American Express has the best-ever initial bonus for their Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, one of the best American Express rewards cards and certainly among the best value rewards cards they offer. 130,000 points and a free night though ends August 28.
Last month we learned Hyatt would begin adding Destination Hotels properties to the Hyatt portfolio August 20.
At the time we learned which 8 out of three dozen Destination Hotels would join early on. Now Hyatt has shared the new redemption categories for each of those.
With the closure of Pakistani airspace, United suspended its India flying. They extended cancellation through late October right before the airspace re-opened. United added India flights back into their schedule. It doesn’t surprise me to see certain flights lightly booked.
As a result they’re using the mileage program to unload seats at a discount. United is running a flash sale – today only – with 50% off awards to Mumbai.
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.
Short premium cabin flights in Europe usually come with lounge access and a decent meal but don’t give you more legroom. In contrast U.S. airlines sell lounge access separately, give you a bigger seat and a bit more room, but the food is often wretched.
I date the beginning of real cuts to domestic premium cabin meal service to early 2001.
There’s something about Big Bang Theory actresses and aviation. Earlier this year Mayim Bialik had a run-in with United Airlines, accusing the airline of slamming the boarding door of a Houston – Los Angeles flight in her face.
Now her co-star Kaley Cuoco is preparing for a new role in a series called “The Flight Attendant.” And she’s deeply-researched the position.
Twitter used to be the “go-to” way of getting personalized customer service, and with some brands it still is. Many companies assign super competent agents to deal with twitter, and empower them to cut through bureaucracy to solve problems.
Not all do however. And some just follow the ‘first rule of social media’ which is to try to get customers to stop blasting the company as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do that is to get the customer to ‘take it to DM’.
The best deal in travel has to be the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.
There’s no question that a rewards card with big initial bonus offer is the easiest and fastest way to earn a Companion Pass (in addition to being really big on its own towards reward travel). However there are other fast ways to earn a Companion Pass even without a Southwest Airlines co-brand credit card.
Flight attendants respond to emergencies, bear the brunt of passenger frustrations and poor behavior, and staffing levels on some flights have been cut leading to more work. Maybe they’re underpaid.
I want to try out a very unpopular argument: that airlines pay too much for the flight attendants they’re hiring today, but that they should be paying more to attract flight attendants who will provide better service.
The really great 60,000 mile initial bonus offer for the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days ($0 annual fee the first year, then $99) was announced as being ‘limited time’ but now is apparently coming to an end September 4.
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 »
