IHG Rewards Club – the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and related brands — is offering a bonus up to 100% on purchased points through March 22. This applies to purchases of 7000 or more points.
What’s even better is that IHG recently dropped the regular price of points to a penny apiece, so with a 100% bonus you’re buying points for $0.005 each. They’ve also increased the number of points you can buy in a year to 100,000.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I managed to book two first class awards on Qantas, Dallas Fort-Worth – Sydney and return, on the exact dates I wanted. The flights did not show up at AA.com but American agents had no problem seeing the space when I called.
I’ve booked a lot of awards but I’ve never had occasion to book an infant through AAdvantage against a Qantas first class award. So I was surprised when successive agents told me it wasn’t possible.
As tough a criteria as Ambassador is — 100 nights isn’t enough, and indeed you could spend 250 nights at mid-level properties in Asia without spending enough to qualify — it isn’t actually the top tier in Marriott’s program. That’s because there’s an unpublished level called Cobalt.
Capital One just announced its first-ever miles transfer bonus. You receive a 100% bonus transferring Capital One miles to Emirates Skywards through March 24 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
The airline that pioneered lie flat seats in long haul business class hasn’t really refreshed their product since 2006. The current-generation British Airways seat is well past its prime, and is still going to be flying for many years.
The new ‘Club Suite’ will debut in their new Airbus A350s with 56 business class seats which start arriving in July and flying long haul October 1. They’ll be using the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat from Rockwell Collins (fully flat with direct aisle access) with a door added on.
A Saturday Ryanair flight (natch) from Glasgow to Tenerife in the Canary Islands saw a fight break out after a woman went to the lavatory without shoes on.
A “very drunk man pulled her up about it, saying that someone would stand on her toes” according to another passenger. Then the woman’s boyfriend got involved. And more alcohol got involved.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
With Southwest Airlines now selling tickets to Hawaii they should be flying high. Not only is this a new desirable market, it should support credit card acquisitions because customers can now spend their points for more aspirational destinations.
But the carrier has been hobbled by mechanics slowing down the airline and the grounding of the 737 MAX.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
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 »
