Back in June I was given mid-tier elite status by Turkish Airlines, Gold in their Miles & Smiles program, as a result of my british midland Gold status. The bmi program was winding down as a result of the airline being acquired by British Airways, and Turkish was making a play to acquire their customers. What that meant to me is that I would continue to have lounge access with United and US Airways whenever flying either airline, even domestically. Because “Star Alliance Gold”-level frequent flyers with non-U.S. frequent flyer programs are entitled to that access. (Of course I already get US Airways lounge access from my American Express Platinum card. So for me this was about free United access.) Here’s what’s interesting, though. It wasn’t just a limited-time offer to pick up British Midland’s…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 5, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: The subscription-based ExpertFlyer.com website now lets you search award availability across the full Star Alliance. There’s not really information here that isn’t available for free on websites like United.com and Aeroplan. But ExpertFlyer lets you set up email alerts so that you are notified when the award space you want opens up, which is huge. (I outlined Expertflyer and its benefits back in June.) Hilton’s 4th quarter promotion is out and available for registration: 1000 bonus points per night for every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday night you stay between November 1 and December 31. So everything is bonused except for Tuesday and Wednesday nights, though 1000 points is a pretty modest offer (worth about $5 in my view). There’s also a pretty extensive list (.pdf) of…
500 Free Hilton HHonors Points for Syncing with TopGuest
Turning the mic to Frugal Asian Man: Hilton DoubleTree is running a special promotion with Topguest where if you sync your Hilton HHonors number on their page at http://doubletree.topguest.com, you will receive 500 Hilton HHonors points for free. This offer is available to only the first 40,000 Hilton HHonors users who sync. From my understanding, you do not need to be a member/user of Topguest to use this promo. However, it does seem that if you have had your Topguest account suspended before (and you had synced your Hilton HHonors #), you will not be able to participate in this promotion.
Swiss Cancelling Myanmar First Class Mistake Fare Tickets
Last week I posted about a fare from Yangon, Myanmar to Eastern Canada … less than $600 for international three-cabin first class. The example of the fare that I gave was flying to Tokyo then Zurich then New York and on to Montreal, with Tokyo – Zurich – New York in Swiss First Class. The fare went viral, my post began a thread at Flyertalk (it was already being discussed on Milepoint). The morning after I posted this, I got an email from an executive at Swiss… May we ask you please where you received this information on behalf of SWISS from? A full week later, Swiss is cancelling folks who are flying that airline under the fare and whose tickets were issued as Swiss tickets (first 3 numbers of the tickets are “724”). Subject:…
I Used to Love this Joke When I Was in High School (Unsurprisingly, Spirit Airlines Edition)
Apparently the winner of last night’s debates wasn’t Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. It was… Spirit Airlines. They’ve been “winning the debate between high fares and low fares for years.” They are… Here’s their entire thirteen year old boy marketing copy (emphasis mine): We’ve been winning the debate between high fares and low fares for years – you could even say we are master debaters in this area. You see, high fares really rub us the wrong way, so we continue to fight to lower your fares every day. So stop getting jerked around, and enjoy these fares from only $29.80* when you travel from October 11, 2012 through November 15, 2012. All flights must be booked by 11:59 PM ET on October 5, 2012. Hurry, these fares are limited in availability! This was a…
Did Hilton HHonors Steal My Snack? Website Shows Elite Benefit Reductions for Diamonds
Hilton HHonors Diamond benefits are showing up differently on the Hilton website. Now, it’s possible that somehow old or mistaken text was used when the whole Hilton website recently got a refresh. In fact, the benefits page is different than what I see when I log into my account and go under preferences to hotel benefits — I still see many of the old offerings. So there’s a conflict on the website. But the wording on the Diamond benefits page isn’t just the old language. There is at least one change that appears in both places. So at least something appears to have really changed. And it doesn’t help that Hilton’s history is to make changes without trumpeting them or otherwise giving notice, in fact in June Jeff Diskin who runs the program told me…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 4, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Wendy Perrin shares my comparison and contrast of the Chase Sapphire Preferred and JP Morgan Select cards. Delta Points offers an April Fools’ post in October. Jay Leno included Spirit and American in his monologue last night. New Girl in the Air: Miles for furniture? When I first got into this game, you could earn miles for giving blood.. Frequent Miler explains earning miles at campus Barnes & Noble bookstores with American Express prepaid cards. Too much of a hassle, even for him.
Reminder: Win a Free Trip on Star MegaDO 4
Through October 7 you can enter here on this blog for a chance to win a seat on the Star Mega DO 4 charter flight, with hotel nights and cash for expenses thrown in. Other BoardingArea blogs are also giving away a chance to win as well, you can enter once at each blog. (Thanks to Live from a Lounge for compiling this list.) DealsWeLike Delta Points Flying With Fish Frequent Miler Ghetto IFE Hack My Trip Just Another Points Traveller Live from a Lounge Loyalty Traveler Marshal Jackson on Travel Miles From Blighty Mommy Points New Girl in the Air One Mile at a Time Pearls of Travel Wisdom Point Me to the Plane Points Miles & Martinis Rapid Travel Chai Road Warriorrette The Sceptical Traveler Unroadwarrior Wandering Aramean Good luck!
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Still the Best All-Around Most Rewarding Credit Card
Key Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred There are three key value propositions for a credit card. Signup bonus (how much will they give you upfront for getting the card) How value is the earning for your ongoing spend (do you actually want to put spending on the card once you’ve earned the bonus) Benefits of having the card And the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is top of wallet for the first two of those criteria — one of the very best signup bonuses, 40,000 points after $3000 in spending within 3 months, and that’s an exceptionally good offer because their points are among the two best currencies of any loyalty program, and double points earning in that most valuable of programs on all travel and dining spending, Visa acceptance, and no foreign currency transaction fees. The…
View from the Wing Goes Political Again! (For a Chance at a Free JetBlue International Flight)
JetBlue has a new offer, “Live Free or Fly!” where they will give you a chance for a free international ticket if your preferred candidate for President loses. That way, you can “mak[e] good on an Election Protection promise: the chance..to freely leave the country (and return home!) if [you] need a break because [your] candidate doesn’t win.” You register your preferred candidate and destination in advance, and then: JetBlue will give away 1,006 roundtrip certificates to participants whose candidate lost. Tickets are good for roundtrip travel from any airport JetBlue services to 21 international, nonstop destinations including Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Turks & Caicos. And of course they promote their LiveTV offering (but not internet yet…) by saying you can…
