Apparently the TSA has been testing software which will display a generic person instead of your naked body when going through a nude-o-scope. (HT: legalalien on Milepoint.) The idea is to display hidden items under clothing but instead of against an image of your naked body, against a generic naked body drawing that will tell the TSA where to look in secondary screening. They’ll be rolling out the software “in the comming months” to millimeter wave machines, but not yet to backscatter machines. My guess is that this will satisfy many privacy advocates, it’s a brilliant PR move, but does little to address the underlying problems of the TSA — its wasteful inability to do things that actually promote security — all the while making us used to submitting to inspections by the state as…
Reduction in Benefits Coming for the Continental Presidential Plus Mastercard
In a big week for credit card changes, United has announced details of what will become of the Continental Presidential Plus Mastercard, the high-end card that includes lounge access, no foreign currency transaction fees, and on which spending counts towards elite status. This week we already learned that the combined United-Continental frequent flyer program will have expiring miles and that last seat availability for standard (additional miles) awards would be restricted to elites and credit card holders, plus that cardholders who are elites would be eligible for complimentary upgrades on domestic coach awards. Now we know more details on the high-end card product, which incorporates all the benefits of the United Explorer Visa (aka Continental Onepass Plus Mastercard) and includes additional benefits. As expected, the Continental Presidential Plus Mastercard will continue substantially in its present…
Tequila Happy Hour Thursdays in Delta Lounges and Lifestyle Co-Branding
Via Points, Miles, & Martinis, Delta is offering tequila happy hours on Thursdays from 5pm – 7pm in several of their clubs: Atlanta (Concourse A center 2nd level, T6, B25, & C37) New York-JFK (T2 & T3 gate 11) New York-LGA (Concourse near gate 2) Detroit (Terminal across from gate A38) Boston Miami Los Angeles* * Los Angeles tequila hours: Thursdays 7-9pm. Here’s the promo video: What’s interesting isn’t free drinks in a departure lounge. And I suppose pushing happy hour during the key “end of business travel work week” time block makes perfect sense. It’s more that it represents the re-introduction of lifestyle co-branding to airline lounges. I used to see quite often product sample giveaways, mostly circa 2002 and 2003 although certainly I still pick up my McCormick & Schmick $20 off coupons…
Cash Back for Liking American Express on Facebook
Via Carol, if you ‘like’ the American Express Facebook page then you can take advantage of their “Link, Like, Love” promotion: link any Amex card and then you can register for a bunch of different offers including receiving a $40 statement credit for $100 Sheraton spend on the card by the end of August and a separate $40 statement credit for $100 Westin spend by the end of August. There are a few others that may be useful depending on your interest, $5 back on $20 spend at Whole Foods or maybe there’s some non-zero chance of spending $25 at Outback Steakhouse by August 18. I do see $15 off $50 at 1-800-Flowers, presumably you could do a $50 order with full mileage earning through one of the shopping portals, and all that Amex sees…
Big Changes to United Mileage Plus Revealed By New Credit Card Launch
Yesterday I uncovered details on the new United Explorer credit card from Chase, a bit before they had intended to launch it, and divined some details on the future of the Mileage Plus program from the card’s terms and conditions. One of the interesting things was that holding the card would prevent miles in your account from expiring due to inactivity (I guess this would be useful to people who keep the card and never use it, pay the $95 annual fee for the card, and never earn or redeem miles in their account, there can’t be that many of those people). That was a giveaway that in the combined United-Continental program, miles would expire. United has had 18 month mileage expiration. Continental hasn’t expired miles. I fully expected that this would be the approach…
Earn US Airways Miles for the Amazon Purchases You’ll Make Anyway
Yesterday Hawaiian Airlines sent out an email announcing that you could now earn Hawaiian Miles through their shopping portal for making Amazon purchases, two miles per dollar spent. This created a bit of an online stir because most folks didn’t realize that you could earn miles for Amazon purchases, while most online merchants have some sort of rewards affiliation — be it through the various loyalty program affiliate malls or through cash back sites like Big Crumbs and Ebates (I usually still use EV Reward to identify who is offering the most lucrative cash back or mileage rewards deal for a given purchase) — Amazon hasn’t really needed to pay out referral commissions which these sites kick back a portion of to consumers. JohnDeere19 posted yesterday on Milepoint that Amazon purchases actually earn one mile…
Juicy Details on the New United Credit Card, and What it Says About the Future of Mileage Plus
United’s New “Explorer” Visa was supposed to be embargoed until tomorrow but they’ve already got the application page up. Current offer is 25,000 miles with first purchase, 5000 miles for adding an authorized cardholder, and then 10,000 miles after $25,000 in spend each year. First year fee is waived. Personally I wouldn’t jump on the offer just yet, I’ll hold out for something more lucrative. Especially since the headline 40,000 mile signup bonus isn’t really a 40,000 mile bonus.. The card comes with priority boarding (after elites but before general boarding, but since United stuck with zone boarding presumably this means boarding with Premiers but after Premier Executives and higher) and first checked bag free. It also comes with 2 club passes annually, like the Continental Mastercard did. But the annual fee (waived the first…
$150 for a Tumi Carryon
Via Lucky, Bloomingdales.com has the Tumi Voyageur Avignon 20″ carryon for ~ $150 (~ $179 + $13 in shipping + taxes – $50 with promo code SURVEY). Though I don’t know whether the promo code will mitigate miles earned through a shopping portal, Continental offers 3 miles per dollar through their shopping portal, and through tomorrow Continental Mastercard holders still receive double miles for such purchases. Of course, hurry anyway if interested, I don’t expect this deal to last. The bag actually does retail for $495. I don’t have an opinion as to its quality, but it’s as cheap as I’ve ever seen a Tumi carryon. Personally I think that Tumi has slipped a great deal over the past 5+ years, and it isn’t worth the full retail price, it commands it based on past…
American Introduces High-End Mastercard with Lounge Access, Help Towards Elite Status
American AAdvantage broke the news on Milepoint this morning that they’re launching a new high-end credit card through Citibank, the Citi Executive AAdvantage Mastercard. Key card elements are: Admirals Club Membership No Foreign Currency Transaction Fees 10,000 elite qualifying miles each year after $40,000 in spend Double miles on spend with American And then for elite members of the program, priority check-in and boarding and waived first checked bag fee. For the most part, these are benefits that their competitors offer through at least some of their card products. United, Continental, and Delta all offer cards that bundle lounge access. All of their major domestic competitors have cards which offer progress towards elite status based on spend. And it’s fairly standard across both airline and hotel programs to bonus spend with the bo-branded partner. It’s…
Did the Carmaggedon Cyclists Really Outrace a JetBlue Flight?
Tyler Cowen points to one of many news stories reporting that a group of cyclists “raced” the promotional JetBlue flight between Long Beach and Burbank and won. In the great tradition of the land of reality television, Los Angeles created its own. First came a clever marketing ploy from JetBlue Airways: $4 flights Saturday between Burbank and Long Beach airports. A flurry of Twitter activity ensued, followed by tough talk from the Wolfpack Hustle, a local cycling club, that six of its best riders could beat the 150-seat Airbus A320 — including drive time to and from the airports, check-in and security screening. In the end, the cyclists crushed it, cruising along the Los Angeles River to reach the final destination, the lighthouse in Shoreline Aquatic Park, in 1 hour and 34 minutes. The plane…
