Regular readers know that I’m a fan of high-end meet and greet services at airports, while I don’t often pay for VIP assistance I think it’s a great option in certain circumstances, and I certainly love it when it’s included as part of my first class award redemptions (like the car to the plane from the Lufthansa first class terminal, and the escorts in Bangkok from Thai Airways). Frequent Business Traveler says that there’s a new meet and greet service available at Paris Charles de Gaulle starting at 200 euros. That’s a bit more than American charges for their Five Star service, but this is Europe after all. For a fee of €200, an Air France representative will provide an escort for departures, arrivals, and connections at the airport. Flying Blue members will receive 400…
Update on My Travel Technology Re-think
Last month I sought reader input into some new technology choices I wanted to make – a new camera, smartphone, and laptop. Since I much appreciated all of the advice, I thought I’d share an update on what I decided to do. It’s slightly old technology but I went with the tried and true Canon s95. There were mixed reviews of the pricier s100 and I’ve always liked the photos I’ve seen taken with the s95. So far I’ve been happy using it, I’ve taken better, richer photos and the auto mode works great. I know nothing about photography, just point and shoot, and this was the right size, quality, and price. I’m fully migrated over to my new Lenovo u300s. It’s a little “boxy” and not nearly as sexy as some of the other…
Improved Diamond Recognition at Hyatt 48 Lex, and Continued Excellent Recognition at Andaz 5th Avenue
Back in December I stayed at the new Hyatt 48 Lex in New York, it’s a pretty good new hotel and an excellent award redemption value as a Gold Passport category 4 (15,000 points per night vs. 22,000 at the Andaz hotels and Grand Hyatt). The only downside was the elite treatment, I felt like they really didn’t want me there, an intrusion in the restaurant where breakfast was very strictly defined and internet was limited to a single device, using two devices would incur extra charges. Points, Miles, and Martinis visited and reported back that they’ve addressed their deficiencies. Instead of being limited to a single (the least expensive) breakfast item and having to choose coffee or juice, the hotel now gives Diamond members a $25 hotel gift card (two registered guests would mean…
36 Avios Per Dollar at Nordstrom
Via Lucky, the British Airways shopping portal is offering 12 points per dollar at Nordstrom and there’s a promotion which will triple your first purchase of $50 or more, yielding 36 points per dollar. I’m no longer a fan of the Avios program to be sure, as a general matter. But there are some really good targeted uses, such as the uber-cheap short haul non-stop flights on American (which also won’t incur fuel surcharges since paid fares don’t) and also the non-stop US flights from the US to London where availability is really good in business class and first class on BA and for a pretty good product despite the fuel surcharges that will apply. Avios doesn’t thrill me, but if Chase were to bring back a mega credit card signup promotion I’d certainly find…
Korean Airlines Business Class Award Space Now Easier to Find (and How You Can Book It)
As reported on Milepoint, searching and booking business class award space on Korean Airlines just got easier. Delta Skymiles partners with Korean, it’s always been a bit of a pain because you cannot search for Korean Airlines award space on the Delta website and you cannot use the Korean website either unless you have enough Skypass miles in your Korean account to actually complete the booking. That means you’ve been pretty much at the mercy of Delta Skymiles agents, and with all of the different booking classes and blackout dates and probably more importantly variability in agent quality (Delta agents frequently don’t even know who their partners are, let alone how to book partner award seats, or even that you’re allowed to on a route that Delta also serves) that can be a real challenge.…
Singapore Airlines Premium Cabin Awards May Get Easier to Obtain
Singapore Airlines premium cabin seats are tough to get on points. One common request I get in my award booking service is for Singapore Airlines flights. There’s a certain allure to flying Singapore. I often feel like the airline is overrated. There’s a mystique to it, their onboard product is good and I very much enjoy the style of service (although others find them to be a bit too fawning). But I also like Cathay Pacific’s first class product quite a bit, and that of several other carriers, at least as much. They just don’t have quite the same branding. The problem is that Singapore Airlines premium cabin awards have been almost impossible to get. It used to be that it was easy to get a single seat in Singapore Airlines First class, they would…
Best Miles for Flowers Offers as Valentine’s Approaches
Here are the offers that jump out at me as being especially worth considering: FTD offering 30 American Airlines miles per dollar, plus 300 additional miles for Citi Advantage credit card holders, for flower purchased. For those with a hankering for United miles, FTD is also promoting 30 Mileage Plus miles per dollar for Valentine’s Day. And FTD’s offer of 30 United miles per dollar plus 150 miles per order appears to still be working as well. Through February 14, Teleflora will give 25 US Airways miles per dollar. 1-800-Flowers has a 40 Delta mile per dollar offer with promo code 52DE.
Common Misconceptions about Starwood Program Changes
The changes are good for almost all elites. Golds are all better off, they just get a new benefit (choice of welcome amenity) with nothing taken away. Free internet is the most valuable choice, but someone who is expensing internet may take a $15 welcome drink or if they don’t drink they might take the points. Platinums who stay 50 nights or more get to choose which nights they want priority for upgrades, and even which rooms they’re willing to use their upgrade priority for. Platinums all now get the choice of Continental breakfast (but they don’t get breakfast and the points amenity or the local amenity, and SPG is working with properties to refresh their local amenities). Platinums who stay 75 nights earn a 100% points bonus instead of 50% for their in-hotel spend,…
Help Make a New Frequent Flyer Documentary Possible
I spoke for awhile with Gabriel Leigh in Los Angeles last weekend. Gabriel produces a short documentary in 2009 about the quest for miles and points. He’s now working on a feature length documentary, and he’s looking for support for the project. Kickstarter allows you to raise funds for a project, people make commitments but the project’s driver only gets the funds if they raise the goal which will allow them to make the project happen. If they fall short they get nothing, everyone keeps their money. Over the weekend I knew that Gabriel was close, but the final deadline is Friday morning. So I planned to post here, hoping that I could make a contribution and that some of my readers might as well, and push him over the top — it would be…
25% Bonus on Transfers from American Express to Air France KLM Flying Blue
Via Deals We Like: During the entire month of February 2012, you will receive a 25% bonus when you transfer your Amex Membership Reward points to the AirFrance-KLM Flying Blue program. Typically, points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, but for this limited time you’ll receive 1,2500 Flying Blue miles for every 1,000 Membership Reward points. Flying Blue adds fuel surcharges to awards which can make them expensive out of pocket, you’re certainly not going to want to redeem coach awards through this program as you’ll still be out of pocket much fo the cost of a paid fare. But they allow one-way awards, their website is pretty good for award booking, their award chart can be favorable in some cases (promo awards can offer transatlantic business class for as low as 50,000 miles roundtrip). Check…
