IHG Rewards Reel Summer Promotion is now live. (HT: FEV77 on Milepoint) The bonuses attached to the promotion are the only things that interest me, not the Coca-Cola co-brand prize offerings or – per the press release I got yesterday – “team[ing] up with actor Josh Lucas for the Ultimate Movie Moment Experience.” There are some things I really like about IHG Rewards Club these days. I like that IHG Rewards Club has been aggressive and creative with promotions, such as with the Big Win. I like that the complicated, gamified nature of these promotions. I like that IHG Rewards Club offers lots of bonuses, great return on spend for earning free nights. And things I do not like as much. I don’t like that the program lacks meaningful elite benefits (outside of Intercontinental Hotels’…
Etihad’s Abu Dhabi First Class Lounge and Business Class Service to the Maldives
Previous installments Introduction: Maldives and Malaysia in First Class, How I Booked It and What it Cost Etihad Lounge and First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport Even though I was staying right at the airport, and had already been checked in for my flight to Male (at Dulles, a day earlier, and just needed to re-check my bag) I left the hotel about 2 1/2 hours prior to my flight. I checked out at the front desk on the way out and asked them to email a folio to me. The Premier Inn doesn’t have the capability to do that inside their system, but the agent at the desk was kind enough to offer to scan the receipt and email it to me from her own account. I…
I Just Drew 4 Gift Card Winners. Did You Win $100?
Last week I offered up (4) $100 gift cards as a giveaway. When I receive things from airlines, hotels, or rental car companies and similar, I try to give them away to readers. And sometimes I wind up with extra gift cards, too, from my own experimentation. I love the opportunity to share my good fortune in travel with readers. I asked readers to say something positive above miles and points, blogs, forums, fellow travelers. Here are the winning entries. Did you win $100?
Chinese Man Stranded In Airport When Son Draws in Passport
Here’s the shocking story of a man who was trapped in South Korea, his passport was invalidated when his young son pulled out his crayons. Or maybe it’s not so shocking, or even much of a big deal at all. In fact we’re going to rate this one as probably false, at least no reason to think it’s true, and not a big enough deal to warrant attention even if it is. And yet it’s getting a ton of airplay, and I suppose is an amusing enough distraction. A story is going ’round social media about a Chinese man denied boarding because his passport was defaced by his son’s doodlings. It’s been covered by Gawker, Fox News, The Daily Mail, USA Today, The Telegraph, and many more. At best the story is sourced to a…
American is Charging You Too Much Money for British Airways Awards. Here’s How to Reduce the Fuel Surcharges.
Reader Mark F. emails to let me know I haven’t covered a quirk or glitch that causes American AAdvantage to charge too much in fuel surcharges. Becoming aware of this glitch will save you hundreds of dollars the next time you redeem American AAdvantage miles for flights on their partner British Airways. Like almost all British Airways partners, American collects fuel surcharges for award tickets when traveling on British Airways (and to a much lesser extent, Iberia, but not transatlantic joint venture partner Finnair). There was a false rumor last year that American was going to start collecting these junk fees on all partners. Thank goodness that turned out to be false. Because these junk fees total hundreds of dollars of cash outlay when redeeming a supposedly ‘free’ award ticket. Oneworld partner LAN does not…
Is a Burger Appropriate for a First Class Meal?
Lucky wrote about British Airways adding a burger to their first class menu. This is somewhat controversial because, A burger strikes some people as hardly befitting international first class. It can be tough to do a good burger in the air. It can be tough for British Airways to do decent food even on the ground (please see “Concorde Room“). The idea of a British Airways first class burger is an interesting one. The Concorde Room burger is indeed awful. I’ve ordered it, but I’ve not taken more than a bite or two. ANA used to do a great job with their burger (snack) in first class This is something people actually wanted and talked about. That such a thing exist is proof enough that it is possible. But airplane burgers usually do not look…
30% Off Silvercar, $50 Off First Rental, and $25 Credit for Being Referred
I’m a fan of Silvercar, the new rental car outfit that’s so far only in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Dallas although rumored to be expanding. They offer only Audis, and the rental ‘includes everything’ – GPS, wireless internet, SiriusXM radio, and even toll tracking (you pay only the actual cost of tolls you use) plus refueling at market rate (you don’t refill the tank and you’re charged the actual cost of gas plus $5). I first wrote about $9 Audi Rental Cars from Silvercar, noting that one-day rentals start at $59 and there’s a $50 off first-time customer code. With my first rental experience which I reviewed, I also discussed the $25 credit for being referred by someone (the referrer also gets $25): How I Made $12 on My Audi Rental Car and…
The UAE as an Uplifting Place of Opportunity
There are a lot of awful places in the world, if what we mean by awful is offensive to Western standards of people with Western standards of living. If you have a US income, even a very average one (and on the whole travelers tend to be better off than non-travelers), then seeing comparative extreme poverty is tough. Isn’t this awful! It shouldn’t be this way! And hearing stories about rights abuses is hard, too. Child labor was common in the U.S. and other Western nations until standards of living were higher, automation also replaced the least-skilled labor. Laws play a role here, although they generally lagged the economic reality on the ground. Lucky thinks the UAE is a far more depressing place than India. Many countries with “visible” poverty have a huge gap in…
Over a Million People Now Have Global Entry, But the Program Doesn’t Work Right for Everyone
The Government Accountability Office produced a study of trusted traveler programs that they released on Friday. We learned that there were a little over a million people enrolled in Global Entry as of January, and just under a million enrolled in NEXUS at that time. GAO found a backlog of pending applications, about 90,000 at one time needing review, and no plan in place to improve efficiency. GAO also found that trusted traveler interviews didn’t consistently follow published guidelines, and raised questions about denial rates. GAO and the Department of Homeland security disagree on the need for scripted interview questions. While the US works on reciprocity with other countries for trusted traveler programs, they aren’t very careful about documenting other countries’ procedures for clearing people. CBP has discussed information about other countries’ operational procedures for…
How to Earn 1 Million Miles for Less than $1000… and Dog Poop.
News and notes from around the interweb: Dog poop forced a US Airways flight to make an emergency landing Yahoo Travel covered blogger Frequent Miler‘s successful quest to earn a million miles in a month. Enter my giveaway to win 4 out of 12 American Airlines lounge passes Which gift cards can still be loaded onto Bluebird at Walmart? An update on recent changes. Please update your bookmarks and e-mail address book for this blog. The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express is back via existing member referral with its 30,000 point signup bonus. Apparently the offer will be publicly available in 4 days and I will when it is. Starting July 1, all Intercontinental hotel properties worldwide will begin awarding 10 IHG Rewards Club points per dollar spent, like other full service hotels in the…
