Hyatt is back with Faster Free Nights, among the best hotel bonus promotions ever. And this time they’re topping off with bonus points as well, which is great because Hyatt points are among the harder points to earn (few partners). Earn a free night after every two eligible Hyatt stays at any Hyatt worldwide between September 1 and December 30, 2008. Plus, earn 2,000 bonus points after every two eligible Hyatt stays paid with your MasterCard card. Registration is required. Now, once upon a time a cheap Priceline stay counted as a stay for this promotion, and you could charge something minimal like a phone call to your room on your free stay and have it count as one of your two stays towards your next free stay. Ah, memories. But many Gold Passport members…
Award Price Increases and Ticketing Fees at Frontier
Frontier is increasing the number of miles for an award ticket and imposing ticketing fees, citing rising fuel cost even as oil has fallen substantially from its highs. Cutting frequent flyer program benefits usually doesn’t happen while a carrier is in bankruptcy. In general we’ve seen the opposite — print funny money (miles are a currency) while in bankruptcy and reduce the value of those miles once exited from Chapter 11. So this turns the usual expected practice on its head. The upshot of the changes is that Frontier will charge customers $25 per award ticket, and $75 per award ticket for flights booked within 14 days of travel. Redeemable tickets will jump from 15,000 miles to 20,000 for a domestic round trip ticket. More details in this Flyertalk thread.
Two 1000 Mile Surveys from Flying Blue
Via Free Frequent Flyer miles, two surveys each offer 1000 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles: here and here.
United Onboard Service and Meal Cutbacks
One Mile at a Time points to United service cutbacks. Those changes appear to be as follows: Effective Sept. 2: 2-3 hour flights, killing biscoffs and pretzels in coach and replacing with buy on board. Effective Oct. 1: Increasing Buy on Board Prices Shelf-stable items increase from $5 to $6. Fresh items increase from $7 to $9. Other meal changes: Eliminate free meals in coach, Dulles Departures to Europe (except Kuwait). Will offer Buy on Board. Three-class planes, business class gets free Buy on Board rather than separate meals (!!) Eliminate Second meal service on p.s. flights — replace with beverage service. Other changes: Reduce flight attendant staffing to FAA minimums These will be a real ouch to some, I can live with them (but won’t like it!), as long as the cuts don’t come…
The award itinerary I have on hold
Haven’t decided whether to keep it, whether to change it, or whether to scrap it altogether and do something else later. But it’s an example of hwat you can do with 120,000 United miles (times two — the award is for two seats, which means two award seats were available on all flights). It features international 3-cabin first class on 5 different carriers, and 11 total flights. Washington, DC to Tokyo — All Nippon Airways first class Tokyo to Hong Kong — Air Japan regional 2-cabin business class Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City — United first class Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok — Lufthansa first class Bangkok to Chiang Rai — Thai Airways 2-cabin business class Chiang Rai to Bangkok — Thai Airways 2-cabin business class Bangkok to Hong Kong — Thai…
Whose Miles are the Most Valuable?
Frugal Travel Guy outlines how he values the mileage in the various airline programs in which he participates. He’s dead-on that British Midland”s points are worth the most: Cash and points awards stretch the value of miles. Reasonable premiums for premium class awards. Business class is 50% more expensive than coach, first class is double. One-way awards at only half the price of roundtrip provide for amazing flexibility. Star Alliance membership means that the above features are leveraged across an amazing network of carriers, and unlike United they don’t filter out otherwise-available award seats. And the program is rewarding for it’s elites as well, with low qualification thresholds for top tier (Gold), heavy bonuses for paid premium class fares (a Gold who has already requalified earns 625% on paid first class fares!), and top tier elites…
Diving Headlong into the Nitty Gritty Details of Managing Credit Cards for Fun and Profit
In a continuing series diving into the details of managing credit cards and securing their frequent flyer signup bonuses, Frugal Travel Guy offers suggestions on reallocating credit limits. This can help you get more cards than you’d otherwise be eligible for, and also be a useful tool to preserve available credit while cancelling cards that would incur a fee. He also makes some suggestions on how to handle no preset limit cards and avoid complications of those cards for your credit report and score.
Expedia Hotel Discount
Expedia is offering $10 off per night on a 2-night minimum stay when booking an Expedia Special Rate Hotel by August 31 for travel through October 31. Use coupon code WBK10. Not quite as lucrative as the current Orbitz discounts, however.
Enjoyed My Hair Loss Consultation
I was about 20 minutes late for my hair loss consultation in DC. No big deal from their end. Right into a comfortable waiting room with TV, a few minutes later my consultant talks me through hair loss issues. She notices that on the section of their form about ‘how I heard about them’ I wrote in Delta. She acknowledged that it’s a great offer, and ‘how excited she is that even with people coming in who might not be candidates now, they’ll be telling their family and friends about it and maybe they’ll come in to learn more’. Way to keep the chin up having to talk to all these bum sales prospects! They really were nice about it. Doctor comes in to give his pitch as well, about how important it is “to…
United Top Tier Elites Can Party in Economy Plus with Up to 8 Guests
One Mile at a Time points out a new change for United’s Global Services members and 100,000 mile flyers — instead of just being able to have one companion sit with them in economy-plus (United’s eection at the front of coach with extra legroom), they can now have up to (8) companions acconmpany them as long as those passengers are all on the same itinerary. The historical restriction of one companion complimentary in economy plus — which still applies to Premier Associates, Premiers, and Premier Executives — meant that a husband, wife, and child traveling together on the same reservation had to sit in the back with less legroom. Frustrating for the 100,000 mile flyer, for sure. They give their loyalty to United, and when traveling with the family it isn’t recognized. The most common…
