Here’s this morning’s roundup of frequent flyer news you can use, should use, or might merely be passingly interested in knowing: Hertz is waiving under 25 year old driver fees through September 30 with coupon (PC #) 144314. The Hertz website says that the charge may still appear on your reservation but will be deducted at time of rental. Avianca, TACA, and Copa join the Star Alliance today giving Star much better coverage in South America. The best bet with Delta miles is Aeromexico, Star has gotten much better now and clearly makes United and US Airways miles a better choice than Delta miles. But American miles are still king for South America travel given American’s own award availability and that of oneworld partner LAN. Oneworld is expected to be strengthened at the expense of…
British Airways Visa 100,000 Point Signup Bonus Expires July 18
Key link: British Airways Visa: up to 100,000 point signup bonus The most lucrative credit card bonus this year was supposed to expire June 7 but was extended. Word is now out from British Airways representatives in New York that the offer will last until July 18. There was some hope of course that this was the ‘new normal’, that we could get this bonus any time we wished. Now we have the announced end date, four weeks away. The offer is: 50,000 points after first purchase 25,000 points after spending $10,000 on the card within a year 25,000 additional points after spending the next $10,000 on the card within that year There’s a $95 annual fee, spending earns 1.25 points per dollar, and the card has no foreign currency transaction fees. After $30,000, they…
Bits ‘n Pieces for June 19, 2012
This morning’s roundup: Just Another Points Traveler flags 100 free American Airlines miles on Facebook with a chance to win 100,000. Loyalty Traveler reports that Starwood Preferred Guest will now give elite stay credit for up to three rooms in a night, if the member is present and pays for all three. So book rooms for your family, you not only get the points but also elite credit. Even if they’re award nights, since awards now count towards status. And if you’re mattress running at a nearby hotel on a cheap rate, book (3) concurrent stays for triple the credit. Joe knows that I’m considering the Samsung Galaxy SIII phone that debuts in the U.S. in a couple of days, and emails to let me know that in addition to whatever rebates my purchase comes…
Join the Live Chat with the President of American’s Frequent Flyer Program – Tonight!
Milepoint.com is hosting a live online chat with Suzanne Rubin, the President of the American AAdvantage frequent flyer program, tonight. The chat will be held at: 6pm Pacific 7pm Mountain 8pm Central 9pm Eastern You can pre-submit questions in this Milepoint thread or ask them live during tonight’s chat.
Thank You British Airways! The American Airlines JFK Flagship Lounge
American Airlines first class lounges are called “Flagship Lounges.” There are currently four Flagship lounges, in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and London. There used to be one in Miami, renovations closed it and they never brought it back. It’s always struck me odd that they don’t have one in Dallas. American is seriously revamping and improving its business class product (though the rollout will take awhile), and in the process is removing first class from much of its fleet over the next few years. Eventually only their Boeing 777-300 aircraft will offer three cabins in international service. So I don’t expect an expansion of the Flagship Lounge product. Currently in order to access a Flagship Lounge, you need to: Be flying first class on an American Airlines or oneworld international flight in first class…
The National Association of Railroad Passengers Responds to Yesterday’s Post
I received an email from Amtrak yesterday introducing me to an ‘advocacy organization’ that was ‘involved in launching Amtrak’ and telling me that if I paid to become a member of this advocacy organization I could have a discount on future train travel. It struck me as problematic that an entity 100% owned by the government would give discounts to people paying to support lobbying for more subsidies of its product. And ask whether others felt the same way. The comments mostly strayed from that topic, turning into a good-versus-bad of Amtrak or subsidies generally, a worthwhile topic but one I had hoped would be for another day. I took the train up to New York on Friday. The train was on time. The on-board internet was virtually non-existent. It was fine. Though of course…
If You Support Government Subsidies for Amtrak, You Can Pay Less to Ride the Train
I received an email this morning offering bonus points and a 10% discount on train travel when you join the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Now, the National Association of Railroad Passengers is an advocacy organization founded to lobby for train subsidies. And Amtrak is owned by the federal government. Whatever you think of government funding for train travel in the United States, is it problematic that a government corporation will give people discounts if they pay to join an organization that will lobby the government for more subsidies? Put another way, Americans who pay to support more subsidies get charged less to travel on subsidized trains than those who oppose the subsidies. Two classes of citizens, based on political beliefs, when riding the train? What do you think?
Eating Around Lower Manhattan
I usually prefer to be in Midtown, but I found myself staying in the Financial District over the weekend. And there’s plenty to eat in Lower Manhattan. First stop of the day for lunch was Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle, on the outskirts of Chinatown. They don’t speak much (any?) English. There’s no air conditioning. If you want a soda you take it from the refrigerator sitting outside. Soup is about $5, a dozen dumplings ~ $3. They’ll sell you 50 frozen dumplings for $8.50. Cash only. Somehow Michael Bloomberg allows them to remain open (perhaps because the refrigerator has only 16 ounce cans of soda?), despite a “B” rating from the health department, is anyone’s guess. This is not a pretty restaurant. No water or tea if you do not ask. But outstanding soup, I…
Confusing Room Types, Breakfast, and Room Service at an Otherwise Nice Andaz Wall Street
I spent the weekend up in New York and stayed at the Andaz Wall Street. I was looking for New York hotel prices in the middle of the week and found a great rate at the Wall Street property. It’s usually quite reasonable on weekends, since the primary function of the hotel is for business travelers wanting to stay in the financial district. Although it remains surprisingly busy on the weeknds, there were apparently 3 wedding parties at the hotel while I was there. It’s just that most of the area isn’t especially vibrant once the business week ends. “Andaz suite” rooms were pricing the same as base-level rooms, and the weekend rate was especially low, so I booked it In fact, I made a couple of bookings. By the time I completed that, and…
TSA PreCheck is Both Amazing and Useless at the Same Time
As the TSA rolls out PreCheck to more and more airports I’m enjoying the opportunity to use it — shoes don’t have to come off, freedom baggie doesn’t have to come out (though liquid rules apply, and this isn’t a huge benefit since I’ve only been given a hard time about my liquids bag in my carryon on average about once a year for the past three years). Mostly, though, there’s no nude-o-scope (and thus no opting out) and there aren’t that many people in the program yet. Usually there’s no line at all, just a bunch of TSA employees standing around by an unused checkpoint waiting for me to come through. It’s a far more civilized checkpoint experience than what we’ve grown accustomed to over the past decade. It’s almost like… security used to…
