Choice Privileges, the frequest guest program of a variety of low-end hotels (sometimes Comfort Inn is just the only decent place in some towns, but I’ll still pass on EconoLodge) has a member referral program — new members referred by an existing member get 500 bonus points on their first stay, and the existing member gets 500 points as well. Thanks for Free Frequent Flyer Miles for the pointer, and if you’d like a referral for the bonus points just email me.
Encounter at LAX Closing
Encounter, the space age restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport that some mistake for an air traffic control tower, is being closed for at least six months for structural repairs.The food isn’t great, but it’s better than most of what you’ll get at the airport and it’s a fun visit. Bummer.
USAirways Quietly Devalues Award Chart
Mar
08
2007
USAirways seems to have updated their award chart with no notice whatsoever. The first item I’ve noticed is that flights between North America and “South and Central Asia” now run 80,000 miles for coach/120,000 for business/160,000 for first class — up from 60/90/120 thousand respectively.This really is a disappointment. I know that USAirways has had a much maligned program, and things have generally changed for the worse since America West took over things. But I was just starting to collect USAirways miles again over the past few months, racking up about 90,000. And now that doesn’t buy my favorite award any longer. Update: This was discussed briefly earlier in the week on Flyertalk. It surprises me that there’s less attention being paid to it than I would have expected. One summary of the changes to…
Car Rental Upgrades, Good or Bad?
Mark Ashley doesn’t like car upgrades. He usually gets a bigger car than he wants, burns more gas, and bigger isn’t always better anyway. Back when I was a run of the mill “Preferred Select” elite member with Avis, I expected to get a one car class upgrade on each rental. Sometimes I’d just book one class below what I wanted to get. The rule, of course, with any travel — air, hotel, or car — is always to confirm the minimum that you’ll actually be happy receiving.More than upgrades, I enjoy service … I like that my status now with Avis yields a ride back to the airport in the car I drove up in, no transferring bags and waiting on a bus or dropping off other passengers. And I do love my car…
Germans, Elites, and ‘the Rules’
I just love this story. Lufthansa Senator member sees the first class checkin has a long time, wants to use the empty business class line. They’re told ‘no way’ — a benefit of Senator status is that they use the First Class lines. Period. They’re not allowed to use the business class lines. Lufthansa can just be… that way. Those of you who’ve ever tried to access a Lufthansa lounge know what I mean. Your boarding pass displays your status, which entitles you to the lounge…. but the rules say you must present your membership card. No card, no entry. Rules.
Starwood’s Not the Only One…
Mar
08
2007
Starwood’s significant devaluation got plenty of attention, but Marriott quietly made significant adjustments to its own hotel categories to much less fanfare. It’s been discovered, and is being discussed on Flyertalk. The summary:Changes in MR redemption were effective March 2, 2007. 14 hotels went down one category level, 535 went up one category level. And one member’s calculation of the impact of the change:Some quick calculations….approximately 20% of Marriott Rewards properties were impacted and the change is reported to be a 1 category increase. On a 1 night stay, that is an increase of about 33% across the categories. So it appears to be an overall devaluation of about 6-7% (33% x 20%). I can live with this as it is in-line with overall inflation in hotel room rates, unlike the ridiculous almost 20% devaluation…
Alitalia Bonus for First, Fifth, and Seventh Flights
Alitalia is offering some significant bonuses: 2,000 bonus points after your first flight within 3 months of enrollment. 3,000 bonus points after your fifth flight segment by December 15, 2007. 5,000 bonus points after your seventh flight segment by December 15, 2007. Partner flights count towards the bonus. Now I’m much more tempted to credit my upcoming Alitalia flights to the MilleMiglia program, and continue to top off the account by crediting Skyteam flights there. I’ll need to decide before leaving for my Toronto-Larnaca trip later this month.
Undercover TSA Screener
I know I’m tempting fate flying USAirways this weekend, with the impending reservation system changeover from Sabre to Shares. I’m even flying back home tomorrow morning. Hope it goes smoothly. My travel rituals include collecting articles and documents to review in a folder that goes with me on my way to the airport, and I cruise through it in the lounge or when I board the plane. If it’s an evening flight I know I have to attack the folder right away, as the night wears on I may get too tired to read. Last night’s simple flight down to Ft. Lauderdale was delayed about an hour by a crew scheduling snafu, so I had a bit of extra time — and I made it past my work and on to pleasure reading (if you…
United Airlines Matches Varig — or Most Airline — Status
Feb
26
2007
Continuing my kick of linking to just about anything Upgrade: Travel Better has to say, Mark points to the Star Alliance offer to match status held with Varig. Varig went bankrupt and lost its membership the Star Alliance, so other Star Alliance members are jockeying to pick up the elite frequent flyers in the now-defunct Varig “Smiles” program. The Star Alliance webpage lists the different status match programs that are available to Smiles members until April 30, 2007. Air Canada, Lufthansa, South African, Swiss, and TAP are all granting status matches to Varig’s elites. BUT: United goes one further. Their rules doesn’t specify that the status match is only open to Varig flyers, either on the Star Alliance site or on their own page. So this is where it gets interesting. This is a good…
More on Credit Card Rental Car Insurance Coverage
Mark Ashley writes about rental car companies’ hard sells for collision damage waiver, the extra “insurance” (it isn’t insurance, it’s a payment so they don’t pursue you in case of physical damage to their vehicle) that drives commissions with many of the lower-end rental agencies. Here he discusses Advantage, my own experience is that the pushiest sales agents are with Enterprise. I’ve gotten stories like “What’s your deductible? You know that if there’s damage to the car you have to pay the deductible, in cash, when you return the vehicle. That’s California law.” It’s interesting that these rental car agents are such experts in law. Ashley points to the claim that credit cards which offer insurance won’t cover ‘loss of use.’ That’s the charge rental companies tack-on to make you pay rental charges on the…
