I’m Wendy Perrin’s hero. Pretty cool.
1000 Points Every Two Weeks for $5.95 Through December 31
American Express cardholders have long had the benefit of buying American Express travelers checks at no fee, using their American Express cards. The limit recently has been $1000 per Amex card every two weeks. The ‘little secret’ in all of this is that the travelers checks post as a purchase, not a cash advance, and thus earn miles and do not incur cash advance fees. In order to take advantage of this deal you had to go to an actual (rather than independent but branded) American Express travel office. Sadly, the free travelers check benefit goes away at the end of December. However, in the meantime, American Express is offering these travelers checks for sale online for just $5.95 using promo code TCDIRECT. Which means you’re buying 1000 points with, say, your Starwood American Express…
Marriott Program Changes, Easier Award Redemption More Points Required
Back in August I wrote that it looked like Marriott would be making changes to their program, moving towards the Starwood and now Hilton model of no blackout dates and capacity controls. Part of the change would involve modifying their award structure, offering fifth award night free just like Starwood. But this would come at a cost — Marriott currently offers point discounts for subsequent nights after the first, and this would go away. Well, bingo, that’s exactly the change that’s been announced. I don’t yet know whether Marriott is actually offering the same ‘true redemption’ as Starwood and for the most part Hilton, where ‘if a standard room is available it’s yours’. In fact, on Flyertalk the Marriott Concierge states Hotels will only be able to limit the number of rooms available for redemption…
W Hotel Bed Discount is Back!
40% off at the W Hotel Store is back using promo code WH4X5, probably valid through end of October only. This discount comes up frequently (see for instance here, here, here, here, and here). But every time it does it’s worth noting because it really is a great deal, I bought my W Hotel bed (plush top with featherbed) in March of 2007 and I’ve been happy as can be. 40% off makes the price reasonable, shipping is free and they’ll remove your old bed for free as well. And the discount applies to bedding as well, though I personally didn’t choose mine from the W Hotel Store. If you want automatic notification of the next time this deal pops up you might want to subscribe to this Flyertalk thread for updates.
US Airways Triple Dining Miles Promotion
US Airways dining for miles (aka Rewards Network aka iDine) is offering triple miles through the end of the year. Folks with an online account earn 9 miles per dollar spent instead of 3. VIP members who rate their restaurant experiences earn 30 miles per dollar. Sadly, the maximum miles earned under this bonus is just 3,000. But worth registering nonetheless.
Southwest Makes Excuses for Losses
The Southwest Airlines Blog tries to explain accounting rules and how how a $120 million quarterly loss is really a profit. Which leads us back to the original question: “Did we make a profit, or not?” The short answer is: yes, we made a profit running our airline in the third quarter. Thanks to strong revenues, relatively low costs, gains from hedges that actually settled this quarter, and lots of Employee elbow grease, we actually did pretty great (all things considered). We even beat Wall Street’s expectations! The long answer is… well, long. There are these things called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) which govern how companies report their financial results. The intent of GAAP is to help standardize and simplify financial reports. In practice, however, GAAP can get really complicated – like, tax code…
Venetian from $119
Venetian is offering $119 weekdays and $159 weekends through January (an extra $100 for a concierge level room). Similar deal is supposed to be available at Palazzo but I can’t get the relevant links to open myself.
Possible Window to Book Awards Using United Miles Without Starnet Blocking
One Mile at a Time points to a Flyertalk thread with some (possibly momentary?) good news on the evil practice of United refusing to allow Mileage Plus members to book awards that are being offered by its partners (and frequently claiming falsely that the seats are not in fact being made available by the partner). At the moment it seems that the blocking practice has let up some, at least for Lufthansa flights which normally seem to be the most heavily blocked flights for awards by United members. Reports are that intra-Europe flights are especially bookable, and some transatlantic flights too, including flights that Lufthansa had been offering but which United was previously blocking. So now is a good time to try to book awards with United miles, or to make changes to awards already…
150 Free American Miles for Watching a Bose Promo Video
Bose is offering 150 American Airlines miles for watching a short online video. There’s also another 350 miles if you to into a store and demo the QuietComfort headphones. If you buy they’re offering 4 American miles per dollar. The offer is valid through October 31 and miles are supposed to post in 6 to 8 weeks.
TSA Agent on PAID LEAVE for Stealing CNN Camera and Selling it on eBay
Via Online Travel Review, a TSA screener at Newark was caught stealing a $50,000 camera from CNN and selling it online. He’s accused of stealing at least 100 items. He had an outstanding reputation on eBay. The TSA defends itself by pointing out that only 465 officers have been terminated for theft in the past five years (“0.4 percent of those employed by the agency”). But that just underscores how hard it is to reach the point of firing bad agents — this one was busted by the FBI who won the auction and recovered the CNN’s camera at the guy’s house, and yet the TSA employee is on paid leave.
