American is offering Gold and Platinum members who didn’t re-qualify for that level the option to buy back their status. You have to have flown at least two elite qualifying segments in 2012 If you did this last year you cannot do it again for 2013 Offer is available through May 15 Status is of course valid through February 28, 2014 Pricing varies based on your 2012 qualifying activity level. Platinums who flew at least 40,000 miles or 48 segments can buy back their status for $619. Platinums who flew less than that buy back status for $769. Golds who flew at least 20,000 miles or 24 segments can buy back their status for $409. Golds who flew less than that buy back status for $559. Is it worth it? This pricing may be cheaper…
One of the Best Ways to Save Big on Expensive Hyatt Hotel Nights: Hyatt Tweaks Pricing on Stay Certificates
I’ve written in the past how you can use Hyatt stay certificates to reduce the cost of your hotel stays. The idea is that Hyatt sells gift certificates, you can give someone a Hyatt hotel stay as a gift. You can even give yourself a Hyatt hotel stay as a gift with these certificates. The certificates are a fixed price, with several ‘levels’ which are valid at different hotels. And those fixed prices are often substantially less than some hotels cost on a nightly basis. Hyatt stay certificate reservations are even cancellable, the certificates have an expiration date though. And you’re supposed to have to have the certificates in hand in order to make the reservations, an innovation several years ago towards this end was to require that you enter the ‘certificate code’ when making…
A United Customer Learns of a Big Elite Status Mistake — After Spending Over $1 Million on Their Credit Card
A reader — and industry insider — copies me on a complaint to United Chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek. Dear Mr. Smisek, I am very dissatisfied with United Airlines Mileage Plus & its credit card partner, Chase, as I believe United has been unfaithful to the terms & conditions of the Chase Presidential Plus Credit Card, which I hold. In 2012, I used a combination of Premier Qualifying Miles (PQM’s) earned from flying on United Airlines and PQM’s earned from my Chase Presidential Plus Credit Card to achieve United Airlines Premier Platinum Status (75,000 PQM’s earned in a calendar year). I earned 38,000 PQM’s from my Chase credit card, as this card rewards its holders with 1,000 PQM’s for each $5,000 in spend on the card. The rest of my PQM’s were earned from flying.…
Buying Money With Money for the Miles: Go Beyond Bluebird’s $5000 a Month Limit, and How to Play Even Without Vanilla Reloads
I’m going to say a bit today about the current status of ‘Bluebird’ and ‘Vanilla Reloads’ as a mileage-earning strategy, and offer some tips for folks that are already pursuing that strategy to do it even bigger while also offering something to the folks that haven’t been able to take advantage so far because they cannot find Vanilla Reload cards in their area that can be purchased with a credit card. Buying Money with Money Vanilla Reload cards — the holy grail, the ability to buy money on a credit card and use the money to pay off credit cards while earning points in the process — can be difficult to find in some cities, and folks run into all sorts of different policies when trying to purchase them. I’ve written about these cards in…
Make Your New Year’s Resolution..
… not to miss out on the best deals, short-lived opportunities, and all the intel on what’s going on in the world of miles and points. And it’s free. But you already know that, since by definition you’re already reading this blog. Make it your New Year’s Resolution not to miss out on any of the deals and analysis. Join the more than 25,000 people each day who keep up with miles and points at ViewFromTheWing.com! You can follow me on Twitter Or friend me on Facebook There’s also an RSS feed for this blog, so you can subscribe via your favorite blog reader. And you can have each day’s content emailed to you overnight, just enter your email address in the box on the left hand side of the page. Never miss out on a deal or…
A British Airport Security Marriage Proposal
My sense of humor often approximates that of a thirteen year old boy, so I found this YouTube video really funny early on a New Years morning. There’s nothing explicit, but certainly a bit of implied raunchiness, so if such things tend to both you then you won’t want to play the video.
Bits ‘n Pieces for December 31, 2012
News and Notes from around the Interweb: Sentences that will never come out of my mouth: “I had a really hard time deciding between coach & business class..” New Girl in the Air then declares, “from now on, coach will be adequate for all my European travel.” Perish the thought! Buy Macy’s Gift Cards for the Miles, Put the Money on Your Macy’s Credit Card and Get a Check Back. Here’s the full scoop. I’d add to PointChaser’s thoughts that you could also buy the gift cards from an online gift card trading site like PlasticJungle at a discount and make a cash profit from these transactions! United Clubs charging $2 for bottled water? Reports are, however, that the toilets remain free (with the newly increased price of membership of course).
bmi’s Diamond Club Has Only a Few Hours Left in Existence
At least for US british midland members, the program will be ending tonight. And it will be ending as well for members in most of the world. UK-based members may still maintain bmi Diamond Club accounts, since there are still credit cards that earn miles in the program, and that card was open only to UK residents (though those miles can only be spent by transferring them out to British Airways — and there’s no longer any reason at all not to do so). Australia and New Zealand residents couldn’t join British Airways’ program, so their accounts are frozen. They can’t earn miles any longer, as there is no way to do so. And they can’t spend miles since they aren’t permitted to join the British Airways program where they can be spent. Presumably once…
Bring the Andaz 5th Avenue Home: Make Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes in Your Own Kitchen
There’s much love for the greatest breakfast food ever invented, which can be found at the Andaz 5th Avenue. I discovered them during my first visit to the hotel in December 2010, and I really haven’t been the same since. Here’s what they look like delivered by room service: Million Mile Secrets explained, I was looking forward to trying the lemon poppyseed pancakes which Gary salivates about. Sure enough, they were as good as he said they were! …We liked the poppyseed pancakes with orange essence and fresh orange slices so much that we ordered them again. We also ordered Brioche French toast and scrambled eggs with chorizo and breakfast potatoes. The French toast came with two giant slices of toast but was a little bland (especially compared to the orange poppyseed pancakes)! He also…
An Unexpected (and Very Nice..) Stay at the Grand Hyatt DFW
On my way back from Frequent Traveler University in Los Angeles at the beginning of December I turned up at LAX and found that my Los Angeles – Washington Dulles flight was delayed by about 4 1/2 hours. Already if the flight was on time I wasn’t going to get home until nearly midnight. Now I was looking at closer to 4am, and I was supposed to be at work in the morning. I thought about sitting in the lounge — as a British Airways Gold I have access not just to American’s Admiral’s Club but also their first class Flagship Lounge — and then taking the delayed flight home. But I never sleep more than 20 minutes at a time in near-upright domestic first class seats, so I figured most of my next day…
