I’ve never paid much attention to my ‘stats’ – I look at site traffic maybe once a month. I’ve been at this for many years, and have always written more for myself and if I can help others along that way that’s great but I don’t really write to get readers I write what I think is interesting and hopefully others will find those things interesting as well. But I was trading emails about traffic with Million Mile Secrets, mostly exposing my ignorance about such things. And that lead me to look up my technocrati ranking. I haven’t much paid attention to the methodology, my sense is it happens to do with what other blogs are linking to you especially those blogs that are themselves considered influential based on links to them. And lo and…
Arthur Frommer Is an Idiot
This just makes me shrill, I want to jump out of my (free upgraded) first class seat and throttle this travel industry icon: I am a non-user of frequent flier miles. I stand firmly on her side — the debater who thought that there was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. It was just too much trouble to add up these points and then get a flight that you need. Of course he’s likely offered enough free travel for being Arthur Frommer that he doesn’t need to invest in paying attention in order to ‘add up these points’ (nevermind that plenty of online services like AwardWallet and MileageManager do it for you). (Via scflier on Milepoint, via @GlobeTrotScott)
Links for the Morning of August 15, 2011
2515 Free American Airlines miles: “post a job requiring a licensed, bonded, and insured baby sitter for 6+ badly behaved kids which offers only $6 an hour.” September 11 Changed Everything About Air Travel.. and not for the better. How you can construct your own airfare by looking at the airline tariffs and inventory buckets Do Flight Attendants Really Hate Their Passengers? – Chris Elliot manages to write this piece without once dropping the word ‘union.’ Impressive feat.
Another E-Shopping Mistake Offer from Verizon, 2300 Miles for a $4.96 Charger
The ongoing saga of the AAdvantage e-shopping mall glitch offering 83,000 miles for any Verizon purchase is winding down, or so it seems — to date the deal isn’t being honored, but those who got in on it will receive 2500 miles for their trouble and another 2500 miles if they make another purchase of any kind from the AAdvantage e-shopping mall within a month. At least that is the email that some folks have gotten, others like me so far have heard nothing. Meanwhile, The Points Guy points to another e-shopping offer from Verizon, this time 2300 Delta miles for the purchase of a $4.96 charger. That’s a great deal, and of course there’s no limit to the number of chargers you can buy. The Points Guy thinks this one is not a mistake.…
Online Travel Review Clears Up the Confusion on Current Amex Bonus Offers
At least this resonates as being generally about right: You can sign up for the Amex Gold Premier Rewards Card (here) and you’ll receive 15,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after $1,000 in spend. After you apply and are accepted, you can wait 24-48 hours until the card is in the system then you can call them and ask them to apply promo code 6661 to your account. That will bump your bonus up from 15k points to 75k points. There is some misinformation out there about using this code to add authorized users to your account. Ignore that. The authorized users bonus (10k per authorized user) is apparently expired. Code 6661 will get you the 75k points with $1,000 in spend, no other users necessary. You can then call back or secure message them and…
Option to Transfer from American AAdvantage to Hilton HHonors Ending
Yesterday morning I read on Milepoint that the option to transfer points from American to Hilton HHonors was being pulled. This was apparently actually uncovered by Flyertalk’s Community Director, SanDiego1K. With the introduction of the ability to use American Airlines miles directly to book hotels, cars, and vacation packages (not usually a great deal), they view transferring points to hotel chains as extraneous. It isn’t, because Hilton points generally go farther especially at the higher end properties than using American’s pay with points option. So this will be disappointing for many. Still, I’ve never considered it a particularly good use of American miles, at least for folks who can accumulate sufficient miles for high-value international airline rewards. But it’s a way to top off a Hilton account, and when you’re booking the truly top HHonors…
Hotel Chains Begin Rolling Out Their Fall Bonus Promotions
Loyalty Traveler does his usual thorough job detailing the Priority Club Fall promotion: 500 bonus points per night through December 31, and that doubles, triples, or quadruples if you stay in 2, 3, or 4 different Priority Club brands during the promotion period. Maximum earn is 80,000 points, and you can also earn 100 miles in your favorite airline program per night which doubles, triples, or quadruples up to 20,000 miles. Registration required. Deals We Like details the fall Marriott MegaBonus. Marriott targets different offers to different members, though elite members can usually call and ask to switch if they don’t like what they’re offered. As with the current bonus ending August 31, one option is stay 2 get a free night, capped at 2 nights and not valid for redemption beyond category 4 (which…
Help Some Travelers Win 1 Million SAS Points
Milepoint member HansGolden emails for help for some folks that are (as of his email) just 538 votes away from 1 million SAS EuroBonus points. I was wondering if you’ve seen that I’m giving away a free 25K-level ticket in the US in exchange for checking out and voting for some videos by some buddies of mine in an SAS contest? If they get enough votes (538 more people), they’ll get 1 million SAS miles. They’re already the team in the lead, so votes won’t change the outcome, but there’s a big diff between 300K miles and 1 million miles. It’s an opportunity to help out community members and also get a chance to win something. Some of the videos are quite good as well (my faves are Takeoff, Helicopter, and Alarm Clock). Randy Peterson entered and enjoyed…
What United Used to Consider a Loyal Customer
The rumored changes to United Mileage Plus for next year very much would make the program more transactional in nature, rather than focused on loyalty. I’ve argued that the best (most effective and profitable) programs shift member wallet-share, rather than rewarding high spend. And I’ve contended that a program which rewards the highest spend on a given flight, rather than the most valuable customers overall, undermines loyalty over the long term. We need to shout from the rooftops, I am not my rate or my fare! A customer is the same person every time they board one of your planes or check into one of your hotels. We’re either valued or we’re not, loyal or we’re not. Setting a minimum spend for benefits defines what you see as loyal, though I grate at punishing people…
Mileage Plus 2012 Change Rumors: Fallacies, Fantasies, and Fact
One Mile at a Time writes a followup post to yesterday’s rumors about the face of the new United-Continental Mileage Plus program. United all but confirmed that the gist of what’s been leaked is correct when they issued a denial. As we’ve said, the details are coming in the fall – specifically, we’re aiming for the end of next month. In the meantime, there will be rumors — like what’s been posted here — that unfortunately contain some inaccurate information. “Some inaccurate information.” Indeed. Not false, incorrect, mistaken, grossly speculative even. Just some of what’s been speculated isn’t quite right, but we won’t tell you what. So if you haven’t seen the direction that at least some of Mileage Plus’ thinking seems to be going in, it’s worth reading up. In Ben’s follow up, he…
