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…
Be Careful How You Phone Home During Your Addis Ababa Stopover
Ever since Ethiopian Airlines joined the Star Alliance in December, there’s been great business class award availability to members of United and US Airways frequent flyer programs on Ethiopian’s direct service from Washington Dulles (via Rome) to Addis Ababa, with easy connections from there to the rest of Africa (it serves more destinations in Africa than any other carrier). The government-owned airline ferries plenty more Americans to Ethiopia for stopovers at a minimum than they did before joining the alliance. But Americans may not be aware that they’d better be careful how they call home– since the government there has banned Skype and other voice over internet services, according to al Jazeera. The penalty is up to 15 years of jail time for users. Prime Minister Meles Zenaw says the move is meant to ensure…
Philadelphia TSA Agents Fired for Bribery and Falsifying Results on Proficiency Exams
15% of the Ft. Myers airport TSA workforce were disciplined for failing to actually do screenings they were supposed to perform. Only five were actually fired. Now the TSA is now firing 7 Philadelphia employees involved in a bribery scandal where a supervisor demanded money for passing grades on an annual proficiency exam. TSA management at the Philadelphia airport removed 10 employees from security duties in November pending results of an investigation of bribery by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General. So it took them 7 months to actually decide to fire these individuals. Instead of, you know, just firing them. That’s not how it works at my place of employment… I certainly wouldn’t be paid for seven months ‘pending results of an investigation’ of my paying bribes to have my proficiency results…
Air Canada Offers Status Matches to bmi Elites
This month I’ve shared my experience getting Turkish Airlines to match my british midland Gold status and also getting Aegean to do the same. My bmi Gold status was valid through December, but no longer a member of the Star Alliance it was not going to be useful to me — no more Star Alliance redemptions, no more cash and points redemptions on partners (there are fewer and fewer bmi flights and I don’t need to redeem on those), no more lounge access for domestic United flying. Here’s what I get out of Turkish: Turkish status lasts two years and they give you two years to re-qualify. Since I do not live in Turkey, the rules are 25,000 Status Miles in year one or 37,500 Status Miles in two years to requalify, and they will…
Introducing the Must-Have Karl Marx Mastercard
And you thought the Chase Sapphire Preferred card made a statement.. I’ve written extensively about the three different types of cards you want — those with the best signup bonuses, those that are best to put spending on (other than meeting minimum spend for signup bonuses), and those that are best for the benefits (that you don’t want to put spend on). But it turns out I’m missing a category of card. Some get their alma maters. Or their favorite charity. They get to affiliate with a cause and express themselves, and their alma mater may get a cut of the interchange fee. Reuters reports on a new card that those with access to East German credit cards may want to consider: the Karl Marx Mastercard from Sparkasse bank in Chemnitz in Eastern Germany. Some…
Three Great One Mile at a Time Posts
Ben was on a tear yesterday: You can book flights on Iberia using Iberia miles without paying fuel surcharges. If your Iberia and British Airways accounts have been open at least three months, you can move your British Airways points over to Iberia and redeem from that account to save on fees. American Express Membership Rewards points also transfer to Iberia, so it’s a way to use Amex points fuel surcharge-free on Iberia travel. The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa is available with 70,000 points after first purchase and fee waived the first year. That’s enough points for two nights at the lowest category Ritz property. The real benefit of the card is upgrades to club level three times a year, Gold status in their loyalty program (which has modest benefits), a $200 airline fee credit similar…
500 Free Delta Miles
Join Le Club Accorhotels with this promotion link by August 31, select Delta Skymiles as your preferred loyalty program in your membership profile, and enter your Skymiles account number. This offer is open to existing Le Club Accorhotels members as well, just use the offer link and change your preferred loyalty program to Delta and give them your account number. Update: the offer should still be valid but appears to be returning an error at this time.
50% Off Sale on the Park Hyatt Maldives
I reviewed the Park Hyatt Maldives extensively after my trip there in February. It was a phenomenal resort, in the middle of nowhere (with the good and bad that comes from that), and at the time I considered it to be one of the very best uses of hotel points. It’s a top reward category 6 property in the Hyatt Gold Passport program, 22,000 points per night, and that gets you a villa that frequently runs $1000 per night. Rates aren’t always that high, villas can often be had in the $750 range. And the property itself isn’t an inexpensive place to be — roundtrip air/boat transfers from the Male airport run ~ $400 per person. Food is expensive (though breakfast is included for all guests). Excursions are very high priced. But the points open…