Back in November I recommended Chris Guillebeau’s $49 frequent flyer guide e-book. It’s not for the battle-tested two million miler that upgrades all their flights already, books international premium class award tickets for breakfast, or who figured out all on their own that buying stickers from US Airways back in December could fund their international first class aspirations for the rest of their life. No, it’s an excellent introduction for someone coming at this from the beginning, maybe the kind of person reading this blog (admittedly written more of the time for experts than for novices) for the first time perhaps via a Google search, or someone who travels a lot and knows there’s more out there but is overwhelmed by all of the information. Chris’ book is a good start on miles and points…
BMI’s Diamond Club to Close Next Year
The Global Traveller lays out the plan to close bmi’s Diamond club. Back in April, the bmi website said the program was ending and members being migrated over to Lufthansa’s Miles and More program. That turned out to be a bit premature, the notice was only intended for residents of specific countries where bmi had ceased service. But since Lufthansa controls the carrier it was only a matter of time before they migrated its frequent flyers away from the more (too?) generous Diamond Club program and over to their own offering. According to Kiwi’s post, Lufthansa says the 2012 accounts will reflect the full effect of Diamond Club closure. This means Diamond Club will be closed by around 30 June 2011. Other aspects of integration refer to a country by country approach, and this may…
The Best Ways to Cure Jetlag
I’ve never found a magic cure for jetlag. I really don’t suffer too badly going to or returning from Europe. If I take an overnight flight I just have to force myself to stay up, a short name mid-afternoon is fine but I can’t let myself go to sleep otherwise. The key of course is to adopt the local time as quickly as possible. Coming home from Europe I’m just tired early, and that can last a couple of days, but I’m otherwise fully functional. Similarly coming home from Asia is no big deal, I love making it back mid-day rather than late at night or else I’ll suffer for 24 hours. But my real challenge is going to Asia. I show up and though I may be tired at night I will wake up…
How to Make Your Vacations Bring You Happiness
Back in February I reported on research that planning vacations generated the greatest amount of happiness, much more so than being on vacation and that the happiness effect from vacation wore off quickly upon returning to real life. Via Marginal Revolution comes more research on what kinds of vacations make us happiest. For example, how long we take off probably counts for less than we think, and in the aggregate, taking more short trips leaves us happier than taking a few long ones. We’re often happier planning a trip than actually taking it. And interrupting a vacation — far from being a nuisance — can make us enjoy it more. How a trip ends matters more than how it begins, who you’re with matters as much as where you go, and if you want to…
US Airways Twitter Deals this Week, Deep Discounts but for Very Limited Departure Cities and Travel Dates
@USAirways is offering deep discounted fares this week. They don’t offer Twitter deals as frequently as United, this is something new for them. And they’re not especially flexible. At least with United one can leave from various cities usually and there’s flexibility in travel dates. With US Airways departure city and travel dates are limited. Still, they’re worth watching for especially if you live in a US Airways hub city. Yesterday’s offer was Philadelphia-Oslo. This morning’s deal is $79 each way plus tax for roundtrip Charlotte – Rio. •Depart from Charlotte between September 21 and 23, 2010. •Return from Rio between September 27 and 29, 2010. •Hurry – there are only 30 seats each way! If this helps you, great! If not, follow @USAirways on Twitter and hopefully their deals later in the week will…
Double Delta Miles for Amex Spend if You Redeem an Award
I took awhile thinking about whether to post this, and what to say. As a result, Lucky beat me to the punch on this one. Delta is offering double miles on all credit card spend with their co-branded American Express products between July 1 and September 30 if you redeem an award of at least 10,000 miles, e.g. a 25,000 domestic coach saver award or a 10,000 mile redemption for cash and miles. (Registration required.) Double miles is always tempting, and this one doesn’t appear to be capped like most Delta Amex promotions have been in the past. But it’s still not enough to tempt me to acquire a Delta American Express or to use one. Say that I was going to put $100,000 in spend on a credit card during the promotion period. I’d…
Bring a Stopwatch on all Your Alaska Airlines Flights… I Love It!
Gary from Free Frequent Flyer Miles writes about his experience taking Alaska up on their on-time guarantee for checked bags. The Alaska Airlines offer of 2,000 miles or $20 if your luggage arrives over 20 minutes after the airplane door opens is a super deal. I snagged 4,000 miles on my recent trip between San Francisco and Spokane. I just timed it carefully, starting my timer the instant the door opened. Luggage arrived 21 and 23 minutes after that. A quick stop at the luggage office got me the certificate. No questions, no hassle. Amazingly, I was the only person from the two flights taking advantage of the offer, even there was a sign on each carousel advertising it. I may need to start checking bags when flying Alaska.
I Smell an Expensive Boondoggle — Cameras and Microphones on Planes
A European Union project is trying to develop cameras and microphones to monitor passengers on airplanes and bomb sniffing equipment to detect explosive materials in lavatories. Brussels is funding research at Reading University aimed at detecting suspicious behaviour on board aircraft. A combination of cameras, microphones, explosive sniffers and a sophisticated computer system would give a pilot early warning of any danger. But the work will alarm civil liberties campaigners who fear the growth of the surveillance state. Microphones would eavesdrop, listening out for anything which could suggest terrorist behaviour. Inside the lavatories explosives sniffers would detect if a bomb was being assembled. All this information would be analysed by computer and if it spotted something untoward, the flight deck would be told instantly. The key to the work is developing software which can spot…
British Airways First Class, London-Toronto under Strike Conditions: A Continuation of Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant
Here are the previous posts from this trip report: Prelude Desperately Making it to Toronto, Sheraton Toronto Airport Toronto – Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific First Class The Wing lounge and Hong Kong – Manila, Cathay Pacific First Class Intercontinental Manila Presidential Suite Manila – Cebu and the Hilton Cebu Resort Philippine Cooking Class Cebu – Manila and Return to the Interconinental Manila Presidential Suite Manila – Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific First Class and on to Macau via Turbojet Westin Resort Macau Fernando’s, Beijing Kitchen, and the City of Dreams Macau – Hong Kong via Turbojet and Hong Kong – London, Cathay Pacific First Class Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London Lunch at the Fat Duck Restaurant Heathrow was a ghost town when we arrived. BA might have been covering all their London City flights (such as those…
Seeking Out Online-only Discounts without Information Overload
I bang my head against the wall when I need to make a booking and find out that there was a great deal that I just barely missed out on. Travel providers often dump inventory cheap online, but there’s so much information out there that it’s often overload. I have a Twitter account, I enjoy tweeting and engaging, and following me on Twitter is one good way to keep up with this blog. But following a bunch of folks, I often don’t see many of the tweets even by folks or companies I follow. I lucked out with a summer deep discount deal from the Intercontinental Montelucia, a $99 rate that included a $25 room credit and as a Royal Ambassador member my upgrade was confirmed in advance. Sadly the property has no lounge, but…
