case, though, that the…
Starwood’s First Quarter Promo – Up to 18,000 Points (after 20 nights)
Starwood’s first quarter promotion — January 15 through April 15, — will give you 2,000 bonus points for every four eligible nights (up to 8,000 points max after staying 16 nights during the promotion period) and then an additional 10,000 bonus points after completing 20 nights. That’s a top prize of 18,000 bonus points after 20 nights. Registration is required and will open sometime in early January. You can sign up to get a text message reminder. Ultimately a bit of a snoozer for a winter promo. Every fourth night you get 500 bonus points per night retroactively. It’s not even 500 bonus points per night if you don’t hit those 4th night plateaus. For heavy stayers nights 17 through 20 are well-rewarded with 10,000 bonus points though. (HT: Notiflyer)
Do You Drink When You Fly? Do You Drink Alone? With Your Family? How Do You Compare to Your Fellow Flyers?
When I’m flying up front I enjoy a nice cocktail. In international first class a glass of champagne is especially nice. I’ve strangely never been a huge fan of Krug (the preferred bottle on ANA and Cathay Pacific), and the 2003 Dom Perignon just isn’t up to recent vintages. I greatly enjoyed the 2000 and 2002. It doesn’t have to be quite the same level of name if it’s thoughtfully chosen, but it does usually have to be a better bottle than the US airlines are willing to spring for in their premium cabins. Although there is something special about the ‘smirk’ that Singapore Airlines flight attendants do when asking if you’d like champagne. A simple ‘yes, please’ is met with, “Would you prefer Dom or Krug?” They’re clearly proud that they serve both. And…
American Airlines Has Changed the Way They Sell Tickets — And How You May Benefit
American rolled out new fare options this morning, offering add-ons like included checked bags, no charge for changes, and bonus miles for a fixed higher price. Currently the new options are available for at AA.com and travel agencies set up for direct connect (and the fare display has been updated throughout the purchase process to support the changes), but these are not just packages of ancillary services that are being bundled, these are actual fares which include add-ons as a part of the fare. That means that any travel site that chooses to offer support for showing the fares will be able to sell them. There are now three ‘categories’ of fares — outside of premium fares — at American: CHOICE: these are akin to American’s current fares. They’re the lowest price, come with a…
Bits ‘n Pieces for December 12, 2012
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Win Virgin America 20% Off Vouchers or an Amazon Gift Card AviancaTaca increasing many of their premium cabin award prices by 2500 miles each way Trust us, your hotel duvet cover has been laundered Photos of American’s new 777-300ER.. sadly not in the airline’s new livery
More Rooms Added to the Block for April Frequent Traveler University
The event in Los Angeles was fantastic, and the 400 spots sold out long in advance. Confirmed for the spring event so far as speakers (in addition to yours truly) are Ben from the One Mile at a Time blog, Brian Kelly a.k.a. The Points Guy, Mommy Points, Daraius from Million Mile Secrets, and though I don’t think he knows it yet I intend to twist Frequent Miler’s arm to join again too. Although the event is nearly 5 months off — April 26 through 28 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner — over 300 folks signed up right away when things were announced last month, and the room block sold out as well. Folks were reporting that rooms were coming up at the host hotel for $179 a night rather than our negotiated $89.…
