I booked a room a ‘Deluxe Corner Room King’ at The Nines in Portland for this past weekend. It was a cheap rate, and coupled with the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program I’d get a late checkout (duplicated by my Starwood status which is, alas, only Gold — and which I also wouldn’t need), daily Continental breakfast (which the hotel offers as a $34 per room credit each day for rom service as well), and a $100 food and beverage credit in addition — as well as an upgrade to the next room category subject to availability on arrival. Wireless internet is free for all guests, though that too comes with status. All in all, it was a pretty good deal for a hotel that’s supposed to be the nicest offering in Portland.…
With All This Excitement, Will the Next MegaDO Get an Even Bigger Plane?
Yesterday’s general ticket sales for the Star MegaDO 4 charter flight sold out in record time. All the available seats were in shopping carts for checkout in under 5 minutes. It was suggested the price should be higher, and certainly how quickly the event sells out suggests that folks believe it’s exceptional value, I don’t think there are folks going on these events who believe they aren’t getting many orders of magnitude more than their moneys’ worth. But the idea is that — above a certain threshold, of course — money shouldn’t be the reason that frequent flyers don’t get to participate in these trips of a lifetime. Star MegaDO 4 is the first widebody charter for one of these trips. It has significantly more seats that previous trips. And the bigger the plane, the…
1000 Free Choice Privileges Points for New Members
Via NotiFlyer, new members of Choice Privileges can receive 1000 points just for joining. The link URL (http://choiceprivileges.com/signup/inflyer) appears to be a promotion they’re running with Inside Flyer, presumably it embeds an offer code that will sweep for those points in the coming weeks.
Star MegaDO 4 Tickets Are Now On Sale!
Booking for the Star MegaDO 4 domestic charter flight is now open at megado.com. Book your tickets here. It’s the ultimate frequent flyer adventure, where 150-200 enthusiastic folks get together, charter an aircraft, and go on behind-the-scenes tours of airlines and aircraft, while picking up swag and tons of miles and elite status along the way. The last event, Oneworld MegaDO, sold out in under 20 minutes. But there’s a widebody aircraft this time, hopefully the trip will be able to accomodate more folks and won’t sell out nearly as quickly.
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 9, 2012
News and Minor Notes: Last month Accorhotels introduced an offer of 500 free Delta miles but the website wasn’t working. Fortunately the website is now working. According to Heels First Travel, you can create a US Airways Dividend Miles Daily Deals account and earn 500 miles with your first purchase. Then purchase Friday’s deal, $5 for Working Mother magazine (the offer sold out on Friday but is back). That way you buy 500 miles for $5, 1 cent a mile. Actually you’ll earn 525 miles since you also earn 5 points per dollar spent. Everyone you refer to US Airways Daily Deals that makes a purchase also earns you both 500 miles. Cranky Flier details the hoops that airlines in the U.S. must go through to allow customers to put their luggage tags on their…
Minor Public Service Announcement to Know Your Own Options During Flight Delays
I got a 4am wakeup call yesterday morning, I was planning on getting a little coffee into my system and catching up on a bit of work before heading to the airport for my 7am flight to Dallas. When the hotel room phone rang I reached over for my mobile phone and saw an alert from American that my flight was delayed. What was originally a 7:15am departure was now showing 9:38am, darn it, I really didn’t need to be up. No turning back now, I fired up the laptop and saw that I’d now be looking at a 7 minute connection in Dallas. That wasn’t going to work. So I rang up American. At the same time I started looking for flight availability myself. This point can’t be stressed enough, and you’ll see why…
World Domination Isn’t Just Industrial Hip Hop
I was in Portland this past weekend for Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit. In any gathering of 1000 people it’s hard to say that there’s a common theme or purpose, but largely it’s about finding oneself and one’s place in the world and building an independent space — not waiting for governments to enact the right policies to ‘fix’ the economy, but figuring out how to be entrepreneurial with one’s own life. Here’s J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on the inaugural conference last year. Jonathan Feldman casts a skeptical eye at the conference in Information Week even as he recognizes its value and that some of the people there have something to teach him. I admit the name of the event gives me a bit of pause, probably because despite any air of authority…
Up to 30,000 American Airlines Miles for New Citibank Checking Account
Reader Robert G. passes along a Citibank offer for a checking account with up to 30,000 bonus American Airlines miles. Offer code CYKS can be used at http://offer.citibank.com/, by phone at 1-866-466-1822 or at a branch through July 31. It is pitched to existing American Airlines co-branded credit card holders but is unlikely to require that one have the card (although with 50,000 mile signup bonuses out there, it’s hard to imagine why you wouldn’t get one if you don’t already have one and haven’t held one in the past 18 months). Once you’ve opened an account, make at least one direct deposit a month for two consecutive months, and make purchases as follows with your accounts debit card A Citigold checking account, $750 in charges for 30,000 American AAdvantage miles. A Citibank checking account,…
Air France KLM Flying Blue 50% Promo Awards for July/August Available
Last month the Air France KLM Flying Blue program posted ‘promo awards’ for July and August, awards bookable for 50% fewer miles. They promptly pulled the list of routes down, showing _no_name_ – _no_name_ (and v.v.) in place of the actual destinations instead. Well, available city pairs have been loaded again and there are fewer destinations than were originally listed. From North America, only Montreal, Chicago, and New York JFK flights are 50% off for business class to Europe. That’s 25,000 miles each way for business class (plus taxes and fuel surcharges). An excellent deal, even though the fuel surcharges mean you’ll be coming out of pocket perhaps half as much as a paid coach ticket. The Flying Blue program is an instant transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards program in the U.S., making…
Effective August 1, Alaska Airlines Companion Tickets Can No Longer Be Used for First Class
Lucky reports that as of August 1, the $99 companion ticket that comes with the Alaska Airlines co-branded Visa from Bank of America will be valid for coach travel only. Previously there were no capacity controls, whatever booking class the paid ticket was booked into would be the same booking class that the companion ticket was booked into, including paid first class (meaning that the companion ticket would be fully changeable, with last seat availability, and earning class of service bonus for mileage accrual even). Introducing restrictions on the ticket hurts. Sure, folks who used the tickets for coach travel won’t mind so much. But taking away the option to buy one first class ticket and get a second one for $99 plus taxes hurts. I touted this benefit as recently as last week. Back…
