I’m just back from Malaysia where I added a few days to the front end of the Thanksgiving holiday. Outbound was in Cathay Pacific first class, return in Korean Airlines first class. I stayed at the Grand Hyatt and at the Intercontinental in Kuala Lumpur, suites in each, and at Starwood’s The Andaman in Langkawi in a seaview suite. The bulk of the room nights were on points, the transpacific flights were on points, and I thought I’d share my observations from booking to enjoyment of the trip. I write occasional trip reports for several reasons. They’re a great opportunity to share how I put my mileage hobby into practice. Plenty of readers have told me that one of the most useful things that I do is write about my thinking processes — how I…
35% Bonus on American Express Points Transfers to Virgin Atlantic Starts Tomorrow
Starting tomorrow and through December 29, the U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 35% bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic. The bonus offer should show up at membershiprewards.com/virginatlantic by sometime mid-morning on November 27th. While it’s a good opportunity to top off an existing Virgin Atlantic account that already has a decent mileage stash (I have a bunch of points from signing up for Bank of America’s Virgin Atlantic American Express about six months ago, and I usually credit my one-day Avis rentals to Virgin for the 1000 miles per rental), it’s not necessarily a great deal otherwise. Not only does Virgin Atlantic add fuel surcharges onto its award tickets, e.g. a San Francisco – London business class roundtrip will currently add $896 in fuel surcharges in addition to already hefty taxes…
Are Business Travelers Stupid?
Christopher Elliott hit bottom last week with his article suggesting that advocates of frequent flyer programs should be arrested. And now he keeps digging even further with an article provocatively titled, “Are Business Travelers Stupid?” Mr. Elliott is an intelligent man, and he isn’t wrong about everything. So I have to imagine that in even writing this post, I’m getting played. Because he can’t actually believe the things he’s been writing over at LinkedIn since becoming one of their ‘thought leaders’, can he? He begins his post, Don’t lean back your airline seat. Opt out of the TSA scanners. Cut up your frequent flier card. I actually agree with the first two of his three propositions. It’s just that he spends the most amount of time — and the greatest hyperbole — on the last…
We Should Allow Singapore Airlines to Operate Flights to Sarasota!
Clifford Winston, who knows as much about the US air transport system as anyone in the country, had an op-ed last week in the New York Times arguing that foreign airlines should be allowed to operate routes in the U.S. They should. But the benefits Winston claims are far exaggerated. If there are underserved routes that could be operated profitably by new airlines, why does he think that incumbent airlines aren’t flying them? In fact he focuses on routes that have been losing service, cutbacks that have been made precisely because existing airlines found it unprofitable to operate those routes. It may well be that when the US market gets opened up to competition, that a lot of foreign investment floods the market in spite of the likelihood of losing money. US consumers would benefit…
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 26, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: The Flight Deal Blog has great coverage of super-cheap South America airfares on TAM such as San Francisco – Santiago for $474 and Miami-Buenos Aires for $350. Head for Points outlines changes to the Air Berlin transatlantic schedule. One of the very best uses of British Airways Avios points are redemptions on oneworld partner Air Berlin, since those flights don’t incur fuel surcharges (thus saving hundreds of dollars on transatlantic award tickets). Very Good Points offers good advice for dealing with medications while traveling. @jamucsb points to a story of extreme couponing turning violent.
Reflections on Starting a Small Business in Miles and Points
Back in July I spoke at Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit on a panel about Chris’ new book the $100 Startup. What I didn’t realize is that the panel was taped and the session is available on Vimeo. This isn’t a miles and points talk, rather I spoke along with several other folks who were case studies in the book about starting up a business on your own without capital, about the challenges of making it work. In my own case I was a bit different than the others on the panel, since my startup award booking service is a part-time endeavor, I didn’t quit my job — a great approach for the more conservative types out there, pursue your passions on top of your employment rather than taking the risks of plunging into it…
Don’t Miss the Very Best Deals
Make sure you’re kept up to date, many of the best opportunities are short-lived. You can follow me on Twitter Or friend me on Facebook There’s also an RSS feed for this blog, so you can subscribe via your favorite blog reader. And you can have each day’s content emailed to you overnight, just enter your email address in the box on the left hand side of the page. Never miss out on a deal or advice on getting the most for your miles! And however you’re reading the blog, I just appreciate it that you do, many folks have stuck with me now for the full ten years I’ve been writing about travel, points, and upgrades.. and that’s incredibly humbling.
Earning Miles from Flowers (at a Lower Cost Than You Thought Possible)
Do you cherish Doggie Howser, M.D. as much as I do, but think he’s just too expensive? Fortunately jfhscott reminds me about a 1-800-Flowers discount that still allows earning miles: Skyselect sells $50 gift cards to 1-800-Flowers for $29. The current offer runs through November 27 but these sales are run consistently (so another should likely be along shortly after this one is done). You can only use one card per transaction (account login required). But this amounts to a $21 discount on 1-800-Flowers purchases. And here’s the kicker: If the base price of an order before shipping is less than $50, miles don’t seem to be awarded, but if the base price is over $50 then miles seem to be awarded on the full cost of the order (not on the amount over the…
How to Find The Very Best Specialists to Guide You Through Your Travel
The December issue of Conde’ Nast Traveler carries their annual list of the world’s top travel specialists. Online travel agencies have revolutionized the way that travel is booked, certainly something is lost in the process but for the median airline ticket it’s overkill to pay a human to do things for you. For higher end trips, for complicated trips, for experiences there’s little that can replace an expert with local knowledge, contacts, and an understanding of how to deliver more than a mass product. And several individuals are recognized in the magazine for their ability to consistently deliver on those things for clients. I’ve been honored to be selected for the list for the work I do as part of my award booking service, for the third year in a row. Wendy Perrin curates the…
Earn Miles for FedEx Shipments
The ‘other Gary,’ this one of Free Frequent Flyer Miles, does a great job of updating his site with the latest frequent flyer offers by category — whether it’s miles for checking accounts, cell phones, shopping, or other activities. He updated the site today with a note that US Airways has an offer of miles with first Fedex shipment from a new account. So I checked out the rest of his ste and found FedEx offers from four airlines: Kinko’s and FedEx: Earn 500 American Airlines miles for your first order of $100 or more using File, Print FedEx Kinko’s, which seems to be a system designed for businesses for printing stuff in bulk. Details. FedEx offers 1 Hawaiian Airlines mile/$1 spent plus some discounts for shipping with them. FedEx offers 250 miles U.S. Airways miles for your first shipment, and 1 mile/$1 spent on eligible FedEx shipments.…
