Did You Get Caught When Wyndham Pulled Today’s Major Promotion? They May Still Make It Good

by Gary Leff

Oct 11 2016

Wyndham had a crazy day, opening with a really amazing offer that members could redeem all of their Starwood points for charitable donations, and receive 4 Wyndham Rewards points per Starwood point for doing it — plus a status match through 2017.

They pulled the promotion before it even officially started. My biggest concern — other than that they kind of looked like the gang who couldn’t shoot straight — was that people might have already started redeeming their Starwood points for charitable donations and would wind up with nothing from Wyndham to show for it.

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NOT A GLITCH: United Massively Devalues Even Simple Roundtrip Awards, Either Take the Routes They Suggest or Pay More Miles

by Gary Leff

Oct 11 2016

Back in August United announced new change fees for awards and new limits award stopovers. They eliminated round the world awards as well. This was a devaluation, but — at least based on the announcement — seemed to be in areas where United was more generous than the competition.

It turns out the changes were more draconian than what United announced.

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Delta Will Now Upgrade Silvers on Award Tickets: Who This Hurts

by Gary Leff

Oct 11 2016

Delta now offers complimentary domestic upgrades to Silvers on award tickets, a benefit they already provided to higher-tier elites.

This move doesn’t cost Delta anything substantive. Domestic first class seats rarely go out empty. This might help a Delta Silver using their miles domestically on a Saturday regional jet flight in a market where the airline is overscheduled like Seattle.

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TODAY ONLY: Wyndham Will Quadruple Your Starwood Balance and Match Status, But You Have to Donate SPG Points to Charity

by Gary Leff

Oct 11 2016

Arguably the greatest frequent flyer offer ever came in 2002 when the KLM Flying Dutchman program offered not just to match elite status in another frequent flyer program, but also account balances (flights on KLM or partners were required for this). People earned millions of miles from a few flights.

Over the summer JetBlue matched Virgin America point balances with up to 75,000 bonus miles.

But I don’t recall an account balance promotion that was both unlimited (like KLM’s) and that required draining the points in your existing account.

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GIVEAWAY: Free Ritz-Carlton Stay, Sharq Village & Spa with Breakfast

by Gary Leff

Oct 10 2016

Doha is a really convenient stopover, as the home airport for Qatar Airways, a top world carrier and member of oneworld. Their first class lounge in Doha is amazing, and even features pieces from the Museum of Islamic Art’s collection.

I found just two days in Doha to be perfect, but if I had it to do over again I’d do four nights… two dedicated to a museum visit and two for The Ritz-Carlton Sharq Village & Spa.

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