Category Archives for Travel Tips.
Generally flight attendants don’t actually care if you use the lavatory while the seat belt sign is on. They have to tell you that the seat belt sign is on. They cannot tell you it is ok for you to use the lavatory.
That’s the practical real world answer. What about the law?
The number one thing that gives me security when I travel is obscurity, there’s no one who wants to spy on me. I’m simply not important or valuable enough to be worth the effort.
At the same time I assume any device I carry with me to China is compromised. And in many countries the room I’m staying in may be set up for monitoring because of other people who might stay there either before or after me. Business espionage is at least as common as national security espionage.
Using American miles to fly between the US and Asia can be a challenge for two passengers. Those based at the DFW hub have an even greater challenge — tremendous competition for award seats from other frequent flyers, and that most of the oneworld Asia service is on American which isn’t great about releasing premium cabin award space to begin with.
There’s an upper bound to what banks can possibly pay to reward customers. That’s based on their revenue which comes from interchange (merchant swipe fees when using the card to pay) and revolve (APR when customers don’t pay off their cards each month).
And we’re pretty much at a place where banks are paying as much as they possibly can at current rates for the rewards and benefits they’re handing out.
Priority Pass is a card that gets you into lounges around the world. You don’t have to belong to an individual lounge program, this program works to have lounges in most of the places you go.
They’ve added restaurants in some airports instead of lounges in order to expand their footprint. Your Priority Pass card gets you a $28 food and beverage credit (plus $28 per guest, where applicable).
Well I’m back at that same Marriott Courtyard and wouldn’t you know I was assigned to the same room. So what’s the first thing I did? Check the bath gel.
A woman was told she had 50,000 American AAdvantage miles expiring but she could extend them for a year for $100, payable by credit card over the phone.
Now, when you extend the validity of American Airlines AAdvantage miles they’re good for an additional year — not 18 months. And aside from AAdvantage not generally calling you about expiring miles, this person hasn’t had activity with American since 2010. Their miles are long gone.
I didn’t used to tip Uber drivers in cash. Much of the value add of the platform was its seamlessness. Tap a button, there’s your ride get in get out. No messy transaction to deal with. I even have to remind myself to pay when taking a taxi.
In-app tipping is far better than cash, anyway, it’s more convenient for riders and you avoid the problem of scantily clad women stealing Uber driver tips.
Until now Uber has insisted that your decision to tip – and how much – cannot affect the rating you’re given by drivers. Drivers have to rate you first before they know what tip decision you’ve made.
Tipping wasn’t even a part of Uber until recently. The idea was ‘the price is the price’ and indeed at the outset they contended that the tip was included. However in their quest to redeem their image, in part by accommodating drivers, Uber added tipping inside the app. At least Uber’s tipping has become cashless.
I was e-mailing with Stephen M. about his son’s credit card strategy, credit score, and options. He observed that he’s been focused on getting the most from rewards ‘for at least 8 years’ but “it is kind of funny, I tell people who travel a lot about it, but very few do it seriously.”
When frequent flyer programs began in the U.S. programs would give you 5000 miles if you spent all your points. That’s because they were afraid you would no longer be locked into an airline if you spent all your miles, you’d get off the treadmill and become a free agent. They stopped doing that. And the reason why is telling.
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 »
