News and notes from around the interweb: Jetstar (Australia) reminds passengers to dispose of their drugs before landing. There was a rush for the lavatories. Rocketmiles has extended their 3000 bonus miles for first hotel booking through August 8. That’s on top of the usual miles you earn for booking hotels for yourself or others. The site has a limited number of hotels and in a limited – but growing – number of cities. It rebates you a potentially large number of miles for your reservations. (You generally won’t earn hotel points for your stays booked through the site.) Best options for buying Visa and MasterCard gift cards. Even as Thai Airways rolls back their devaluation and promises notice of future ones, Jet Airways of India appears to be charging 50% – 60% more for…
Hotel Charges Man $127 for Water (Travel Can Be Very. Expensive. So Know What You’re Getting Into)
The Crystal Bar at the Wellesley hotel in Knightsbridge, London isn’t a cheap place to sit down and drink. So there’s lots of mileage out there about a man who was charged $127 for 3 bottles of water. Edward Heaton had a business meeting at the five star Wellesley Hotel in Knightsbridge, London. It was hot so they opted to sit outside on the cigar terrace of the Crystal Bar, and order three small bottles of San Pellegrino sparkling water. After the meeting concluded, and Mr. Heaton requested the bill, imagine his surprise, when the total came out to $127. The story isn’t exactly true. The charge per bottle of sparkling Pellegrino was five and a half pounds each. The hotel has a minimum charge on their cigar terrace, so the bill was topped off…
Maui Eats: Notable Meals from My Visit to Wailea
During my recent stay in Maui, where I discovered that I really much enjoy staying at the Andaz in Wailea, I had three dinners interesting in their own right. I thought I’d share them here, in case they help folks deciding to eat – or not eat – at one of these places, since Maui is such a frequent tourist destination. Scott at Hack My Trip says the Andaz Maui is “one of the few hotels where I felt I could stay there all week and never leave the property.” I could stay on property, to be sure, but I prefer leaving the property when on Maui – there are close and far off foods, lots of variety (though not all of it good) and certainly at a lower price point. Only one of the…
Another Gutting: Starwood Preferred Business Ends Points-Earning
Business programs can be a valuable supplement to personal frequent flyer and frequent guest accounts. An early offering was Southwest’s “Secretaries Program” which awarded free travel to administrative staff booking their bosses onto Southwest. Of course that benefit derived to the individual and company programs in theory at least benefit and belong to the company itself, though in practice they often belong to the individual managing the account (since large companies may have their own corporate deals, and these programs are often designed for smaller companies). I get good value out of American’s Business ExtrAA program where I accumulate points that can be used for free tickets and upgrades but I usually use them to gift AAdvantage Gold status and lounge memberships. Starwood has had an interesting program for a long time, Starwood Preferred Business.…
Nation’s Bad Credit Prevents Earning Miles, Hotel Scams, Drug Mules and Keep Your Papers With You in Thailand
News and notes from around the interweb: A third of consumers with credit files had debts in collection last year. This game is not for you unless you pay off your cards in full each month, and don’t cause yourself to spend more than you otherwise would. Delta really is offering a robust inflight product these days. I love that, not that I want to fly Delta, but because it makes it hard for American to adopt US Airways-style soft product standards as those two carriers merge. The Supreme Court of British Columbia struck down rules that prohibited pharmacy patients in the province from earning points on non-government funded pharmacy prescriptions. The hotel food delivery scam Visiting Thailand? Some provinces are beginning to enforce the rule that foreigners carry valid ID with them at all…
More Proof That Mileage Programs DO Roll Back Devaluations!
Frequent flyer programs do roll back changes — but don’t like to admit they’re wrong when they do it. American did just that when they introduced a $5 online award booking fee that never went into effect. The idea was dropped, no announcement. Because it was stupid. Here are five more heroic times when consumers won against frequent flyer program changes. So as tough as it is to imagine in a time of United’s partner award chart devaluation, United’s impending shift to revenue-based mileage earning, following Delta doing the exact same thing… not to mention the evisceration of the Hilton HHonors award chart or American’s April 8 massAAcre… We’ve just seen another program walk away from a big devaluation they had announced!
Lounge Access Rules and First Class Meals are Too Complicated
Adam Carolla flies American in first class, Los Angeles to Washington DC. He’s turned away from the Admirals Club. He makes a reasonable case that — like Alaska Airlines does — paid first class travel ought to access the lounge. Certainly lounge access policies are confusing. I see passengers all the time who don’t even look like they’re trying to scam access get turned away because they don’t understand the rules. And got a question today from an international first class passenger asking if she gets lounge access. It has to be that the airlines are doing something wrong, not the customers, at that point. (Many foreign carriers print useless ‘lounge invitation’ cards to let customers know they get access.) I once stood in front of Billy Crystal in line to access the club at…
Hilton Rolling Out Pick Your Own Room and Use Your Phone as a Room Key
Hilton is about to launch a revolutionary product that several chains have been talking about for years: an iPhone and Android app that will let guests check-in by phone, assign their own choice of room, and use their phone as a room key. This gives the power of choice to customers, and cuts down on hotel staffing needs if it takes off. But there are several challenges, and one in particular that will make me wary of using it..
United Releases its New Safety Video: Hit or Miss?
United has a new, cute safety video they’re rolling out across the fleet. I have a few thoughts. Matthew likes it. My feelings are more mixed. At four and a half minutes it’s just too long. I want to be in the air already by the time the video is 80% done. United CEO Jeff Smisek isn’t in the video. That makes the video better, and means they’ll be able to use it into the future. Towards the end of the video, telling passengers to carry on just one bag and one personal item seems absurd given that they’re all already seated with baggage stowed when this is playing. The kangaroo is great. The United captain scolding the French restaurant patron is bizarre, a sentiment perfectly captured by the Frenchman’s expression as he tries to…
What Happens to Airports When They’re Abandoned?
Here’s a fascinating look, mostly in pictures, at The Tattered, Haunting Remains of Abandoned Airports. (Not JFK’s Terminal 2) There’s a pictorial of Nicosia International Airport in Cyprus, which ceased operations with the Turkish invasion of 1974 and Yasser Arafat International Airport in the Gaza Strip, operational from 1998 to 2001. I found this especially interesting, not sure how I hadn’t ever heard of it: Objekat 505, or the Željava Airbase, one of the largest underground airports in Europe, on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, constructed between 1948 and 1968. It was designed to sustain a hit from a 20 kt nuclear bomb. When airports are decommissioned, of course, their airport codes get reassigned. But they continue to live on at least for a brief time as Avianca LifeMiles glitches. (HT: Kevin…
