Why I Need to Stop Staying at Hyatt This Year

Oct 26 2017

My favorite hotel benefit is Hyatt’s confirmed suite upgrade. I can reserve a suite at time of booking a best-priced standard room for any stay up to 7 nights where standard suites are available.

Unfortunately the way Hyatt awards confirmed suite upgrades means I need to pretty much stop staying at Hyatts for the rest of the year. There are some simple changes Hyatt could make to fix this disincentive.

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ANA, Cathay, and Korean Join PreCheck, Make Sure Your Known Traveler Number is Up to Date

people walking in airport
Oct 26 2017

A year ago Lufthansa became the 19th airline set up with TSA PreCheck. They joined Air Canada, Etihad, Aeromexico and WestJet as the first non-US airlines set up with PreCheck. And with that the massive US data-sharing, surveillance and passenger-convenience program had gone global.

Now 5 more airlines have joined: ANA, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Finnair and Contour Airlines.

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Here’s Why American Thinks Your Miles Are Worth Only 1/7th of a Cent Each

Oct 25 2017

In theory American believes they’ll sell out their flights the Sunday after Thanksgiving (though if that’s true, why are tickets just $133?) so they’re letting you redeem your miles at $0.0017 per mile.

That’s actually how much liability American has been accruing on its books for each mile they award for travel. The accounting changes January 1, and that may be why American is promising better award space.

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Get Free Bose Headphones When Buying $600+ Air and Hotel

Oct 25 2017

Upside is the new travel booking site from Priceline founder Jay Walker that launched publicly at the beginning of the year. Last summer I interviewed Jay about his history with Priceline and his new business idea.

For both business and leisure travelers they occasionally run compelling first-use bonuses like guaranteed gift card minimums that make booking through them a no-brainer.

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