News and notes from around the interweb:
- CLEAR will speed itself up with new facial recognition kiosks that replace use of fingerprints or eyes and are supposed to be much faster. These are set up in Austin, where CLEAR lines are long, but when I went through the machines weren’t in use. Staff were playing with them, though, instead of helping customers at available terminals.
- Spirit Airlines 90-day status match plus challenge to keep the status and this time with no fee. If you have any Spirit travel coming up it’s a great way to avoid fees.
- This is probably better accommodation than any hotel they would have paid for tbh
Santa’s Cozy Cabin for the 24 hour flight delay and no hotels offered with $12 meal voucher for the day, courtesy of @AmericanAir flight AA80 pic.twitter.com/fo9tNjWog9
— Wayne Sports (@layne_sports) December 6, 2024
- Amex 25% transfer bonus to JetBlue through December 31, which brings transfers up to 1:1, still meh.
- GHA Discovery status extensions for purchasing Discovery Dollars
The Lyle, DC - Hilton Honors is back with double points on all stays, January 1 – April 30, 202. Registration required, and now open.
While they’ve recently done things like flat 2,000 or 2,500 points per stay, and this is in most cases more lucrative (except for cheap one-night stays), double points has become the Hilton baseline. Several years ago they moved the value of base earn into promotions, which helps keep members ‘on the treadmill’ in the words of former program head Jeff Diskin. Base earn in the Hilton program is lowest among competitors and they need generous promotions to come up to par. Since they usually offer double points, that’s simply how they’ve built the program – consider part of their earn proposition to be the promotion, for those who register.
You should definitely register even if you do not expect any Hilton stays. This promotion ends nearly five months from now, you may not be planning any Hilton stays but your plans may change and you will never remember to go back and register later if they do.
SFO T3 CLEAR has the new machines. Used one yesterday. It was fast.
TSA facial recognition is a breeze. In the past year, I’ve used Clear only once or twice due to the TSA line. It’s less and less useful.
Orwell was an optimist.
@drrichard
You have nothing to fear, so long as you follow the ‘law’
*the law is whatever Dear Leader says it is, and it changes constantly, and it often contradicts itself
Also, remember, if you drive 36 in a 35 mph zone, then you, too, are an ‘illegal’
Boy this escalated (appropriately) quickly 😉
Just did clear at T1 ORD and was slow w extra screening. Guy takes my passport then turns to help someone else with my passport. Other clear lady wonders why I’m upset with cavalier handling of my passport Of course I’ve never ‘paid’ for Clear always through cc
next time I’ll try the TSA
BTW I obey all laws. One of the Top 10 things I learned in law school. Deny everything.
OTOH. #RESIST Fascism
Bottom line. I’ll do what I need to do to travel 🙂
Safe travels
You’re in a public place. A friend recognizes you and says hi. You respond to your “friend” that they are violating your privacy rights. Your “friend” is secretly an agent of the Deep State and is conspiring to monitor your whereabouts. If you don’t believe it, just ask Commander Thor from the Ice Wall. (Who is actually from Venus.). Wise up people. You’re right to privacy in public places means nothing now
We’re now a surveillance society because we never went Roman’s on the real perpetrators of 911.