A week ago Frequent Traveler University-Advanced was launched and it sold out overnight. One of the most requested things we’ve gotten for future Frequent Traveler University events is a different program — while each one has several different topics and speakers, they’ve also had many similar program components, and a large group of people of very mixed experience levels. The goals with FTU Advanced: Smaller, more intimate, for greater in-depth discussion More advanced. FTU events welcome everyone, at all experience levels, and of course everyone is welcome. But the program will feature a more focused conversation geared to people that have spent more time with the activity. A different program. We’ll be able to go more in-depth, and we’ll be able to go more hands-on. There will be internet in the meeting rooms to facilitate…
My Predictions and Fears for American’s Coming New Award Chart
American will be the only North America carrier that doesn’t allow stopovers on its awards of any kind (unless they bring back stopovers later), and the only North America carrier to add fuel surcharges to US-originating itineraries on their primary partners. While American hasn’t devalued its award chart in many years, it is already quite expensive to many regions so that it is more or less on part — for all except first class redemptions — with where the industry already is with last year’s round of devaluations. There are a few regions where they’ve got headroom to increase award prices. And the fact that Delta doesn’t offer international first class awards, and their primary competitor United increased their so much, makes it thinkable that we could see first class increase a good bit. But…
1500 United Miles for New Mypoints Members
Ten years ago I used to spend a lot of time with Mypoints, the online shopping portal. You used to be able to earn a ton of free points easily. I would even click on the email spam they’d send me at 5 points apiece. On top of offers like points for “finding Mypoints Max” on their site (it would move each day but folks would share in online forums where they found him) and game-able offers like fixed bonus points for Amtrak tickets… even $2 tickets.. there was value to be had. But there are more, and richer, shopping portals today so I don’t give Mypoints nearly the attention that I once did. There’s a new member bonus worth flagging, though: Here’s how to pick up 1500 United miles: Sign up and receive 500…
The W Austin is a Good Hotel With Not Very Good Guests
I’ve stayed a few times recently at the W Austin, booked on points before the recent shift in Starwood reward categories. The property went from category 5 (12,000 points most nights) to 6 (20,000 points most nights), and I figured it was worth getting in under the wire. Now, I’ve reviewed several hotels in the Austin area: the Hyatt Place Downtown, Westin Austin at the Domain, and Hyatt Regency (also here and here). But the W is in my favorite location — right smack downtown, but not by all the 6th street bars (so quieter) and with a view of the river. It’s across the street in one direction from Lamberts Downtown Barbecue and a block in another direction from a great wine bar (Cru). There’s a Starbucks in the building (entrance around the corner),…
How Not to Take Your Anger Out on an Airline
I’ll occasionally take to Twitter to vent frustrations during my travels. And I tend towards the sarcastic. But I don’t do this. The girl then freaks out. In the movie Airplane! a passenger calls out to his friend, “Hi Jack!” and is immediately taken down as a security threat. And that was pre-9/11. One commenter notes that you know you’ve screwed up “when you make American Airlines look good by comparison.” I mean, I get that Sarah was probably in the process of planning a oneworld explorer award and all… but a hashtag would probably work better. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also…
Why Last Week’s American AAdvantage Debacle Eroded So Must Trust, and How They Can Win It Back
Last week American AAdvantage made several changes to its program: Rolling out a new three-tier pricing model for AAnytime awards (paying extra miles when regular award seats aren’t available). Eliminating free stopovers on international awards at the North American gateway city Eliminating distance-based oneworld explorer awards Increasing the telephone booking fee from $25 to $35 (they still do not waive this fee for awards that cannot be booked online, and most airline partner awards cannot be). I wrote a post framed as my still trusting AAdvantage. The argument was more nuanced that that, but the title detracted from understanding my argument rather than summarizing it. That’s my fault. My point was that American AAdvantage has deeply eroded trust with its changes this week, and was very much on the brink of doing real damage right…
American Doesn’t Know When AAdvantage and Dividend Miles Will Combine
My running assumption has been that Dividend Miles and AAdvantage — and indeed US Airways and American — would combine either the last weekend of February or the first weekend of March 2015. It will have been about 15 months since the merger was consummated (and there was plenty of preparatory work done in the time leading up to that, especially as the question of the merger dragged on due to the Department of Justice’s anti-trust lawsuit). And it’s a relatively slow time for travel. It’s the window that United-Continental, Northwest-Delta, and America West-US Airways used. But the tasks of combining airlines are gargantuan. The America West-US Airways combination was initially an operational disaster (I’m strange enough to have consciously opted to fly US Airways that weekend — everyone was told to check in online,…
Last Day to Buy US Airways Miles at 1.1 Cents Apiece With 100% Share Miles Bonus
Today is the last day to ‘share’ US Airways Dividend Miles with 100% bonus. That means effectively buying miles at ~ 1.1 cents apiece. Limited time offer: Give up to a 100% bonus when you Share Miles! Share miles from April 7th until April 13th 2014 and your friend or family member will get up to 100% MORE in bonus miles – up to 50,000 miles. The bonus is actually tiered, you need to share at least 30,000 miles to get that bonus. Lower amounts receive a lesser bonus according to the following schedule: You transfer 50,000 points from account A to account B at a cost of $567.50. Account B receives 100,000 miles. If you have a spouse or significant other, transfer 50,000 points to them and they receive 100,000 miles; then they transfer…
Southern Italy: the Great Destination No One Goes to Anymore
The New York Times carried a fascinating op-ed on Italian tourism. I often say it’s best to go where the tourists aren’t, frequently that means travel to popular destinations during shoulder season when hotels aren’t overrun and you can find better deals and upgrades. It also means overlooked destinations, and though the New York Times is covering it the data suggests that Southern Italy is worth considering. Only 13% of tourists who travel to Italy visit Southern Italy. Naples is the third largest municipality in Italy after Rome and Milan. It’s one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. But there’s an average of fewer than 3 flights a day in total from German airports to Southern Italy. Naples is apparently just ahead of York and Stuttgart as a tourist destination. The Italian…
Is Plink Rewards No Longer Rewarding?
Back in October I wrote an introductory guide to Plink Rewards, A Free Double Dipping Points Tool: How to Take Advantage of Plink Rewards. Plink is a shopping rewards program that works automatically. You sign up for the program and then link a credit card, and then qualifying purchases made with that credit card will earn you points in the Plink program. There’s nothing more to do to earn the points. (You don’t need to remember to do anything, which is nice.) It’s been a very valuable double dipping tool the past several months. But I’m not liking two current aspects of the program. Plink Is Short on Worthwhile Merchant Partners Plink was fantastic when you earned points for purchases at Staples. Staples is a ‘staple’ of my buying routing (mostly Amazon gift cards, Starbucks…
