First, a confession. I get Christopher Elliott’s columns in my Facebook feed. It’s a great way to get my blood boiling in the morning. It can even be a substitute for my second triple espresso. Here’s where he’s write — not in his column as much in the way he frames it on Facebook: Award tickets do have too many restrictions even though in general they’re more flexible than paid tickets. Here’s how they’re more flexible. Very few paid tickets are refundable, even with the payment of a fee. Most award tickets can be cancelled and miles redeposited with a change fee. Southwest doesn’t even charge a fee to cancel. That means award tickets make a great hedge. You can lock in a trip, and all that’s on the line is the cost of the…
So a Kangaroo Walks into an Airport Pharmacy, And… #NotAJoke #SoundsLikeAJoke
Two men are sitting at a bar. One man looks at the other and say, “A kangaroo walked into an airport pharmacy.” The other man says . . . Not a joke. It happened in Melbourne. And of course hometown carrier Qantas has a kangaroo on its tail… And it was an injured kangaroo. So naturally it was found at the pharmacy. It’s not even the first time this year that a kangaroo has been found at the airport. (HT: Joe Brancatelli) 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!
Giving Away National Car Rental Points and Executive Elite Status!
National Car Rental: Sign Up for the One Two Free Promotion With some rental companies I choose to earn miles instead of rental points. With National I want free rental credits. I’ve been renting from National mostly in recent times, and I’m a big fan of their One Two Free promotion that gives you free rentals in addition to their standard rental credits. I got a note from the PR folks asking if I’d help them promote the fact that they’re running this offer, and I told them I’d happily give away points in the promotion. As is customary, they offered points to me but as is my custom I asked if I could give away the points and they agreed. I also asked if I could give away elite status, and they agreed to…
Maximizing Your Chances of Upgrades at Times When Stays are Cheapest
When readers shared their own travel tips and several really stood out as worth highlighting. Chelsea said, Traveling to places during off peak times greatly increases the chance of getting an upgraded room and also usually allows the hotels to offer better service. Wee Willie Keeler was an early baseball great, and one of the best singles hitters of all time. His advice was to “hit where they ain’t.” I’m a big fan of ‘shoulder season’. I like to stay where they ain’t. Prices are lower, and often not just room rates — resorts will often run across-the-board discounts on food and beverage, and activities like spa. Most important to me, though, is that properties are less crowded. I hate the sort of resort where you have to go downstairs at 8am to try to…
Where Will the Next American Express Centurion Lounge Be?
Now that American Express has opened a new lounge in Dallas that puts the offerings of US domestic airlines to shame, and opened up complimentary access to Platinum cardholders, there’s real anticipation of what the next lounge to join Dallas and Las Vegas will be. ShrewdTravel says that it’s going to be San Francisco. According to the construction managers working on the Boarding Area as well as numerous United and SFO employees, there is also work being done on a new American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO. This new lounge will not be on the new boarding pier (the lounge being built there is a United Club), but the new Centurion Lounge is currently under construction. Here’s what I was able to learn about the upcoming American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO. The lounge is…
Alaska Airlines Adding Korean Air Award Booking to Their Website
Back in March Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan introduced the ability to book one-way and mixed partner awards online and for some partners. Initially you could book one-way awards on American. You could also book one-way at full roundtrip price on Delta, or mix and match American and Delta in a roundtrip. Then in April they introduced one-way and online booking for British Airways awards. Most partners were added to the one-way option in June, with online booking possible. Then later in June one-way awards on Cathay Pacific became possible on the website. That left Alaska able to book all of its airline partners online except for Korean and LAN, and all of its partners allowable for one-way awards at half the roundtrip price except Delta. Now it appears the website is ready to go live…
Timing Is Everything When Booking Sold Out Hotels and Getting Into Suites
Wendy Perrin says that if you want to get into a sold out hotel, find out what the hotel’s standard cancellation deadline is and that’s when you can try to book a room. Call the hotel directly (not the 800 number) and ask on what date cancellation penalties kick in for the date you want to arrive. (Three weeks before? Three days?) Note the date, then call that morning to see if rooms have opened up as people cancel at the last minute to avoid being charged. Let me offer a modification, and an additional use for this technique. Major Events Cause Rooms to Open Up Early Find out if there are any big conferences going on at the hotel. If there are, the group contract usually specifies various deadlines for ‘attrition’ (reducing the group’s…
How to Earn 2500 Miles PER WEEK for Free With a Mileage-Earning Debit Card
Yesterday a reader tweeted me about a new mileage-earning opportunity. My initial reaction, that I still hold, is to be cautious. At the same time I’m also optimistic. The Wall Street Journal this week covered Square Cash, a new service that lets you send money to someone for free charged to your debit card. Here’s how Square Cash works. Say you want to send $47.12 to your sister. You just compose an email with her email address in the “To” field and, in the “CC” field, you enter “cash@square.com.” In the subject field, you enter the amount you’re sending—in this case, “$47.12.” You can leave the message body blank, or add a note explaining you’re sending the money and why. Then, you just press Send. If this is your first time using the service, Square…
Competition Is Disrupting Ground Transport Businesses: Lyft Bringing Low Cost Transportation to Orange County
Regular readers know I’m a fan of Uber. I wrote about the ‘car on demand’ via smart phone app for the first time last year in Why Taxis Suck and What You Can Do About It. The model isn’t limited to black cars, several companies are revolutionizing taxi service to be able to call them with a couple taps to the phone, track them on your screen, and complete the transaction with a simplified payment process. And some of these companies are letting anyone who passes safety and responsibility muster into the transportation business — taking their cars and free time and connecting them with people who need rides. In doing so, they’re driving down the cost of transport. I’ve written most about Uber but I love competition. I also love to see this space…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 16, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Doing well by doing good: generating spending and miles and points by making Kiva micro-loans (that should eventually get repaid). There’s an entire forum dedicated to discussing Kiva on Milepoint. Free points for taking various surveys Hotel advice (repost): How to Score the Best Hotel Room Upgrades Using Hotel Points for Suites and Upgraded Rooms How to Get a Suite Every Time at Hyatt Which Hotel Program is Most Rewarding for Your Spending? UberX is free in DC through Friday I didn’t have the chance to make it to the grand opening yesterday of the new American Express lounge at Dallas Fort-Worth airport, but Mommy Points snapped a few photos. Lufthansa now operates fifteen lounges at the Frankfurt airport and the airport itself is home to more than…
