Cranky Flier likes the federal government’s Small Community Air Service Development grant program. He outlined this year’s winners that he liked on Monday, and I explained why the best of the best is proof enough why the program isn’t worth it. This morning he looks at what he considers to be successes from last year’s program. And of the 29 winners from 2011, he can find four. South Bend, Indiana wanted low cost carrier service to Denver. It took awhile, but Frontier will begin service in October. Grand Forks, North Dakota wanted Denver as well, and it will be getting service on United that same month. Bozeman, Montana wanted a New York flight. It got it with Saturday-only service this summer on United. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania wanted a Denver flight like the others and it might…
500 Free Priority Club Points for International Shopping E-Newsletter Signup
When I first saw the offer of 500 Priority Club points from their shopping portal, my first thought was ‘uh oh’ the toolbar rears its ugly head again. But no, the international shopping site is offering 500 free points for e-newsletter signup. Offer is valid through September 15 and there’s no mention of how long it will take to get the points, definitely wait to actually receive the points before unsubscribing.
Security Theater Nightmare – I Thought *I* Had it Bad Just Opting Out of Nude-o-Scopes Edition
Reid passes along the story of a cancer patient denied boarding on Delta because of his shirt. His blog is extremely long, containing a tremendous amount of irrelevant details and complaints not central to the issue (like that when he was rebooked he initially didn’t have a seat and Delta had to take volunteers in order to get him one, but explained much less succinctly than that and as though it were an additional grievance). But the story is still an interesting an important one. Admittedly it’s his side of the story only, but apparently he: Was returning from a funeral, was at his connecting gate, and subjected to additional screening and questioning because of his shirt which he explains was poking fun at security theatre and overreaction to the threat of terrorism. Received at…
Government Hotel Rates: By Not Spending More, You Save!
The GSA has had a bunch of scandals recently. But they really, really want you to know that they are trying to contain costs. Fortunately, I translate their releases to make them more plain-spoken for the intelligent lay-person. As part of our top to bottom review of GSA, we have been looking for savings in our government-wide travel programs. Each year, GSA sets the federal government’s travel reimbursement rates for lodging, meals, and incidentals for official government travel. For the first time in more than a decade, we decided to freeze the rates at current levels. In other words, we were looking at ways of saving money on travel. But we decided not to move forward with any of them. Instead, we punted. (And since we’re doing such a great job in travel, you can…
Starwood’s Fall Promotion: Double or Triple Points Plus Online and Mobile Booking Bonuses
Starwood’s Fall promotion is “Better By the Night”: Between October 1 and December 20, Starwood is offering: Double points on eligible stays of 1 or 2 nights Triple points on eligible stays of 3 or more nights In addition, there are online and mobile device booking bonuses: 250 bonus points for eligible stays booked at spg.com, through the Blackberry app, or with the W Hotels iPhone app 500 bonus points for eligible stays booked through their iPhone app “Better By the Night” was the name of the promotion that Starwood ran in the first quarter of the year, and included the same double and triple point bonuses. The online and mobile app booking bonuses are new. More points are better than not more points, but the double and triple points amount to a few hundred…
AviancaTaca LifeMiles is the Most Generous Program in Star Alliance, and How You Can Use It
AviancaTaca joined Star Alliance just joined Star Alliance this summer. Most folks have never even heard of the Columbian-Salvadoran airline, let alone realize its potential even if you never fly to Bogota, San Salvador, or Latin America more broadly. The airline frequently offers 100% bonuses on purchased miles (eg here, here, and here.) Last month they ran a 100% bonus on transferred miles. Brand new accounts can’t usually participate in these bonus offers, so it makes sense to join their LifeMiles program to be prepared for when one of these offers comes back. Here’s why the program is really valuable. The award chart is pretty reasonable One-way awards are available for half the cost of roundtrip They offer cash and points awards bookings. As long as you have at least 40% of the miles needed…
Reducing Your Spending Requirement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Bonus, But Act Quickly!
Yesterday I wrote about a new, better offer for my favorite credit card: 40,000 point signup bonus after spending just $2000 on the card within 3 months. Commenter nknight wrote about having applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card when the signup bonus required $3000 in spending. Since it’s since been reduced, I suggested sending a ‘secure message’ through the Chase website asking to have that amount reduced to $2000 based on the new offer. My guess had been that this wouldn’t be successful – that I’ve usually seen Chase match new bonus amounts offered within 90 days of signing up for a credit card, but that I hadn’t seen them reduce the requirements to receive a bonus. Well, turns out my skepticism may have been wrong. Commenter Esteban reports: I got my spend requirement…
The TSA Song (“Twisted Sexual Assault”)
(HT: Frequently Flying)
More Details on the Amazing Alaska Airlines $350 or Less First Class Opportunity
Jared of Online Travel Review has been doing yoeman’s work on the amazing deal where you can buy Icelandair miles and fly Alaska Airlines first class to anywhere they fly in the US and Canada (including Hawaii and Alaska) for $350 per person or less. Today he explains Icelandair’s rules for connections and stopovers on these awards, which offers insight into a problem some folks have had getting their itineraries approved. You’re permitted one stopover on an award. Yes, a stopover is permitted even on a purely domestic U.S. award ticket! A stopover is considered anything more than 4 hours. So if your connection in, say, Seattle is 5 hours then that is a stopover. If you overnight in Seattle both directions that isn’t allowed because it’s considered two stopovers. So one connection (or stopover)…
Frequent Flyer Events Get Mainstream Attention
Filmmaker Gabriel Leigh has a CNNgo piece on the frequent flyer experiences that the Milepoint.com community puts together — Frequent Traveler University and the MegaDO trips. A few months ago I found myself headed to a Sheraton hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey, one of the more anonymous towns in the United States. The purpose of my trip: Frequent Traveler University, a two-day series of seminars on getting the most out of miles and points. …At these events, you tend to get a rapid-fire guided tour of the extremes people go to for miles. The language might sound unfamiliar to the non-enthusiast, peppered as it is with phrases unique to the flyer world. A “mileage run,” for example, is a flight taken for the sole purpose of accumulating miles or attaining elite status. Most of…
