Three years ago Starwood began launching partnerships with airlines to share customers and increase bookings — by giving benefits or points to incentivize likely high value travelers.
First they launched with Delta, then they added Emirates. And now they’re adding a third airline in a new region: China Eastern.
The first two things anyone interested in frequent flyer miles and travel should do is sign up for Award Wallet to track your points and get a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to earn the most points in a highly flexible, valuable currency, quickly.
Here are 77 free AwardWallet Premium upgrade links that will let you take your existing free account and give yourself premium service for 6 months.
There’s new non-stop service starting between Seattle and Shenzhen, China — just a hop from Hong Kong.
Xiamen Air is offering amazing introductory fares for their three day a week Boeing 787 service.
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.
Some programs have expiring miles (for instance, miles earned today will expire in 3 years if unused). Other programs have expiring accounts (accounts will become inactive if there’s no earning or redemption within 18 or 36 months). In either case, activity in your account can extend the life of your miles or in the extreme only some of your miles will expire on a given date.
One airline has had a policy far more draconian than either of those things.
With the growth of Chinese aviation, more and more Chinese people fly. I’ve written about how air travel is increasingly democratized and just as there are problematic people on the ground, there are problematic people in the sky.
In China it’s even more likely in the U.S. that you’ll have passengers unfamiliar with social norms of air travel, as rapid growth and industrialization has meant bringing rural Chinese into contact with development and air travel for the first time. The Chinese government has tried to crack down on the behavior of its citizens while traveling abroad, and so has the Thai government.
Famous-for-being-famous Paris Hilton, the great granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, is working to launch a chain of Paris Hilton hotels.
Paris Hilton hotels are not to be confused with the Paris Hilton hotel in Paris. The brand’s first three cities are expected to be Dubai, New York, and Las Vegas — so they’re also not to be confused with the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.
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.
There’s been lots of discussion first about the Citi Prestige card signup bonus likely changing after today, and also about other changes to the product itself.
For instance, I wrote that starting late next July Prestige cardholders will no longer get access to American Airlines lounges.
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 »
