Tell Me What You Want to Know, and I Will Try to Answer You

by Gary Leff

Apr 23 2015

Here’s your chance. I will my best to cover your questions. Please leave requests in the comments section. As my boss once wrote making a similar request on his blog, “The only promise is that of weak monotonicity, namely that your mention won’t lower the chance of the topic being covered.” In other words, I won’t promise to cover everything, though I’ll read and ponder everything that’s written here in the comments. It may take me awhile to work through, goodness knows there are things I’m behind on (trip reports, cough, trip reports…). But I’d love to hear from you!

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Are There Limits to What an Immigration Officer Can Ask You? This One Found Out the Hard Way.

by Gary Leff

Apr 23 2015

Apparently he just wanted a date. The immigration officer started by asking probing and seemingly unnecessary questions “like how many children I have, do I drink, do I smoke or eat chicken”, the woman told Indian news channel Times Now. “He also asked me whether I sleep with other men when my husband is at work,” the woman alleged. The passenger was departing Delhi enroute to Hong Kong. Apparently her alarm bells only went up when she was asked “if she would like to have her third child with” the immigration officer. Eventually allowed to clear departure formalities, the officer followed her through the airport. He has since been arrested.

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Why a 25% Discount on Purchased Starpoints Can Be Quite Good, and How to Scale It

by Gary Leff

Apr 22 2015

Starwood is offering up to a 25% discount on purchased points. And even though it’s just a 25% discount, it can make real sense. Through May 31 here’s the tiered discount: 10% off 500–9,500 Starpoints 15% off 10,000–14,500 Starpoints 20% off 15,000–19,500 Starpoints 25% off 20,000 Starpoints This isn’t an uncommon offer — Starwood offered this in April and November of last year, and they offered it in 2013. But it’s also the biggest discount I’ve seen. The ‘normal’ price on Starpoints is 3.5 cents per point. Ouch. Fortunately, unlike airline miles, you don’t pay an additional tax on top. And there’s not also a ‘processing fee’ like many of the airlines charge. If you max out on the discount, and buy 20,000 points, it would cost you $525… that’s 2.625 cents per point. Still…

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