Two weeks ago the American Airlines AAdvantage program began a systems transition that’s about 5 years overdue – a project code named Ventana that’s a major database upgrade. Several pieces of the original project were implemented over the past few years, such as counting flight miles rather than total program miles for lifetime elite status and improved speed for posting of miles, even as the overall system upgrade was put on hold. Presumably the merger with US Airways and concomitant impending need for systems improvements led to the backend upgrade being prioritized. Traveling Better has some more historical context on this. The system was taken down over a weekend, with AAdvantage account information largely unavailable, and it took a bit longer than anticipated to come fully back online — as major IT projects usually do.…
$500 Per Person to Europe Plus Hotel Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals
Air Berlin is offering a deal on 2 travelers roundtrip to Europe from $999 total. (HT: Loyalty Traveler This deal applies to Air Berlin’s flights from New York, Chicago, Miami and Fort Myers to Berlin and Dusseldorf, purchase by December 1 for travel between January 1 and March 31. And you can add on Air Berlin flights quite reasonably to the rest of Europe. Be sure to purchase from Air Berlin using a credit card with no foreign currency transaction fees. While Air Berlin is a member of oneworld, American AAdvantage members will take note that their discount fares only earn 25% of flown mileage. And with this deal two passengers do have to traevl together. Hotel Discounts, Too Deals We Like covers the Hotel Tonight app $99 Black Friday sale with room discounts in…
If MacGyver Wanted to Thwart the TSA: Build Your Own Shotgun Edition
The latest weapon to be built airside, after security. Your airport newsstand will never be the same again. Clearly new rules will have to be layered on top of all of the myriad existing rules. I’m not even sure what else to say about this. (HT: Matthew) You can join the 30,000+ 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 follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
What’s the Craziest Thing You’ve Ever Done to Earn Miles? Here Are Five.
I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life to earn miles. I bet many of my readers have too. There are things that some people only think are crazy — like buying coins from the US mint with a credit card, depositing those coins in the bank and paying off the credit card; like opening online checking accounts and funding them with a credit card (with banks coding the transactions as purchases) and using the new checks to pay off the credit card; like taking endless surveys or renting and returning cars that you do not need and don’t actually drive. Then there are things that are actually crazy. Which ones have you done? What’s the craziest mileage-earning scheme you’ve taken part in? A Bosley hair loss consultation for 20,000 Delta miles.. I…
What to Cook This Weekend When You Tire of Turkey
I can only eat so much turkey. Perhaps some of you have special ways to prepare it, but it will always be fairly bland to me — and after a Thanksgiving dinner and perhaps a once over with leftovers, I need to spice things up a bit. Of course you may be entertaining family (or being entertained by them) throughout the weekend. But if wherever you’re staying has access to an Asian grocer, or even a Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, or the equivalent of either, you could bring a little bit of flavor and spice back into your meals. Six years ago I blogged some Thai recipes that I picked up while staying at the Le Meridien Khao Lak outisde of Phuket, Thailand. In December 2006 the hotel had mistakenly loaded rates (attached to the…
US Airways-American Airlines Merger Approved by Bankruptcy Judge, Expected to Close December 9
American’s bankruptcy judge approved the anti-trust settlement between American, US Airways, the US Department of Justice and several states. What’s more, the judge ruled that incorporating the settlement didn’t constitute a material change to American’s plan or reorganization, thus a new plan approval was not required. The merger will be allowed to proceed, and is expected to close December 9th. A ‘private’ anti-trust suit remains underway. The group suing the airlines had sought a restraining order to block the merger, but the judge ruled that they had failed to show irreparable harm should the merger proceed and denied their request and ruled that they would have to cover costs. In my view because US Airways is overpaying, American’s unsecured creditors will be made whole and there will be some equity in the new company for…
6 Things You Can Do to Have an Easier Thanksgiving Weekend Travel Experience
If you’re traveling this weekend in the U.S., best of luck to you! Here is my nickel’s worth of free advice as you prepare to depart along with 40 million other Americans for the Thanksgiving holiday (fortunately they won’t all be flying). Give yourself lots of time. Wednesday and Sunday are amateur days. Everyone else will slow you down. Flights instead of being 80% full are 100% full (that alone would be a 25% increase in people) and frequent travelers are replaced by occasional travelers who don’t know the drill as well. Be patient, across the whole process — getting to the airport, parking (if that’s your thing), clearing security, boarding while other passengers try to sneak bags into the overhead bins on that wouldn’t fit in a shipping container. Avoid checking bags. That’s counterintuitive…
New York-Based Duane Reade Drugstores Now Accept Credit Cards for Vanilla Reload Cards
Hat tip to Point Me to the Plane who reports success in finding Vanilla Reload cards at Duane Reade drugstores, and making a purchase for (2) $500 cards via credit card. The Duane Reade chain, which is almost exclusively located in Manhattan and surrounding suburbs, is owned by Walgreens — which sells Vanilla Reload cards but only takes payment for those in cash. If any of you live in New York or find yourselves there for Thanksgiving, it might be worth stocking up on whatever you need for your travels.. and your prepaid reloadable cards. You can join the 30,000+ 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 follow me…
National Will No Longer Count Your Car Rental Towards Elite Status If You Earn Miles
I received an email from National Car Rental, and if you have an Emerald Club (their frequent rental club) membership you probably did too. They’ve made changes. So the link in the email is going to take you to a summary of those changes, right? No, you’re taken to a page that says the terms and conditions of renting from National have changed — effectively immediately (November 26th) and offering links to .pdfs in English and in French. The English document is 44 pages. There is no executive summary, highlights of changes, or track changes. I haven’t done a full comparison of the old document to the new one. In fact, I’m not even sure hen I last combed through the old one (at one point or another I have actually read the full rental…
Details on Starwood’s First Quarter Promotion Are Out
Starwood has announced ‘Bring on the Nights’ which will provide 2500 bonus points for every 5 nights (up to 10,000 points for 20 nights) between January 5 and April 30. In addition, hitting 25 eligible nights during the promotion period will award an additional 5000 points. This really isn’t that generous. It’s 500 extra points per night, but only for 5 night increments, so many members will average fewer bonus points (since their total nights will not be in increments of 5). Maxing out the promotion with 25 nights exactly pushes up average earning to 600 points. The first quarter is traditionally slow, so I wouldn’t expect better promotions to be coming along in the immediate term. This is a reflection of the strength of the lodging sector of the economy, Starwood doesn’t need to…
