I’m not sure if this is new but I hadn’t seen it. Every Thursday through Saturday check-in at a Sheraton will receive a $25 MasterCard prepaid card – for stays booked between May 13 and August 31, and completed by September 1. In addition you get a Coke travel cooler and two cans of Coke. The prepaid card can be earned up to three times. You have to book the Coke rate plan SISUMR and stay no more than 4 nights to be eligible. The offer is available in the US, Canada, and the Bahamas. And may not always be even close to the best rate you can get. I really hate promotions that promise extras and then simply charge for them. A search of the Sheraton Premier Tysons Corner next week shows me rates:…
The Tunnel Between United’s B and C Concourses at O’Hare
I was talking about the tunnel that connects United’s B and C concourses at Chicago O’Hare yesterday, and someone mentioned that it “felt like Disney.” Another friend scoffed, and I insisted, “No, it really does…” So I went and found the story, shared years ago by frequent flyer PremEx (whom long-time readers will remember as the man I learned more about how to approach travel from than anyone else). Most folks [love “The Tunnel”] although some repeat customers do often say it can become irritating after a while. Of course the intention was to add beauty and distraction to the otherwise boring and utilitarian nature of such a loooong underground passageway. In this I think it succeeds, but not as much as it might have. Why? Because I happen to know a bit about how…
Google Wallet Has its Limits
Amazon Payments went after paypal, and they will let you send $1000 to someone via credit card each month with no fee. Now Google Wallet has also entered the space, and they’re waiving credit card processing fees as well. Google Wallet lets you send money to someone’s gmail account. They’re still in ‘beta’ or at least I haven’t heard that they’ve come out of it, and are limiting signups. But anyone who gets sent money automatically gets to join (even if they are sent only a penny). Unlike Amazon Payments, they started off not capping you at $1000 a month fee-free for credit card transactions. Roughly speaking it seemed transactions under $1000 process instantly, larger transactions took a few days. But there has always been a limit, as reader A.A. points out to me with…
The One Person Who Drives Me More Crazy Than Anyone Else
And believe it or not, it isn’t Christopher Elliott. No, it’s Peter Greenberg. He’s famous. He’s a big deal. And almost everything he says is wrong or at least misleading. Here’s today’s column on redeeming frequent flyer miles. Every year, I tell you how the airlines are devaluing frequent-flier miles. And since they control the inventory, some airlines make it harder than others to redeem those miles for seats. A new study from IdeaWorks ranks airlines around the world based on their availability of reward seats. And guess what? The low-cost airlines fared the best. We’re talking Southwest and JetBlue in the U.S. Internationally, Air Berlin, Brazil’s GOL, and Virgin Australia ranked high. Meanwhile, US Airways and Delta tied for last place, and American Airlines was in the bottom five. The IdeaWorks study is highly…
Where Did All of the British Airways Award Seats Go?
Lucky noted a lot of recent chatter about British Airways award space drying up in the past few weeks. He says it just isn’t so — space dried up a long time before that — and I agree. I’ve even had a note to myself since December to write about “where have all the premium cabin award seats on BA gone?” Although he’s also correct that there are plenty of cities where you can still find seats. Ben notes Boston (this has always been a great place to look for transatlantic awards), Seattle (Lufthansa space from here is good too), Philadelphia (I used to see 7 award seats in first class from Philly but no longer, Houston too), Washington Dulles (used to be great for first class but now seems mostly good for business), and…
Inspector General: TSA Behavior Detection Doesn’t Work, Racially Profiles
Two years ago I wrote about the introduction of the TSA’s “sophisticated behavioral inspections” known as spot that “requires screeners to make quick reads of whether passengers pose a danger or a terror threat based on their reactions to a set of routine questions…” At the time I was very skeptical that this would do anything to enhance security: Four days of classroom instruction and 24 hours of on-the-job training. To do psychological evaluations of passengers in a matter of seconds, after three questions. ..[T]he point here is that the Israeli security model doesn’t scale. Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport processes 12 million passengers a year. Orlando handles about 33 million, and that’s not even one of the ten busiest airports in the United States. When you roll out a project that may work at…
Delta Puts the Lie to the Skyteam Alliance Value Proposition
I suggested earlier that Delta’s change to elite status mileage earning on partners undermines the idea of a global airline alliance. Beginning September 1, flying on Skyteam alliance partner Korean Air will not earn any “Medallion Qualifying Miles” at all. Which is completely contrary to the consumer-facing purpose of the alliance. It undermines what Skyteam itself markets as a primary consumer benefit. Here’s the Skyteam website‘s highlighted (with a box around it!) claim: This website claim is simply no longer true. It’s stretching the truth with Delta already, since status will require a minimum amount of spending — that partner airline tickets for travel on those partners will not count towards. But starting September 1 it will literally no longer be true since it will not be the case that joining ‘any’ Skyteam program will…
Is the Lufthansa 50,000 Mile Credit Card Offer Expiring This Month?
Noob Traveler says that the 50,000 point offer for the Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard® may be going away on June 30th. He says he received an email from Lufthansa to that effect. Barclaycard has upped their signup bonus on the Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard to 50,000 points — 20,000 after first purchase and 30,000 more after meeting minimum spend within 90 days. The card comes with a $79 annual fee, and the points are surprisingly useful (though I recommend that even if you do get the card and collect Miles & More points, that you’re 25% better off earning them via the Starwood American Express than through this card). Miles & More is a great way to get domestic premium cabin awards on United (35,000 miles roundtrip compared to…
Hyatt Introduces Points Earning, Redemption, and Elite Recognition at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas
Hyatt MGM Partnership: Hyatt Gold Passport announced this morning that it is linking up with MGM Resorts to provide reciprocal points earning and redemption (starting June 20) and reciprocal elite recognition (coming in August). Details on how each piece of this partnership will work are in various sections of this post. Hyatt Gold Passport members will be able to earn and burn at the 9 MGM Resorts in Las Vegas which participate in the MGM M life program, and Hyatt’s elite members will get elite recognition at those properties. Similarly, MGM’s M life members will earn tier credits and elite members get status recognition throughout Hyatt’s portfolio. Three MGM Vegas hotels that aren’t part of M life aren’t participating, and MGM’s properties outside of Vegas aren’t a part of the deal at this time. It…
Bits ‘n Pieces for June 5, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Rocketmiles is offering a 24 hour “double miles” bonus on hotel bookings. Using my referral link (no benefit to me) gets you double the usual signup bonus: 2000 miles with your first booking. As everyone expected when Delta acquired Northwest Airlines, they’re de-hubbing Memphis (promises not to do so notwithstanding). I give folks a hard time about flying the rapidly-devaluing airline associated with the SkyPesos frequent flyer program. And then I remember it could be worse: they could be flying Spirit. Leave a comment for a chance to win a new Briggs & Riley TORQ hard shell bag! Last day to get $35 free for new Uber on-demand car service accounts. You can buy Boeing 777 business class seats, perfect for your living room or office! You can…
