The Southwest Companion Pass is the best deal in travel for many. With the major airlines devaluing their programs, I’m finding Southwest more attractive. And of course checked bags are free.
Two key elements of the Southwest program are no change or redeposit fees on awards and a companion pass after earning 110,000 points in a year.
The Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor has an unbelievably great sale — they have club level rooms for $72 plus 3000 points per night available most nights.
Don’t have any Hyatt points? Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer instantly to Hyatt, and it would even be worth buying Hyatt points at this rate (though the risk is that the hotel decides not to honor the rate).
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.
Governor Cuomo wants to spend a lot — probably ultimately a lot more than this — without solving congested air traffic or the airport’s connectedness to Manhattan. They’re tackling the comparatively easy cosmetic stuff first, rather than what seems most important.
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) improperly billed his campaign fund for $600 pet in cabin fees for his family’s rabbit according to a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics (which will live to see another day).
Hunter, though, was doing it wrong. Had he simply claimed to be transporting an emotional support rabbit he wouldn’t have had to pay any fees at all and wouldn’t have gotten into this ethics mess.
Star Alliance member EVA Air — the airline that flies Hello Kitty jets — has introduced a ‘peppy robot’ named Pepper to each of Taiwan’s two airports.
Passengers can go up to pepper, scan their boarding passes, and get information about their flight and weather at their destinations. But this isn’t just a kiosk meant to displace ground staff.
The man who caused 252 United Airlines passengers to get stuck in Auckland for a day after his racist, homophobic rant on United’s New Year’s Day flight UA870 from Sydney to San Francisco led to a diversion will not face charges.
Here’s the man talking into his phone upon landing in Auckland, “Tell my dad to get his law firm ready because United Airlines just diverted the […] plane because I complained to some fat […] who got in my […] face.”
The Holiday Inn Midtown on West 57th has rates as low as $70 during the third week in January. Rates are otherwise under $100 into February.
It’s not just the Holiday Inn Midtown where prices are low, here’s The Hudson on the same night for $102 and the Park Lane for $159. And that’s not even looking very hard or for opaque rates.
Between the middle and end of the month Norwegian has flights from Oakland to London as low as £95.30 British pounds on their UK website. That’s $117 US dollars for the one way.
Austrian is a Star Alliance airline, they have a good business class in fact arguably they have the very best food in business class.
You can use miles with United, Aeroplan, ANA, LifeMiles, and many other programs to book awards to and through Vienna to most places you’d want to go in Europe and even Asia.
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 »
