News and notes from around the interweb: Enter my giveaway of 75,000 Hyatt points. You can also win a $250 MGM Resorts gift card. A trick to get extra legroom seats for less Here are the best and worst times to take the train between New York and DC Mileage consultants exist in Australia, too (HT: Larry M.) Alaska Airlines Boardroom passes are $10 off through August 31. They still cost $35, are valid for a year, and need to be purchased in person to get the price. Gosh, I remember buying them for $12.50 apiece not that many years ago. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s…
Man Charged With Wanting to Be a Security Screener… Too Much
A fake security screener probed passengers at the San Francisco airport. A man suspected of being drunk posed as a security screener at San Francisco International Airport long enough to direct a couple of women into a private booth for pat downs before real security staffers caught on to him, authorities said Wednesday. ..Two other airport law enforcement sources tell us the incident started when the man entered the security area wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt and blue rubber gloves — an outfit that might have been mistaken for those worn by screeners with the private Covenant security firm. The man, apparently without saying much, steered a woman into one of the private screening booths used to pat down selected passengers, our sources say. What happened inside isn’t known, because the woman soon…
How to Get Easy Rental Car Elite Status from Avis, National, and Sixt
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Your Credit Card May Entitle You to Rental Car Elite Status Reader johnf shared in the comments that one of unique benefits of Mastercard for their ‘World Elite’ level cards is rental car status. In fact, World Elite Mastercard rental car benefits entitle you to status with 3 rental companies. Complimentary National Executive status. This benefit also comes with American Express Platinum, and has been part of the Milepoint Premium membership package the past two years. You earn free rentals faster…
Here are the Big Changes to LifeMiles for North America Awards
Yesterday I shared that Avianca’s LifeMiles is Planning Big Changes to its Award Chart. They shared a small amount of detail, and the link I had only dealt with a small amount of detail to, from, and within Europe. Since then I’ve received an email from LifeMiles with a link to a small amount of detail for North America itineraries. They’ve only given us specific pricing — that they tell us we cannot rely on — for Avianca’s own prices. For Star Alliance flights, we just get a range of point pricing changes. And it’s a big range.
Loyalty Programs Can’t Figure Out Social. Free Points for Us!
Programs used to be generous giving out points or other rewards on Facebook. The idea is it was worth it to them, they’d get access to your Facebook feed and could advertise to you forever. But it’s almost always a mistake to invest in someone else’s plaform, they change the algorithm and your ads no longer appear as frequently. The investment you made in building ‘friends’ is no longer worth as much. If commercial pages want to advertise, and have the reach they used to, they need to pay Facebook. United used to give out points for follows on Twitter, other programs incentivized twitter follows as well. United also used to offer deep discount short-term twitter deals (“Twares”) but those ran afoul of agreements not to undercut pricing they loaded into computer reservation systems. The…
Internet MH17 Hall of Shame Award: Worst Tweet of the Day
Jason Biggs of American Pie and Orange is the New Black had the worst tweet of the day. (This is why.) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Maximizing Car Rental Status and National’s Free Rental Days
Rental car companies don’t have nearly the fully developed loyalty programs that airlines and hotels do. I keep expecting Avis to re-launch their program, but that keeps not happening. Both Avis and Hertz have really good top status tiers, but you cannot earn those just based on rentals. Hertz sells theirs. Avis actually does too each year as part of the US Travel Associatoin/American Express Daily Getaways. Hertz will status match. The top tier they offer based on rentals is Presidents Club and that only gets you a guaranteed one car class upgrade. National status matches too, usually though only in conjunection with their annual “1-2-Free” promotion. But their top tier — Executive Elite — only lets you earn a free rental day marginally faster, and lets you pick most cars rather than just up…
Malaysia Airlines MH17 Crashed – Possibly Shot Down
Malaysia Airlines lost contact with Boeing 777 flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur shortly before 11am Eastern. Reports are of 295 people aboard, and that the plane went down along the Russia-Ukraine border. There are, apparently, no survivors. Footage of the scene can be found here. There is speculation that the plane may have been shot down. Downed over land, the plane’s data and voice recorders will almost certainly be found. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of everyone on board. And my hopes go to Malaysia Airlines. Although it is far from the most pressing thing for today, following the tragedy of flight MH370, this will obviously weigh heavily on the future of the company which is already facing financial struggles. I flew with them in May…
Avianca Lifemiles Planning BIG Changes to their Award Chart
No one sells miles as aggressively these days as Avianca’s Lifemiles, a member of Star Alliance and a program that has been strategically very useful. I’ve viewed the program as the most generous in the Star Alliance because: No fuel surcharges Reasonable award chart One-way awards at half the price of roundtrip Cash and points option The biggest drawbacks have been dealing with telephone customer service (they’re better by email), restrictive routing rules (like no mixed cabin awards, all flights must be in the same booking class), and that they’ve made changes to their program without notice. Let me say that again. They have a history of making changes without notice.
FARE WAR: $520 East Coast Hawaii Fares
The Flight Deal notices a fare war that Delta has intitiated out of two US Airways hubs. You can fly from Charlotte or Philadelphia on Delta to Kauai roundtrip for ~ $520. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday departures are eligible.
