Lufthansa’s Miami-Frankfurt flight has been annoucned to go Airbus A380 beginning June 10. I’m a bit surprised, actually. While there’s surprisingly little transatlantic service out of Miami, that’s also presumably because it isn’t a market with the loads to handle an A380. But perhaps if Lufthansa was otherwise considering a second flight this is more economical. Whenever a new A380 flight is annoucned, the first thing I think is “award seats!” Several airlines restrict premium cabin award redemption on their Airbus A380 aircraft. Singapore doesn’t make the seats available to partners (intentionally) at all, and to their own members they don’t even allow double points redemptions into “suites class” in fact I have seen their offers go as high as nearly 1 million points roundtrip. Lufthansa restricts A380 first class awards to Miles & More…
Chase Ends Foreign Currency Transaction Fees on Another Credit Card
Effective immediately, Chase no longer adds foreign currency transaction fees to charges made on the Marriott Rewards Premier card ($65 annual fee waived the first year; annual free night certificate (up to category 4 on account approval, up to category 5 each year); 15 nights towards elite status and another status night for every $3000 in spend; 30,000 bonus points with first purchase). This card adds to the stable of no foreign currency transaction fee offerings from Chase: Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 fee waived the first year, points transferable to several programs) Continental Airlines Presidential Plus Card (the expensive one that comes with lounge access) British Airways Visa Signature Card (1.25 BA miles per dollar and a free companion award ticket after $30k spend) Chase Priority Club Select Visa Card (good signup bonuses, not great…
Club Carlson Stay Two Get One Free
Via Milepoint, the launch of Club Carlson as the replacement for Goldpoints plus (the current loyalty program for the Radisson family of hotels) happens on March 31 and will bring with it a free night promo. Two stays between April 15 and June 15 will earn a free night to use by December 31, 2011. These are often a great opportunity for a couple of cheap one night stays, and redemption at a high-end property. But we don’t yet know whether the number of free nights you can earn will be capped (at one?) or not. Registration will be required and the link won’t actually work until tomorrow, March 31.
3000 Virgin Miles Per (Even One Day) Hilton Stay
My usual double dip partner with Hilton is british midland, at 1000 points per night up to 3000 points per stay. Great for those cheap Hilton Garden Inn stays in small towns, for sure. On shorter says, the best current value though is double dipping with Virgin Atlantc. (HT: Loyalty Traveler) Registration is required to earn 3000 Virgin miles per stay from April 1 through June 30. A cheap one-night stay will earn 3000 miles (in addition to some Hilton HHonors points). In order to earn the flat 3000 miles per stay, you need to select your “earning preference” as points and fixed miles. The offer is actually for triple miles regardless of earning preference and brand, which means that Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn stays earn 600 miles instead of the usual 200. And…
Priority Club Relaunch: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing
Last week I blogged about upcoming changes to the Priority Club program. Business Traveler was reporting at the time on the introduction of an option to buy airline flights directly with points. Now Loyalty Traveler summarizes the press packet on upcoming changes that have now been announced . Bottom-line is that there really isn’t much here. Last Minute Reward Nights. Like airline e-savers of old, Priority Club is going to send out emails at the beginning of the week with a list of hotels where you can redeem your points at half off for the following weekend. Points & Cash for Merchandise Rewards. As if it wasn’t already a bad idea to redeem your points for toasters ‘n such, now you can do so with a combination of cash and points. “Lucky Points” Sweepstakes. You…
Free Marriott Silver Status
The free Marriott Gold status offers are all expired, so it’s worth noting that The Points Guy flags an offer for free Marriott Silver status, being offered to members of LAN’s frequent flyer program.
This Post Violates the Terms and Conditions!
Malcolm Coles points to absurd website terms and conditions, including one hotel and airline that actually forbids you to link to them. RyanAir’s website terms and conditions (.pdf) says: You may not establish and/or operate links to this website without the prior written consent of Ryanair Coles’ rejoinder? “They probably charge you if you do.” Radisson Edwardian hotels says [Y]ou agree not to link your web site or any other third party web site to our web site without our express prior written consent. We reserve the right to disable links from any third party sites to our website Yes, they actually say they have the right to disable your links! A team of hackers in the basement of one of their properties, ready to pounce! Maybe it’s all just guerilla marketing reverse psychology? In…
Expedia’s Rewards Program Launches, and Reveals its Redemption Chart
I covered Expedia’s new rewards program when it launched in beta at the end of January. And then I complained that they were sending out bonus offers without telling you how much the points you’d be earning were worth! Now that Expedia has publicly launched the program, they’ve made public their award chart. Redemptions of points for flights is coming. But in the meantime you can redeem points for coupons good towards the payment of pre-tax cost of Expedia’s “Special Rate” hotels. Here’s the reward chart and the dollar value of each redemption option: Points Hotel Coupon Value Per Point 3,500 25 0.007 6,000 50 0.008 10,000 100 0.010 14,000 150 0.011 …
Return to the Andaz 5th Avenue, Andaz Suite with Balcony
Back in December I wrote an extensive post on the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York. Bottom-line is that there were a few things that could be improved, but that I thought it was likely to become my default property in Manhattan. I spent the weekend there, this time in a suite. I had a Gold Passport Diamond suite upgrade that needed to be applied to a stay by February 28. I paid one night of the stay (always worth considering if you qualify for status based on stays rather than nights, plus when there’s a decent promotion based on stays it can be advisable as well though the new Hyatt promo which is based on nights doesn’t begin until April 1) and redeemed for the other night. The suite upgrade would technically apply only…
Would You Blow Off Dinner With Friends for Denied Boarding Compensation?
Lucky is taking some heat over on his One Mile at a Time blog for planning to meet some folks for dinner taking a bump instead, blowing off plans and friends for $400 in vouchers. Now, in fairness to Ben he actually thought he’d wind up making the dinner, maybe 15 minutes late. Because of another flight delay and some additional flight changes, he wound up with a second voluntary denied boarding. (Read the whole story, he was very creative and had a great strategy — worth learning from.) I used to take bumps all the time years ago, I haven’t taken any in a really long time, I’m almost always wanting to get where I’m going with enough commitments on the other end and downline consequences for missing a flight, that the compensation rarely…
