Tag Archives for american express.
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.
American Express closed the Dallas Fort-Worth lounge, and today it re-opens in a new location.
The new lounge has all of the amenities of the old lounge with some additions and mostly more capacity for guests. There’s the buffet and full bar, complimentary spa treatments, conference room and family room, and an three shower rooms.
No matter how much space you get, it isn’t enough if you offer a good product. Demand forecasts always underestimate how many passengers will want to visit lounges, and how much time they’ll spend, when a qualify lounge is on offer.
American Express has a new approach coming: advance reservations via app.
American Express offers its Global Dining Collection program to The Platinum Card from American Express cardholders and to Centurion (Black Card) customers.
These are top restaurants where American Express has an arrangement to set aside some tables for cardmembers. You’ve had to make bookings through their concierge service. They’ll be launching searches for reservations, including special set-aside availability, through the American Express mobile app first in the UK starting next month and then in the US next year.
American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to a variety of different airline programs and so some hotels. Generally your best redemptions with Amex points is going to be airline transfers. And they offer occasional transfer bonuses.
Right now points transfers to Cathay Pacific are showing up with targeted bonuses.
According to Hilton there are bigger initial offers coming for the suite of Hilton Honors credit cards from American Express on September 11.
Routes are often discounted when flights aren’t full, suggesting that there should be good availability which is what we’re seeing for New York JFK – Paris Orly premium economy.
You can connect elsewhere in Europe if you wish. American Express, Chase, and Citibank points all transfer to Flying Blue.
Virgin Atlantic miles aren’t worth as much as other miles. However they do have strategic uses and I believe the single best one is ANA first class roundtrip from the Central U.S. and East Coast for just 120,000 miles per person. (San Francisco and Los Angeles is just 110,000 miles roundtrip, while business class runs 90,000 or 95,000 miles depending on the city.)
Another strong use of Virgin Atlantic miles is Delta business class between the US and Europe for 50,000 points each way, which becomes an amazing deal witht he 30% tansfer bonus. There are other award chart sweet spots, like Australia and New Zealand.
Priority Pass is a card that gets you into lounges around the world. You don’t have to belong to an individual lounge program, this program works to have lounges in most of the places you go.
There are over 1000 airport lounges that a Priority Pass will gain you access to, most of those are spread throughout airports around the world. Around 60 options exist in the U.S. and that increasingly includes airport restaurants.
When you have a Priority Pass card it may come with visits for you as the cardholder, and it may come with complimentary visits for guests.
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.
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 »
