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« April 2005 | Main | June 2005 »

May 26, 2005

Hiatus

I don't plan to blog again until June 18th. See you in a few weeks!

intercontbeachcmbr.jpg

Posted by gleff at 5:27 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 24, 2005

Cathay Pacific Visa for Canadians

Canadians can get a Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card from RBC Bank.

The annual fee is stiff at CA$150, but the card earns 1 AsiaMile per Canadian dollar spent -- pretty good earning -- on top of the 5000 AsiaMiles with first purchase.

The AsiaMiles program permits upgrading on British Airways and American in addition to Cathay Pacific, and some of its awards are incredible values. 60,000 AsiaMiles buys you a business class award of less than 5000 miles each way. That would yield a British Airways ticket from the U.S. East Coast to most destinations in Europe. American charges 50,000 miles in coach for that.

AsiaMiles is my program of choice for transferring eBay Anything Points, by the way, since 1 eBay point yields slightly more than 1 AsiaMile.

Posted by gleff at 7:36 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Gulf Air Offers Triple Miles Promo

Gulf Air is offering triple miles through June 15 on several routes

    The offer is valid for Economy Class travel from Abu Dhabi or Dubai to: Bahrain, Beirut, Frankfurt, Kuwait, London and Paris; from Bahrain to: Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dubai, Frankfurt, Kuwait, London and Paris; from Doha to: Bahrain, Beirut, Dubai, Frankfurt, Kuwait, London and Paris, and from Muscat to: Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Beirut, Dubai, Frankfurt, Kuwait, London and Paris between 16 May and 15 June 2005.

Posted by gleff at 1:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Virgin Atlantic Gets Aggressive in Australia

Virgin Atlantic is offering double points and elite status matches, sensing an opportunity to poach frustrated Qantas flyers.

Posted by gleff at 1:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

25% Off Starwood Award Redemption for Platinums -- AGAIN

In the middle of the month, Starwood ran a promotion offering 25% off hotel night award redemption for platinum members.

They apparently had some bumps in notifying members (though readers of this blog were well-informed).

As a result, they've extended the offer. Via Starwood Lurker on Flyertalk:

    [T]hrough midnight Eastern US time on Monday, May 30th, Platinum members can make their plans online at spg.com and then call the Platinum Concierge line to make use of the FRED redemption code for a 25% off savings. The same Terms and Conditions apply that were in effect previously. This is for award stays booked through Wednesday, August 31st only.

Posted by gleff at 11:48 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 22, 2005

A Repository of Information You'll Find on This Site and Elsewhere

QUICK PATHS TO STATUS ADVICE HUMOR MILEAGE BONUSES LINKS

Posted by gleff at 5:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 21, 2005

Bonus Points for Hilton Stays

Register by May 31 to earn 1000 bonus points on each of your next three Hilton stays between June 13 and September 30.

You need to be a National Car Rental Emerald Club member, you can join with the $50 fee waived here.

Posted by gleff at 5:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 20, 2005

I'm Such a Geek

This actually sounds like a fascinating way to spend a few days
    Card Forum is the largest event in the card industry, with nearly 1,000 card issuers, banks and service providers converging at the Omni Orlando Resort for three information-packed days of educational sessions and networking that focused on loyalty and multi-channel marketing, stored value/pre-paid, and credit and debit.

Posted by gleff at 7:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Is the Qantas Award Cupboard Bare?

Back in November I reported that Qantas had gutted its frequent flyer award chart, with awards increasing in price as much as 92% (Sydney to New York-JFK in First class was going up to 392,000 points)!

It should come as no surprise that Qantas frequent flyer members reacted to this news by booking as many international awards as they possibly could before the new point requirements went into effect, and as a result there are reports of very limited award availability -- that most of the international awards on Qantas have simply been snatched up.

It's difficult to know the real numbers without a systematic award search, but the theory itself seems plausible.

Posted by gleff at 4:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

$0 Fare from UK to US

Ripped from the FareAlert email list
    A great way to start the weekend... $0 base fare + taxes on American Airlines from London Gatwick and Manchester to Cleveland. Valid for travel from August 22-31, 2005.

    Bookable on Expedia and possibly other sites as well. Valid ONLY from the UK to the USA, not the other way around.

    Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434800 for more information.

Posted by gleff at 2:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2005

America West and USAirways to Merge

The press release is here.

As expected, USAirways is essentially being acquired by America West, though the airline will operate with the USAirways name.

Significant cash will be added to the merged airline through the deal, including $75 million from Air Canada. This participation suggests to me that the combined airline will be a member of the Star Alliance.

Of particular interest to me,

    $300 million in a signing bonus and a loan from prospective affinity credit card providers for the merged company. Negotiations with credit card companies are still in progress.
Bank of America currently issues the affinity cards for USAirways and America West both.

Now, this is the part of the press release that I simply don't believe:

    The $600 million in anticipated annual synergies are the result of route restructuring, revenue synergies and cost savings.
Heh. $600 million a year from synergies. What are they?
    Route restructuring synergies of approximately $150-200 million are created by reducing aircraft and unprofitable flying, better matching aircraft size to consumer demand by route and incorporating Hawaii service into the network.
Why were they flying unprofitable routes to begin with, and how does the merger overcome the problem? In part, fuel and labor costs drove this, and in part low cost competition. The merger doesn't really solve either of those. They can drop routes, but in many cases they choose not to because flying covers marginal costs but not the cost of capital. A merger doesn't change that dynamic.

Props to Randy Petersen, though, who predicted new Hawaii service by the combined carrier.

    Revenue synergies of $150-200 million are achieved by taking two largely regional airlines and creating one nationwide, low-cost carrier that can provide more choice for consumers when combined with improving connectivity across both airlines' networks and by increasing aircraft and other asset utilization.
Maybe. This one has some chance -- the bet is increasing returns to scale.
    Lastly, the combined airline expects to realize cost synergies of $250-300 million annually by reducing administrative overhead, consolidating both airlines' information technology systems and combining facilities.
Not bloody likely. Combining IT systems will probably be a hugely expensive proposition in the near and medium-term.

Posted by gleff at 6:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

XBox 360: the Next Free Electronics Offer

Gratis Internet, the people who brought you the free iPod and free digital camera, have a new promotion for a free X-box 360. These folks are seriously quick -- it was only unveiled a week ago. This thing has wireless controllers, HD gaming, iPod compatibility and online features out of the box.

Now, it won't ship for several months, but I'm hoping to be one of the first ones to get it through the Gratis free offer. After all, I've already finished all their other offers.

Posted by gleff at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What would a USAirways-America West Merger Mean for the Two Frequent Flyer Programs

Randy Petersen has a new post up on his blog, imagining what an America West-USAirways tie-up would mean for integration of the two airlines' frequent flyer programs.

He believes a merger or acquisition would be on the whole good for members

  • miles would be far safer
  • integration would happen over a couple of years with reciprocal space available upgrades for elites introduced quickly
  • new redemption options would be introduced
  • partners would be streamlined so some current relationships would disappear

Posted by gleff at 4:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Expedia Package Discount

Expedia is offering $100 off an American Airlines flight when you purchase a hotel together with it using coupon code SAVE100. Book by May 25 for travel through the end of the year.

Posted by gleff at 4:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 18, 2005

Deal in Vegas

Travelzoo has the Venetian from $100/night. That's the best price I've seen for the property outside of Priceline.

Posted by gleff at 1:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yummmmm

Had some pretty good dim sum for lunch today at Mark's Duck House. If you find yourself in Northern Virginia, it's worth going. Got out of there at $20 for two people.

And if you're in DC needing a hip place for dinner with good food and excellent service, recently I've been a big fan of IndeBleu. It's Indian-French fusion, decor is straight out of a W Hotel, and the staff were brought in from European charm schools. Outstanding, though a bit pricey. The biggest driver of cost is that the menu is set up as four courses. I keep it affordable by ordering a couple of second courses, using one as my main.

For what it's worth people seem to like my restaurant recommendations. A large contingent of my office came back from Miami raving about Las Culebrinas, a great little Cuban restaurant on the corner of 47th and Flagler. Clientele is mostly Cuban and the staff speaks mostly Spanish. Portions are huge and prices are low. Go to the one I recommend, not to their other location in Coral Gables.

Posted by gleff at 11:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Air Canada Aeroplan Spinoff May Be Imminent

Air Canada may be on the verge of spinning off its Aeroplan frequent flyer program with details being finalized as soon as the end of this week.

They tried this a couple years ago, but details of their bankruptcy and reorganization financing stood in the way.

Word is the program is being valued at about US$1.18 billion, down slightly from earlier estimates.

Posted by gleff at 8:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fly Free Faster Bonus is Back

Northwest's annual Fly Free Faster promotion is back. You can register now.

Fly Free Faster 5 offers 10,000 bonus miles for completing a qualifying activity and earning five partner credits between June 1 and September 30 (so hold your guns and don't go flying Northwest yet!).

Qualifying activities include:

  • taking two domestic roundtrips or one international roundtrip (or four or two one-ways, respectively) on Northwest or KLM
  • signing up and paying the fee for a Northwest Visa
  • purchasing a WorldClub membership
I've had the Northwest Visa and Northwest Business Visa in the past. I'm going to sign up for the Northwest Signature Visa, a new product, and earn the 15,000 bonus miles for the $90 annual fee.

You can earn two partner credits for each of:

  • new service with MCI, EarthLink, Nextel, or T-Mobile
  • real estate transaction with LendingTree
  • purchasing 5,000 or more miles from the WorldPerks Buy & Gift Miles program.
You can earn a single partner credit for each of:
  • stay at any qualifying hotel partner (and direct that stay to earn Northwest miles)
  • Rent from any qualifying car rental partner (and direct the rental car to earn Northwest miles)
  • Shop through the WorldPerks Mall (requires spending a minimum of $25 on a single item to qualify, you can earn one credit for each mall merchant)
  • Earn Northwest miles at an iDine restaurant (up to 3 credits for separate dines)
There are other partner options as well, and it's always best to check the actual terms and conditions of the offer first (and for that matter, print out a copy of your registration confirmation from Fly Free Faster Five as well).

I already know that I'll earn partner credits by transferring 1000 Goldpoints into 125 Northwest miles, probably transferring 1000 Diners Club Club Rewards points into 1000 Northwest miles, and then registering my new Northwest Signature Visa to earn Northwest miles at iDine restaurants, where I'll buy a beer or soda at three different establishments.

Posted by gleff at 8:03 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 17, 2005

Forced Rental Car Upsells?

Christopher Elliott writes in the New York Times about rental car companies claiming to be out of the class of car a customer reserves and attempting to charge an upgrade fee for the next level vehicle.

This has never happened to me, and it shouldn't happen to anyone.

After all, that's the very idea of a reservation, a point hammered home in an episode of Seinfeld

    Agent: I'm sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.

    Jerry: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

    Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

    Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation.

    Agent: I know why we have reservations.

    Jerry: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.

This hasn't ever happened to anyone that I know, but if it should happen to you, first insist on receiving the next higher car class at the same price -- the company has committed to provide you with X car type or better for Y dollars, that's well what they should deliver. Second, call the company's 800 number for assistance, you may get better help from the central office. Finally, consider taking the car and disputing the higher charge in writing with the car company and then with your credit card company.

The best prophylactic measure, as Elliott suggests, is to be a member of the car company's frequent renter program (e.g. Avis Preferred, Hertz #1 Gold) which is usually free. By having your membership number in the reservation, a car should be pre-assigned and you should be able to skip the checkin process altogether.

Avis Preferred is always free, and Preferred Select is available to anyone with an American Express Platinum card. I have one, though Avis didn't verify that fact when I called to upgrade my membership. Hertz charges a nominal fee for membership, but waives it for just about everyone (see here and here).

Posted by gleff at 7:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 16, 2005

People find this site in the strangest ways

Yesterday someone came to this website while searching for Singapore girls peeing.

Today someone found me looking for united airlines Stewardess strippers calendar.

At least in the latter case I help out. The website is down but here's the Google cache. Here's the news story:

    [F]ive women, ranging in age from 55 to 64, posed for a 2006 calendar that depicts them in various states of undress in front of a vintage plane, on a park bench and on a plane's wing, among other locations. Reflecting a mix of humor and anger, it was released to coincide with a bankruptcy court's approval this week of United's plan to terminate $9.8 billion in employee pension obligations.

    While United is never named nor its airplanes shown, every photograph in "Stewardesses Stripped (Of Their Pension?)" is accompanied by a zinger related to the record pension default by the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline.

    "Coffee, tea, or me without a pension?" reads one. "Marry me, fly free - but don't expect anything from my pension," says another. And the cover shot: "Are your butts covered? We thought ours were too."

Posted by gleff at 5:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Learning

A life skill I just didn't have before.

Posted by gleff at 5:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

25% Off Starwood Award Redemption for Platinums

Platinum members of Starwood Preferred Guest can redeem award nights for stays through August 31, 2005 for 25% off the usual points -- but the offer is valid for bookings made this week only.

Since these reservations are fully changeable/cancellable you'd be advised to make bookings you think you might need now.

Note that if you have to change the reservation later, you're likely to have to redeposit the award and book a new one at the usual point level.

Posted by gleff at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Daydreaming Scenario: What if United Went Out of Business?

It's terribly ironic that the federal government's (IMHO, correct) decision to deny United taxypayer backing for billion-dollar loan may have lead to the situation where the federal government is taking on an even larger liability for the airline's pensions.

Of course it's possible that providing the loan would still leave the government in the position of picking up the pensions also.

But United provides an interesting illustration of failed U.S. industrial policy. The airline has been operating under bankruptcy protection for two and a half years and continues to lose nine-figure sums each month. Despite cost-cutting and layoffs the airline has no path towards profitability, and labor relations are at a low point.

The airline has been kept afloat by the government, by the courts which have kept aircraft lessors at bay (though a recent ruling scales this back somewhat), and by the bankruptcy process itself which privileges obligations to repay new money for the carrier encouraging big bets with limited risk.

A piece in Sunday's New York Times asks who would even notice if the carrier were finally allowed to fail?

Airline employees would be hurt, left without jobs and at the mercy of the market. Airlines picking up United assets would in some case pick up employees as well. Union contracts disadvantage union employees switching carriers, as in most cases employees are paid based on seniority which they lose when switching employers. Unions would lose power but union members might benefit from a market system where employees could make lateral or even career-advancing moves between airlines.

While profitable routes would likely be picked up quickly by other carriers, and in the long run few passengers would be inconvenienced, those holding United tickets for immediate travel would face disruption at best. And unmentioned in the Times are the customers with a vested interest in the continuance of the carrier -- those with large frequent flyer balances. Airline elite members, with access to perks like international upgrades, can simply request a status match from most carriers they would choose to switch their business to. But large mileage balances could well be lost.

Posted by gleff at 7:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 14, 2005

2 Red Carpet Club Passes and Starwood Gold for $10

Ameniti, United's "Luxury Travel Club" (which is useless in almost every regard) is offering a 3-month trial membership for $10.

It comes with 2 United Red Carpet Club passes and Starwood Gold status, my best guess being through February 2007.

If you allow your membership to renew after 3 months for a $295 annual fee you'll receive 25,000 United miles. Otherwise, just cancel before 3 months are up.

Posted by gleff at 4:03 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

May 10, 2005

Honeymooning on Miles and Points

Here's a story about a husband and wife who took a month for their honeymoon and traveled around the world in business class -- all on frequent flyer miles, with most of the hotel nights paid for in Hilton HHonors points.
    We saw the famed sunset in Key West, sandy black shores around Tahiti, the Opera House and governor's mansion in Sydney, Bangkok's ornate Grand Palace, the Ancient Agora in Athens and Sorrento's Mediterranean Cliffs.

    We even got a personal marriage blessing from Pope John Paul II at the Vatican five months before he died

I'm not making as many stops on my own upcoming honeymoon, but will travel to more than one part of the world over three weeks - in first class, not business, and also all on points.

Posted by gleff at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Airline Elite Beyond Elite

Chris Elliott's latest column, published in today's New York Times is on airline status beyond the published benefits of elite frequent flyer programs.

The gist is that high spenders receive rewards greater than those provided to an airline's 100,000 mile flyers.

    On United and on other airlines, members of the secretive, invitation-only clubs are met at the airport by employees and whisked past the check-in line. They wait for their flights in unmarked V.I.P. lounges and are offered liberal upgrades and personalized attention by airline employees. And at a time when airlines are obsessed with improving their on-time records, it is not uncommon for a plane to be held for a super-elite member who is stuck in traffic.
Chris gets some of the details wrong. He says that the Global Services designation requires only $20,000 of spend in a year with United, but I know several flyers whose spending exceeded that amount but were not invited as UGS members.

He says that United Global Servics members get their upgrades confirmed at booking, which is only true when redeeming confirmable upgrade certificates or miles, a benefit no greater than that afforded to United's 100,000 mile flyers. UGS members do see their upgrades using 500 mile domestic certificates clear at 120 hours before departure, 20 hours in advance of United's 1K members.

He also mentions Continental's Chairman's Circle, but doesn't mention the larger "Star" designation which is separate from Platinum elite.

This top tier status is compared to the American Express Centurion Card, though the piece incorrectly states:

    And, like the super-elite status conferred by the airlines, the American Express Card is granted to those deemed deserving - never in response to a customer's request.
In fact, historically customers who have spent $150,000 in a year on their American Express Platinum card can request an invitation to Centurion. I understand that the required spend level is increasing to $250,000 in July.

Update: Christopher Elliott responds:

    Thanks for plugging today's story about super-elites. I was a little surprised when I caught the line about inaccuracies in the story -- until I read about my alleged errors.

    - "He says that the Global Services designation requires only $20,000 of spend in a year with United, but I know several flyers whose spending exceeded that amount but were not invited as UGS members."

    Didn't say that. I said "at least" $20,000 a year.

    - "He says that United Global Servics [sic] members get their upgrades confirmed at booking."

    Straight from a high-level source at United. And since none of these rules are publicly available, a difficult point to argue.

    - "He also mentions Continental's Chairman's Circle, but doesn't mention the larger "Star" designation which is separate from Platinum elite."

    Reliable sources at Continental could only confirm the existence of Chairman's Circle. Perhaps Star has faded?

    - "In fact, historically customers who have spent $150,000 in a year on their American Express Platinum card can request an invitation to Centurion.I understand that the required spend level is increasing to $250,000 in July."

    I can only tell you what Amex tells me about the black card, on the record. It's invitation-only.

Posted by gleff at 7:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 8, 2005

iPod Vending Machine

There's a vending machine in the Atlanta airport that sells iPods. I hadn't seen this. Though I don't like Hartsfield one bit, it's long had the best vending machines, especially for ice cream.

Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the pointer.

Posted by gleff at 6:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Federal Government Airport Screening Devices Don't Work

The federal government spent billions of dollars on screening devices that didn't work when it took over airport security. It didn't make us any safer, but it made us feel safer
    "After 9/11, we had to show how committed we were by spending hugely greater amounts of money than ever before, as rapidly as possible," said Representative Christopher Cox, a California Republican who is the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. "That brought us what we might expect, which is some expensive mistakes. This has been the difficult learning curve of the new discipline known as homeland security."
How bad are the screening systems?
    Customs officials at Newark have nicknamed the devices "dumb sensors," because they cannot discern the source of the radiation. That means benign items that naturally emit radioactivity - including cat litter, ceramic tile, granite, porcelain toilets, even bananas - can set off the monitors.

    Alarms occurred so frequently when the monitors were first installed that customs officials turned down their sensitivity. But that increased the risk that a real threat, like the highly enriched uranium used in nuclear bombs, could go undetected because it emits only a small amount of radiation or perhaps none if it is intentionally shielded.

...
    The port's follow-up system, handheld devices that are supposed to determine what set off an alarm, is also seriously flawed. Tests conducted in 2003 by Los Alamos National Laboratory found that the handheld machines, designed to be used in labs, produced a false positive or a false negative more than half the time. The machines were the least reliable in identifying the most dangerous materials, the tests showed.
...
    The Transportation Security Administration bought 1,344 machines costing more than $1 million each to search for explosives in checked bags by examining the density of objects inside. But innocuous items as varied as Yorkshire pudding and shampoo bottles, which happen to have a density similar to certain explosives, can set off the machines, causing false alarms for 15 percent to 30 percent of all luggage, an agency official said. The frequent alarms require airports across the country to have extra screeners to examine these bags.
Now the government wants to go back to the drawing board and spend billions again.

Posted by gleff at 6:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 7, 2005

Free Magazines

Some free magazine subscriptions available:

Posted by gleff at 5:45 AM | Comments (1)

Miles for Baseball Tickets

Continental is offering tickets to a Houston Astros game on May 19 for 25 miles apiece, limit 4. Offer expires May 12.

(Hat tip Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

Posted by gleff at 4:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Triple United Dining Miles

Register to earn triple United miles at the first three iDine restaurants you eat at by June 30, up to 3000 bonus miles.

A credit card set up to earn United miles for dining and an online iDine profile are required.

(Okay, I can't stop calling it iDine, I'll never manage to refer to it as RewardsNetwork. But at least I've stopped calling it Transmedia.)

Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.

Posted by gleff at 4:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 6, 2005

300 Free Priority Club Points

Receive 300 Priority Club points for requesting a price quote through FordDirect.com.

Posted by gleff at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More Intercontinental Hotels with Presidential Suites Available as Awards

Following on the recent spate of Presidential Suites available for award redemption at Intercontinental hotel properties (using the standard room 30,000 Priority Club points per night rate, see here and here), Flyertalk's Savage25 surveyed all the Intercontinental hotels to see where this glitch is currently coming up. The report:
    For kicks, I tried a random date in October for reward nights at all ICs. ICs that are out of the way seem to have great redemption deals.

    Figures are Best Flexible rates for the respective room types on the date of redemption.

    Asia
    ====

    IC THE GRAND PALACE SRINAGAR
    KING PRESIDENTIAL SUITE $1,000



    Middle East and Africa
    ==========

    INTERCONTINENTAL DOHA
    1 KING BED DIPLOMATIC SUITE $563

    INTERCONTINENTAL RIYADH
    1 KING EXECUTIVE SUITE $933

    MASSARAH TAIF INTERCONTINENTAL
    1KNG 1QN 2 BEDROOM ROYAL SUITE $1,119
    2 KING 3 TWIN BED VIP VILLA $1,279

    PALAZZO JOHANNES. MONTECASINO JOHANNESBURG
    1 KING BED SUITE $458

    INTERCONTINENTAL ABU DHABI
    ONE BEDROOM GULF SUITE $1,225

    IC RESORT AL AIN, UAE
    1 KING BED EMIRATES SUITE SMOKING $326

    INTERCONTINENTAL ASTANA KAZAKHSTAN
    1 KNG BD PRESIDENTIAL STE CITY VIEW $2,750


    Latin America
    ===========

    InterContinental SANTIAGO
    1 KING BED PRESIDENTIAL SUITE $1,500

    InterContinental TEQUENDAMA BOGOTA
    1 KING 2 TWIN BEDS PRESIDENTIAL SUITE $450

    Real InterContinental Metrocentro Managua, Nicaragua
    1 KING BED PRESIDENTIAL SUITE $600

    InterContinental DEL LAGO MARACAIBO
    2 KING BED ROOM SUITE SINAMAICA $540

Better go get redeeming!

Posted by gleff at 11:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Completed all my free electronics offers

I've completed all my requirements for the free digital camera from Gratis Networks (the free iPod folks).

Actually I've completed everything for all of their free electronics offers, and am waiting to receive only the digital camera and the Playstation Portable.

For those of you who need to complete a marketing offer for one of these promotions, I notice that both eFax Plus and consumerinfo are currently on the offers list. Both offer 30 day free trials. Thirty day trials are the best because you have plenty of time to get credit for the offer and cancel without being under a time gun. Nothing is shipped, so you don't even have to pay for shipping. I've used both of these before and had no problems with cancellation. (eFax offers cancellation via online chat, and I was able to just save a copy of the chat transcript.. just in case.)

Another offer that's actually worth something in its own right is from Blockbuster for their unlimited rentals by mail service (a la Netflix).

You're on the hook for $9.95 even if you cancel but is actually something that can be worth having, plus they give some nice coupons.

Still, I like the eFax and consumerinfo offers.

Posted by gleff at 8:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 3, 2005

25 Delta Miles per Dollar at FTD

While my favorite miles-for-flowers offer is FTD's ongoing 30 United miles per dollar spent, it's worth noting that FTD is also offering 25 Delta miles per dollar spent.

The Delta offer is a Mother's Day promotion. The e-mail from Delta announcing the offer says it will expire May 15, but the webpage itself doesn't seem to mention a deadline -- and if experience is any guide, the offer may still work past the stated deadline.

Posted by gleff at 5:26 PM | TrackBack

Earn Delta Silver Medallion Status With a Single Flight

Delta is offering Silver status for a single paid flight from any one of 14 cities:
    Binghamton, NY, Burlington, VT, Buffalo, NY, Charlotte, NC, Erie, PA, Wilmington, NC, Harrisburg/Middleton, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Providence, RI, Richmond, VA, Rochester, NY, State College, PA, Syracuse, NY
Register and fly by July 15.

Posted by gleff at 4:50 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 2, 2005

When First Class is Really Coach

I don’t usually fly American. With the exception of an American Eagle flight booked as a Northwest codeshare in late 2004, I haven’t been on American metal in nearly two and a half years. And my review is this -- American Airlines’ domestic first class can be summed up with a your choice of two words: either “ghetto” or simply “coach.”

One three of four flight segments, no pre-departure beverages were served. No coats were taken. The MD80 seats are incredibly worn and dirty. Pen markings are on display everywhere, and on one flight duct tape was holding the meal tray cover onto my seat.

The ‘meals’ they’re serving look like the food that used to be offered in coach. And by used to I’m not harkening back to the long-gone days at the beginning of the Jet Age, or offering fond remembrances of the regulated era. I’m talking about the food that was served in coach in 2002.

Flight one offered pizza or a roast beef sandwich as a ‘snack’. The pizza was small and despite the description as “Uno’s Deep Dish” it was actually more like an English Muffin Toaster Pizza or something that would be microwaved out of the freezer from the Schwann truck. “Dessert” was a shrink-wrapped package of cookies.

Flight two I had the chicken breast. It was the length of my index finger. Dessert was an ice cream sundae with freezer burn.

Flight three brought chicken strips or pizza again. This time I tried the chicken strips, served with overdone pasta beneath congealed sauce. There was a hair in my salad.

Flight four was pizza or roast beef (surprise!).

On each flight someone reclined their seatback all the way into me. I couldn’t take out my laptop, hence nothing was written to post over the weekend (sorry!).

Changing planes in Dallas I watched luggage truck after luggage truck drop bags on the tarmac, and no one came to collect them. At one point there were half a dozen errant suitcases strewn about, having fallen off the tops of trucks.

True, domestic first class isn’t generally anything to write home about. I’m really looking forward to my first class flight on Qantas next month, at least by comparison. Northwest offers an even tighter pitch on some of its aircraft. America West food is probably worse. USAirways isn’t any better. Frankly, though, I haven’t ever seen anything this bad up front on either United or Continental.

One interesting sidenote. US domestic airlines insist on calling their premium cabin ‘first class’ whereas in most of the world a slightly bigger seat and a meal of some sort would be called ‘business class’. Believe it or not, that terminology can have consequences. If you wanted to redeem British Airways miles for a domestic flight in business class, it would be 50,000 points. But since American and Alaska call their cabins ‘first’ British Airways requires 75,000 points for the flight. One of the stranger things out there, thus I can’t imagine domestic US premium class travel is a frequent redemption choice for BA miles.

Posted by gleff at 10:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack