Jan
17
2008
Priority Club has a short survey about their program for 250 points. Survey runs through February 29, 2008. Every bit helps!
250 Free Priority Club Points
USAirways to Upgrade to Two Buck Chuck
The Arizona Republic covers improvements in USAirways’ wine offerings. After several years of settling for whatever was cheapest, US Airways is upgrading its wine list, especially in first and business class, where it’s a free perk. Travelers in coach, where wine costs $5 a pop, won’t be totally left out. US Airways is replacing its current no-name wine in coach with a Beringer brand and plans to offer a second, more expensive ($8) choice, too. [Snip] “Everyone has tried to raise the bar,” she said. “Everybody has kind of said, “Oh my gosh, we have a teeny bit more money, we can offer our consumers a great glass of wine instead of a crap class of wine.’ “ Somehow there’s a real honesty here, even as the piece massively exaggerates the improvements in USAirways’ soft…
Making the Most of Your LAX Layover
Here’s an idea for what to do during a layover at LAX… take a free off-airport parking shuttle to the In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda. An In-N-Out is located on nearby Sepulveda Boulevard right next to the Parking Spot–a parking structure that conveniently provides free shuttle service. All you have to do is wait under the red “Hotel and Courtesy Shuttle” sign outside of any airport terminal, and when the yellow and black polka-dotted Parking Spot shuttle swings by, jump on board. It will take you literally next door to In-N-Out. Follow your nose through the back door, across the parking lot, and right inside where you need to order a double-double and fries to enjoy the best layover of your life. There are a few things to be very careful about, however. First off, you…
New Year’s Resolutions for Miles and Points
I’ve seen several New Year’s Resolution stories, most of them are silly, and none are worse than the median piece on New Year’s resolutions for managing your miles, points, and travel — because anyone who would actually use the advice likely knows far more than the person writing the piece. So here’s my brief attempt at a set of New Year’s Resolutions. As always, your mileage may vary… And for many of my readers, even these will seem utterly pedantic. Keep track of your miles. A free tool like MilePort is my preferred method. It’s a program on your computer, you enter your frequent flyer numbers and passwords, and it updates your balances with a single click. And since they’re all in one place it’s easier to keep track of what miles you still need…
New ‘Best Rate Guarantee’ Blog
Most hotel chain ‘best rate guarantees’ are bogus marketing gimmicks, designed to give you confidence that you’ll get the best prices on their own websites whether this is accurate or not. The promised benefits to finding a lower rate elsewhere are often elusive, with complex and arcane rules and sometimes incompetent claims staff who deny otherwise valid submission. The one real exception to this is the TripRewards program, which regularly honors its one night free policy when you submit a competing lower price elsewhere. There’s an extensive Flyertalk post on the subject with nearly 500 replies. There’s also now a Best Rate Guarantee Blog dedicated to identifying hotels where lower prices are found on websites other than the Triprewards site, with the goal of allowing you to claim a free hotel night there.As a brand…
The Jewish Bankers and New World Order Steals My Frequent Flyer Miles and Keeps Travel Away from the Poor
In an otherwise not-funny news spoof (not even worth clicking on, really), I did enjoy the frequent flyer miles approach to parodying presidential candidates, with Ron Paul’s conspiracy theory and John Edwards’ class warfare approaches below. Paris, France – The Paris Hilton admitted today that it had screwed Congressman Ron Paul out of double-dipper frequent flyer miles by neglecting to properly process the bonus points to the congressman’s credit card. [Snip…} John Edwards had some comments for MSNBC about the recent Hilton, Ron Paul flap…”It seems a pity that those valuable miles will be wasted when there are so many homeless in America that would love to visit Paris.”
Double Miles or Points with TripRewards
TripRewards is offering double points or double miles (registration required) for your first four stays booked by May 15 and complete by June 15. (The registration page suggests that the offer is valid through May 15, but the terms and conditions clarify that stays must simply be booked by that date and can be consumed up until a month later.) I might use this at a Wyndham property, but beyond that it’s of little use to me as I really don’t frequent Baymont Inn, Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, or HoJo properties…
Earning 100,000 Miles Renting Cars at 1.1 Cents a Mile?
Here’s a pretty intriguing idea on Flyertalk, it’s really not for everyone and likely not for me — too much effort involved! — but it’s one person’s story of how they’re earning over 100,000 frequent flyer miles through rental car bonuses. The best thing about the thread is that it pointed out to me a bonus I hadn’t realized was out there, 1700 bmi miles per rental at Hertz. bmi mileage isn’t the easiest to earn, and it’s really quite valuable. Several of the other promos have been mentioned here at View from the Wing in the past, but never with the idea of spending 45 days renting cars just for the miles!
Most Travel Awards Are Bogus or Made Up, Edition 3,241
Now this is just downright silly. American Airlines has been named Best International Airline for 2007 by readers of Travel Weekly in its annual Readers Choice Awards competition. Travel Weekly announced the award at a recent ceremony and will publish the results in its Jan. 21 issue. American was chosen from a list of five finalists that also included British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. American offers a better experience than Singapore Airlines. Someone said that with a straight face.
American Airlines London Bonuses
Jan
12
2008
American is offering progressive bonuses for London flights — each successive roundtrip of the same fare type earns more bonus miles than the last. Registration required. First/Business Class (booked in F, P, J, A, D, or I) Economy Class (booked in Y, B, H, or K) Discounted Economy Class (booked in L, M, N, S, or V) First Round Trip 10,000 miles 5,000 miles 2,500 miles Second Round Trip 20,000 more miles 10,000 more miles 5,000 more miles Third Round Trip 30,000 more miles 15,000 more miles 7,500 more miles Three business class roundtrips earn 60,000 bonus miles. Three lowest coach fare roundtrips earn 7500 bonus miles. One business class roundtrip and one discount coach roundtrip earns 12,500 miles (10,000 + 2500). Tickets must be purchased and flown between January 11, 2008, and May 15, 2008.
