Here are the best travel tips and tricks, the highlights of View from the Wing posts from December. Last month I collated the best travel tips from November. Before that I summarized the very best travel posts from October, here’s the best travel posts from September, and from August. In July I offered the most useful and interesting developments from June as well. It turns out, surprisingly, that this feature is really popular, at least judging by the emails I get — people that don’t read the blog every day really appreciated the recap and not having to dig through all of the posts to find the most enduring ones. These are some that were my favorites from December. I hope you were happy with some of the posts and got something out of them…
General
Category Archives for General.
What Are the World’s Busiest Airports? #7, 10, 16, and 23 Will Shock You!
Point Me to the Plane writes that Dubai has overtaken London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport.. for international passengers. Full calendar year 2014 data isn’t in yet, but looking at 2013 data Dubai doesn’t actually come close to Heathrow in total passengers. Heathrow was the world’s third-busiest airport with 72 million passengers and Dubai number 7 at 66 million. It’s only by excluding UK domestic passengers from the totals that Emirates is able to squeak ahead. So while Dubai may claim the title for a subset of passengers, many will be surprised that it was only the seventh-busiest airport overall in 2013. And much of that is based on connecting traffic, Dubai is a gateway to India and the surrounding region as well as North Africa. While Dubai is indeed a financial center in…
Earning Big Miles for Checking and Investment Accounts
Earn miles for investment account funding and for your checking account. While BankDirect reduced mileage-earning for checking accounts that hold over $50,000, I’ve been a BankDirect checking account customer since July 2003, and I use it as a checking account. It is not an investment account that pays a rate of return in miles rather than money (and which doesn’t report earnings to the IRS). Well, in a world of low interest rates it is that. But it isn’t primarily that. BankDirect awards 100 American Airlines miles per every $1000 average balance every month. Depositing $50,000 at the bank generates 60,000 miles per year. If you value those miles at 1.5 cents apiece that’s a $900 return. If your rate of return on that cash would otherwise be somewhere less than 2.5% you’re probably coming…
Delta.com Makes Award Booking Even Easier With Online Support for Two New Partners to Asia!
Delta now allows one-way awards
Eating The Best Local Thai Dishes in the Bang Rak District of Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok Getting Custom Tailored Suits Made in Bangkok at Empire Tailors Nahm at the Metropolitan: the Best Thai Food in Thailand? Thailand’s Iron Chef Cooks Ancient Recipes in a Deserted Top Notch Restaurant I spent a midday during my Bangkok visit with Bangkok Food Tours walking around Bangrak neighborhood. Working with them made my time more…
United Waiving Minimum Spend Requirements Towards Status for Some Members
Loyal reader Mark P. sends me this note: United extended my 1k status for 2015 due to my “long term commitment to United”. I flew over 126,000 miles, 48 segments, and [had] $7000 in [Premier Qualifying Dollars]. I also had over $25,000 spend on the United [credit card] to qualify for the waiver to get me to Platinum. United imposes a minimum spending requirement to achieve elite status. For 2014 spending towards 2015 status you had to spend at least $2500 for Silver, $5000 for Gold, $7500 for Platinum, and $10,000 for 1K status. For 2015 they increased the spending requirements by the same 20% as Delta. As before these requirements should only apply to members with US addresses (they’ve cracked down on address changes), and members who spend $25,000 or more on a co-brand…
The Thing About This Hobby, It Makes Me Read My Junk Mail, and I Get Great New Offers to Share
In some sense there’s no such thing as junk mail, there’s only mail that doesn’t interest you. If it were truly junk, not of interest to anyone, it would even get sent. Which isn’t to say I like the pile of stuff I toss into the recycling every day that there’s mail delivery. But I have an appreciation for bulk marketing mail that most people don’t. I open my bulk e-mail as well, if it looks like it’s coming from a loyalty program. Two items of note came in yesterday’s mail. Bonus Miles from the US Airways MasterCard The US Airways MasterCard offers targeted bonuses regularly. Many folks signing up for cards get quickly sent an offer for up to 15,000 bonus miles to get them used to actually using the card, since the signup…
Here’s Why It Won’t Really Cost $600 If You No Show That Starwood Award Stay…
Lucky asks why the cancellation policy on his $90 hotel room would cost him $600. He booked an award night at the Aloft Abu Dhabi for 3000 Starwood points The paid rate for that night would have been ~ US$90++ The charge for cancelling after the deadline to do so wasn’t ‘losing 3000 points’ or paying $90. It was AED 2200 or ~ $600. And he writes, Now, not that I’d ever cancel an award stay within a day of arrival (I’d be better off just no showing), but why would the forfeiture amount be more than six times the cost of a revenue stay? More generally, does anyone understand how forfeiture amounts on award stays actually work in the hotel industry? The forfeiture amount — what it costs you if you don’t cancel your…
Delta’s New Program Launched Today: So Far Award Redemption Changes Are Positive!
Delta devalued their award chart multiple times and then announced completely new award charts. With those changes came the hope that they’d finally get their act together with award availability. They announced finally allowing one-way awards at half the price of roundtrip. And they’ve improved the ability of their website to actually find available award seats. Delta’s new revenue-based earning program went into effect today. This is bad for most flyers, although there will be a subset who earn more. Along with the new program comes changes in award redemption. And I’m willing to give them benefit of the doubt, despite a history that makes that really really tough to do. Delta one-way awards are now available (it’s about time!) Delta was the lone holdout of major US airlines not offering one-way awards at half…
These Were the 15 Posts Everyone Else Read in 2014, But You May Have Missed
Looking back on the year, I thought I’d share what Google Analytics thinks were my most popular posts in 2014. These are the ones clicked on the most, that brought people to the site, rather than the most popular posts that were just read on my View From the Wing home page. That means they’re the ones that were linked to elsewhere, drew the most search traffic, or went viral in social media. And it’s striking to me that several of the posts actually were written in 2012 and 2013 — and even in 2010. These aren’t my favorite necessarily, but it’s telling for me what readers in general find interesting and useful. Upgrades are popular. Starbucks is popular. Posts tied to current news are popular. 10 more free Starbucks stars towards status and a…
