I don’t just participate in a coiuple of airline and hotel loyalty programs, I participate in dozens. That’s great for taking advantage of the best promotions on offer, and it’s great when the time comes to redeem miles because I have s omany options. But it’s cumbersome to manage — all those account numbers, all those passwords, and a lot to keep track of like how soon will points in a given account expire? Fortunately there are plenty of solutions that make this easier — aggregating account information in a single place, allowing login to an account with a single click, updating all account balances at once. And offering it all for free, for a couple dollars a year, or at most a bit over a dollar a month. There are really three sites worth…
The 10 Worst Hotels in America
Ok, we all have our lists. Hopefully no one has experience with all these properties, to be able to make an informed comparison. But here’s a fun list of places to avoid. Beaches Oceanfront Resort in Daytona Beach, Florida: “If you consider Hell a resort, then this is a resort” Ramada Plaza JFK: “We had stayed here about nine years ago–same reason, delayed flight. The place apparently had not been cleaned between these two stays” Velda Rose Reort Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas: “I think Velda died in our room.” Airport Plaza, Brook Park Ohio: “One of the beds was broken and propped up with a stack of Bibles.” Continental Bayside Hotel, Miami Beach, FL: “the cabby laughed when we asked him to take us there!”
American Express Usually Responds to Complaints with Free Points
I’ve complained (on multiple occasions) to American Express when I saw posted on Flyertalk that there was a targeted bonus miles offer that wasn’t sent to me. I’ve written to their corporate office and I’ve used their online email messaging system. The online system is quicker and easier, but writing to their corporate office has yielded larger point bonuses. I’ve also complained about new signup bonus offers that are larger than what I got when I first signup up for a card. American Express has been known to provide the difference in miles or points, or at least part of the difference, as a goodwill gesture. It seems that most points-related complaints are met with free bonus points, at least in my experience (bear in mind that I’m a pretty high-volume charger). Frugal Travel Guy…
Washington, DC to Lima Peru for $285 all-in
This is wide open for May and June, 2010 only. You fly from DC to either Miami or JFK on American and then connect to LAN to Lima. 5-day minimum stay. Last day to depart on this fare is June 17. Fare basis is QLESP516. Non-refundable, non-upgradable (though I’m not an expert in LAN’s upgrade rules), but will earn full miles if credited to American.
Airtran $25 Discount Vouchers to and From Florida, Apply to Each One Way on a Roundtrip
Dan’s Deals tells you how to sign up for multiple Airtran $25 discount e-vouchers and use those on each direction of a roundtrip. Upshot from them is flying to Ft. Lauderdale from $19+tax each way.
Award Booking Services Featured in Travel Insider Newletter
David Rowell’s excellent weekly Travel Insider e-newsletter mentions my award booking service today: Here’s an interesting new service offered by Gary Leff, a respected and knowledgeable commentator about all matters airline related, and someone I’ve swapped occasional emails with for some years now. He is offering to help people book award travel, and says he can both take the hassle out of the process and also use his extra knowledge and familiarity with the ins and outs of award travel restrictions and – well, not so much loopholes as the creative opportunities that can be taken advantage of, in a way that might enhance your ability to secure the travel you’re trying to find. He’ll do this for a $150 fee for one person, and $100 for each extra person traveling on the same itinerary. …
500 Free Marriott Points
Boston-area Marriotts are offering 500 points in exchange for signing up to receive information. Submitting your name, email and Marriott Rewards number is all that’s required. (Via Lucky.)
Are Checked Bag Fees Good for Consumers?
Gabriel Okolski makes the unpopular case that checked bag fees are good for consumers in the long-run. His suggestion is that as a result of paying for checked bags, customers will demand better baggage handling. Now, one possible contrary data point is that Delta is the airline with both the highest revenue per passenger from checked bags and also the most baggage problems per passenger. If Okolski was correct I would expect to see airlines reaping more revenue from checked bag fees performing better in baggage delivery. But fair enough, perhaps this is a process where performance will improve over time and Okolski references innovations that are just now being made to make his case. So we’ll have to wait and see empirically. Although in the current environment, with how tickets and services are priced,…
500 Continental Bonus Miles for Co-Branded Credit and Debit Card Holders
If you have a Continental credit card or debit card, you can register by November 30 to receive 500 bonus miles. They’re promoting using your cards to set up recurring payments. Registration is required. Offer valid for Continental Airlines MasterCard Credit and Debit Card Cardmembers only. The 500 mile bonus is a one-time bonus and can only be earned once during the promotional period and will be deposited into the member’s registered OnePass account 6-8 weeks, after the conclusion of the promotion. OnePass number must be provided at the time of registration. Only Continental Airlines Credit and Debit Card Cardmembers will receive the 500 mile bonus and earn miles via recurring payments, per their cardmember agreements.
Hilton Finally Offers a Promo: Double Points or 25,000 Bonus Every Four Stays
Register to earn the bonus on stays through December 31. If you select 25,000 bonus points for every four stays there’s a maximum bonus of 75,000 points (after 12 stays). (HT: Lucky.)
