Delta has said when everyone’s elite, no one is.
They seem to have forgotten that lesson: here’s all it takes to get elite boarding on Delta at Washington’s National airport:
Club1 Hotels is a membership site, and that lets them sell rooms at a discount, offering lower rates to consumers instead of taking their booking commission. They report that they make money on membership fees rather than individual bookings. (Since they’re a membership site hotel best rate guarantees for direct booking on a hotel chain’s website don’t apply.)
Their membership normally costs $675 for a year, but they’re giving away one year memberships that provide access to discounts (but don’t come with a Priority Pass for airport lounge access) now. It’s worth signing up just to check out pricing. I’ve seen plenty of hotels where you can save hundreds of dollars through the site, though you may give up hotel loyalty points booking with them.
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.
American’s new business class seat is the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond going into their Boeing 787-9, Airbus A350, and later retrofits of Boeing 777-200s.
I had the opportunity to try out the new seat on American’s inaugural domestic run of its first Boeing 787-9, flying Dallas – Los Angeles. For the return flight I opted for premium economy (removing my upgrade request from the reservation just to be safe) so I could compare that other new product, a first in this aircraft, as well.
Through October 21 Hilton HHonors is running bonus on purchased Hilton points.
Hilton usually charges a penny apiece for points, so with this bonus is selling points for half a cent each. That’s tied for the cheapest I’ve ever seen (in June 2015 they offered a 100% bonus on purchased points also, and a few months back they ran 50% off). They’re selling points for just about what they’re worth.
I week ago I wrote about truly amazing business class award availability on Delta’s new Minneapolis – Tokyo Haneda flight with 6 or more saver award seats per flight.
This was what availability looked like for 6 passengers in business class during the flight’s first full month of service (Minneapolis – Tokyo Haneda starts October 29). Most dates actually showed 9 business seats.
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.
Boeing and Qatar announced a big jet order today for 787, 777, and 737 MAX aircraft.
Along with facing the end of 747 production, Boeing has been talking about slowing the line for 777s as well. Boeing says 10 777s — in particular their delivery dates — goes a long way towards helping to sustain the 777 program.
These deals won’t last long, but we’re seeing offers like this more and more frequently. I explained last month why we’re seeing deeper discount airfare flash sales than ever before and how to take advantage of them.
All of these fares are found using airfare metasearch site Momondo:
Hilton’s current top elite tier doesn’t much differentiate itself from mid-tier Gold. And Gold comes just from signing up either for the Citi Hilton Reserve Card or the Hilton HHonorsTM Surpass® Card from American Express.
But we know about a survey of potential new benefits for a “Diamond+” level — in conjunction with a possible new premium credit card to boot.
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 »
