A long time back I posted that since the Nude-o-Scopes would only see to the first layer of skin, why not wear leather underwear? More recently some firms have been promoting undergarments that are supposed to prevent TSA Pervy Smurfs from seeing you naked. Well, we knew that wouldn’t last. The TSA says that’s not cool, and if you try it they’re going to touch you up. “Some might think this is TSA’s way of getting back at clever passengers,” the blog post continued. “That’s not the case at all. It’s just security.” So now there’s TSA-approved undergarments, and undergarments that the government doesn’t approve of. I wonder how long before we’re all required to go commando?
Earning Miles By Buying Money Orders With a Debit Card
Frugal Travel Guy writes about something of a recent Flyertalk controversy. mrpickles posted his experience successfully using a mileage-earning debit card to purchase money orders, earning miles and depositing the money orders in his account to restore his balance. This wasn’t the first time anyone had posted about this particular bank and this particular merchant, but the group of members who knew about the deal went ballistic demanding that the information be removed. They feared exposure on Flyertalk would ‘kill the deal.’ And they’re probably right. As a moderator of the forum where it was posted, MilesBuzz, I was asked by members to intervene and remove the post. Of course I wouldn’t, as the post was certainly not against the rules. The role of a moderator is not to keep information out of folks’ hands.…
American Airlines New Welcome Aboard Video
American Airlines has just released a new Welcome Aboard video. For most of the world that isn’t news. For folks who fly American every day, that’s huge. Better, worse, or just different and time for a change?
Free American Airlines Miles from Bose Post Quickly
It was just January 3 when I posted the offer of free American Airlines miles from Bose. Checked my American account balance this morning, and the miles from watching the video were already there. There’s a wonderful turnaround time posting miles, and remember if you have any American miles and want to extend their validity (since American miles expire after 18 months of account inactivity) this is a quick, easy and reliable way to do it.
Amtrak: Every 2 (or 3) Northeast Corridor Roundtrips Earns a Free Roundtrip
Amtrak is running a new promo (registration required) in the Northeast Corridor (from DC through New York and up to Boston). Every 3 roundtrips or 6 one-ways on Acela Express from January 10 through March 19 will earn a free Acela Express roundtrip. And every 2 roundtrips or 4 one-ways on Northeast Regional trains will earn a free Northeast Regional roundtrip. They’ve clamped down the ability to buy ultra-cheap segments and redeem them expensively by setting a minimum qualifying fare of $85 each way on Acela and $49 each way on regional. Free travel can be taken June 1 – August 31. And Acela award travel can’t take place before 9am or between 2pm and 6pm Monday through Friday, in other words more or less off-peak only. Not a huge bonanza, but a plus for…
Southwest’s New (Gutted) Frequent Flyer Program
It’s long been expected that Southwest would be rolling out a new frequent flyer program early in 2011. They’ve been getting fairly stingy as an airline across the board over the past year, they even started enforcing the expiration on their drink chits. I certainly expected the new program to be a gutting of the old one, and it apears to me that’s the case. Southwest introduced its new fare-based Rapid Rewards program today, moving from a credits system (based on segments flown) to a points system (based on dollars spent, with redemptions based on cost of paid airfare for the flight). Overall they align themselves more with the programs of other ‘low cost carriers’ like JetBlue and Virgin America rather than the mileage programs of major airlines. And while there’s a great deal of…
150 Free American Airlines Miles
Via MilesQuest, Bose is again offering American Airlines miles for learning more about, for testing, and for buying Bose products. It’s 150 miles for watching a video about their bluetooth headset. And as usual you don’t actually even have to watch the video. And the answer to their question is of course, “All of the above” (because they’re selling you on how awesome and feature-rich it is). You get 250 miles for going into a Bose store for a demonstration. And 400 miles if you buy the darned thing. Offer is valid through 1/17/11. When they offered something similar in October 2009 and in October 2008 the miles posted reliably.
The Willard Won’t Honor Status Benefits on Award Stays, and Why This Means the Priority Club Program Lags the Competition
A friend contacted me on the afternoon of New Years Eve after checking into the Willard in DC. They’re a Royal Ambassador member of Intercontinental Hotels, and that means they’re entitled to an upgrade ‘to an Executive Room or suite’. I’ve always received great upgrades in the past at the Willard, it’s usually automatic for a Royal Ambassador to be given a corner suite that’s basically two full rooms (with two bathrooms). Only once I was only given a “Willard Room,” an oval shaped room looking out at the monuments that amounts to a junior suite with a spectacular view but not a true suite. My friend was told that because they had used points for the stay that they wouldn’t receive any upgrade. They wanted to know from me if that was correct, or…
New Year Registration Reminders
Now that we’re into the New Year, a couple of registration reminders for promos that were announced in advance but that you have to return in order to register for:Register for Continental’s Mile-a-Thon promotion. Register for Starwood’s Great Weekends promotion.
Some Food I Can Never Go Wrong With – Katz’s Pastrami
I grew up on Long Island, and one of my favorite things in the world is a good Jewish-style Delicatessan. Sadly, while there are a few outside of New York worth eating at in a pinch (and some of the better ones in Los Angeles certainly have their partisans), the best deli food can be especially hard to find in my travels. There’s certainly not any worth mentioning in my home town of DC. So when I head to New York I almost invariably have to seek out my favorite Pastrami, which comes from Katz’s on the Lower East Side. More often than not I’m busy, and have any number of restaurant meals booked and obligated, and so I’ll find the only chance to head over there being on the way out of town. No…
