A handful of dates in February and plenty of dates in March – still peak season – have the American Airlines non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand pricing from $420 roundtrip.
This is an excellent opportunity to visit New Zealand at a bargain fare provided you’re amenable to making the journey in economy.
What happens when hotels change award categories without notice — right as members who have been waiting for months have been allowed to redeem? And how are some hotels ‘complying’ with Marriott’s elite breakfast benefits?
The problem I think is that the chain’s CEO describes the frustration of his best customers as noise around the edges rather than tackling the problem with open arms. Bill Marriott said the purpose of the Starwood acquisition was to give them scale and leverage. I noted at the time this included leverage over customers.
Three years ago I outlined 11 Controversial Things I Believe. The predictions which have had time to come true or be proven false have actually borne out fairly well. One though I just got flat wrong.
Here are 7 controversial things I currently believe. Tell me that you think I’m wrong.
The reason I love points in credit card programs that transfer to frequent flyer miles is flexibility. I don’t know which airline is going to offer the award that I want when I want it. When I can transfer to airlines in all of the different alliances, and to airlines that offer more availability to their own members to partners, I really multiply the chances of getting the saver award I’m looking for. And I make my miles go a lot farther.
What’s more, several foreign frequent flyer programs will give you the same awards that a US airline will — for fewer miles. They partner with the US airline, but have a more favorable award chart.
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.
U.S. travelers are certainly aware of the challenges of dealing with visa applications to visit certain countries, and how much simpler it is to visit somewhere that either doesn’t require a visa for U.S. citizens or allows for visa on arrival.
The U.S. won’t allow foreigners without approved visa or ESTA to board aircraft headed for the U.S. That raises the transaction costs of coming here, which makes doing business with the U.S., spending tourism dollars, and supporting U.S. industry more difficult for little security benefit in exchange.
The road map for where Hilton has gone with their program was laid out by Jeff Diskin, now Hilton Executive Vice President, back in 2010.
He said the Honors program was giving too much basic value to members and it wasn’t generating enough value. They hadn’t been active with promotions. And that needed to flip. That’s exactly what’s happened.
Everyone eventually has a fish story. Now Southwest Airlines does, too, since one of their passengers is telling the story of how the carrier separated her from her pet fish in Denver, a pink male beta fish named Cassie. She says she travels with it everywhere, but on this day the Southwest employees she ran into wouldn’t allow it. And she loved her fish.
Earlier this year Spirit Airlines told a cancer patient she’d have to flush her emotional support hamster down the toilet if she wanted to fly that day out of Baltimore. While the TSA was happy to screen the pet, Spirit Airlines is just too classy to carry rodents on board or as cargo.
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.
Hyatt just announced several modest program changes to award members after fewer nights starting next year, and some tweaks to qualifying for elite status including requiring 5 extra nights to re-qualify for top tier status in 2020.
Here’s what’s changing and what they’ll mean to you.
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 »
