I’m a liar. I tell customer service agents the same lie, every time I call to make an award booking. But I do it for their benefit, to make them feel at ease. What’s more it saves them time, which I imagine helps their performance ratings. So I feel like I’m doing it for a good reason. But I’m still a liar. Here’s what I’m talking about: before I ever call an airline to try to book an award, I do my research. I figure out what exact award seats should be available, I find the seats and precise routing that I want. And then I call to ask for those seats. But that makes agents a bit uncomfortable, for one of several reasons. (1) You know more infomration than they do. It’s their job,…
My Progress on the Amazing US Airways Holiday Shopping Promo
As a followup to my last post on the shopping promo where you can buy miles for $0.007 apiece, I thought I’d update my miles posting progress. Gaiam, a Dividend Miles Mall member not separately listed on the promo page, posted for me this morning and was listed as “SHOPPING MALL, GAIAM” My Bose purchase posted as “SHOPPING MALL, BOSE” — although I’m a little bit concerned that this won’t count towards the promo (95% that it will, but I’m paranoid) because the promo page highlights only “1,500 bonus miles when you buy the new QC15 headphones” rather than all miles counting towards the promo. Still, since all shopping partners count, this should as well. Later in the promo I may make some extra purchases just in case. My Sears $5 gift card (free shipping)…
Delta-Singapore Partnership Ending
One Mile at a Time notes that the partnership between Delta and Singapore Airlines will end May 15. It’s been likely for awhile that this would go away. It dates back to Singpaore taking a 5% stake in Delta in 1989, divested ten years later. But the partnership continued for a decade past that. And in practice what it meant was the ability to redeem Delta miles on Singapore (and vice versa, but what Kris Flyer members would have wanted to?). Singpaore Airlines awards were the one great redemption option available with Delta Skymiles. It was the only true first class redemption available, and a good one at that. A couple of years back Delta started collecting hefty fuel surcharges on the awards, but that didn’t bother me — the ability to use Skymiles for…
The Jefferson Hotel’s Outstanding Service Recovery
Several weeks ago I stayed at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, a grand old property that I gave somewhat mixed reviews to. I had a nice suite upgrade, and the room had one of my all-time favorite bathrooms as a result of one of my absolute favorite showers ever (large shower room with three separate shower heads — two on opposite walls and one overhead). There were some real service failures and slips, though, and I concluded at the time that the hotel was much much better at service recovery than actual service. The valet dinged my car door, my room didn’t do much to keep out the noise from my neighbors above, and service in the restaurant was slow — in fact twice we were forgotten for 30 minutes at a time during the…
US Big Bonus Holiday Offer is AMAZING, Get In On This One…
The US Airways Dividend Miles holiday shopping promotion (discussed here and here) is amazing. It’s one of the best shopping promos I have ever seen. It offers the opportunity to buy miles at 7/10ths of a penny apiece using purchases from TrackItBack (which normally gives 40 miles per dollar but if you reach the 250% bonus level it earns 140 miles per dollar). There have been some concerns, though, about whether you really earn 250% as bonus miles on top of the regular miles earned for shopping, for your first ten shopping transactions as long as you have transactions with five different merchants. There have been concerns about whether all of the merchants in the US Airways Dividend Miles mall count as separate partners for qualifying towards the 250% bonus or not. Essentially, the promotion…
Brussels Airlines Joined Star Alliance Today
Brussels Airlines officially joined Star Alliance today. Why care? New to the network are more connections from Brussels Airport, which has now become a Star Alliance hub. These include four destinations in Africa which are currently not being served by other Star Alliance member carrier: Bujumbura, Burundi; Conakry, Guinea; Kigali, Ruanda and Monrovia, Liberia. In fact, I’ve already used them to make an award booking (through my premium service): two passengers in business class from the U.S. to Kigali, Rwanda, Continental from Newark to Brussels and on to Kigali on Brussels Airlines. Their return flight from Kigali makes a one-hour stop in Entebbe. Expert Flyer users, note that their award search tool is wrong as of today — if you use Expert Flyer to search award inventory, it will pull up “Z” class which used…
A Mileage Redemption Wish List for the Holidays and the New Year
The holiday season sometimes brings so much joy that all my hopes, at least for award booking, seem possible. And with a New Year, there’s an unwritten future. So I dare to dream. And I’ll share with you, my dear readers, the content of my five wishes as we close out 2009 and usher in 2010. 1. An end to United Starnet Blocking I genuinely believe that United Mileage Plus offers the best top-tier elite level. But their award redemption is truly sub-par. They block award seats that their partners are making available, something that no other Star Alliance airline does. Their award chart isn’t cheap relative to the competition, in many cases it is more expensive than say the US Airways chart or the Air Canada chart. Both of those airlines let you book…
Churning Burger King Greeting Cards for 99 Free Miles!
Lucky points to Burger King’s new promo where they will send a $1 card to someone for $1. The card lets them know you almost care. The true brilliance in the offer is keeping the dollar value so low as to make it not at all worthwhile to churn. Sadly it’s no replacement for dollar coins, Amex travelers checks, savings bonds, or prepaid debit cards. As Lucky says, you might be limited to 99 cards and might have to enter your address each time, but if you don’t value your time and are looking for all of 99 miles, this is the deal for you.
Monster Outlets-to-Go Giveaway
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the Outlets to Go power strip. I hate that hotels, older hotels in particular, never seem to have enough power outlets. And the ones they do have are completely taken up by the lamps by the bedside. Or the lamp on the desk taking up the only outlet there. And between my laptop, cell phone, iPod, and wireless router I do have power needs. I’ve even considered carrying power strips along with me when I travel, but never did. … This item is small enough for travel, though, and designed for compactness. The power cord wraps right around the small power strip and plugs into itself. The outlets are well spaced so that they’re all usable, and it has a USB plug-in as well. The only complaint everyone…
Continental Introduces New Revenue-Based Top Elite Level
In addition to the systemwide upgrade announcement, Continental also came out with the news that they’re introducing a new top tier status above Platinum, Presidential Platinum. They’ll have upgrade priority above platinums, clear their upgrades 144 hours before departure, and their reciprocal upgrade benefits on United will have them prioritized above United Premier Executives (but behind United 1Ks). Presidential Platinum members will receive a fee waiver for the Presidential Plus Mastercard that comes with lounge membership and additional bonus miles for flying. (Members outside the lower 48 and Alaska aren’t eligible, so they get 25,000 bonus miles.) Qualification is revenue-based, and the criteria is currently $30,000 in spend in a calendar year. Furthermore, Continental announced a new lifetime status benefit — 4 million flown miles nets lifetime Presidential Platinum status.
