I don’t know that this is new, but I hadn’t seen it before: a way to troll for discounts on Amazon, the Amazon Discount Finder. You select the category of items and optionally specify keywords, and then select the range of percentage discounts off regular price you want. Amazon then returns search results of items that are within that range.
Access to Full Length Television Shows Online
Jan
30
2008
TravelTechTalk has free Hulu beta memberships to give away. If you missed what Hulu is all about, it’s an online video site with programming from 40 different studios. You’ll find full length programs like The Office, Family Guy, Prison Break and 30 Rock. And all the content is in great quality, none of that postage stamp sized stuff. They even have a collection of great HD clips.
Alaska Airlines Fast Track to Requalify for Last Year’s Status Level
Via Upgrade Travel Better, channeling MileMaven, Alaska Airlines is offering elites who didn’t requalify for their previous status last year a short-cut to regaining that status. Between January 15 and March 15, MVP status requires four paid flown segments and MVP Gold requires eight paid flown segments. Registration is required. Man, out on the West Coast a simple segment run like this is easy, Seattle to Portland runs are cheap, there’s a Los Angeles hub, and even flights connecting in places like Boise. It should be possible to requalify for MVP Gold on a single ticket in a single day (albeit that may not be the cheapest option) if you work at it hard enough.
The New York Times Picks Up the BoardingArea Story
The International Herald Tribune article I mentioned last night is now in the New York Times in substantially the same form, except for the mention of View from the Wing. Now I really do feel like David Hasselhoff.
Double Miles to Mexico on Delta
Jan
29
2008
Delta is offering double miles to Mexico (in coach, triple miles in business) for travel through April 15. Registration required. Eligible routes: Atlanta (ATL) Guadalajara (GDL) Atlanta (ATL) Leon (BJX) Atlanta (ATL) Queretaro (QRO) Los Angeles (LAX) Guadalajara (GDL) Los Angeles (LAX) Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (ZIH) Los Angeles (LAX) Loreto (LTO) Los Angeles (LAX) Mazatlan (MZT) New York (JFK) Mexico City (MEX)
New Round of Dining Bonuses
There’s a new set of iDine bonuses available for most programs which having miles for dining components. Ok, the company that offers these is called Rewards Network these days, but they’ll always be iDine to me. They can be thankful I don’t still call them Transmedia. United. 500 bonus miles for every $100 in spending through March 15, up to 10,000 bonus miles. Delta. 2000 bonus miles for spending $250 by March 31. Northwest. VIP Dining Status (which earns 5 miles per dollar instead of 3 for online-registered members) for spending $250 by March 31. Alaska. VIP Dining Status (which earns 5 miles per dollar instead of 3 for online-registered members) for spending $250 by March 31. American. 250 bonus miles for every dine of $25 or more through March 31. Priority Club. VIP Dining…
Getting Some Attention in Europe
(Which sorta makes me feel like David Hasselhoff.) BoardingArea and View from the Wing are mentioned in an International Herald Tribune piece on business travel blogs.
Hilton HHonors Lifts Blackout Dates and Capacity Controls on Hotel Night Award Redemptions
Hilton HHonors has announced a huge improvement to its award redemption program — no blackout dates, and from the way that I read it what they actually mean is also no capacity controls, just like Starwood if a standard room is available you can redeem for it with points. The fine print here presumably is that each hotel will likely have some flexibility in determining what constitutes a standard room, this is a problem at the occasional Starwood property as well. Hilton has long offered the ‘diamond force’ for award nights for its top tier elite members. Presumably now all members will be able to redeem award nights just about any time they wish. This is a huge move for Hilton, and I’m waiting to see how this plays out in practice. Hilton HHonors points…
1000 Miles for Joining American AAdvantage
American is now offering 1000 miles for new member signup. Become a member instantly online – then, simply visit www.aa.com/offers and enter promo code BNR08 to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles!
I Don’t Trust TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award Picks
Frequent readers of this blog likely know the general disdain in which I hold most hotel ranking lists. The various ‘best of’ compilations are usually written by people who haven’t been to the properties, and many of the lists seem influenced by advertising buys. TripAdvisor has issued its new 2008 Travelers’ Choice Awards, which represent a slightly different take… it amounts to an amalgamation of traveler opinions. And while I find TripAdvisor to be a useful site for picking up very specific comments on properties and looking for consistent themes across reviews, picking the best properties from the masses of opinions on the internet doesn’t work very well in practice. Here are just a few of the oddities which show up at a quick glance: The Signature at MGM Grand is supposedly the best luxury…
