This was posted by baseline on Flyertalk about 7 hours ago, but it’s buried in a non-obvious place so there are no replies yet as of this posting seven and a half hours later. But it was emailed to me this morning.. (thanks for that!) Seems to work from 4/28-5/1. Good for pickup and dropoff at JFK or a pickup at JFK and dropoff at another location. I tried some Manhattan dropoffs and they worked just fine. Stackable with coupons too. Economy thru Fullsize rates are dirt cheap. Click here to get a rate of $7.91 *total* for a Thu-Sun rental of a compact car. You can play with the dates and dropoff location to suit your needs. Hopefully some folks will get use out of it before it disappears! UPDATE: Also seem to work…
Aeroplan Guts their Award Chart for High-End Premium Cabin Trips
Aeroplan has just released a new award chart which will go into effect July 15 and it hurts. On the whole, the changes to pricing of Air Canada awards aren’t terrible, nothing goes down but awards like coach to Hawaii goes from 40,000 to 45,000 (business is harsher, 60,000 up to 80,000). Business to nearer Europe goes from 85,000 to 90,000. Business to the Middle East and to Australia go from 115,000 to 135,000. Plenty more increases but on the whole all of that scale. Aeroplan claims that “[t]he adjustments represent an average increase of less than 5 per cent in the number of miles per reward for all ClassicFlight (Air Canada) and Star Alliance flight rewards.” Rewards Canada echos that changes in Star Alliance flight prices are mostly “to bring these rewards in line…
Starwood One Free Resort Night for Every Three Stays Between May 1 and July 31
Every three stays at any Starwood property between May 1 and July 31 will earn a free night redeemable at any Starwood resort with standard rooms which is in categories 1 through 6, plus the St. Regis Punta Mita which is category 7. One of my real Starwood pet peeves is that ‘all suite’ hotels, though not including Sheraton Suites properties oddly enough, cost double points to redeem. Even though they draw their high room rates which justify their category assignment by virtue of the room types they offer in the first place, so members get penalized twice when it comes to redemption — the higher points price because it’s an expensive hotel, and then double the points because the rooms are all suites, which is why it is so expensive in the first place.…
Cab Driver Kickbacks to Hotel Doormen Receive Scrutiny
Barbara DeLollis reports on a new Santa Monica, California law outlawing hotel doormen from enforcing kickbacks from cab drivers. Apparently the ‘cut’ is about 10% and is referred to as a ‘cookie’. My suspicion is that cab drivers pay because regulated taxi fares in many cities are set above market clearing prices. Or at least because on average pickups of passengers from hotels reduce waiting times, so they are more lucrative at the regulated fare (since fares cannot legally vary by location of pickup in most jurisdictions) than trolling for rides. So it’s worth it to them to do so. Hotels tacitly condone the practice because they see the cab drivers as compensating their doormen, so they pay those employees less. Further, the kickback schemes kelp retain employees, it takes time to cultivate illicit kickbacks…
On Bringing the Road Back Home, Instead of Making the Road Feel Like Home
Some hotel chains try to recreate stay experiences to make their guests feel as much at home as possible. But many regular guests feel more at home in a hotel than they do when they’re not on the road. I know I’ve certainly brought the hotel feel home, and I enjoy experiencing new things from design elements to foods and even glassware. The bathrooms in the condo I own and now rent out was designed to feel like several of the modern hotel bathrooms I’ve seen, my wife found the perfect glass vanities with bowl sinks, the shower tiles we like, and shower systems that we’ve liked the best. When I was staying at W hotels more frequently I started using Bliss products at home, though I’m now less enamored (most recently preferring L’Occitane). And…
Two Great Miles for Flowers Offers
The Continental mileage mall is offering 25 miles per dollar plus 100 miles per order for shopping at 1-800-Flowers.com through May 10 (with promo code CNT67. If you have a Continental Mastercard (even if you don’t pay for the purchase with a Continental Mastercard) you earn double points on shopping through the Continental portal. That makes this offer 50 miles per dollar plus 200 miles. Meanwhile, FTD.com is offering 30 American Airlines miles per dollar. Sadly shipping charges don’t earn miles. Now, these lucrative mileage offers should tell you something. The markup on these flowers is ginormous. But it’s sure easy and convenient to send flowers this way, and if you have any business gifts to give you’re really giving something to a client or prospect and to yourself. Hah! These offers aren’t as good…
Should I Transfer My American Express Points to Continental Before Their Partnership Ends?
One of the questions I’ve been frequently asked lately is whether or not someone with American Express Membership Rewards points should transfer their points to Continental before the partnership ends September 30. I’ve been averaging at least 2-3 emails a week asking what to do. And it’s actually a riff on a larger question which is, “what should I do with my American Express points?” because folks seem to have a natural urge to transfer them somewhere. I’ve just answered a similar question on Milepoint, so I thought I’d share it here as well. Here’s my reply: Definitely not ‘now’ — you have through September 30 to transfer to Continetnal. So might as well wait at least that long to see what needs you have in the meantime, or what other bonuses come up. For…
1000 Free US Airways Miles Just for Asking
A week ago US Airways emailed a large number of the members to say that they were being given 1000 free miles. The subject of the email was “They’re waiting in your account!” Miles make you smile… …And they get you where you want to be We know you love award travel…and we love seeing you happy! So, we added 1,000 bonus miles to your account.* We hope these miles get you a little closer to your next award trip. Keep flying and using Dividend Miles partners and you’ll be on your way in no time! Only they weren’t waiting in my account. Or just about anyone else’s. And at the end of the week they sent a follow up email titled “Oops!” Earlier this week, we inadvertently delivered an email message to many of…
1000 Free American Airlines Miles for Registering for their Shopping Portal
Via the Points Guy if you aren’t already registered with the American AAdvantage eShopping portal you can earn 1000 miles if you sign up by May 13, accept their emails, and watch a short video. I am, sadly, already registered for the site so won’t benefit from this. But if you aren’t it’s a great easy 1000 miles.
Come Meet Jeff Robertson, Head of the Delta Skymiles Program, April 29 in New York
I’ve previously shared the details of the Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit. The heads of the American AAdvantage, United Mileage Plus, and Hyatt Gold Passport programs have been slated to be there for a lunch, where Randy offers comments on 30 years of frequent flyer programs and these leaders add their own insights. A great opportunity to meet the people who run the programs (and if it were me, I’d be thinking, get their cards and figure out how to follow up with theirs assistants whenever my miles fail to post – hah!). Well, the news today is that Jeff Robertson is now joining them as well. Here are my past posts on Jeff Robertson, who has always struck me as a candid guy. He may not always say things that I like, but when…
