Through November 30 United is offering up to 15,000 bonus miles for transfers of hotel points into miles. The amount of the bonus varies by the number of miles transferred it, at exactly 50,000 miles the bonus is at its biggest — 30%. Transfers of hotel points into 5000 – 9999 miles will earn 1,000 bonus miles Transfers of 10,000 – 19,999 miles will earn 2500 bonus miles Transfers of 20,000 – 49,999 miles will earn 5000 bonus miles Transfers of 50,000 miles or more will earn 15,000 bonus miles Eligible hotel transfer partners are Starwood, Wyndham, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Hilton, and Club Carlson. They’ll total all of the hotel points transferred by November 30 to determine the number of bonus miles you’ll receive, the total doesn’t all need to come in one transfer…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 26, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Hyatt announced yesterday that you can save your credit card to your profile on their website, so you don’t have to re-enter it every time you make a booking. Mommy Points is downright giddy. Me, I think it’s an improvement, but Google Chrome already saves the credit card I use and fills it in on the Hyatt website. Now if only they would let me save my AAA number there would be real progress! Bruce Schneier isn’t worried that the bar code on boarding passes which tell the TSA if passengers get precheck or not can be hacked, since things like ID check and no fly lists don’t contribute to security anyway — the TSA procedures that are different from precheck don’t make us more secure anyway. He…
Magic Johnson’s Personal Flight Attendant Sues Him After Being Fired for Showing Up 7 Minutes Late
Magic Johnson’s personal flight attendant is suing him, claiming she was fired for showing up 7 minutes late, delayed at the deli picking up his preferred type of turkey. His lawyers say she was 15 minutes late, though I wonder if the story has all of the relevant details. She probably should have turned up at the deli earlier and not been cutting it so close to flight time, and while the whole purpose of private aviation is to be able to fly when you’re ready to fly (not when your crew shows up) in addition to being able to fly non-stop from wherever you are to wherever you’re going, a one-time seven or fifteen minute mistake after years of service feels insufficient for dismissal. Since she’s able to sue under California law, it’s also…
Delta Will No Longer Transfer Your Bags to Other Airlines When You’re Traveling on Separate Tickets
Effective January 15, Delta will no longer interline baggage when traveling on separate tickets. Effective for travel on or after January 15, 2013, Delta Air Lines policy will be to check a passenger’s baggage between the origin and destination points that are indicated on a single or conjuncted ticket exclusively. If a second ticket is presented for travel on another airline beyond the destination of the first ticket, the passenger will be advised that Delta will only check the bag to the destination on the first ticket(s). The passenger must collect the baggage at baggage claim for their first ticketed destination, and then re-check their baggage with the down-line carrier for the next flight. Rather surreal is the claim, This clarification of policy helps Delta ensure that checked baggage service is consistent for all customers.…
There’s a TSA Museum. Really.
There’s a TSA museum, it’s located in my home town and I didn’t even know about it. What’s on display in the museum? Among those items are images, oral histories, internal planning documents, a uniform and other objects relating to the first airport to get TSA screeners… Limestone from the exterior of the Pentagon and mangled pieces of the World Trade Center are in the collection, as is an example of the first handheld metal detectors, or wands, used to screen passengers at airports, and the first American flag raised over Terminal B at Boston Logan Airport when the TSA starting screening there in 2002. ..And then there’s the walk-through metal detector that screened the hijackers in Portland, Maine, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. You can’t visit the museum, though, it isn’t open…
One Month Unlimited Free Skype Internet Calling
Reader Ron B passes along an offer for unlimited free calling for a month using Skype. The unlimited calling includes calls to mobile phones in a limited set of countries only and landlines in 40 countries. Signup by November 15, and you must have an existing Skype account that’s been open more than 29 days. They require payment details and will auto-renew the service unless you cancel within 27 days of your start date. The mobile phones are liimited to Canada, Guam, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand and United States. (They consider Guam and Puerto Rico to be ‘countries’.)
7500 Bonus Club Carlson Points on 3-Day Avis Rentals through December 31, 2013
Avis has been running an offer of 9000 bonus Club Carlson points with a 3-day rental, most recently extended through October 31, 2012. That offer, at the same link as before has been reduced to 7500 bonus points but extended through December 31, 2012. Now through December 31, 2013, Club Carlson members can earn 7,500 total Gold Points on qualifying rentals of 3 days or more at participating locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. You need to enter coupon code MUHA018 when making the reservation and provide your Club Carlson account number. There are some blackout dates for this offer when renting outside of North America, oddly enough the specific dates aren’t specified for Asia. And there’s no list of…
Alitalia Tickets to Be Honored: $315 Discount Will Stand For All Tickets that Cost at Least a Penny
Over the weekend I wrote about a discount of ~ $315 that could be applied to any Alitalia tickets as long as the bookings were made on Alitalia’s Japanese website. Plenty of folks booked cheap US-Europe (and Europe-Asia) tickets with this discount. Some booked tickets inside Europe that were literally free, because they would have cost $315 or less to begin with. I wrote at the time that I couldn’t imagine that US-Europe tickets issued under this deal wouldn’t be honored, but that I wasn’t so sure what would happen to the European tickets. Alitalia pushed back and initiated cancellation of all tickets, claiming that the discount was only meant for flights originating in Japan and that their anti-fraud measures prevented the bookings by folks accessing the website from our regions of the world. A…
North Korea’s Air Koryo Adds Online Booking
North Korea’s state airline now offers online booking for its flights to Beijing, Shenyang, and Vladivostok. What I especially love about the airline – besides the Tupolev aircraft – is that the communist state offers two classes of service. Just because you can buy your flights online, though, doesn’t mean you can go to North Korea. To obtain a visa you must hold an “authorisation to travel” issued by a travel company in North Korea. Time to start stalking www.airkoryo.com.kp for mistake fares! (HT: Milepoint)
And So It Begins With Delta: Some Online Travel Agency Bookings Not Earning Full Mileage
In August I noted a change that ‘unpublished fares’ would no longer earn full mileage on Delta. Some coach fares only earn 50% mileage credit, and the lowest coach fares only earn 25% mileage credit — and may not even earn elite bonuses or class of service bonuses for paid premium cabin tickets. The challenge is that they don’t tell you upfront whether any given fare is published or unpublished, although for now everything available at Delta.com counts as published. Delta says that “Unpublished fares are normally purchased through a specialized agent, third party or to a group” but works like “normally” and including “third party” makes the whole thing very opaque, so far corporate travel agency (“third party”) bookings seem to be earning full mileage but it now seems that some online travel agency…
