Wandering Aramean shares the story of Feng Zhenghu, a Chinese citizen who is living in the Tokyo-Narita international arrivals concourse. Feng has been denied entry to his native country eight times over the past month, four of them after actually arriving on the ground in China; the other four times Japanese officials denied his boarding attempt because they knew he’d be denied on arrival. Not good at all. So Feng has decided to live in the arrivals hall at Tokyo’s Narita airport, and he’s been doing so for over a month now. According to CNN, he’s a human rights activist and China won’t let him back in the country. Japan has offered asylum, but he won’t accept. Clearly he’s having some success calling attention to his cause. I’ve just followed him on Twitter.
Randy Petersen Reviews “Up in the Air”
Last night I finally got to see Up in the Air. Work events had gotten in the way of my seeing a media screening weeks ago, and a sneak preview the other night. So I went to see it on its first official release day. Only one theatre here in DC has it so far, AMC iN Georgetown. So it was off to the 7pm showing after work. I really enjoyed the movie, but won’t do it nearly the justice as Randy‘s mostly spon-on review. Randy’s bottom-line: Let me make one thing clear to my fellow flyers who will flock to see this film: In the hopes of identifying with the nuances of elite cards, pursuit of miles and “That’s me!” moments, you may be missing some very good entertainment. So, see it once for…
Singapore Full Fare Upgradeable Mistake Fares?
According to this Flyertalk thread, Singapore Airlines appears to have filed a bunch of full (Y) and nearly full (B) fares between the US and various citieis around the world for less than the cost of discount coach inventory. Clearly a mistake. For example, New York-JFK to Frankfurt roundtrip for about $800, refundable. The nice thing about these fares is that — provided you can find upgrade inventory — these fares should be upgradeable with miles from most Star Alliance programs. And that many Star Alliance programs offer bonus miles for flying on such tickets. The trick of course is Singapore upgrade inventory. But a heads up for those interested in reading the Flyertalk thread, nonetheless.
Hyatt Offers 2500 United Miles Per Stay Through January 31, 2011
Hyatt is offering 2500 United miles per stay, targeted at United elites, through January 31, 2011. Registration required. As with so many of these promotions, they say “United Airlines® Mileage Plus elite members are invited to..” but the terms and conditions do not say anything about a requirement to be a United elite to earn the bonus. Hyatt doesn’t know whether the participating member is a United elite or not, it’s just that’s who is being marketed to for the offer. In my experience these bonuses generally post for all members, regardless of airline elite status, but one has to test it and see for sure (though if you also comb the terms and conditions of the offer, verify there’s no mention of United elite status, and print that you would likely win an argument…
10% Discount on American Airlines
Back in September, American Airlines was offering a 10% discount on travel for domestic departing flights purchased by Oct. 31, 2009 and travel complete Nov. 27, 2009 excluding travel Nov. 20-25. Well, the AA Soccer Challenge is back: play the game and receive a discount code (one code per email address) for bookings through January 31 and travel through February 28. And it’s valid from the US to any American Airlines destination, not just domestic itineraries.
New Virgin Atlantic American Express: 45,000 Miles with First Purchase and Up to 65,000 Bonus Miles the First Year
The standard offer for the Bank of America-issued American Express is for 20,000 Flying Club miles after first purchase and 2,500 Flying Club miles for each of the first two authorized users added to your Card. But there’s also a new, better offer out there: 45,000 miles with first purchase, in addition to the other benefits — an extra 25,000 miles beyond the standard offer. The card also offers 1.5 miles per dollar on all spend, an additional 7,500 Flying Club miles when you spend $15,000 and an additional 7,500 miles when you spend $25,000 each year. In addition, the card also helps towards elite status, with one tier point per $2,500, up to 2 points per month and thus 24 per year. It takes 15 tier points to qualify for Silver, and 10 to…
US Airways Already Getting Sneaky on the Holiday Bonus Promotion
The US Airways Holiday Shopping Promo is incredibly generous. You can buy miles at 7/10ths of a penny apiece. But US Airways is already getting a bit sneaky. Per Flyertalk’s yvsean, they’ve changed the terms of the Bose offer, they now say that they award miles related to this promo only on QC15 headphones. So if you purchased a $3.99 item as I did they say no miles. First, it’s only $3.99 down the drain. I’m just going to make sure I have another merchant. Some folks have reported Bose miles posting for earlier purchases prior to this change in the terms and conditions. But why take a chance? Second, it’s always worth taking screen shots of everything on really lucrative promos, just in case…
Using the US Airways Holiday Shopping Promo to Get Business Class Tickets to Europe for $570
Frugal Travel Guy outlines how to take advantage of the US Airways 250% Shopping Bonus to effectively purchase miles at 7/10ths of a penny apiece. If you make 5 purchases or more (up to 10) then all of those purchases earn a 250% bonus. Fewer than 5 purchases and the bonus is lower. But one merchant in particular is crazy-valuable: TrackItBack which gives you stickers with codes on them to attach to things. In theory if you lose those things, people report the item to TrackItBack and they handle getting the item from the person and then to you. Purchases through them earn 40 miles per dollar normally, so you know it’s a high margin business they’re in. With this 250% bonus, purchases will earn 140 miles per dollar. Put another way, you’re buying miles…
Winning Frequent Flyer Questions Get Answered
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Wendy Perrin‘s Up in the Air ticket giveaway contest, with entries coming from asking the best questions about frequent flyer miles. Wendy has posted the winning questions and Randy Petersen is answering the questions in this Flyertalk thread.
Media Coverage of Department of Transportation’s Mistake Fare Ruling
Nicholas Kralev continues to show that he’s the most well-informed and lucid of travel writers. His column this week in the Washington Times is on the Department of Transportation’s ruling to require British Airways to make customers whole to the extent they incurred costs as a result of BA cancelling a ‘mistake fare’ from the US to India. Kralev understands and points out what the rest of the media which have covered the India mistake fare story failed to understand — that the $40 base fare actually generated $370 in fuel surcharges, which with tax meant a ~ $550 ticket, only a few hundred dollars less than the next best available fare at the time. I’ve commented before that when I know there’s an airfare mistake, I iwll buy it, and then wait and see…
