I suppose other major airlines couldn’t make the same claim about a functional website. There simply aren’t that many functions at spiritairlines.com, so perhaps it’s actually credible. So they claim to have passed the “Affordable Fare Act” — “If you like your low fares, you can keep your low fares!” And though Spirit does often have low fares, there are definitely no subsidies (or cross-subsidies), only ancillary fees. When the Anthony Weiner sexting story first broke two years ago, Spirit ran an Anthony Weiner sale. And a More Bang for Your Buck sale on flights to Cartagena when secret service agents were revealed to have frequented prostitutes there. Back in 2010 they invited customers to check out the (suntan) oil on the beaches that they fly to… during the BP oil spill. (At the time…
Don’t Miss Your Chance to Win Hilton Gold Status, United Miles, and More!
Enter to Win. Milepoint, the frequent flyer community that I co-founded, is offering a Premium Membership at $49 which gets you: Hilton HHonors Gold elite status through the beginning of 2015. 1000 United miles National Car Rental Executive status One free day of parking with Parking Spot (no minimum stay required) And more. I’m giving away (3) packages. Each winner will receive premium membership on Milepoint, which comes with all of the above benefits. Go to the official entry thread where you can leave a comment to be entered, no more than one per day, and no later than 8pm Eastern time on Thursday. You can join the 30,000+ 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…
The Andaz Wall Street’s Plan to Get Back on Top
The General Manager of the Andaz Wall Street stopped by to comment on yesterday’s post about the hotel which noted declining service offerings there. For a New York hotel frequently pricing substantially under $300 it seems a spectacular value provided the location on Wall Street can work for you. But it isn’t offering as much as it used to, there have clearly been cutbacks, and my expectations had been set based on previous stays and the overall Andaz brand. The gist of the issues I shared: Elimination of evening wine reception and 24 hour coffee in the lobby Hotel no longer offering a restaurant with dinner service There were cutbacks in the restaurant breakfast offerings (which as a Hyatt Diamond member for whom breakfast is complimentary, this is disappointing — though perhaps I shouldn’t complain…
Possible Date Revealed for US Airways to Exit the Star Alliance and Join oneworld
Frequent Business Traveller reports that US Airways is expected to exit Star Alliance on or about March 1 and join oneworld at the beginning of April. We already expect that US Airways and American Airlines will begin to allow reciprocal mileage-earning (fly US Airways and earn American miles, and vice versa) and mileage-burning (spend US Airways miles to fly American Airlines, and vice versa) on January 7. US Airways is not confirming the March 1 date to exit Star or their plan for oneworld integration. So far US Airways has publicly said “by the end of the first quarter of 2014” for leaving Star and haven’t detailed their entrance into oneworld. But if this is true or, regardless of dates, that a good bit of time passes after US Airways and American link up but…
Don’t Forget to Enter to Win 25,000 Miles
Click Here for the Official Entry Thread, to comment for your chance to win 25,000 miles. American Express Membership Rewards has a new partnership with Emirates and indeed through this Friday they are offering a 25% bonus when you convert Membership Rewards points to Emirates Skywards miles. To highlight this offer, American Express asked if I would give one lucky reader 25,000 Emirates miles. To be clear, I do not receive anything for running this contest and giving away the miles. But American Express is providing the points. Go to the official entry thread to leave a comment. You may enter no more than one time per day. The contest closes 8pm Eastern time on Thursday (that’s tomorrow). You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up…
500 Free Amtrak Points
You can receive 500 Amtrak Guest Rewards points for linking your account to Google Wallet (iPhone/Android). Points post instantly, but this is only open to the first 10,000 people who do it. After that, they’ll only award 100 points. Offer expires December 15. (HT: Slickdeals) You can join the 30,000+ 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!
American Airlines Rolling Out Paid Bidding System for Upgrades
American Airlines has introduced a new bidding for upgrade system, so far only available for a limited set of flights. They’ll let non-elite members make an offer starting 6 days prior to departure, and you find out at least 24 hours before the flight if it’s been accepted. Your credit card is only charged if the offer is accepted. American does not promise to accept any offers even if there are first class seats open. Cancellation and Refunds of Successful Offers After you’ve made the offer you’ll be given a chance to revise it, although there’s no refunds once your offer has been accepted — unless irregular operations prevent you from receiving the seat you’ve won. I don’t like the terms and conditions of their refund policy in the event of irregular operations, though: In…
Too Good to Be True? 25% Cash Back on Bookings Made at Kayak.com
Rob F. passes along that TheSweeterDeal.com — a cash back site that looks similar to ebates and TopCashBack — has an amazing offer. Airlines and some hotel programs have ‘mileage malls’ — shopping portals where, if you click on a store through their link you will earn points for the purchases you make. Some similar portals offer cash back, like ebates and TopCashBack and BigCrumbs. This one falls into the latter camp. And they appear (quite clearly, actually!) to be offering 25% cash back on bookings made through Kayak.com, which would be huge. Now, such a high cash back offer seems inadvisable for the site to me. Their business model is to rebate a portion of the commission they’re receiving from the merchant. That way they incentivize you to use their site, and they make…
The Thing I Love Most About Doing Media Is…
Since this is my personal blog I will share something personal, that brings me joy, even at the risk of it being interesting to nobody else at all. Now, going on the Colbert Report was just cool in its own right. There really didn’t need to be anything else to love that one. But this is just a small personal thing. More than getting my point of view out there, and more than being able to send a newspaper article to my grandmother, I get a major kick out of frequent flyer memes going mainstream. In my USA Today op-ed last week about the US Airways-American Airlines merger, I was drawing lessons from recent airline mergers and offering advice on how to make this one less painful. Being able to include, as a shout out…
Declining Service Levels at the Andaz Wall Street
I wrote up stays at the Andaz Wall Street back in 2011 and also in 2012. I did not write about other stays I’ve had at this property because they were remarkably similar. Every time I have stayed there I’ve gotten the same room type — a large L-shaped room with a piece of furniture in the middle separating bedroom from living room; a junior suite that used to be considered a large room and now is an “Andaz Suite.” In other words, they downgraded the room type that they confirm upgrades into (whether using a Diamond confirmed suite upgrade or using points). And each stay after my first one the breakfast benefit was taken only in the restaurant, no more room service. Nonetheless, I’ve always considered this a good hotel for the location. Some…
