Last year I wrote that Hyatt had selected KenetMD to replace Portico’s White Ginger as its standard bath amenities. I then followed up that breaking the news was premature, it was the likely choice but Hyatt was still doing testing before final sign off. And these things, apparently, move slowly. Because it took 16 months. Now the Wall Street Journal‘s Scott McCartney writes that the changeover will take place on Saturday (although no doubt some hotels will continue to burn through existing stock after that). On Saturday, the company will change to new brands of bathroom products tested on women for its properties world-wide. Hyatt Regency Hotels in North America, for instance, will carry KenetMD Skin Care products instead of the Portico products they use now. This revelation was part of a larger piece on…
Albany Deputy Sheriff Sticks Up for the Right to Film at Security Checkpoints
Jonathan B. passes along a video of two people passing out flyers this past Friday about TSA opt out procedures. The Albany airport authority tries to shut down them and stops their filming. And the officer at the scene refuses to help. When the airport authority is told by the police that the activists are within their rights, the tact changes to insistence that a permit is required along with $1 million in insurance, and then that the upstairs portion of the terminal is being closed except for ticketed passengers only. I’m not sure what was accomplished here, except perhaps that the Albany airport may have been reminded that filming is permitted at the checkpoint, or at least that it is not against TSA policy to film there (as long as the screening process isn’t…
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 28, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Are Christopher Elliott’s rants about miles and points sexist? Some frequent flyer programs allow ‘family pooling’ of miles, this is a feature offered by some European and Asian programs and is especially common in the Middle East. It turns out that Delta offers something similar for Asia Pacific members only, and they charge for it. Japan Airlines is now serving KFC in coach and premium economy on several long haul routes. Miles for joining a gym: 1500 Virgin America points for joining Crunch in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. 20 Free Points and Double Points Through February 28 with Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel
Introduction: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip American Eagle DC – New York and the New Nicest JFK Airport Hotel, the Hilton Cathay Pacific First Class, JFK – Hong Kong The Wing lounge in Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Kuala Lumpur – Langkawi The Andaman Langkawi Malaysia Airlines Business Class, Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur Things to See and Do in Kuala Lumpur Korean Airlines First Class, Kuala Lumpur – Seoul and the Korean Airlines First Class Lounge Seoul Korean Airlines First Class, Seoul – Washington Dulles I arrived at Washington National airport about 90 minutes out for the 7:25pm American Eagle flight up to New York JFK. The place was mostly deserted, I walked up…
Singapore Airlines Making Airbus A380 “Suites Class” Award Seats Available at the Low/Saver Level
Singapore Airlines used to restrict their ‘best’ premium cabin flights, not allowing saver level award redemption even by their own members. For instance, if you wanted to book first class awards on their Boeing 77W aircraft you would have to pay double miles. That changed at the end of February. Other than for a brief period at the beginning of July, it’s still been near-impossible to get saver seats for Singapore Airlines premium long haul flights using partner airline miles like those of United or US Airways. But it’s been quite doable to get seats using Singapore’s own miles. And of course Singapore Airlines Krisflyer is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. So the points are quite easy to get for many — making it quite possible to get…
Award Wallet Supports Delta Skymiles Again
Delta forced AwardWallet to stop helping customers track their Skymiles balances back in September. Delta sent a nastygram that read to me like it was prepared by a Middle Schooler with a degree from Google Law School. AwardWallet quickly complied, no longer allowing their systems to access member accounts, eliminating the alleged “computer trespass.” AwardWallet has introduced a new workaround. They won’t let you update your account balances in real-time. But they will keep your account balances updated. And all without ever having to access Delta’s servers. The ingenious idea was announced earlier this month. If you have an Award Wallet account, you have a ‘personal mailbox’ which is your_awardwallet_username@awardwallet.com Log into your Delta account, go to your profile, and give that email address as the one to send your mileage statements to. AwardWallet will…
She Should Have Taken Public Transit? Most Expensive Airport Parking. Ever.
$105,000 in parking fines for a car left at O’Hare for three years. Chicago’s Department of Finance states Jennifer Fitzgerald owes the money for 678 parking fines after a 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo registered in her name was left at the city’s O’Hara Airport… Yet Ms Fitzgerald claims she has never owned or driven the car and that her ex-boyfriend Brandon Preveau, a United Airlines employee, registered it in her name without her knowledge. She said he parked the car at the airport in Parking Lot E, which is reserved for United employees, in November 2009 Apparently the car should have been towed after 30 days. But it was three years before it was impounded, and just kept racking up fines in the interim. Since the registered owner of the vehicle is unemployed, it’s unlikely…
Free Customized Luggage Tag from Accor Hotels
Accor Hotels will send you a free customized luggage tag. You have to ‘like’ their Facebook page, then upload a photo (I uploaded a recent picture from the lobby of the Grand Hyatt in Kuala Lumpur – hah!), and give them your mailing address. This seems very similar to an offer that KLM has occasionally made in the past.
Suites, Treats, and Eats, a Malaysian Mileage Thanksgiving: Constructing — and Re-constructing — the Award Trip
I’m just back from Malaysia where I added a few days to the front end of the Thanksgiving holiday. Outbound was in Cathay Pacific first class, return in Korean Airlines first class. I stayed at the Grand Hyatt and at the Intercontinental in Kuala Lumpur, suites in each, and at Starwood’s The Andaman in Langkawi in a seaview suite. The bulk of the room nights were on points, the transpacific flights were on points, and I thought I’d share my observations from booking to enjoyment of the trip. I write occasional trip reports for several reasons. They’re a great opportunity to share how I put my mileage hobby into practice. Plenty of readers have told me that one of the most useful things that I do is write about my thinking processes — how I…
35% Bonus on American Express Points Transfers to Virgin Atlantic Starts Tomorrow
Starting tomorrow and through December 29, the U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 35% bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic. The bonus offer should show up at membershiprewards.com/virginatlantic by sometime mid-morning on November 27th. While it’s a good opportunity to top off an existing Virgin Atlantic account that already has a decent mileage stash (I have a bunch of points from signing up for Bank of America’s Virgin Atlantic American Express about six months ago, and I usually credit my one-day Avis rentals to Virgin for the 1000 miles per rental), it’s not necessarily a great deal otherwise. Not only does Virgin Atlantic add fuel surcharges onto its award tickets, e.g. a San Francisco – London business class roundtrip will currently add $896 in fuel surcharges in addition to already hefty taxes…
