Hyatt is out with their new promo and so is Hilton. Now we know what IHG Rewards Club, the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Kimpton, Crowne Plaza and related brands, will offer.
Offers vary my member. Here’s how the promotion works, and what I received. What’s your offer?
Like Norwegian and Wow Air , Primera offers super cheap fares across the Atlantic, they’re helping to drive down prices overall, and there are add-on fees for anything you may want on board whether it’s advance seat assignments or beverages.
For the passenger just looking to get on a plane, unconcerned with seat assignment, Primera can be even cheaper than the bigger transatlantic discounters. Right now they have flights from the U.S. to Europe from an absurdly low $63.
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.
While passengers urinating on seat opponents doesn’t happen frequently compared to the number of flights and number of passengers each year, it happens frequently enough to make me wonder whether an airline would attract business by requiring passengers to certify that they’re potty trained, and to blow into a breathalyzer at the boarding gate. And it makes me wonder if airlines not doing this suggests they’d rather have the ticket revenue than discourage the behavior.
For fee-happy airlines like Spirit, Allegiant and United another approach could be onboard sale of Depends.
I absolutely hate fuel surcharges. They’re a scam which is basically just a tax on frequent flyers’ loyalty. On some itineraries they can amount to $1000 roundtrip. Although bear in mind that you may pay lower fuel surcharges when you book two one way awards than a roundtrip.
When I’m in an absolute pinch I can talk myself into paying fuel surcharges for a first class award. I think of it as a discount coach ticket which doesn’t earn points but where I’m spending miles for a confirmed triple upgrade.
Emirates has one of the world’s best first class products. Their business class wouldn’t come close to ranking, and their new first class is only on a limited number of planes. But their decade-old first class, while a bit tight on space for its fully enclosed suites with doors, is still a marvel with great amenities, good alcohol and catering, and generally good service.
It’s very very available using miles. Perhaps that’s because there are so many first class seats on so many flights and very few people know how to redeem for these seats at a reasonable price.
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.
Routes are often discounted when flights aren’t full, suggesting that there should be good availability which is what we’re seeing for New York JFK – Paris Orly premium economy.
You can connect elsewhere in Europe if you wish. American Express, Chase, and Citibank points all transfer to Flying Blue.
Virgin Atlantic miles aren’t worth as much as other miles. However they do have strategic uses and I believe the single best one is ANA first class roundtrip from the Central U.S. and East Coast for just 120,000 miles per person. (San Francisco and Los Angeles is just 110,000 miles roundtrip, while business class runs 90,000 or 95,000 miles depending on the city.)
Another strong use of Virgin Atlantic miles is Delta business class between the US and Europe for 50,000 points each way, which becomes an amazing deal witht he 30% tansfer bonus. There are other award chart sweet spots, like Australia and New Zealand.
I’ve written in the past about the great auction values at Luxury Travel Diary, many of which seem to go for 30% – 70% off, probably because there just aren’t that many people bidding so you can scoop up bargains. Folks who already know about these auctions won’t like the added attention.
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 »
