Scott McCartney‘s excellent Middle Seat column covers the final resolution to the British Airways India mistake fare ($40 + taxes/fees for full fare coach). BA lost a small claims case, and settled another. The Department of Transportation has said that airlines should at least ‘make consumers whole’ if they cancel tickets, covering costs that consumers have incurred as a result of the mistake fare. Most useful in the piece is the analysis of who has a policy to honor mistake fares: UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., JetBlue Airways Corp. and Singapore Airlines all say their policy is to not cancel tickets even when a mistake is discovered, no matter how large the error. “That is the right thing to do,” says United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. In 2007, United honored a…
Behind the Scenes of the No Fly List
Via Bruce Schneier, this piece does a good job explaining the process that names go through in getting on the list, and distinguishing between the various watch lists, selectee list, and no fly list. Schneier catches this bit of stupidity from the article: If a person on the no-fly list dies, his name could stay on the list so that the government can catch anyone trying to assume his identity. … and adds: But since a terrorist might assume anyone’s identity, by the same logic we should put everyone on the no-fly list.
Twitter Giveaway: 2 Free Hyatt Place Hotel Nights and 2 Months’ Personal Assistant Services from TaskUs.com
I recently gave away two Hyatt Place hotel nights and two months’ personal assistant services each to two lucky readers of this blog. I admit, these giveaways take up time and attention, especially while I’m on the road. And there are more coming, I mentioned that I’ll be giving away a high-end laptop bag shortly. And of course there’s the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card-Boarding Area Australia Gold Coast trip giveaway which you can enter here, it includes airfare and hotel and meals, plus cash and cash equivalents to cover taxes on the prize. So this blog has definitely been inundated with reader giveaways of late. And in between international first class cabins, beach resorts, and the like (trip report of some sort likely coming), I’ve still managed to let y’all know about Hyatt’s…
Please Enter to Win the Australia Gold Coast, My Contest Entry Thread is Lonely
BoardingArea is running a giveaway of a trip for 2 to Australia’s Gold Coast — airfare, 7 nights hotel, and meals. You can enter here. Each of the Boarding Area blogs offers a chance to win, the list of participating blogs is here. Honestly, I was late to the party, flying on the other side of the world when we were allowed to post this. So I currently have fewer entries on my blog than Lucky has on his. But I want to win! I want to show that my blog’s readers are the best, the strongest, and most deserving of the prize. So I want us to have the most entries — so do me a favor? Enter to win! I appreciate it. 🙂
Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights Promo is Back!
At least that’s what I’ll always call it. Last year it was “The Big Welcome” promotion, and now it’s “The Big Welcome Back.” No matter, the crux of it is still the same: every two stays earns a free night for use anywhere in the world. Of course, you have the option of taking 5000 Hyatt Gold Passport points instead, and you can bank those, whereas the free nights must be used by August 31 (historically Hyatt has offered to extend the validity of these nights, especially for their Diamond members, but this is by no means guaranteed). The short time in which to use the free nights means some will actually prefer points. But in general the free night is a much better option, claimed at a top tier porperty that usually requires 18,000…
A Milestone in the History of the View from the Wing Blog
View from the Wing‘s bottom line: “only sometimes-insufferable.” Working hard to become only occasionally insufferable. Let me know how I’m doing, progressing towards that goal…!
Hyatt Place Giveaway Winners
And the winners are… Chosen at random by Random.org from amongst the comments left during the contest period… “Dick Simard” “Sully” I’ll be in touch with you both to arrange receipt of the 2 free Hyatt Place nights and 2 months of personal assistant services. Congratulations! Meanwhile, stay tuned because I’m going to give away another prize package exclusively on Twitter. Be sure to follow @garyleff. Update: Hyatt Place is also giving away two months of personal assistant services from TaskUs.com here (hat tip: Hotel Checkin).
Giveaway: Trip for 2 to Australia’s Gold Coast including airfare, 7 nights hotel, meals…!
You’re going to be reading about this one on many of the BoardingArea blogs. BoardingArea and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card are sponsoring a giveaway — a trip for two to Australia’s Gold Coast including air and seven nights hotel (all mileage-earning), meals even, and cash and gift cards as a kick-in to cover taxes on a trip that’s otherwise valued at over $10,000. Each of 20 participating BoardingArea blogs will be able to select one reader for the final drawing. By reading several of the blogs you have more chances to win and by being selected on one of the blogs you have about a 1 in 20 chance of winning the grand prize. The contest is only open to those 18 years of age and older and to US residents only,…
Only 1 Day Left to Enter: Free Hyatt Place Hotel Night Giveaway
Surprisingly as of this writing there are only about half the entries as when I gave away a free Hilton hotel night. And this giveaway is for a 2 night stay at any Hyatt Place hotel and as a throw-in Hyatt is also providing two months of personal assistant services. This should be huge. But I guess fewer entries just mean a better chance of winning for everyone who does enter. As of now there’s about 500 entries. And there will be 2 winners. You can enter by leaving a comment in the official entry thread.
I Flew Roundtrip in Paid Business Class and Didn’t Bother Collecting Miles
This is a public confession, of course. It runs contrary to all the advice I’ve ever given. I flew paid business class and didn’t credit the flights to any frequent flyer program. But hear me out. Now, with promotions I always tell people to sign up/register. Even if you don’t think you’re going to take part in the qualifying activity. Perhaps you’ll get re-routed on another airline during irregular operations, or connect in a city you hadn’t planned. Perhaps you’ll be forced to overnight somewhere, and while airline-provided hotel nights don’t generally earn points I’ve seen points credit anyway. It can’t hurt to be registered, I’ve seen too many people lose out on miles they would have received just because they didn’t register, thinking they wouldn’t have earned the bonus. Granted, registration takes a few…
