The free Hilton HHonors Gold status offer that I posted Friday evening required you to have a Visa Infinite card, and the way the website verifies this is by having you enter the first six digits of the credit card. Which was a great opportunity to learn about Bank Identification Numbers on Wikipedia. Of course, just knowing the first six digits of any Visa Infinite card from a qualifying region of the world worked to unlock the website and take advantage of the offer. Apparently this is a popular way to verify that you have a credit card, since now Live from a Lounge brings us an offer of free Kingfisher elite status for Mastercard holders: To register, you should have an eligible MasterCard (Platinum, World, Titanium Credit Cards or a Premium Debit Card), and…
The TSA Stole My Cupcake
You’ve likely seen the story by now that the TSA in Las Vegas considers cupcake frosting to be a gel. (Which rather reminds me of a certain frequent flyer’s experience at London Gatwick, being told that a box of pasta is a liquid since you have to add water to cook it.) In light of the TSA’s War on Cupcakes(tm), and since I’m a huge fan of mixing marketing with public resistance to the TSA, I’m very tempted to buy this to wear during January travels.
Hilton Austin Airport $20 for a Hill Country Suite
Thanks to roadwarrior365 on Milepoint, the Hilton Austin Airport is pricing all rooms including suites at $20 plus tax for dates from mid-January through mid-February. Bookable at Hilton.com and elsewhere. Suites are going quickly, it remains to be seen of course whether or not the rate will be honored.
My Wishes for the Major U.S. Airline Mileage Programs in the New Year
Two years ago I offered frequent flyer wishes for the New Year, and some of them came true while two remain on my wish list going forward. Here’s what I’d love to see from major U.S. airline frequent flyer programs, little things that would make a great difference in terms of value derived by members, from the perspective of someone who is inspired by the aspirational nature of the programs and value leveraging miles for premium cabin award experiences. American Airlines. I love their domestic award availability, and I love several of their partners. I’ve had such great luck with Cathay Pacific first class award space that I’ve gotten lazy and fly too much Cathay First, not doing the hard work to get more interesting and varied products. But I wish the website were more…
A Christmas Blog Anti-Miracle
I woke up to several emails saying that something strange was going on with the blog, and indeed all of yesterday’s content was gone — the two posts I made and the associated comments. I went to Google Reader and recovered the posts and re-posted, thanks to the RSS feed. But with tremendous apologies, I don’t have the comments. Since it’s Christmas Day I don’t really have access to tech support to figure out what happened. Those who left comments yesterday, I am truly sorry!
Southwest Double Tier Points Stackable with Double Flight Credits for Six Airports
Earlier in the week I saw that Southwest is offering double tier points (registration required) and I wasn’t going to post on it, since even though it’s useful for some getting A-List status really doesn’t excite me much and I was pretty distracted when It came across my screen. The offer matches American’s double elite qualifying miles, and like that offer runs through DecemberJanuary 31st. But it seemed worthwhile mentioning when I saw Online Travel Review point out yesterday that Southwest is also offering double points on all flights into or out of Newark, LaGuardia, Boston, Manchester, Providence, and Orlando for travel booked by December 30th and flown between January 4 and February 15th. Registration required. The ability to get double tier points and double credits flying specific routes during the month of January is…
How the Durbin Amendment Changed Mileage Earning Checking Accounts and Debit Cards
The end of most debit card rewards programs, and the recent imposition of monthly fees on mileage-earning checking accounts at BankDirect, are the result of the Durbin Amendment. NerdWallet runs an interesting piece on the effects of the amendment, pointing out its winners and losers (some of which may be surprising, but others will be familiar to those who pay attention to the points game and how it has been changing as a result of this legislation). NerdWallet interviews law professor Todd Zywicki, who blogs at Volokh.com where I first found reference to the article. The law was supposed to help small retailers by providing them relief from debit card interchange fees, but the unintended consequence has been higher prices as consumers shift towards credit instead of debit. The law was supposed to help credit…
RyanAir’s CEO on Barriers to Innovation in European Air Travel
RyanAir’s CEO Michael O’Leary speaks to the EU Innovation Convention. It’s a fascinating talk, offering a window into how they think about their competitors and also about European governments. I think of RyanAir much like Spirit. I think it’s great they exist. I have no problem with their combination of low fares and customer-unfriendly policies, but they also don’t really affect me because I have no intention of flying them. I love it when low fare carriers compete against the major ones whose elite status I enjoy, I benefit from my status and lower fares. I don’t think all of Michael O’Leary’s claims ring true, like that it’s all that convenient to fly to Charleroi Airport rather than Brussels (well, maybe if you don’t value your time and want to take a bus into the…
Priority Club First Quarter Bonuses
Priority Club has a series of bonus point offers for the first quarter of 2012, earn a certain number of points for a certain number of nights between January 1 and March 31. You have to select the offer you’ll register for, you can only have one of these and cannot change after you’ve registered. Offers via Priority Club Insider: Register: -Stay 3 nights earn 5,000 Register: -Stay 7 nights earn 10,000 Register: -Stay 15 nights earn 15,000
Hilton’s New Instant Free Gold Status Offer
Hilton HHonors is giving away instant free Gold status through May 2013 to Visa Infinite cardholders. The way they verify that you’re eligible, i.e. that you have a Visa infinite card, is by asking you to enter the first six digits of your card. Those six digits are ‘issuer identification numbers’ that say what kind of a card it is. Great in theory, you have to know the first six digits of a Visa Infinite card to take advantage of the promotion. But that information is even available on Wikipedia, the very first result found in a Google search. Which means that anyone can effectively take advantage of the promotion. As a Hilton Diamond member already I haven’t actually tested this out, I’m interested in it as a purely academic matter. But apparently entering the…
