British Airways has a history of making changes to its award pricing without notice, and also of giving a few months’ notice. When they moved from an award region chart to distance-based pricing in 2011 they told us they were changing pricing but not what prices would be. When that happens you know they won’t be ‘changes you’re going to like’.
Now we’re once again learning of impending changes but not what the details of those changes will be.
Despite marketing claims by the big chains, you can often get a better price on a hotel booking through third party websites. That’s even more the case with independent hotels. The best savings are usually on more expensive hotels.
Here’s a deal on unpublished hotel rates where you’ll also earn a 10% rebate on top of the savings.
On Thursday night I had the pleasure to co-host the Freddie Awards, the major awards program in airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty. Over 7 million votes were cast by program members to determine which programs around the world are delivering value to members that they appreciate most.
It’s a night to celebrate what’s good in loyalty, and to honor what the members think.
After the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and before the FAA grounded the Boeing 737 MAX American Airlines pilots came out declaring the aircraft safe.
Now they suggest it’s not safe to bring back as-proposed. Those are two positions which are difficult, but not impossible, to reconcile.
Plastiq.com is a service that will charge your credit card and mail checks on your behalf. (With some vendors they also make electronic ACH payments.)
Their usual fee for this is 2.5%. It’s worth it to incur that fee if you’re earning a signup bonus with the credit card charges, or you’re meeting a spending threshold for a bonus.
Right now Mastercard payments are costing just 1.5%, and you can even pay a residential mortgage with a Mastercard.
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.
A reader shared a bizarre email exchange with the general manager of a full service upscale Marriott hotel. Being shorted points on $15 of room rate per night was enough to push him to Hilton.
Starbucks was asked about devaluing their program on their earnings call and they claimed customers don’t mind because fewer customers picked up the phone to call and complain than they had anticipated and fewer customers are complaining about this devaluation than their 2016 devaluation.
Love is a wonderful thing, and the excitement of a new and budding relationship is a feeling few people can match with their other experiences. Still, my recommendation would be for a discrete trip to the lav if you must and not to do this inflight (or during the boarding process).
First class upgrades are tougher than ever, but there’s real advice on how to get them. You can take the Wee Willie Keeler approach which is a very good one. You can hope for an operational upgrade.
There are also upgrade tips that make you look like an idiot.
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 »
