Category Archives for General.
I usually stay at the Hyatt in Coral Gables but spent a couple of days recently at the Westin Colonnade nearby instead.
I like both hotels. Both physical plants are older, but are well kept up, and both have excellent staff.
I was delayed out of Miami yesterday first by a catering issue …My connection time in Dallas was reduced down to 25 minutes initially and I was going to be changing terminals. In fact I would have to go from terminal D to terminal C on the other side of the airport.
While inflight I tweeted about the tight connection.
Former President George W. Bush says “I miss some things about being President. I miss having a shower on an airplane.” (HT: @tarheeljason) There are some things that are unique about Air Force One. Electronic countermeasures and the ability to jam enemy radar Flares hidden in the wings A fuselage that can withstand a nuclear blast on the ground A gym But a shower just isn’t one of those unique things. Etihad’s Airbus A380 has a private shower for passengers in ‘The Residence’ and a shower for passengers in the First Apartments. You can book First Apartments using American AAdvantage miles. I have several bookings for when the New York JFK – Abu Dhabi flight starts operating with an A380. They fly London – Abu Dhabi and Sydney – Abu Dhabi with the plane as…
American has eliminated courtesy cancellations of tickets booked within 7 days of travel (they only offer 24 hour ‘holds’ of reservations that are booked at least a week in advance). American may think this encourages booking full fare refundable tickets. It actually just encourages booking American flights through an Online Travel Agency. Here’s why.
Reader Barry writes, “In the midst of living at [a hotel and] I happened to notice if you book a series of one-day award reservations, you get a new fruit plate and bottle of wine each day. By the time I leave I’ll have a fully-stocked cellar.”
I’ve been able to use Silvercar several times recently, largely because they’ve run some great promotions — from specific discount codes for renting at a new location, to discount codes (like ‘FTU50’) which while usable only once aren’t limited to first time customers.
For a rental this week I discovered that Silvercar offers one-way rentals even though there’s no option for it on the website or through their app.
A collection of the most interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
Here’s a hotel I had never heard of before today, I haven’t stayed at a Holiday Inn in quite awhile, but I think I’d try this one out: Internet Test Hotel One.
I’ll be avoiding their on site “Botulism Bistro” however.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the inexpensive flight where everyone could confirm an upgrade to business class for free.
Historically when American flies 3-cabin equipment domestically but sells the flights as 2-cabin (anything except for New York – Los Angeles/San Francisco and Miami – Los Angeles) elites and passengers on full fare tickets have been able to assign themselves seats in the business class cabin. That’s business class seating but economy service. Then upgrades are to international first class (with domestic first service).
A collection of the most interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.
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 »
