Last week The Points Guy took Singapore’s all-business class service from Newark to Singapore and wrote about the travel products he took along with him on the world’s largest flight. Inspired by Brian, and sitting on board a much more pedestrian American AIrliens Pheonix – Chicago run powered by Gogo Inflight internet, I thought I’d share the contains of my laptop bag. Verizon MiFi. I create my own wireless hotspot, and the speeds are pretty good. 5 gigs of data are included in my plan each month and then I buy additional gigs at $10 each. It’s not for streaming movies, but it does the job with email and websurfing and covers me for uploading photos I want to include on the blog. Kensington Empower Adapter. Sadly too many aircraft still use the cigarette style…
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Another Reason Not to Check Your Bags
200 thefts from checked bags. A day. Just at one airport. Think twice before you check your luggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport… All Rita Lamberg has left is an empty jewelry drawer and pictures of the $160,000 worth of watches, rings and necklaces that were stolen from her baggage at JFK Airport. “I am so sick. This is a lifetime, a lifetime of my savings,” Lamberg said. But Lamberg isn’t alone. Law enforcement sources told Kramer that thefts at the airport have increased at a staggering and alarming rate. There are now more that 200 a day — and that’s every day. Baggage handlers, jetway workers and even security people are all in on the ongoing scam to steal you blind. “The belly of the airplane has become like a flea market for…
Getting Starwood Gold Status Without Meeting the Stay Requirements
Several readers, including Delta Points, emailed me this morning about an offer for free Starwood Gold status after one stay in the Asia Pacific region paid for with a World Mastercard. (The full list of participating properties is here.) As New Girl in the Air observes, if you aren’t already a Starwood Preferred Guest gold member and since you have through March 31 of next year to use this promotion, it’s worth registering just on the if-come. Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status basically gets you: 50% bonus on points earned on-property 4pm late checkout, guaranteed, although subject to availability at resort and conference properties Avoid the worst room in the house (they call it an upgrade to a better room in the same category, I suggest you more or less avoid the room over the…
Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male
Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home We caught a cab from…
50% Bonus on Transferring Hotel Points to US Airways
US Airways is offering a 50% bonus on points transferred in from hotel programs through March 31. Miles have to actually post to your US Airways account with a transfer date by March 31, and the 50% bonus is supposed to take 6-8 weeks to post. The obvious way to leverage this is with Starwood points, 20,000 points normally yield 25,000 miles but with this offer would yield 37,500 miles. 65,000 Starpoints would get you 120,000 miles — enough for a first class award from the US to North Asia (as far as Hong Kong. Or business class to Singapore, such as on the Newark – Singapore non-stop on Singapore Airlines. Participating hotel programs are Best Western, Choice, Hilton, Starwood, Club Carlson, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Wyndham, and La Quinta. Update: Ben notes that the…
Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Eating in Singapore
Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home Some folks see Singapore as…
Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore
Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home Singapore is one of the…
Up to 40% Bonus on Purchased Alaska Airlines Miles
Via NotiFlyer, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is offering up to a 40% bonus on purchased or gifted miles through April 15. Buy or gift up to 19,000 miles and receive a 20 percent bonus. Buy 20,000 – 29,000 miles and receive a 30 percent bonus Buy 30,000 – 40,000 miles and receive a 40 percent bonus The full 40% bonus brings your cost down from 2.75 cents plus tax per mile down to 2 cents per mile. Not worth stocking up for its own sake, but strategically useful, e.g. to top off towards a Cathay Pacific first class award to South Africa via Hong Kong (i.e. “the long way”) for 140,000 miles. Alaska is also a great opportunity for Qantas awards — Qantas opens its schedule about 355 days out from travel. Partner American Airlines…
The Wall Street Journal’s Strategies for Getting the Most of Your Miles (are Wrong)
Scott McCartney offers a lot of bad advice in the Wall Street Journal about the value of miles and what to expect from them. Seth does a good job pointing out the flaws. McCartney looks only at the websites of the airlines whose miles he’s trying to use (the Delta website is broken, the US Airways website doesn’t offer partner award options at all), the routes he’s searching with the miles he’s using aren’t really generalizable to mileage programs as a whole, and the conclusions he draws about the value of miles are erroneous (you shouldn’t just expect a penny a point in value from them). However, through my award booking service I have come across a large number of folks who approach things just the way that Scott does and that’s why they come…
American Will Start Adding Fuel Surcharges to Iberia Awards Beginning March 1
JonNYC at TravelingBetter.com posted that effective March 1, American AAdvantage will begin adding (modest) fuel surcharges to awards booked on their oneworld partner Iberia. The YQ fuel surcharge amount is based on the market and varies from 7.50 Euros up to 30 Euros. Fuel surcharges are often $400+ so the amounts here aren’t bad, but it is a worry to see a US airline mileage program extending the practice of hitting members with fuel surcharges on ‘free’ frequent flyer award tickets. Two weeks ago I wrote an extensive explanation of fuel surcharges added to award tickets. Basically, programs outside of North America have charged them for awhile (though SAS EuroBonus actually stopped the practice a couple of years ago). Aeroplan was charging them only on Air Canada flights until a few months back, and now…
