Upgrade: Travel Better has the story on my local airport authority run amok. They don’t like consumers choosing airport hotel ‘park and fly’ rates, they lose revenue, and so they’re going to require the hotels to pay to pick up and drop off passengers at the airport. The authority will hold two public hearings next month on a proposal to adopt, “with the full force and effect of law,” a requirement that area hotels pay a $2.50 fee every time a hotel shuttle picks up passengers at Ronald Reagan National or Washington Dulles International airports. The reason for the fee: “In effect, by offering competitive off-airport parking and providing courtesy service to the airport’s primary curbs, local hotels are diverting a portion of revenue that would otherwise be received by the Airports Authority through either…
1000 Northwest Miles for Shopping Through Their Portal
Northwest Worldperks is offering (registration required) 1000 miles for shopping through their portal if you haven’t done so in the past 3 years. Any single purchase made through March 31 should qualify, so either make a purchase through them that would have otherwise been made or find yourself a truly inexpensive ($1ish) item, or buy a gift card with free shipping for something you’ll spend on later. Purchases from FTD, Teleflora’s Flower Club, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Bose, Sealy, 1-800WINE.COM and Vinesse do not count towards the bonus. If you aren’t sure whether you’re eligible because you don’t know whether you’ve made a purchase through the Northwest mileage mall during the past three years, don’t worry. Northwest knows — if you aren’t eligible for the promotion it won’t let you register. So go ahead with the registration, you’ll…
Starwood Cash & Points Availability Search Glitch
Starwood Preferred Guest’s website gets a lot of criticism, including from me. I’m frequently frustrated that it won’t display all reservations, especially if the reservation involves an upgraded room or if the hotel has touched or modified the reservation in some way. Detail on points posted to your account is limited as well, my own biggest frustration being that any given Platinum 500 point amenity doesn’t ever appear linked to a property so it’s difficult to track down missing point or to tell Starwood if a particular set of points are missing from a given stay. That said, the website is much improved. I like their hotel search function that shows availability on a single screen for lowest cash price, award availability, and availability for cash and points. (I do wish SPG50 rate plan availability…
No More Miles for Amex Travelers Checks
Frugal Travel Guy reports that effective April 2, American Express travelers checks will no longer earn miles. May she rest in peace.
Mistake Rate Stay at the Hilton Barbados
Back at the beginning of March, Hilton.com had several Carribean and South American properties pricing out at full rate for New Year’s Eve but then at $0 for all nights booked thereafter. It was a glitch, and one that folks at Hilton apparently didn’t realize existed for at least a couple of months. Not long after booking the rates corrected on the Hilton website, with the $0 rates being replaced by the originally-intended full prices. The deal was flagged for me by a co-worker, and I made the commitment not to share it broadly such as posting it on my blog or on Flyertalk. He was taking the trip for his anniversary and I didn’t want to jeopardize the deal. Two and a half months after booking the Hilton Barbados (among other possible properties were…
Somehow I Really Don’t Think a Government-Sponsored Cocktail is Really the Answer
The world economy is in a tailspin, travel is down all over, and in Thailand in particular after the Suvarnabhumi airport shutdown from end-November. But if the govenrment of Thailand can only develop a new alcoholic drink, sure, that will solve everything. Cuba’s got the Mojito. There’s the Singapore Sling and the Manhattan. Thailand hopes a newly created drink called “Siam Sunrays” will enter the world’s cocktail lexicon and help draw tourists back to the country. The Tourism Authority of Thailand unveiled the drink Thursday, calling it “Thailand in a glass — the new punch in Thai tourism.” The cocktail consists of a shot of vodka, coconut liqueur, a dash of chili pepper and sugar, lime juice, a few slivers of lemongrass and ginger — shaken not stirred, then strained into a glass — with…
A Mileage-Fueled Stimulus Protest Tea Party
Frugal Travel Guy wants to make a political statement, buying tea online and sending it to the White House — while earning double miles for doing so.
Starwood Award Category Changes Effective March 2 — As Expected, Generally Good News
Starwood has announced new redemption categories for the coming year, effective March 2nd. Each year Starwood recategorizes its hotels based on prior year average daily room rates, and the category that it places a hotel in determines the number of points required for redemption. On the whole — as expected — more hotels went down in category than went up. Specifically, according to the Flyertalk thread on the subect, 82 went up in category and 156 went down in category. Some of the more interesting ones to me, the Thailand properties appear not to change though I know that their occupancy is hurting tremendously. They were really hit late in the year with the occupation of the Suvarnabhumi airport, and their real downturn afterward likely came to late to sufficiently effect room rates for the…
Continental Becomes More Customer-Friendly While Delta and United Hate Their Customers
As the newly combining Northwest and Delta adds fees and reduces elite bonus miles, Continental seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Continental will still permit the old, higher-level elite bonus mile accumulation for elites with their premium co-branded credit card, and Continental is actually taking away fees on award redemption. Changes made by all members more than 21 days in advance of travel will be free, as long as the original and destination remain the same. (Platinums remain exempt even within 21 days.) The neat thing about this is it isn’t just date changes that are fee-free, you can change times, airline partners, and even routing without incurring a fee. This makes sense. As it breaks off its partnership with Delta/Northwest come the end of October, its frequent flyers and the frequent flyers…
Random Alaska Airlines Observations
Alaska’s $50 companion certificate which comes with the Bank of America co-branded Visa remains one of the best deals in travel, since it can be used on any fare — from the cheapest up through full fare first, without capacity controls. Onboard meals have gotten better. Last night’s cod was rather tasty, and the dressing that came with my prawn salad was quite flavorful. And they still serve ice cream sundaes. The crews are uniformly friendly. That’s just always been an Alaska Airlines thing, and it remains so. But they’re not the most nuanced. This is not a refined product, it’s transportation. At least they make announcements reserving the forward lavatory for first class, and they use the curtain, but that doesn’t stop passengers from streaming forward and of course the flight attendants don’t say…
