57,000 Miles Business Class Roundtrip to Europe – 40% Off Virgin Atlantic Miami Awards, Any Class of Service

miami to london promo
Feb 10 2018

Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of Chase, American Express, and Citibank. So Virgin Atlantic miles are really easy to get. In general I don’t value their miles as much as many other currencies but there are strategic uses like 120,000 miles roundtrip for first class from the East Coast on their partner ANA.

Another strategic use is when they discount their own flights. Virgin adds fuel surcharges to awards, but when the mileage cost is low enough even that makes sense.

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American’s Front Line Employees Think Getting Rid of Seat Back Entertainment is a Very Bad Idea

back of airlplane seat
Feb 09 2018

Yesterday I wrote about American’s “Tell Me Why” podcast with Senior Vice President Kurt Stache. He laid out the airline’s plans for satellite internet and explained why the airline is getting rid of seat back video screens.

American employees comment internally on these discussions. It always amazes me how frank they are. Union protections and management promises notwithstanding I don’t think I’d be so forceful in my criticisms of management as American’s employees often are in these forums.

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The Best Rewards Credit Cards in a Nutshell

people playing music with piano and singing
Feb 09 2018

We often delve into the extreme detail and minutiae of rewards cards, there are tons of benefits and features and lots of details but it’s easy to lose the forest from the trees.

I thought I’d try to keep it simple, with just a single statement to encapsulate the key value proposition offered by several of the best rewards cards. See if you agree with my cutting to the chase on each.

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Airline Forces College Student to Flush Her Emotional Support Hamster Down Toilet

hamster
Feb 08 2018

A college student says that Spirit Airlines told her when she made her flight reservation that she could bring her emotional support hamster named Pebbles onboard the plane. She bought Pebbles after a golf ball-sized lump developed on her neck and led to a cancer scare.

She traveled to have the growth removed, and brought her hamster with her. Spirit acknowledges that their agent told the woman this would be ok. …

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Marriott Increasing Points Prices of Over 1000 Hotels Should Strike Fear in the Hearts of SPG Members

outside marriott hotel
Feb 08 2018

Devaluation just seems to be in their bones on the Marriott side, and the Starwood merger and Starwood Preferred Guest leadership appear not to have changed that. While they announced a reasonable set of category changes for Starwood the changes at Marriott are absolutely brutal: 21% of hotels are going up in category while just 5% are going down in category. The number of points required to redeem for a free Marriott hotel night is going up at over 1000 hotels effective March 6th.

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