News and notes from around the interweb: Bone up on your Spirit Airlines knowlewdge: They charge a ‘passenger usage fee’ for booking online which is funny, since they supposedly axed their ‘web convenience fee’ back in 2008. Sneaky! Your rental car costs more: Avis Budget Achieves First Large Commercial Pricing Gains Since 2009 Not travel: Kevin Bacon Explains the ’80s to Millenials And MH370 Will Thus Be Found in 2091: Has Amelia Earhart’s plane been found? There’s No Experience Like No Experience: Unrelated to the Amelia Earhart developments, Virgin Atlantic launching is an 18 month training program for pilots who have zero experience It’s a Transformer! The airplane-car-helicopter is apparently going to be a thing. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts…
Discounted Awards to Tahiti, and Half Off Business Class to Europe!
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program should be interesting to U.S. frequent flyers for several reasons. They offer one-way awards, which Delta won’t have until next year. They are an American Express Membership Rewards and a Citi Thank You points transfer partner. They have access to award space that Delta won’t let you have. They have most of their partners available for online booking Unfortunately their call centers are frustrating, their website can be too (and has been known to show ‘phantom’ award availability, seats that look available but aren’t really here to book). And they add fuel surcharges onto award tickets. One of the great values, historically, has been their ‘promo awards’. Award tickets discounted as much as half the cost of their regular award chart can be a great value, for a relatively…
HUGE Aeroplan Award Pricing “Sale” BOOK NOW! GO!
Aeroplan has imposed a new, more restrictive pricing system for award travel. But there’s apparently an interesting situation that’s arisen, maybe they want to make things go down a bit more smoothly with the introduction of these new rules! Every award is pricing based on the first stopover you book. If you stopover domestically, you can travel anywhere in the world for the cost of a domestic award. First class to Europe? South America? No problem, just pay the domestic award price.
Questions That Are Rarely Asked: Airport Parking
About a month ago I offered the first in a series, Questions That Are Rarely Asked. (Why do flight attendants have to collect pre-departure beverage cups, but you’re allowed to keep the beverage you brought onboard yourself?) Today’s entry concerns airport parking: why are there always so many empty spaces, and more specifically why don’t parking lots adjust pricing because of this? Casino hotels are the extreme, where historically they’ve adjusted their rates downward — even close to zero — to ensure they are as close as possible to full every night. If it takes a $9 rate to get there, so be it. But they earn incremental revenue from gambling. But other hotels discount unsold rooms, such as though opaque channels like Hotwire and Priceline. Every room that stays empty is revenue they cannot…
Review: Park Hyatt Buenos Aires.. and Great Elite Recognition!
You’ll Also Want to Be Sure to Read: American Airlines Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines First Class, New York JFK – Buenos Aires The Park Hyatt Buenos Aires is a great city hotel, set in an upscale neighbor apart from the hustle and bustle of the city and just a few blocks from the Four Seasons. Service is excellent, and it’s a great value to stay there as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member especially when cash and points is available. My Park Hyatt Buenos Aires review begins with arrival at the property. There are two separate buildings, connected via underground walkway or outside through the garden. There’s the original Palacio and there’s a new tower. I came in through the historic wing, which is their main reception though the building has only…
Up to 10,000 Miles Off Delta Economy Award Redemptions
Delta is short-term award sale. Delta wants you to ‘book your dream trip’ but your dream had better not include business class, because the sale is for coach only. And you had better not want to travel on peak holiday dates — because those are blacked out. Here’s the deal: For tickets issued by November 3 and travel between December 3 and February 18 (but subject to blackout dates), Delta is offering discounts of 4000 – 10,000 miles on economy awards within the 48 contiguous U.S. states and between those 48 States and the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America. Not all cities get the discount, either though as the promotion excludes travel to Caracas, Venezuela; Cancun, Mexico; and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Blackout dates are: December 19 through December 24, 2014 December 26,…
Jose Canseco Shoots Himself – And Delta – in the Finger, Free Parking, and Reserve Hotel Awards Without Points
News and notes from around the interweb: 25 Fascinating Rules of Etiquette from Around the World Marriott Rewards will start offering free wireless internet to all guests who are members of the program and book directly through a Marriott channel, starting January 15. This may be at a degraded speed compared to what Gold and Platinum members are entitled to. Up to 50% off awards from Air France KLM Flying Blue (an American Express transfer partner) should be up starting tomorrow for November booking and January/February travel. Hilton’s Winter promo is a week double points (unless you’re staying at an excluded property) November 1 through January 31. But you should register anyway. The air sickness bag virtual museum. Jose Canseco’s anti-Delta tweets that preceded his shooting himself in the finger. (HT: Jeff M.) You can…
American Express Centurion Lounge Opens in San Francisco Next Week!
I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). I’m a big fan of American Express Centurion lounges in US airports, which I get complimentary access to as a Platinum Card from American Express cardholder. What Is An American Express Lounge? American Express has begun operating their own network of “Centurion lounges,” which are a step above what travelers have become accustomed to from US airline-operated lounges. I consider the American Express Centurion lounge in Dallas my…
Don’t Lose Your Global Entry Privileges By Making This One Simple Mistake!
Global Entry is fantastic skipping the immigration and customs queues when you return to the U.S. I didn’t love the fingerprinting or background check that went along with it, but I figured all my cell phone data was being logged anyway long before Edward Snowden was cool. So if the surveillance was inevitable I figured I might as well at least get the convenience. Now that I have it, it’s hard to imagine life without it — and not just queuing up at immigration, but also that I always get PreCheck at TSA now rather than having it be hit-or-miss through my airline elite status. A Customs and Border Patrol agent can mark you down with a strike that can take it away from you, though. So you’d better cross your I’s, dot your T’s,…
Full Disclosure: How I Got My Hilton HHonors Diamond Status Instantly, for Free
Just days ago I shared my elite status update and why I chose each program. Since that was meant as a window into my actual travels, and I reported just 4 stays and nights with Hilton for the year, I thought an update was appropriate. I now have Hilton HHonors Diamond status. Downgraded to Silver I was a Silver. For the past several years I’ve been an HHonors Diamond from credit card spend. I figured that I would get a soft landing to Gold, which in the limit is just as good, but was given silver instead when I didn’t requalify. Hilton bumped me up to Gold as a courtesy, a generous offer which I declined. They moved me back to silver.
