As I walked in the door with flowers, my wife asks “How many miles did you get?”
Free June 29th Book Launch Party in DC for “Decoding Air Travel”
Nicholas Kralev, the former Washington Times diplomacy reporter who also wrote a weekly travel column (and who is especially known in frequent flyer circles for ‘breaking’ the story publicly about United’s Starnet blocking, proactively programming their computers to tell customers that award seats were unavailable on their partners when those partners were actually offering seats, so that Mileage Plus wouldn’t have to pay for the awards), has a new book out, Decoding Air Travel. I read an early draft and I’m reading through it now, it looks to be really excellent so far and offers some of the most extensive step-by-step tutorials I’ve seen on identify the lowest airfares and constructing itineraries to get those fares and also find and secure confirmable upgrades. I plan to post a full review once I’m through, which should…
Hilton’s 3rd Quarter Promo: Double Points or Miles
Via Fly Gracefully, Hilton’s third quarter promotion is out: double points or miles from July 1 through September 30. You have to sign up for which one you want to earn, and once you choose you canoot change your mind. And of course if you choose double miles you need to have your profile set to earn either points and fixed miles or points and variable miles — if you are set to earn points and points then choosing to earn points and double miles with this bonus won’t get you anything. Here’s the (rather extensive) list of non-participating properties. This isn’t a particularly exciting promo, not something that’s going to encourage me to make incremental stays with Hilton and not even likely to be a promotion that encourages me to choose a Hilton over…
Crony Capitalism and Super Elite Status for Politicians
Via FrequentFlying, Delta has been giving out elite status to favored politicians: the Governor of Georgia gets comped Diamond status and the Lieutenant Governor, state House Speaker and state Senate President all get Platinum Medallion status. Programs routinely comp status to special friends, whether program partners or influentials that they wish to ingratiate themselves with. There’s less of this with Members of Congress where ethics rules tend to be stricter and scrutiny greater (though the 2007 “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007” carves out specific exceptions to allow Senators to play golf for free). Still, while explicit gifts are rare treatment for politicians is still better than for others — members of Congress created their own legislative deal to score free close-in parking at National Airport and when US Airways was struggling financially…
35% Off at W Hotels Store
The W Hotel Store is offering 35% off everything with promo code WSTAR35. These discounts are frequently used to buy W hotel beds, the best option in my opinion is the plush top mattress with feather bed rather than the more expensive pillow top (which tends not to last as long). The price of these mattresses went up about 10% back in May of last year, so this isn’t as good a deal as when I bought my own W Hotels bed four years ago, and then using a 40% off code which I’ve only seen one time since then in March of this year. I am still happy with my purchase, by the way. Expiration date on the offer is unknown, if you’re interested you may want to make the purchase now. (Via Dan’s…
500 Free Air Canada Aeroplan Points
Fresh off yesterday’s post with 100 free Aeroplan points, through June 30th Fairmont Presidents Club is offering 500 free Aeroplan points for signing up for their program, though they’ll give the points to existing members too. Here’s the skinny via Milepoint.com member lovetofly. No stay required. Member must enroll with Enrollment Code PASHN or update profile with Promotion Code PASSION and opt-in for communications by June 30, 2011. The 500 bonus miles will only be rewarded if you opt-in to receive communications from Fairmont President’s Club.
Why I Was Unfair to Starwood Preferred Guest
Yesterday I outlined what I think is wrong with Starwood Preferred Guest: they overpromise and underdeliver on elite benefits (a Platinum without an upgrade at a hotel without club lounge basically gets nothing for their stay) and there aren’t really exceptional points values for redemption at Starwood’s many truly top properties. I believe these criticisms are fair. And I also find that Hyatt Gold Passport has become more rewarding than Starwood Preferred Guest, though I’m frustrated by Gold Passport’s withdrawal of property-specific “G bonuses” which meant several thousand extra points per stay. Supposedly the removal of these bonuses was due to the manual process to post them and how often members were frustrated in following up to get them. But just eliminating the bonuses doesn’t satisfy members more, Hyatt has said that something will be…
What’s Wrong with Starwood Preferred Guest?
I posted that Starwood was ending their status match program with only a window of several hours left to request a match, and Ben over at One Mile at a Time did just that. He’s been sampling Starwood Preferred Guest, and offers his first impressions. Roughly speaking I agree with them: that Starwood often overpromises and under delivers (upgrades are subject to availability at checkin and there’s little transparency or consistency across hotels in how that benefit turns out in practice), and that at hotels without club lounge facilities there’s not a huge benefit to top tier status when you aren’t upgraded (there’s no breakfast benefit outside of the lounge, all you get is free internet and 500 bonus points for being Platinum rather than Gold). Starwood was an absolute pioneer, they were the first…
100 Free Aeroplan Miles
Registering at HomeHardware.ca earns 100 free Aeroplan points. (Via Rewards Canada and The Points Guy)
Excellent Advice on Credit Card Mileage Earning, Redemption, and Special Perks
Wendy Perrin’s Conde Nast column this month is all about credit cards. While it draws heavily on my advice, Wendy does a great job of making really complex topics accessible and useful to large numbers of travelers. She begins talking signup bonuses, it’s one of the few times I’ve seen credit card churning discussed in a major publication, so there’s something fun about that. Plus I managed to convince Wendy (and by extension, Wendy’s husband) to sign up for American AAdvantage credit cards from Citi, three cards at 75,000 bonus miles apiece, and for British Airways Visas at 100,000 miles apiece. The main article lays out some basic tips. Don’t overlook hotel credit cards. Wendy mentions at the top of the piece that she uses a Starwood Amex for its flexibility for hotel stays and…
