News and notes from around the interweb: My post yesterday which revealed President Obama’s choice in credit cards drew this reaction on twitter: Pro tip: Don’t pose with your credit card when standing in front of photographers. The replies are worth the read. Two months ago I explained that you can have top tier Diamond status from Hyatt with very little effort. And while we know that Diamond trials will not be going away, Running with Miles speculates that they could be changing. Perhaps trial Diamonds members won’t get confirmed suite upgrades in the future until they’ve completed their challenge? The Marriott Plus Points program (up to 2000 free points per month), which was just introduced in May, has been gutted already. Etihad is launching San Francisco – Abu Dhabi service in November. That flight…
Africa Business Class Fares at Over Two-Thirds Off!
Several airlines are offering business class fares between Canada (mostly Toronto, but also Calgary and Edmonton) and both Capetown and Johannesburg, South Africa for $1362 plus taxes and fees, roundtrip.
Is the 100,000 Mile Opportunity Closing, or Closed?
I remember staying up late with friends 23 years ago to watch the excellent Kenneth Branagh / Emma Thompson film Dead Again. It was probably my favorite film that year (although in some ways I think that Point Break has endured better). Spoiler alert.
The Qatar Airways CEO’s Truth Problem
Earlier today Lucky wrote that despite Qatar announcing A380 service would commence first in June 2014 but then pushing it back weeks at a time, it has now refused delivery of the aircraft. Qatar’s CEO His Excellency Akbar Al Baker won’t say what’s wrong with the planes or why the order was rejected. This isn’t the first time he’s been cagey with suppliers and partners. Back in November at the Dubai Airshow, Qatar Airways, in a joint conference with Emirates, announced orders for fifty 777X aircraft of their own. CEO Al Baker noted that despite telling reporters Qatar would not purchase the airplane, he decided to order them anyway. However, CEO Al Baker, told Reuters that the airline is not ready to finalize an order for 50 Boeing 777X aircraft. Of course, Al Baker emphatically…
The Cheapest Business Class Fares From Each Airline
FlightFox put together a list of the least expensive routes for the best airline business class products. Did you know you could fly Swiss business class for just $187? Try Muscat to Dubai. Or that you could outright buy a seat in business class on a United 787 Dreamliner for under $400? Houston – Denver. It’s a pretty short flight, but Cathay Pacific operates their new long haul business class product — one of the very best in the world — from Hong Kong to Taipei (making it ~ $600). Of course an even better deal would be to redeem just 9000 Avios. They’ve got the cheapest flights each of 31 airlines offers for their premier business class products, so read the whole thing. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and…
My Mid-Year Elite Status Update: Am I Walking the Talk?
I share my thoughts and advice on loyalty programs all of the time, I thought it would be useful to also share what I do and let you evaluate whether I practice my own advice. At the same time, where I focus my own stays (and how much I’m traveling) may be illuminating and sharing this gives me an opportunity to articulate some of my own thinking. Of course, in revealing what status I currently have and where I am mid-year in requalifying, it doesn’t actually include all of my travels. I’ve done two major Asia trips on points this year already, and have more award travel coming up. There will be 60,000 or 80,000 flown butt in seat miles that don’t get included in my flight totals. I’ve also been flying a bunch of…
What Credit Card Does Obama Use? And What Mistake is He Making?
As part of the UK Daily Mail‘s coverage of President Obama cutting the line at the extremely popular Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, they carried a photo of him paying for the order of the father and daughter who were first in line ahead of him. And this photo reveals Obama’s credit card of choice. He’s carrying a JP Morgan Select card. You cannot apply directly for this card any longer. When it was available it was basically a Chase Sapphire Preferred card without double miles on dining, or a signup bonus, but (based on a comparison I did for Wendy Perrin at Conde Nast Traveler a couple of years ago) with: An EMV chip (chip and signature), before Sapphire Preferred offered this. 25,000 bonus points after $100,000 spend each year. Primary collision damage waiver…
What to Do at the Airport, Which Upgrade System is Best, Bicycle Seats on a Plane, and Frequent Flyer Funnies
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Best things to see, eat, and do at 10 U.S. hub airports Whose domestic upgrade system is better? American’s or US Airways’? I think most flyers prefer US Airways’ “unlimited complimentary upgrades” (similar to United and Delta offerings) but that lower tier flyers do better picking and choosing when they want to upgrade most with American’s 500 mile certificate program. I’m pretty sure the industry standard will win out, and American will take the associated revenue hit to avoid appearing to “take away” something from US Airways elites that everyone else offers too. Updates have been added to the very funny ‘Frequent Flyer Life’ Tumblr 500 Aeroplan miles for designing your dream kitchen (no purchase necessary, through July 31, for Canadian residents). (HT: Canadian Travel Hacking) New Airbus…
Find Out If You Just Won Some Money
Last night I decided to give away money. The winner is: JLM who simply said, “Good night!” JLM, you’ve got an email from me, I’ll mail your gift card as soon as you get me an address! Thanks, everyone, the comments were really fun. I appreciate it. 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!
Citibank 100,000 Mile American Executive Card Signup Bonus is Back!
The Citi American Airlines Executive card’s 100,000 AAdvantage mile signup bonus was the very best signup bonus out there ever since it appeared at the beginning of January. And it topped my list of card offers that wouldn’t last. Indeed, it didn’t… for a short bit. Two weeks ago the landing page for the offer disappeared but a direct application link still worked. But then after nearly six months (I never thought it would last that long) the direct application for the card [which didn’t list the bonus details, but folks still had success] finally disappeared. That left the 75,000 mile offer for the card as the biggest one around. Now the 100,000 mile signup bonus application is back!
