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United Discounts Their “Rule Buster”-style Awards

For bookings by May 18 and and travel through October 31 that is booked at least 21 days in advance, United is reducing the cost of a ‘standard award’ for domestic travel from 50,000 miles roundtrip to 40,000 miles roundtrip.  The discount applies only to domestic coach awards. In United’s parlance, standard awards are the higher-priced awards that permit travel on any flight without regard to capacity controls. Other airlines have referred to these as “rule buster” or “anytime awards.” Prior to October 2006, 40,000 miles was the regular price of a domestic standard award. Yet something is strange going on here, I can’t quite put my finger on it. Now, it seems that United’s award redemption ‘specials’ seem always to be for coach tickets. That makes them unexciting to me. And I’m not especially…

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Vacations are a Human Right, and Europe Will Subsidize Them

From The Times (London): Brussels decrees holidays are a human right AN overseas holiday used to be thought of as a reward for a year’s hard work. Now Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer. Under the scheme, British pensioners could be given cut-price trips to Spain, while Greek teenagers could be taken around disused mills in Manchester to experience the cultural diversity of Europe. The idea for the subsidised tours is the brainchild of Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, who was appointed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister. The scheme, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, is intended to promote a sense of pride…

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I’m Giving Away (2) Prizes of 2 Free Hyatt Nights Each

Hyatt has been on a tear for the last year, figuring out how to add more value for members, especially elite members and frequent guests. Honestly, I haven’t seen anything like it in years. Last year they pioneered free internet for elites, at the same time they (1) lifted capacity controls on award nights — if there’s a standard room available, it’s available on points, matching Starwood’s redemption proposition and (2) offered confirmed at booking suite upgrades for their Diamond members four times a year. I wish there were more Hyatt properties, because over the last 12 months they’ve clearly been offering the best value proposition of any hotel chain. They also continue to bring back the richest bonus promotion in the hotel industry. I will always call it “Faster Free Nights” but thehy call…

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