Another Hotel Program Devaluation Without Warning…

by Gary Leff

hotel
Mar 15 2007

Sometime this morning Priority Club changed their redemption chart. For example, some Holiday Inns jump from 15,000 points to 25,000 points. And some Intercontinentals go from 30,000 points to 40,000 points. The Boston, DC, Vienna, and Tahiti properties are notable among them. There’s no chart of changes by property, so I’ll just be piecing together which ones have changed. Naturally, there’s a Flyertalk discussion and folks are none too pleased. Bumping the prices of some hotels by a third is bad enough. I understand it (there were some great values there, and great values don’t last). But it’s disappointing. However, making the changes without any notice whatsoever is criminal.

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Deeply Discounted Award Rooms at the Intercontinental Los Angeles

by Gary Leff

airplane
Mar 15 2007

The Intercontinental Los Angeles Century City (formerly Park Hyatt) has award rooms available for just 5000 Priority Club points, and availability appears to stretch through May 16. Dates after that are pricing out at the usual 30,000 points per night. Though Priority Club does sometimes discount award redemptions (eg 24,000 points instead of 30,000 points for an Intercontinental), this award price is unprecedented… likely an error, though I’m having a hard time figuring out what the keystroke mistake would have been. Perhaps someone mistakenly coded it as a PointBreaks property. Frequently Priority Club awards are available for any room at a given hotel, including suites, and presumably this is an error on the hotel’s part. Discussion of the phenomenon can be found at Flyertalk’s suite redemption alert thread. These suite redemptions are generally honored —…

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Confessions of a former Enterprise manager

by Gary Leff

Consumerist has a great post, an insider’s perspective on renting cars from Enterprise. Everything’s negotiable. Even knowing that, I still won’t rent from them. But for those who don’t mind the undignified “walkaround” of the vehicle and hard sell of insurance, you may benefit from the tips. 1. Enterprise doesn’t have any set prices. That rate you got when you called in was either the full retail rate, or the first number that popped into the agent’s head. There are three main categories of rentals: personal (retail), corporate, and insurance, but on every single contract that goes out the agent manually types out how much you pay per day and he has authority to make it pretty much whatever he thinks you should pay. … 2. By now everyone knows that you don’t need that…

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Netflix Signup Bonuses

by Gary Leff

Netflix is offering 2500 American Airlines miles for new enrollment. Offer expires May 31.The United Mileage Plus offer is just 2000 miles with signup but another 2000 miles if you charge your membership to a United Visa. Total 4000 miles, and no clear expiration date on the offer. If you’re already a member, consider cancelling (copy down your queue first!) and signing up someone else in the house with a different credit card. If you’ve already gotten the United bonus, consider cancelling and signing up someone else for the American bonus. Or vice versa.

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New United Fee Waivers for 1Ks

by Gary Leff

united-plane
Mar 14 2007

As of this past Sunday, United is waiving paper ticket fees, Australian Electronic Travel Authority Fees (which up until recently were free), and the $25 same-day confirmed change fees for 1K, Global Services, and passengers flying on paid premium class ickets. I still miss the days when same-day confirmed changes (not on the day of departure, but well in advance) were no cost to Premier Executive and 1K members. I could book an 8am flight and call up a week later, still long in advance of travel, and change it to a 2pm as long as the same fare class I had ticketed was available on the 2pm (and technically as long as the fare I had purchased wasn’t time or flight specific, but those rules were often ignored). Still, fee waivers are good, and…

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Alaska to Fly to Hawaii?

by Gary Leff

alaska airlines
Mar 11 2007

The Cranky Flier thinks that the end of the Alaska-Hawaiian Airlines frequent flyer program tie-in signals that Alaska is finally planning to offer Hawaii flights itself. Not a crazy bet, and the Alaska 737s can make the trip. Presumably Seattle-Honolulu and possibly Seattle-Maui.This would be good news for lots of flyers, as Alaska partners with American, Continental, Northwest, and Delta (among others) so many mileage program members would have a new option to Hawaii.

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Companion Ticket Offers and the New American Express Platinum Program

by Gary Leff

Alaska Airlines offers $50 companion tickets once a year with their co-branded Visa ($99 companion ticket with the business Visa). This is probably the best companion ticket out there — it’s good on any fare, from cheapest in the market to first class, there are no blackout dates or other restrictions, and the companion ticket counts as the same booking class as the paid ticket. Earns miles, eligible for upgrades, etc. USAirways offers $99 companion tickets once a year with their co-branded Visa. There are a few restrictions (such as minimum ticket price of the paid ticket, advance purchase requirements, even a few blackout dates) but in general it’s quite usable, and the companion ticket earns miles. In fact I used one for travel last weekend. American’s Mastercard offers a companion ticket as well, but…

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An Alternative to 100% Screening for Airport Workers

by Gary Leff

It isn’t often you hear someone making an argument against requiring all airport workers to pass through security screening, but Bob Poole offers one that makes enough sense to merit reposting: At most airports, the secure area begins just behind the ticket counter, and agents go back and forth between secure and non-secure areas a dozen or more times a day. At smaller airports, the same people who work the ticket counters often do double-duty as gate agents, and may even load and unload baggage. To be meaningful, the 100% screening policy would have to screen these people every time they went back into the secure area, all day long. And what about mechanics and carpenters and electricians, bringing tools to work? None of those tools could get through passenger checkpoints, but people can’t work…

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Choice Privileges Member-Get-Member Bonus

by Gary Leff

Choice Privileges, the frequest guest program of a variety of low-end hotels (sometimes Comfort Inn is just the only decent place in some towns, but I’ll still pass on EconoLodge) has a member referral program — new members referred by an existing member get 500 bonus points on their first stay, and the existing member gets 500 points as well. Thanks for Free Frequent Flyer Miles for the pointer, and if you’d like a referral for the bonus points just email me.

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