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…
TripAlertz Giving Away Free Hotel Stays Again: $5 Per Signup You Refer to Them
Back in October TripAlertz was all the rage, giving away a $10 credit for every person that you got to sign up for the sign. Seriously, they were buying email addresses (and that’s all someone needed to give in order to sign up) at $10 in site credit apiece. Which struck me as seriously overpaying. Now they’re back offering $5 per new signup. You create an account, and then every friend who uses your referral link earns you $5. You can use the credit towards their ‘exclusive getaways’ hotels and with no limit, enough referrals will generate you free hotel and resort stays. No one has to buy a thing. I don’t entirely trust the website and their practices. TripCash originally expired after two years and was reduced without notice to a year and then…
Aeroplan Announces Changes to 2013 Elite Program
Aeroplan has followed a really good best practice in announcing changes to their elite levels going forward. It’s almost the start of 2012 and they’ve announced what benefits flying in 2012 will accrue for the 2013 program year. Members fly all year based on the offers that airlines make, and I’ve always found it disingenuous for an airline to pull the rug out from members after they’ve done the flying and right before they’re supposed to get the benefits. So a real kudos to Aeroplan which recognizes this, and decided to do any rug pulling with full advance notice. That’s respectful of their members. There’s going to be more (five!) levels going forward — 25,000; 35,000; 50,000; 75,000; and 100,000. There’s no change to the 25,000 mile flyer level. The 35,000 mile flyer level will…
Captain Kirk’s Approach to the Spouse Upgrade Debate
There’s been an ongoing debate on several blogs over ‘who gets the upgrade’ when traveling with your spouse or significant other and only one of you clears into the forward cabin. See, for example, this post over at Deals We Like where her husband makes a guest post appearance. They were planning to split time in the one upgraded seat, but all he got was an ice cream sundae in coach. Reader Pat B. e-mails me to relay a recent story where he gave up his upgraded seat to his travel companion, and apparently the flight attendants were just in awe, their sense being this sort of chivalry never happens, and fawned over him throughout the flight bringing him complimentary drinks, a warm cookie, and gave the couple of bottle of wine from the flight…
British Airways’ Parent and Lufthansa Enter Binding Agreement for sale of bmi
Via Seth, the agreement between British Airways parent IAG and Lufthansa for the sale of british midland’s mainline operation is now binding (though subject to regulatory approval). So Virgin, which isn’t usually a serious player in such matters but throws their hat in for theatrics, is out. To me it didn’t much matter whether British Airways or Virgin took control of bmi, I’m a recently-requalified bmi Gold member and wasn’t especially looking forward to having status with either BA or Virgin, or the accompanying devaluation of points. Because of its Star Alliance membership and cash and points award chart, plus allowable one-way awards with stopovers, the bmi award chart has always been really generous. British Airways now charges a separate award for each segment, bmi even allows stopovers for no extra points. And bmi charges…
The Simplest Advice Can Make the Biggest Difference
Sometimes it hits me like a ton of bricks. I may write about pretty complex or convoluted deals and strategies here on the blog. Fortunately I have a patient readership. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is looking for the most Rube Goldberg-esque means of securing award tickets or earning more miles. I leave out the simple stuff, things that seem ‘obvious’ don’t really occur to me to write about most of the time. But then something happens to make me realize that there’s some useful advice that will be valuable for “the 99%” of mileage collectors. That isn’t actually too simple or obvious to be useful. Earlier in the week I had lunch with two professional acquaintences who asked if I might help them think about how to get more out of their miles…
Mileage Running.. With a Spouse
Last week @WhatWdJamesDo tweeted: What the heck is going on? @OneMileataTime loves in-flight wifi and @garyleff is booking pure mileage runs. Signs of the apocalypse? And indeed I’m in the midst of some mileage runs. But they aren’t pure mileage run. I’ve been known to take discretionary trips, driven by a big mileage bonus, but I really don’t fly just for the miles and I haven’t needed to fly just for the status in many years. And when I’ve taken these extra trips, they’ve been weekends where the destination is part of the decision. So not just flying to fly. And then along came the Oneworld MegadO and an offer that if I flew 20,000 miles on American by January 13th I could be an Executive Platinum. That alone was tempting but I was still…
US Airways Adjusts Mileage Upgrade Prices and Award Booking Fees
Yesterday US Airways sent out an announcement about changes to their mileage upgrades and to award booking fees effective February 15. They’re adding mileage upgrade co-pays, an idea already adopted by United/Continental and American (Delta just refuses to allow mileage upgrades on all but the highest fares). They’re imposing “quick ticketing fees” on awards booked within 21 days of travel instead of within 14 days. And they’re reducing the free baggage allowance for Silver members from two to one. Wandering Aramean and One Mile at a Time offer their commentary. Here’s the new mileage upgrade chart: Upgrades were a straight 15,000 miles each direction, confirmable any time after booking if available. That was cheap on long segments, considering no co-pay, but rather silly on flights up and down the East Coast. And US Airways offers…
Lessons Learned Booking Mileage Runs on American Airlines
I’ve just booked 20,000 miles of flying on American over the next three weeks, and I share my lessons learned in a guest post over at MilesQuest.
Hyatt Gold Passport Introduces Restaurant and Spa Points Earning and Burning When Not Staying at the Hotel
Hyatt announced this morning that they’re rolling out Gold Passport earning and redemption at Hyatt property restaurants and spas even when you aren’t a registered guest. This may seem like a small matter, but it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. Starwood Preferred Guest offers points earning at hotel restaurants when you aren’t staying, and that’s great. In my home town of DC there’s the J&G Steakhouse at the W and Adour at the St. Regis that are worth visits in their own right. And since my office is right smack next to a Westin, that’s really convenient. Now, I’ll have one of my favorite restaurants in DC as a points-earning option, Blue Duck Tavern at the Park Hyatt. They’ll be rolling out this benefit at some properties beginning this month, to be chain-wide…
