Conrad Bora Nora Nui is one of Hilton’s most aspirational points redemptions, and free night awards can be extremely hard to get.
As of this writing though redemptions are available the first 10 days of December consecutively and the last 10 days of January And every day in March and April – as well as reasonable availability in other months.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
When we see dirty planes we wonder whether the things we can’t see are being being handled well. When we see broken planes we wonder whether maintenance we can’t see is being handled well. The connection isn’t always true but reasonable.
One of the odder dirty plane photos I’ve seen on twitter lately is paper towels stuffed into the aircraft ceiling on Delta. Condensation was leaking, and this is the airline’s solution to keep it from dripping on passengers. They didn’t want to take a plane out of service and cancel flights, and it wasn’t a mechanical issue that raised safety concerns. But, as the passenger posting on twitter notes, they also weren’t… changing the paper towels between flights.
On Monday passengers got into the act, joining other crewmembers, in making a Southwest Airlines flight attendant’s last trip before retirement special.
On the last flight this crewmember was scheduled to work, the “other flight attendants had her hide and literally everyone on the plane helped decorate” the aircraft to celebrate while she wasn’t looking.
The loyalty program for Shangri-La Hotels, the luxury Hong Kong-based chain with over 100 properties, is among the first of the major chains doing an across-the-board refresh as we emerge from the global pandemic.
I think the Shangri-La Circle program refresh gets a lot of things right. At the entry level, less frequent guests still get value out of the program by earning points that can be used in small amounts, and all spending (even online spend) earns. Even the first elite tier gets 11 a.m. check-in and breakfast while upper-tier elites get more special benefits. And the program’s treatment of the very top customers is just extraordinary.
If you’ve ever thought, sure the Platinum Card gives 5 points per dollar spent on airfare, but is American Express too woke? Or wondered, what’s the best card to use when buying a MyPillow? There’s a new Visa product that may be right for you.
Proposals are popular – almost de rigueur – on airplanes. And weddings are popular in Las Vegas, But when this couple had several Southwest Airlines flights delayed on their way to get married in Las Vegas, they decided not to wait – and got married inflight on their Dallas Love Field – Phoenix segment.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Thirty six year old South Korean DJ Hwang So-hee, known as DJ Soda, headlines Asian music festivals, streams online, and at least attempts to fly American Airlines.
She was flying New York JFK to Los Angeles on Monday while wearing sponsored pants, clothes she was paid to wear by the designer, and that’s how she ran into problems. So-hee reports she was “harassed and humiliated” and “forced out of the plane” and required to take off her pants “in front of the flight crews at the gate.”
Delta is going to start paying flight attendants for time spent boarding aircraft to coincide with moving up boarding time on domestic mainline narrowbody flights by 5 minutes (although the pay increases apply to flight attendants working all flights).
Starting June 2 Delta will begin boarding for domestic narrowbody aircraft 40 minutes prior to departure. And they’ll take off prior to scheduled departure time more often, too.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
