I like booking airline reservations through online travel sites like Orbitz, rather than directly, because it allows me to quintuple dip: My usual frequent flyer miles My usual points from credit card spend on the purchase A rebate for going through a shopping portal The online booking site’s rewards. Right now booking airline reservations through Orbitz has a nice bonus: Orbitz Rewards will give you $20 in credit towards hotel stays for each flight you book through January 31. You’ll need to be logged in, as an Orbitz Rewards member, and see the $20 offer on your itinerary to receive it. It will only show up on flights that are $50 or more, so you aren’t going to buy flights just for the bonus. Orbitz lauched their current rewards program in October 2013 (see “The…
Hacking My Way into an Airport Lounge for Free
Leaving Mobile, Alabama I decided to visit the Mobile Airport Authority Executive Lounge. That’s one readers of my lounge reviews might not have been expecting. Of course, I didn’t even realize that the Mobile, Alabama airport had a lounge. Let alone that it’s free, if you know how to access it. This is an airport-run lounge with a membership program. Annual membership is $50, and immediate family get in free with the member. Active duty military are free, too. And they sell guest passes for $10, although I have no idea how they sell these since the lounge itself is unmanned. They also offer Complimentary one-day pass for first visit. I don’t know about you, but I’m likely to find myself in Mobile, Alabama only once. After clearing security the lounge is on the left,…
When Frequent Flyer Fraud Units Go Off the Rails
I’ve written before about how to deal with the ‘worst case scenario’ of having your frequent flyer account locked for suspected fraud. There are times, though, that even I’m vexed. Airlines and hotel programs see ‘loyalty program fraud’ as a bigger issue than ever before — whether it’s simply breaking the rules of a program by selling miles, or large scale account hacking (as has recently happened with some programs). There’s a balance that programs need to strike. They want to enforce their rules, and they need to limit unnecessary costs. But they don’t want to swing the pendulum too far in the direction of enforcement where they make legitimate members jump through too many hoops. That would undermine their business objectives. Members frustrated by their programs aren’t going to participate in the programs, at…
How the Obama Administration Is Pretending Cuba Travel Ban Doesn’t Exist and the $1.6m Southwest Tarmac Delay Fine is a Fake
News and notes from around the interweb: How much Hyatt Gold Passport reimburses hotels for award nights Etihad won’t make their Dallas – Abu Dhabi flight daily, after all. Lots of customers will need re-accommodation. Well, probably not lots..since this wasn’t supposed to happen until April anyway, and it it was lots they probably wouldn’t be doing this! While tourist travel to Cuba for US citizens remains illegal, starting today the federal government will presume that travelers meet one of the 12 allowable travel categories with no special license required. They can’t actually make tourist travel legal at this point because the ban is based in statute. Meanwhile, Cuba is looking to US tourism revenue to replace Venezuelan oil subsidies. Why inflight food tastes different. (HT: Neil C.) The strong dollar may be discouraging foreign…
Truth Told, My Travel Isn’t All Unicorns and Rainbows
Most of the travel I write about is pretty glamorous, at as far as flying goes. But that’s not what most of my travel is like. It’s just most of the travel that’s worth talking about. The truth is more like this: My so-called travel life. In fact, I’ve even been flying a lot of coach. Today is one of those days. Business travel took me to Mobile, Alabama. There’s no Starwood or Hyatt property. The folks I was visiting put me up at the Battle House Renaissance — they had a $99 rate and it was right by my morning meeting. I booked United home, because they had the best schedule and I didn’t want to spend an extra 3 hours at the airport. I have no status with United. Star Alliance Gold used…
New Leaks About Anthony Bourdain’s New York Hawker Center Set to Open Soon
We know now that it will be named Bourdain Market and is projected to open this year. I’m skeptical on the opening date, since they haven’t even confirmed the location though it’s believed to be 3 World Trade Center, a location that suggests to me opening might not come quickly. They skyscraper component of the project isn’t slated to be completed until 2017 and construction projects delay more often than they don’t. Unlike Singapore’s Hawker Centers where stalls tend to specialize in a single dish, it’s likely that Bourdain’s new place will have venues with multiple dishes each. I infer this from taking literally two reports: the claim that there will be 40 to 50 food stalls while Bourdain claims there will be “hundreds of options.” As for what those options will be, it’s been…
Review: Park Hyatt Paris Vendome Executive Suite
Previous installments: Introduction: Paris for the Holidays, Saying Goodbye to American’s Old Business Class, and a Suite at the Park Hyatt Vendome American First Class Lounge Chicago O’Hare and Business Class, Chicago – Paris I’ve reviewed this hotel once before, two years ago when I had a standard guest room. So if you’re interested in the property you’ll want to read that report as well. On this stay I booked a suite, at the ‘old rate’ of 33,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points per night, compared to a regular room at 22,000. This was done just prior to Hyatt implementing their new category 7 award level. A suite now runs 48,000 points per night. Thanks to the rolling delay of my Chicago – Paris flight, and arriving at a bus gate, my 8:25am scheduled landing turned…
35% Bonus on American Express Transfers to Virgin America Through February 15
American Express is offering a 35% bonus on transfers to Virgin America through February 15. With this offer you get 135 Virgin America points for 200 Membership Rewards points, instead of getting just 100. This isn’t unusual, they had a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin America last year and in the latter half of September 2013. Both of those offers, of course, were better. Two years ago they even even ran a 50% transfer bonus. Should you transfer? Normally American Express points transfer 2:1 into Virgin America. A 35% bonus is significant, but it’s important to understand how Virgin America points can be valued. My rule of thumb is that Virgin America’s points are deflated, that one Virgin America point is worth about 2 points in a European airline frequent flyer program. Their points are…
A Neat Way to Buy Hotel Nights at a Discount, and Get Your Money Back for Prepaid Nights You Don’t Want – Plus Emirates Playing Dirty Pool and an Amex OPEN Savings Devaluation
News and notes from around the interweb: I’m giving away 5 prizes each of a $200 gift card and top tier elite status with National Car Rental. Leave a comment in the entry thread, that’s all you have to do to enter. Reports of a Citi Prestige 50,000 point signup bonus. Here’s a review of the card and how to leverage its points. Interview with the CEO of a website that lets you buy and sell non-refundable hotel rooms. Brilliant way to get your money back out of a booking you made, or as a buyer to get room nights as a discount by providing this liquidity. No doubt in time hotels will find a way to crack down on the practice. Emirates is dishonoring car service reservations they had previously confirmed for premium cabin…
Caesars Entertainment Files for a Very Very Messy Bankruptcy
Caesars Entertainment Operating Group, which owns most of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, filed for bankruptcy today in Chicago. This is going to be one complicated bankruptcy. Some of Caesars’ creditors sought to force the entity into bankruptcy in Delaware earlier in the week, and the Delaware judge has ordered a halt to the Chicago bankruptcy proceedings. One of the main players at Caesars is TPG Capital Management, the private equity firm founded by Dave Bonderman back in 1993 to acquire Continental Airlines. They invested in Midwest Airlines, ultimately selling out to Republic. They also partnered on an acquisition of Sabre. They acquired the entity with a second private equity firm just before the recession for $30 billion — of which about 80% was high interest debt. Especially controversial is that the entity with this…
