I don’t usually post sweepstakes, but this is one I’d actually like to win. American is giving away a grand prize of tickets to the Up In The Air movie premiere, 700,000 AAdvantage miles, and $300 MasterCard gift card. Although if you win, you’ll want to study this blog post on how to dispute the fair market value of a prize for tax purposes… (Hat tip to @WanderngAramean)
Reporter Looking to Interview Frequent Flyers
Rrporter for a major news organization is looking for folks that have earned millions of miles through flying. Please email me — gleff -at- yahoo.com — if you’d be interested in talking to them. Their story is tied to the upcoming release of the film Up in the Air.
Free KLM Luggage Tags
KLM is offering two free design-your-own luggage tags in exchange for subscribing to their e-mail list. You can use a photo of your family, your favorite destination, or, to make it easier, you can choose from one of the images pre-selected by KLM. (Via Things in the Sky.)
Air Canada Aeroplan Progressive Mileage Bonus
Air Canada is offering up to 15,000 bonus miles for flights within Canada and between the US and Canada through January 31. (Registration required.) Here’s how it works: One-way flights Bonus Aeroplan Miles Cumulative Bonus Aeroplan Miles 3 3,000 3,000 6 4,000 7,000 9 8,000 15,000* Offer is valid with the following fare types: Executive Flexible, Executive Lowest, Latitude, Tango Plus and Tango. Note that not all routes are eligible: [E]ligible routes: Within Canada: Halifax to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto Montreal to Halifax Ottawa to Halifax Toronto to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax London ON to Calgary Edmonton to Yellowknife, Toronto Calgary to Toronto, London ON, Yellowknife, Kamloops Vancouver to Toronto, Kamloops Kamloops to Calgary, Vancouver Yellowknife to Calgary, Edmonton Between Canada and the U.S.: Montreal to Las Vegas, Newark, New York-LaGuardia Las Vegas, Newark, New York-LaGuardia…
Free Sixt Rental Car Platinum Status
I was reminded by this Flyertalk thread that Sixt still comps status — rental car status based on airline or hotel status — and history holds true, there isn’t even any verification of your actual airline or hotel elite status. When I got my Sixt Platinum card (based on real status, but no proof submitted), it was valid for 4 or 5 years.
Venezuela Nationalizes Margarita Island Hilton
The private owners “imposed conditions” on holding a conference there last month with Moammar Gadhafi and Robert Mugabe. Even though seemingly on-face reasonable, the conditions couldn’t have been particularly onerous, and the hotel was already majority govenrment-owned. Nonetheless, it angered Hugo Chavez. “To hold the conference we had to ask for permission… and the owners tried to impose conditions on the revolutionary government. No way,” AFP quotes Chavez as saying. “So I said, ‘Let’s expropriate it.’ And now it’s been expropriated.” This isn’t the first time that Chavez nationalized a Hilton, previously taking the Caracas property. And yet foreign companies continue to invest and do business in Venezuela. So I don’t have tremendous sympathy for them, actually. According to the Hilton website it’s business as usual: Hilton Margarita & Suites is open and fully operational.…
Hilton Planning to Devalue HHonors Points January 15
With the worst hotel revenue and occupancy recession in decades as a backdrop, this Flyertalk thread broke the news that Hilton is devaluing their points. Hilton posted new points requirements on their website, but promptly pulled the information. [W]e do have an update to point redemption amounts and hotel categories beginning January 15, 2010. A representative of Hilton HHonors confirmed that a change was coming, but that they weren’t ready to share the details: Later this month we will be announcing the updated reward chart, which will go into effect mid-January 2010 In contrast, as a result of the recession, Starwood reduced the points cost of a large number of their properties this past February — and I fully expect that they will do so again this coming February. Hilton on the other hand appears…
United’s Unlimited Complimentary Domestic Upgrades: the Other Shoe Drops
As I posted yesterday, United is ending 500-mile upgrade certificates and going to unlimited complimentary upgrades. This change on its own is on the whole good for 1K (100,000 mile) flyers. They won’t have limited free upgrades, having to pick and choose which domestic flights to use them on. It’s not good for lower-tiered elites, who will now have to compete against 100,000-mile flyers (and Global Services members) on every flight. Unsurprisingly, though, this change comes along with some other tweaking which is not good. As speculated yesterday, confirmed regional upgrades go away. Currently 1K members get up to 8 of these a year (promotions aside) and they’re good for confirming a domestic (including Hawaii) upgrade at time of booking from any fare. While there are no more 500 mile upgrades to worry about, there…
AwardWallet: Ask And Ye Shall Receive – Additional Programs Supported
Over the weekend I reviewed what I consider the 3 best services for tracking your miles and points: Miletracker, Mileage Manage, and Award Wallet. I noted the limitation of Award Wallet that: They support most of the major programs, to be sure, but they still need to add several — I can’t check my ANA or Mexicana balance with Award Wallet yet, and I can’t check Diners Club Well it appears that they’ve already added All Nippon Airways along with several others — China Airlines, Virgin Blue, Polynesian Blue, Pacific Blue, V Australia, Turkish Airlines, and Aeromexico. I also pointed out to them by email a glitch where they weren’t always showing an expiration date for Alaska Airlines. They let me know they’ve fixed that as well. I could still use Mexicana and Diners Club…
If Hotels Were Like Aid Agencies
Following Jonathan Rauch’s If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care, NYU’s Bill Easterly offers If Hotels Were Aid Agencies… Me: Hello, I have a reservation for this evening, for a non-smoking room with one double bed. Hotel: Yes, the Hotel Reconstruction and Development Bank has approved an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction (OAPR) grant for this purpose. Me: So can I have my room please? Hotel: The OAPR committed the room, but in order for the room to be disbursed you have to present an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction plan, to be approved by our board. Here is the OAPR Preparation Guidelines and Best Practices Sourcebook (hands over thousand page document). (hours later) Me: Thanks for approving my OAPR plan, now can I have my key? Hotel: The OAPR is a collaborative effort involving…
