No doubt there are folks who like Los Angeles International Airport, though it’s a bit of a mess, fortunately there’s a new Tom Bradley International Terminal rolling out in stages (the old one is one of the great embarrassments to U.S. aviation). Even that improvement though comes with its disruptions. Personally the only two things I like about LAX are: That is has American’s best Flagship (international first class) lounge. That on long layovers you can take the Parking Spot – Sepulveda bus to In ‘n Out burger on the edge of the airport, sit outside and watch planes land. No doubt many Angelinos would value better public transportation to and from LAX. The L.A. Airspace blog reports that the airports authority is mulling just that. A simple underlining though should make clear why their…
Getting Started in Miles and Points With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
I gave just a few people in my office one-on-one consultations about getting started in miles and points. I’ve also helped several of those people book award tickets with their points. Usually the first actionable thing my co-workers take away from those conversations is to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. I tell folks that they want to start with understanding their reward goals — that both motivates them and helps them pick the right program to earn points in. For most goals, though, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the best place to start. And to track their points, using a site like Award Wallet. What’s interesting is that once people get this advice, get the card, and use the points the advice seems to spread like wildfire. How did you do that?…
The American Express Lounge in Dallas Opens Next Week — With More Services, and Free Access for Platinum Cardholders
Big news that American Express will open a top-end lounge at Dallas Fort-Worth in terminal D on October 15th, and that their lounges in the U.S. will be complimentary to American Express Platinum cardholders. Over the weekend @GrahamCC tweeted me that the American Express Centurion lounges now offer free access to Platinum cardholders. (Previously access was free to Centurion (“Black Card”) members only, with other American Express cardholders able to pay $50 for access.) Prompted by Graham’s tweet, I reached out to Gary Portuesi, American Express’ Vice President of Travel Innovation, and confirmed that Platinum cardholders do now have access to Centurion lounges in the United States — and that this includes not just Las Vegas but also future lounges, and that the next lounge in Dallas will open next week. A couple of months…
Grand Hyatt Tampa Was a Fantastic Venue for Frequent Traveler University
The Grand Hyatt Tampa was host to last month’s Frequent Traveler University. I’ve written about some of the sessions there, like the session on putting award booking ‘theory’ into practice, with a live call to Delta to book business class awards to India. This was probably the nicest venue for a frequent flyer educational gathering yet. Nice and convenient only minutes from the airport, with free parking, and within a few miles of multiple CVS stores that stocked scores and scores of Vanilla Reload cards — plenty of people were taking field trips off-site in order to stock up on frequent flyer miles. (There were even Reload cards up at the cash register.) Since I wasn’t going to spend much time in my room, I didn’t try to compete with the 60+ Hyatt Diamond members…
When to Take Advantage of United’s 25% Discount on Purchased Miles
United is offering a 25% discount on purchased miles through December 31. The miles do not post instantly, they warn posting can take up to 48 hours though they usually post a bit faster than that. The minimum purchase is 2000 miles and an account can purchase up to 100,000 miles per year. The only time this makes any sense is when you have almost enough United miles in an account for an award and need to top off that account (and do not have other, more cost effective ways of doing it). The deal in effect offers miles for purchase ~ 2.8 cents apiece. That’s still expensive. United miles are about the most valuable single airline currency out there because of the amazing award availability offered through Star Alliance (best from North American to…
Unlocking the Value of British Airways Points
When readers shared their own travel tips and several really stood out as worth highlighting. Kerry said, One of the best tips ever is using the British Air avios (frequent flyer points) for short haul US flights. I’ve flown one-way Helena to Seattle and DC to Chicago for 4500 points each — would cost minimum 25K on Delta (since they book one-way ff tix at the r/t fare). I have had my criticisms of the program. They used to be among my favorite airline currencies. Sure, first class awards were triple the cost of economy, and they added fuel surcharges onto awards where those were present in paid tickets. But the mileage price of many awards was still reasonable and you could have nearly unlimited stopovers — a stopover at every logical connecting city. That…
Time to Register for Hilton’s 4th Quarter Promotion
At the end of last month I wrote about Hilton’s 4th quarter promotion (“From a Lump of Coal Up to Quadruple Points“). The offer is “More Nights, More Points” — staying a single night gets no bonus at all, two nights is double points, three is triple, and four night stays or longer receive quadruple points. reg There are hundreds of non-participating hotels but since it’s under 350 that’s fewer than we’ve seen in the past with many Hilton promotions. Even if you’re not focusing on Hilton after their March 28 devaluation, it’s still a good idea to register for the promotion — it takes just a moment and then you don’t need to remember to do it later if you happen to have an unplanned or unexpected Hilton stay. And while Hilton no longer…
A Travel Tip I Don’t Need to Give You — But If You Don’t Know It, It’s REALLY Important
When readers shared their own travel tips and several really stood out as worth highlighting. Here’s one that seemed too obvious to mention, and then I thought about the controversy surrounding some other basic hygiene and etiquette advice. Elizabeth said, Always wear shoes when visiting an airplane lavatory. That wet floor isn’t necessarily just water… Let me take this even further. Always wear socks through airport security. This isn’t just my preference not to see male toes, and women this means you too. Recommending shoes in the airplane lavatory sort of implies you’d need to put the shoes back on, that you had otherwise taken them off. That’s fine, but may I suggest if the airline gives you a blanket in a shrink wrap bag to open it and put that on the floor in…
airBaltic BalticMiles Responds to My Criticisms of their Elite Stats Cutbacks
I never expected a post about airBaltic and BalticMiles devaluing elite benefits to generate a ton of interest and controversy. They’ve eliminated free checked bags for elites, and free advance seat assignments for first-tier elites. The post spawned a discussion of how bad the Delta Skymiles program is, really. And it’s now generated a response from the head of the BalticMiles program. In part because it’s well-reasoned, and in part because he has one of the most awesome names in loyalty, I decided to excerpt Gabi Kool‘s response. Just read your latest item on BalticMiles. It is indeed unfortunately correct that certain benefits for elite members have been recently reduced by airBaltic as part of the overall annual review of the program benefits by the airline in line with its low cost business model. On…
Why We Must Shout About Delta’s Miles Problems From the Rooftops!
In response to a post I wrote about devaluing elite benefits in the BalticMiles program of Latvian-based airline Air Baltic, Gene wrote, Maybe you can spend your time bashing them instead of Delta now. My criticisms of Delta are, I think, fair. Delta is a well-run airline, and has a frequent flyer program that offers much less value than those of American, United, and US Airways (and offers a worse redemption program in my opinion than Avianca Lifemiles, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, Air Canada Aeroplan, and many many more around the world but that’s not important right now). I coined the term ‘Skypesos’ for their currency because Delta miles don’t go as far as many other major currencies. They’re harder to use. They don’t permit one-way awards for half the cost of roundtrip (neither does US…
