40% off at the W Hotel Store is back using promo code WH4X5, probably valid through end of October only. This discount comes up frequently (see for instance here, here, here, here, and here). But every time it does it’s worth noting because it really is a great deal, I bought my W Hotel bed (plush top with featherbed) in March of 2007 and I’ve been happy as can be. 40% off makes the price reasonable, shipping is free and they’ll remove your old bed for free as well. And the discount applies to bedding as well, though I personally didn’t choose mine from the W Hotel Store. If you want automatic notification of the next time this deal pops up you might want to subscribe to this Flyertalk thread for updates.
US Airways Triple Dining Miles Promotion
US Airways dining for miles (aka Rewards Network aka iDine) is offering triple miles through the end of the year. Folks with an online account earn 9 miles per dollar spent instead of 3. VIP members who rate their restaurant experiences earn 30 miles per dollar. Sadly, the maximum miles earned under this bonus is just 3,000. But worth registering nonetheless.
Southwest Makes Excuses for Losses
The Southwest Airlines Blog tries to explain accounting rules and how how a $120 million quarterly loss is really a profit. Which leads us back to the original question: “Did we make a profit, or not?” The short answer is: yes, we made a profit running our airline in the third quarter. Thanks to strong revenues, relatively low costs, gains from hedges that actually settled this quarter, and lots of Employee elbow grease, we actually did pretty great (all things considered). We even beat Wall Street’s expectations! The long answer is… well, long. There are these things called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) which govern how companies report their financial results. The intent of GAAP is to help standardize and simplify financial reports. In practice, however, GAAP can get really complicated – like, tax code…
Venetian from $119
Venetian is offering $119 weekdays and $159 weekends through January (an extra $100 for a concierge level room). Similar deal is supposed to be available at Palazzo but I can’t get the relevant links to open myself.
Possible Window to Book Awards Using United Miles Without Starnet Blocking
One Mile at a Time points to a Flyertalk thread with some (possibly momentary?) good news on the evil practice of United refusing to allow Mileage Plus members to book awards that are being offered by its partners (and frequently claiming falsely that the seats are not in fact being made available by the partner). At the moment it seems that the blocking practice has let up some, at least for Lufthansa flights which normally seem to be the most heavily blocked flights for awards by United members. Reports are that intra-Europe flights are especially bookable, and some transatlantic flights too, including flights that Lufthansa had been offering but which United was previously blocking. So now is a good time to try to book awards with United miles, or to make changes to awards already…
150 Free American Miles for Watching a Bose Promo Video
Bose is offering 150 American Airlines miles for watching a short online video. There’s also another 350 miles if you to into a store and demo the QuietComfort headphones. If you buy they’re offering 4 American miles per dollar. The offer is valid through October 31 and miles are supposed to post in 6 to 8 weeks.
TSA Agent on PAID LEAVE for Stealing CNN Camera and Selling it on eBay
Via Online Travel Review, a TSA screener at Newark was caught stealing a $50,000 camera from CNN and selling it online. He’s accused of stealing at least 100 items. He had an outstanding reputation on eBay. The TSA defends itself by pointing out that only 465 officers have been terminated for theft in the past five years (“0.4 percent of those employed by the agency”). But that just underscores how hard it is to reach the point of firing bad agents — this one was busted by the FBI who won the auction and recovered the CNN’s camera at the guy’s house, and yet the TSA employee is on paid leave.
United Mileage Plus Dining VIP Fast Track Offer
Rewards Network used to be called iDine, and Transmedia before that. It’ll always be iDine to me. They co-brand with lots of different loyalty programs. In the old days the standard earning rate for an airline was 10 miles per dollar spent, but then they cut that to 1 mile per dollar unless you had signed up for an online account and took their emails in which case the earn rate was 3 miles per dollar. Nice for meals you’re going to eat anyway, but not enough to really re-direct my dining. Fortunately ‘VIP members’ still earn 10 miles per dollar spent (5 miles per dollar plus another 5 for rating the restaurant). But you have to get to VIP status for that to happen. Fortunately right now the United iDine partnership is offering a…
2500 Priority Club Points for $25 AT&T Cell Phone with $25 Airtime Credit Included
A couple of months ago Flyertalk member AndyAndy reported that the offer of 2500 Priority Club points for an AT&T Wireless purchase could be used for a refurbished Nokia 2610s which runs $25 and includes a $25 airtime card. Now, I wouldn’t spend $25 for 2500 Priority Club points unless my only use for those points was PointBreaks (where 5000 points can be redeemed for a free night), then it’s worthwhile. Otherwise I value Priority Club points at around 2/3rds of a cent apiece. However, since you can sell the phone on eBay even without the airtime for close to the purchase price, for those willing to go through the machinations this could be a great deal to generate more or less free points and free airtime. (Some will use different sim cards with the…
Alaska Airlines IT Challenges Prevent Them From Devaluing Miles… For 18 Days
The previously announced devaluation of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles set to take place on November 1 has been delayed until November 19th due to technical issues. So two and a half weeks more to redeem at the old rates.
