Yesterday I was asked about mileage bonuses for brokerage accounts, and I’m aware of the following: Ameritrade has several offers with June 30 expiry. A $50,000 deposit nets 25,000 miles on Continental, Delta, United, or USAirways (USAirways offer expires Sept 30). Even better, a $25,000 deposit nets 20,000 points with Starwood. Fidelity also offers 25,000 United miles for a $50,000 deposit. There are other offers, but those are big ones from large industry players. The best place for checking on a listing of such things is Gary Steiger’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles website. And of course brokerages aren’t the only financial offers for miles — there’s mortgages, car loans, bank accounts, insurance… and of course credit cards credit cards credit cards (here’s a brief primer on the best ones though while I still carry a…
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Hotel industry insider blogs
Via Hotel Chatter, I’ve been reading up on blogs written by hotel employees. Hotel Chatter recently linked to Not Your View — which hasn’t been updated in awhile but which refreshingly acknowledges both the good and the bad in their hotel — and a blog by the General Manager of Vancouver’s Opus Hotel. I find this genre an interesting read but haven’t found anything both consistently good and frequently updated. Any suggestions?
Will Work for Travel Discounts
Via Online Travel Review, Air New Zealand is investigating employees’ use of travel perks in exchange for sex with prostitutes. Under airline staff discounts, staff can buy unbooked seats at as little as 10% of the full fare, and can use a “Buddy Fare” for a companion to travel anywhere in the world on the airline up to four times a year. According to the article, some Air New Zealand staff used the Buddy Fares and discounted tickets as payment for sex with prostitutes. I started pondering new mileage redemption options, how the scheme could have been set up in the first place, and whether the prostitutes in question managed to negotiate hotel and rental car discounts as well. And then I stopped.
ANA’s New First Class Comes to DC
Monday night I attended a reception hosted by All Nippon Airways celebrating 20 years of service between Tokyo and Washington-Dulles and commemorating the introduction of their NewStyle cabins on the DC route. ANA’s new first class is arguably the best cabin in the sky (I haven’t flown the new first on Emirates yet, but I hear great things, so I caveat this as ‘arguably’). It’s the widest seat in the sky, has a 15″ LCD TV at each first seat, is complemented by Boeing’s on-board internet product as well as ANA’s fabulous food offerings and outstanding service. The real drawback to ANA is ground service, there’s very little done for passengers before boarding and upon arrival and ANA lounges are universally spartan (though perhaps improved with their recent relocation at Narita, I haven’t passed through…
Double Miles on Frontier
Frontier is offering double miles for online purchases made by June 30 for travel through the end of the year. Registration is required. (Hat tip to the MilesLink newsletter.)
LA Times Reporter swallows two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, … a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls
(With apologies to Hunter S. Thompson, but it’s the only way to explain the conclusions in this story.) James Gilden looks at US domestic airline award availability and online booking and gives the highest marks to Continental. Of course, Mr. Gilden (1) looks only at a single route, different for each airline (2) over a specific set of dates (3) booking only online (4) and choosing a form of redemption that’s generally low value anyway (domestic coach award). There’s no way that Continental miles are better to have than United’s or American’s currency. And all airline award websites are fairly limited in their functionality, even with marked improvements over the past few years. It’s still important to call when you don’t see what you want online. And really it’s rare that you should be redeeming…
Double Miles on Star Alliance Flights with South African Airways
Here’s a pretty good reason to join the South African Airways frequent flyer program: double miles on most Star Alliance partners. Double miles through the end of June on Thai (first flight only), All Nippon Airways, and Singapore. Double miles through the end of July on TAP Air Portugal, Lufthansa, Swiss, bmi British Midland, Spanair, SAS, Air New Zealand, and USAirways. Interestingly, United isn’t on the list. First account activity earns 2500 bonus miles. And fair warning, discount economy fares only earn 50% of miles, so earn regular full mileage only under this promo. If you’re flying on participating carriers within the promotion period, and aren’t flying on deeply discounted coach tickets, crediting your flights to the Voyager program may make good sense. Flyertalk.com discussion is here.
An Evergreen Story on Fare Glitches
Travel deals like $51 to Fiji or $61 to Iceland are like dreams come true; impossible fantasies for most people in the world. So who needs a news hook? The Wall Street Journal ran another piece on the Alitalia fare glitch, $33 + tax for business class Toronto to Cyprus, in its weekend edition yesterday. Stephen Mutkoski, a 37-year-old lawyer at Microsoft near Seattle, was thrilled recently to find a mistaken fare online for flights to Europe — just $33 plus taxes. He quickly booked trips for himself and his wife in July, August and Thanksgiving week. The catch: The flights are to Larnaca, Cyprus. From Toronto. I love this description of Flyertalk:The online epicenter of travel-deal discovery is FlyerTalk, a sort of methadone clinic for frequent-flyer and hotel-stay program addicts. In its highly trafficked…
Changes to Diners Club Just Keep On Comin’…
Diners Club is ending the current Restaurant Savings Programs. They used to have their own program, the past few years it’s been outsourced to iDine aka Rewards Network. In short, the Diners Club card has come with iDine Prime which offered 20% cash rebates on participating restaurans (but for the past year just 10%, and some restaurants only 5%).The cashback iDine program otherwise comes with a fee, Diners Club covers that, although it also means that you can’t get iDine miles for dining purchases made with the card. Of course, if you use iDine linked to a mileage program 10 or more times in a year you earn 10 miles per dollar — which isn’t as good as a 20% rebate, but is better than a 10% rebate. And that’s free. So it may be…
Why Rental Car Insurance Isn’t a Good Deal
Tim Harford explains in Slate why you shouldn’t opt to pay for rental car insurance. And that’s without even seeming to realize that most credit card products bundle rental car insurance at no marginal cost. My Diners Club card offers primary insurance. Almost any premium Visa, Mastercard, or American Express will at least cover the costs your insurance company does not, such as the $900 deductible Harford references in the article. Several cards whose coverage is generally secondary provide primary coverage when the driver is not otherwise insured. Check the fine print or call your credit card company to find out. People aren’t just paying too much for something. They’re paying too much to buy something they already have. (Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.)
