November 27, 2007

Virgin America Promo - Companions Fly Free

Virgin America is offering a free companion with a paid ticket.

Book an itinerary for two and use promo code DIGGNATION by December 7, 2007 for travel through March 19, 2008 (with December 19, 2007 through January 6, 2008 and February 14, 15 and 18, 2008.blacked out for travel with this promo).

Posted by gleff at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2007

Additional 30% Off Clearance Items at Polo.com

Many of these are summer items, to be sure, but I did just stock up.

Through October 8th, promo code SALELC takes an additional 30% off of sale prices on clearance items.

Posted by gleff at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

$10 off $10 from JC Penney

Pay with your Visa card and use promo code VISATEN for a $10 discount on orders of $10 or more through September 26th. The game, of course, is to find items right at $10. You still pay shipping, unfortunately, and JC Penney doesn't let you use more than one promo code on an order (so no free shipping codes with this deal). But enjoy nonetheless...

They even have a clearance page of items under $10, but many of those won't work with this deal, clearance items and this coupon are very much a 'your mileage may vary.'

Posted by gleff at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

$200 off hotels at Orbitz

Orbitz is offering $200 off five nights at hotels outside the U.S. using promo code 200INTL. Requires booking by September 30.

When you go to Orbitz, choose hotel and then 'expand search options' so you see the box to enter the promotion code.

Posted by gleff at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)

September 9, 2007

Purchase TACA Miles at 1.25 cents apiece

Through October 1, TACA is selling miles in its Distancia program at half-off. Normally 2.5 cents a mile, they're selling at 1.25 cents a mile.

• Minimum purchase required: 1,000 Miles
• If you wish to buy more than 32,000 Miles, Please make another transaction. You can make as many transactions as you like.
• *Prices do NOT include local taxes

There appears to be no limit to the amount of miles you can buy. However, it also appears that the website hasn't been updated yet to allow purchase of the miles at the discounted price. I imagine that will be fixed shortly.

TACA partners with both United and Iberia, however it appears as though redemptions on those carriers can only be done in coach (making miles purchase less of a good deal). You can fly non-stop from Washington-Dulles to Buenos Aires, for example, but only in coach. Business class redemptions actually need to be done on TACA, which will frequently involve connections. And despite the award chart including business class levels to Asia, it doesn't actually seem possible to accomplish such a reward.

Still, for folks interested in redeeming in premium cabins on TACA and Avianca, this seems an excellent deal. TACA Distancia miles do expire after 12 months of account inactivity, however, so only load up on miles if you're certain you can extend the life of your account (and not being all that familiar with the Distancia program myself, I do not know what kinds of account activity qualify).

Discussion of the deal on Flyertalk is here.

Posted by gleff at 7:56 AM | Comments (0)

August 4, 2007

$313 all-in - Los Angeles to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Los Angeles (LAX) to Phnom Penh (PNH) on China Airlines (CI). Change planes in Tapei. Bookable at Travelocity. Non-refundable, non-changeable. Usual fare is ~ $1000.

Travel on the outbound transpacific sector must commence between 5 September and 4 November, so there's just a two month window for travel.

If you have Priority Club points you could pair this deal with a special at the Phnom Penh Intercontinental, which is showing up as a "Point Breaks" hotel at only 5000 points a night instead of the usual 40,000.

Or you could travel a bit farther to Siem Reap and see Angkor Wat. Personally this is another one I'm not taking advantage of. I'd first have to buy airfare to Los Angeles. I don't have any means to upgrade on China Airlines. CI travel earns 100% of flown miles -- but not elite qualifying miles -- on Delta (80% on Northwest).

Flyertalk Discussion here.

Posted by gleff at 6:10 AM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2007

Hotel deal in North Queensland, Australia

Flyertalk's lemex has posted a new hotel deal at his website.

$50/night - Heron Island - Great Barrier Reef - Australia


Voyages Heron Island, Heron Island, Australia. Turtle Room with buffet breakfast for 2 people. $50/night. Availability is wide open from now to the end of March 2008. This rate is bookable for a maximum of 3 consecutive nights. Book multiple consecutive 3-night stays if you want to stay longer. The actual rate is $66/night, but enter Promotional Code "HOTEL50" and use your MasterCard and you will save $50 on each 3-night stay, bringing down the cost to about $50/night. Regular rate for Turtle room is AUD370 (about $320 US). Explore the resort at heronisland.com but book this mistake rate on travelocity.com.

But check out the reviews at TripAdvisor much of which are excellent but point out that this resort won't be for everyone.

Posted by gleff at 1:53 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2007

Tumi Summer Sale

Tumi's summer sale is back -- up to 40% off on discontinued items and colors. Tumi is great luggage, highly recommended, but bear in mind that even on sale it isn't cheap.

And don't forget that Tumi is in the AAdvantage Mall...

Posted by gleff at 7:43 PM | Comments (1)

June 16, 2007

$96 + tax, surcharges: DC, Chicago, or Miami to Guatemala City

It's on American Airlines. Bummer that there's $130 in fuel charges and another $60 in US and Guatemala departure/arrival taxes. Brings the total price to around $330.

Fare basis is QEA14L5K. 14 day advance purchase required. Valid for travel on or after June 19, completed by November 15. Must purchase by June 20 (unless it's pulled first.).

Posted by gleff at 5:54 AM | Comments (1)

May 17, 2007

40% Off Bedding at W Hotel Store

Via Slickdeals.net, the W Hotels Store is offering 40% on their beds and bedding through May 31 with promo code WE4XT.

I got in on a similar offer back in March, and am very pleased with my purchase. My understanding is that W properties use the plush top mattress with a featherbed, rather than the softer pillowtop that's also on sale here. But preferences will vary.

Posted by gleff at 7:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2007

Orbitz Hotel Coupons

TripAdvisor is offering a $50 off Orbitz coupon good on a 3+ night hotel stay or vacation package.

In addition, Orbitz promo code PRIDE100 offers $100 off on a 5 or more night hotel stay or $40 off on a 3-4 night stay.

These presumably work only on 'OrbitzSaver' hotel rates, though I haven't ploughed through the relevant terms and conditions to verify.

The Pride offer is part of their Gay and Lesbian travel deals, but anyone can use the savings (the booking engine lacks appropriate gaydar).

Posted by gleff at 6:47 AM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2007

$1480 business class fare, LA/San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand

United has blown it with a decimal point -- San Francisco or Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand was supposed to be $10,620+tax for full fare business but got published (fare basis CNZ) as $1062+tax or about $1480 all-in.

The fare works to Christchurch, New Zealand as well.

This is available at Orbitz, Expedia, United.com, and some other places.

You have to fly LA or San Francisco to Sydney on United and then any carrier (Air New Zealand, Qantas, Emirates, Thai, LAN) on to Auckland (for the Auckland fare).

It doesn't appear to allow stopovers in Sydney -- just connections. While the fare says 'unlimited stopovers' it is apparently a mileage-based fare, so stopovers cause a "HIP check" aka a check for the highest fare to any stopover and causes the price to jump accordingly (a stopover in Sydney prices the fare at the more expensive Sydney business class roundtrip price).

It's full fare business class, fully refundable (and in theory changeable, but that may require exchanging for the then-current higher fare). Of course, when searching for this fare you need to specify business class!

Available through the end of the schedule (return flights available up to 330 days from now).

Naturally, UPGRADEABLE TO FIRST with miles (30,000 each way) or systemwide upgrades.

This fare looks to be on the way out, won't be around much longer, and in truth has been around for at least a day and a half. I learned about it over a day ago and shared it with some people directly, but had to commit to the person passing it along that I wouldn't post anything about it. (Sorry, folks!) But now it's been posted on Flyertalk so I feel free to share it here as well.

Posted by gleff at 7:01 PM | Comments (3)

April 4, 2007

First Class Norfolk, Virginia to/from San Francisco for $368 round trip

It's available in either direction and it's refundable. Search for first class tickets at delta.com or expedia.

There's no minimum or maximum stay, these are actually one-way fares ($368 is just the all-in roundtrip price, although may vary slightly depending on the connections you make). It's a refundable YUP fare, fare basis YUPBV.

Discussed on Flyertalk here.

Posted by gleff at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)

February 4, 2007

Because it isn't cold enough outside

Cold Stone Creamery is offering buy one get one free with coupon through the end of February.

Posted by gleff at 6:21 AM | Comments (0)

February 1, 2007

W Hotels Store Warehouse Sale

For seven days the W Hotels Store is having a Warehouse Sale. Lots of junk, a few decent items, advertised as "up to 80% off."

Posted by gleff at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

$34 off on JetBlue

The Upgrade: Travel Better blog points to a $34 roundtrip (or $17 each way) discount promotion on JetBlue.

Start your flight search via their promo page and enter SEVENTEEN in the "promotion password" box. (Apparently teenage girls are worthy of an airfare discount.)

The promotion is valid for travel through February 14.

Posted by gleff at 9:33 AM | Comments (0)

December 28, 2006

Tumi Winter Sale

Tumi, my favorite luggage brand, is having their winter sale -- up to 40% off on discontinued styles and colors. This seems to come twice a year (most recently back in June) and items are available until they sell out.

Even with the sale this isn't cheap luggage. You won't find any $35 wheeled carryons here. But Tumi is outstanding for the frequent business traveler.

Posted by gleff at 5:42 AM | Comments (1)

November 12, 2006

Free Hotel Nights from Travelocity

Travelocity has a coupon offering $50 off a two-night 'Travelocity GoodBuy' hotel stay booked by November 30th (requires paying with Mastercard). Promo code is HOTEL50.

If the discount code doesn't work for you it's likely that you have a Travelocity affiliate cookie on your computer (eg you clicked on a Travelocity link somewhere, such as from a cashback mall). Travelocity won't let you use the coupon and pay someone a commission on the booking at the same time, so you need to delete these cookies for this to work.

There's a current Flyertalk thread on hotel stays you can get for free via this promo, mostly centered on Las Vegas properties.

As one Flyertalk member observed, "just because the icon "Use MasterCard® and SAVE $50!" is not listed with a GoodBuy hotel... the promo most likely works (NOT all but MOST I've found in my extensive searches)."

Posted by gleff at 3:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2006

Las Vegas - Caesars Palace - $20/night

Priceline has Caesars Palace at $20. I assume it was intended to be $200.

This is not their 'name your own price' product -- when you go to Priceline.com and search for Las Vegas hotels the system first brings up a conventional booking engine. Look uder four star properties in the "Strip - Fremont Area" and you'll see Caesars Palace at $20.

It's prepaid, but you can cancel for a refund minus $25 fee.

If you don't see the rate for the date(s) you're looking for try different dates, the 'priceline special rate' may be sold out.

Being discussed on Flyertalk.

Posted by gleff at 4:55 AM | Comments (0)

September 9, 2006

Restaurant Deals from Flyertalk

Flyertalk's S.P.A.M. forum is home to discussion of off-beat or nontraditional loyalty programs, such as e-Rewards and other programs offering miles for surveys and clicking. Then there are also loyalty programs that have nothing to do with the travel industry. And sometimes freebies slip in. Some recent mentions there include restaurant offers --

Red Lobster has a Overboard Club loyalty program, sign up and get a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of 2 adult entrees.

McCormick and Schmick has a loyalty program as well. It costs $25 to join but you get a $25 dining certificate plus program benefits --

• Priority seating (call ahead for the next available, non-reserved table)
• For your birthday, you'll receive a certificate for a complimentary entree
• Complimentary dessert with dinner (150 points)
• McCormick & Schmick's Cookbook (500 points)
• Lunch for two (500 points)
• Dinner for two (1,000 points)
• Dinner for six at Chef's table (4,000 points)
• Private 2-hour cocktail and appetizer reception for 20 people (10,000 points)
• Oregon Wine Country 3-day trip for two (20,000 points)

You get 200 points for paying your $25 membership fee with a Mastercard.

Morton's also has their $99 steak and seafood dinner for 2 through September 30th. You get steak, shrimp or crab, salad, vegetable, and dessert. Most locations are participating (the earlier similar offer for $89 had only a few locations).

It's my birthday next week and I've been getting lots of free meal offers and discounts, my inbox is full from the likes of Red Robin, Hard Times Chili, and Silver Diner...

Posted by gleff at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2006

$51 for the Conrad Bangkok's Presidential Suite

I'm betting this deal will not be honored -- just my gut -- but the Conrad in Bangkok is showing up at $16/night for a suite and $51/night for the Presidential Suite. Discussion over at Flyertalk.

You can book a prepaid reservation at Priceline (using their conventional booking tool, not their "Name Your Own Price" bidding system). This can also be found on Travelocity and American Express Travel without prepaying.

Prepaid bookings might have a better chance of being honored, but as with all these things there are no guarantees. I'm betting name changes and date changes certainly will not be allowed if the deal is honored at all. So choose a booking, get in on the offer if you wish, and then wait and see. Certainly don't book other prepaid travel around this stay until it's certain whether or not the deal is being honored.

Posted by gleff at 7:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 31, 2006

$25 room nights at the La Quinta Resort & Club

According to this thread on Flyertalk and this thread and others at Biddingfortravel.com, La Quinta Resort & Club is coming up on Priceline for $40 when bidding for a resort in the "Rancho Mirage-Indian Wells-Palm Desert" zone... and $25 when bidding for a three-star hotel in this same zone.

Priceline has been known to set minimums for successful bids at a particular quality level. It looks like there's a rate of as low as $25, but when bidding for a resort Priceline rejects bids under $40. There aren't any three star properties willing to accept anything even close to $25, so Priceline 'upgrades' you to a resort when bidding on a three star property.

My hunch is that La Quinta loaded a Priceline rate of $250, err they meant to load a $250 rate, and loaded it as $25 instead. The mistake has been around since Saturday but still appears to be working.

This is a legendary property living off its past glory, but regularly commands room rates over $400 a night so at $25 or $40 it's a steal.

As always one must be fairly savvy, read the relevant discussions, and know what you're doing when bidding on Priceline. But this one is worth looking into. (And of course, bid via fatwallet.com for a 3% kickback.)

Not likely to last long...

Posted by gleff at 9:01 PM | Comments (1)

July 7, 2006

20% off on hotel rooms I wouldn't stay in

SmarterTravel is featuring 20% off at Choice hotels (Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Clarion Inn..).

At least you earn points.

Posted by gleff at 7:17 PM | Comments (2)

July 2, 2006

Amazon Groceries Discount

I realize I've been well outside the real of frequent flying with the last few posts, but for folks who travel so much it seems like there's never any time to go to the grocery store I just thought I'd note that Amazon.com now sells groceries, and through August 31 is offering $10 off a $49 order with coupon code GROCERY2 in addition to free super saver shipping on orders of $25 or more. Details here.

Update: If you're hitting $25 for free shipping anyway, why not add a 79 cent PDA case?

Posted by gleff at 6:29 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2006

Amazon discount on travel apparel

Amazon is having a sale on 'travel apparel' although their idea of what people wear while traveling (as opposed to other times) is anachronistic at best.

Still, coupon code wetravel takes $20 off an $80 qualifying order, and I picked up a few pairs of pants at a nice discount.

• Lee Jeans Men's Wrinkle Resistant Relaxed Double Pleat Pant $38 on sale for $21.99 before coupon
• Tommy Hilfiger Men's Pleated Trousers $49.50 on sale for $17.89 before coupon

Also available are

• Tommy Hilfiger Men's Flat Front Trousers $49.50 on sale for $17.89 before coupon
• Lee Jeans Men's Wrinkle Resistant Relaxed Plain Front Pant $38-$41 on sale for $21.99-$24.99 before coupon

This SlickDeals.net thread also has a list of several shirts that qualify, though none appealed to me.

Posted by gleff at 7:40 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

Almost free maps at Rand McNally

Randy McNally is offering $10 off with no minimum purchase, as part of a promotion with La Quinta.

This was posted on Flyertalk with a suggestion to buy a map of Cyprus to coincide with all the folks going on the Alitalia fare glitch. Alas, the Cyprus map is temporarily out of stock. But plenty of other possibilities abound.

Update: Link no longer appears to be working.

Posted by gleff at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2006

Hotel Discount Codes

Orbitz is offering $50 Off hotel bookings of 3 or more nights. Discount code is 831750. It's valid for stays through April 30th but the booking must be made by March 22.

This presumably applies only to OrbitzSaver prepaid hotel deals.

Meanwhile, Travelocity is offering $10 off "Good Buy" hotels with code HTL10. This can be used even on a single night stay, but can only be used once per Travelocity account (except for Travelocity VIPs who can use it an unlimited number of times).

Flyertalk member CalItalian reported these discounts and noted, regarding the $50 Orbitz coupon,

Best deals I found were weeknights in Reno or Laughlin, NV. 3*, 3 night stay with coupon for $25 to $28 plus tax.

Posted by gleff at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2006

Site59 Coupon Code

Site59, the last minute travel package discounter, is offering $59 off on packages of $700 or more through April 30 with discount code SITE59GETAWAY.

Posted by gleff at 9:00 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

Free Hotel Nights at Holidy Inn Phuket

The Holiday Inn Resort Phuket has THB0.01 rates available for a standard room. That's basically 'free'. Rate appears to be available beginning May 1 through the end of October, 2006.

Property seems very well regarded for a Holiday Inn.

You can find the rate at the Holiday Inn website.

As always, your mileage may vary on whether the hotel honors this. So don't book any non-refundable airfare until we learn for sure. Related Flyertalk.com thread is here.

Update 2:26pm Eastern: The rate is still available. It is also bookable at Travelocity. Some rates are prepaid, others are not, in either case there's not a huge change of this being honored in my view but it might be.

One approach would be to make prepaid reservations at both sites.

Additionally, the online booking guarantee on the Holiday Inn website promises that the hotel will pay for your first night's lodging at another comparable property if it cannot honor your booking. One suggestion on Flyertalk was to make several consecutive one-night reservations.

Posted by gleff at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2006

$29 at the Regent Kuala Lumpur

Courtesy of Free Traveling, the Regent Kuala Lumper -- a very nice property -- is available for $29 a night

$29/night - The Regent Kuala Lumpur The Regent Kuala Lumpur, 160 Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. $29/night. Feb 13, 17, 20, 23, 25, 27, March 2, 7, 12, 15, 17, 22, Apr 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, May 1, 6, 11, and other dates. Book on travelocity.com.

Now, the hotel is usually available for just under $100 usually, so this one isn't worth making a special trip for. Still, a great value!

Posted by gleff at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2005

Massive SAS Award Discount TODAY ONLY

Some 80,000 mile awards between Europe and Asia are on sale today for 25,000 miles.

We wish you all dear members a Merry Christmas and to celebrate we've got a super offer for you today on bonus flights with SAS between Scandinavia and Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. The deal is out there and are going quickly, valid only if you book today!

...

Rules and conditions for our Christmas offer

• Only bookable today 00.00CET until 23.59CET, December 24, 2005.

• Travel between January 1 - 31, 2006

• Children receive the same discount 25 000 points

• Only available in Economy and the number of seats available is limited

• Only SAS operated flights and on new reservations only

• You can book this offer online and we will reward you with 500 Extra points per booking

• If you have a combined card with EuroBonus and MasterCard or Diners Club, you get a 500 points discount per adult and 250 points per child (2-17 years) when booking online

• EuroBonus general membership conditions apply

Posted by gleff at 4:32 AM | Comments (0)

December 5, 2005

20% off at W Hotel Store

The W Hotel Store is offering 20% off everything through December 9 with code P4X8A.

Posted by gleff at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

September 9, 2005

Overstock Coupon Link

Overstock.com is offering 12% off entire orders for first-time buyers through September 30th.

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

August 21, 2005

$9/night hotel outside Washington, DC

Ripped from Flyertalk, not yet on FareAlert:

Several nights can be booked at $9/night (double occupancy) at www.ramada.com at the following hotel:

Ramada Inn New Carrollton/DC Area
8500 Annapolis Road
New Carrollton, Maryland 20784

Not valid for all dates, but you will find the $9 rate mostly for weekdays. Seems to be valid from now until August 2006.

This hotel is a decent distance outside of DC but appears to offer a shuttle to the metro. It's a Ramada but looks quite decent as a basic hotel room.

Posted by gleff at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2005

How to earn a rebate on Priceline now that eBay Anything Points is ending?

With the demise of the eBay Anything Points program, it looks like the best kickback deal on Priceline purchases is now Ebates which offers a 3% cash rebate.

They'll give you $5 for signing up, too, though they won't cash out the $5 until you've earned an additional $5.01 through purchases.

They also give $5 to you for each person you refer (so if you use my link above, we each get $5) but again you can't cash this out until you've earned $5.01 in shopping rebates. Not hard at all, a single Priceline purchase of $167 gets you there for instance.

Ebates is not the only way to earn something for Priceline purchases, to be sure, it just looks to me to be the best remaining deal.

• AirMilesMart gives 1 point for every 2 dollars spent, equivalent in my mind to a 0.75% rebate.

• MyPoints gives 2 points per dollar spent, which can then be redeemed 2:1 into United miles -- so you're earning 1 United mile per dollar, but you can't convert until you've earned 5000 MyPoints.

• Upromise offers a 2% rebate.

If you have thoughts on a return better than EBates 3%, please let me know and I'll post about it here. But I've looked around and haven't found anything better yet... Thanks!

Posted by gleff at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2005

Cheap Vegas Hotel Night

Mandalay Bay hotel is available on Orbitz for $20 the night of August 29th. It's a prepaid Summer of Fun rate which should include a $25 dining credit and 50% off passes to the spa.

No other night appears to have this same rate, and the deal won't last long.

Posted by gleff at 8:06 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2005

NetBank Offer Improves

Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles, NetBank has improved its offer for United, Delta, and America West miles. If I recall correctly, the maximum points earned used to be 7000 and is now 9000.

Priority Club points are also still available with no change in offer.

NetBank offers a decent free checking account, I actually have one myself, but beware of odd fees triggered by inactivity over 3 months and closing the account within six months.

My main checking account remains BankDirect, which has helped me to earn over 70,000 American Airlines miles in the past two years. It has much richer offers than NetBank, but only makes sense for someone who can maintain a minimum checking account balance of $2500.

There's a 1000 mile bonus for being referred by an existing accountholder, I'm happy to refer you just email me (I get an extra 1000 miles as well).

Posted by gleff at 4:18 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2005

$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

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

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

April 26, 2005

Cashing in on Pricing Errors

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) carries a piece this morning offering a recent history of pricing errors, "Consumers Race to Cash In On Flurry of Pricing Errors That Some Are Honoring"

In recent weeks, sharp-eyed consumers have spotted a number of travel pricing mistakes -- including several $1.86 US Airways flights, and a $51 flight to Fiji on Travelocity -- and have raced to cash in.

Pricing mistakes are a growing headache for travel companies since consumers are increasingly able and willing use the Internet to quickly spot and snap up low prices. As a result, it is getting easier for them to take advantage of pricing slip-ups that happen often when prices are updated in real time before the company can correct the mistake. For instance, in less than a half-day, about 1,000 mispriced US Airways tickets were bought before the airline caught on.

...

This month, for instance, London's luxurious Lanesborough Hotel mistakenly sold rooms online for £35, or about $67, instead of £350. The Lanesborough, a Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. property, gave people who had booked one reservation each at the low rate, up to a three-night maximum -- but excluded perks like airport car transfers.

The recent round of snafus started in early April, when Sabre Holdings Corp.'s Travelocity was selling an Air Pacific flight from the West Coast to Fiji at $51, including all taxes and fees. (It was supposed to be a companion fare.)

...

In the case of the Lanesborough Hotel, within 10 hours of posting the price, 34 people made 86 reservations -- in at least one case, for a block of 30 nights, the hotel says. At first, the hotel offered to rebook the customers at £350. About 24 hours later, Starwood backed down and offered the three-night compromise. (Customers who reserved through Cendant Corp.'s Orbitz got all the extras, including daily breakfast with champagne upon arrival.)

A couple of days later, US Airways started selling a $1.86 (plus taxes) roundtrip fare originating or arriving in eight minor-market cities, including Lebanon, N.H. and Hilton Head, S.C. The company says about 1,000 tickets were sold and it has decided to honor them.

...

In 2001 at the W Times Square hotel in New York, a Starwood property, a rate was listed as $25 instead of $250. The hotel honored it because only 250 rooms were booked. The following year, when Starwood's Bora Bora Resort & Spa mispriced some luxury bungalows at about $85 rather than $850 and 136 people booked 2,631 rooms, the company struck a bargain: It told guests it could sell the rooms for $531.

As the piece observes,

[I]n an era in which low airfares are proliferating, and rock-bottom promotional prices on travel are commonplace, sometimes it can be tough to tell what is real and what isn't.

True enough. Yesterday's AU$1 rate at a Melbourne, Australia hotel appeared on Priceline's (non-bidding) hotel search site. William Shatner advertises phenomenal deals, and I've seen legitimate $5 rooms on Priceline (and even legitimate $13 rooms in Vegas booked directly with the hotel).

Ryanair in Europe has been known to sell flights for a $1 as well. So while we may 'know it when we see it' when an error rate pops up, it can't really be incumbent upon the consumer to tell the difference between a promotion and a mistake.

Furthermore, consumer mistakes aren't treated all that lightly by most travel providers. United aside -- if you book directly with them you have 24 hours to cancel a nonrefundable reservation -- if you buy a ticket for the wrong date or flight or city you're generally on the hook for change fees in a best case scenario. Those are the rules that airlines and hotels offering pre-paid rooms often apply, and should stick to them as well.

As I mentioned recently, when money hasn't yet changed hands there's a good likelihood that a deal won't be honored. The Bora Bora Nui rate is one example, along with the Thai Airways $0 first class fare from London to Bangkok (which required in-person ticketing), and it looks like the AU$1 Melbourne hotel will be another example.

Money changing hands, though, is not a guarantee that a deal will be honored -- and as the W Times Square offer shows it isn't always required in order for a deal to be accepted either. But in my experience it's a good predicter.

Posted by gleff at 7:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 25, 2005

Great Vegas Hotel Rate

The Venetian is running a special for weekdays at $100 a night from July through September.

May and June is available at $149, and weekends are available at $199.

Posted by gleff at 3:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Basics of Priceline

Leigh Witchel has an extensive tutorial on Priceline bidding strategies.

It's a good basic introduction, with a nice discussion of advanced rebidding techniques. (Biddingfortravel.com had a more complicated version a couple of years ago where I first picked up the technique -- Leigh's is simpler to understand.)

Posted by gleff at 2:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

78 Cents for a 5-Star Hotel in Melbourne, Australia

TravelWeb, Priceline's non-opaque booking site, has The Langham Hotel for AU$1.00 (roughly US$0.78). It's fully cancellable and changeable.

This was a deal that went out over a FareAlert email. I've booked a room myself. Flyertalk discussion is here.

Just go on over to TravelWeb, search for hotels in Melbourne, Autralia, and I found the Langham on the second page of results.

This may not work out -- the rate description says "Pro-Air New Zealand Redemptionmust Provide Air Nz Card on Arrival" -- so I may not be eligible for this rate, but I have a booking nonetheless.

The normal rate is about AU$260 a night.

Update: This looks to me like the rate plan associated with redeeming Air New Zealand points as payment fo rhte room, and that it somehow became bookable online.

I am not experienced with Air New Zealand hotel redemptions, but there's probably a certificate you get from Air New Zealand that you have to hand over at checkin.

That's my guess, which would imply that the rate will not be honored for those booking at TravelWeb. But I have a reservation nonetheless.

Update 2: This deal no longer appears at TravelWeb.

Posted by gleff at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2005

Fare Alert

Forbes carries a piece on airfare pricing glitches like the recent $52 Fiji deal, last summer's $60 Iceland fares, and the $20 flights from the US to anywhere in Europe in World Traveler Plus.

The piece mentions Scott Carmichael's fare alert email list which has been reactivated. I subscribe to my work email, my Yahoo account, and my cell phone.

Posted by gleff at 7:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 23, 2005

Fare Alert Email List

Flyertalk's ScottC has reactivated his free travel deal alert email service. He says that all of the subscribers to the old email have been imported into the new system.

This isn't a 'TravelZoo Top 20' or airline weekly e-fare list -- it's a low-volume alert list to let you know about breaking deals and fare glitches, such as the famous $61 roundtrip to Iceland, $20 British Airways fare to anywhere in Europe in World Traveler Plus, and $55 business class deal to Puerta Vallarta.

Definitely worth signing up.

Posted by gleff at 9:30 AM | Comments (1)

Independence Air Discounts

Independence Air's 20% discount which had been set to expire March 31 is now valid through July 31. You have to answer a short questionnaire about your company and you'll be emailed a unique link that generates fares 20% off what would otherwise be the lowest price for an itinerary.

There's also a 20% off link from Business Week that's valid through June 30, no questionnaire required.

Posted by gleff at 5:23 AM | Comments (4)

March 19, 2005

Are people on eBay just crazy?

I received my Mac Mini last week (from the free iPods folks). It seemed cool, it was really small, but what in the world was I going to do with it? I just decided to sell it on eBay. Someone bought it for $600, which is about $100 more than retail. Frankly I don't understand people sometimes.

I'm still working on getting the free Playstation Portable and the free digital camera.

I'm really enjoying the free iPod Shuffle. I have the photo iPod, which is great for transferring pictures onto, but for daily use nothing can beat the little Shuffle which is the size of a stick of gum. It's still new enough that I get looks on the metro as people try to figure out what it is. It's the easiest of the free electronics items to get, requiring only three friend referrals, but that's because it retails for only $100. Quite a deal I think.

Posted by gleff at 4:56 AM | Comments (1)

March 17, 2005

$50 off Travelocity Packages

Travelocity is offering $50 off flight and hotel packages to the Caribbean, Hawaii, or Mexico through April 15. Promo code is BEACHNOW.

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

March 16, 2005

$139 at the W Seattle

TravelZoo has a weekly special with the W Seattle, my favorite W hotel property and my favorite hotel in Seattle -- $139 a night through July 4. It's valid any night of the week but requires an arrival on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

This rate must be booked by March 28 and April 27, 28 and May 20-24 are blackout dates.

The rate plan is WLTB3.

Posted by gleff at 2:19 PM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2005

Digital City Daily Deals Returns... Sort Of

Digital City used to publish the best low airfares from various cities across the U.S. It was an invaluable tool for finding out about great deals. Alas, it got the axe.

One of the drivers of that project has new blog -- a daily update of airfares like what Digital City used to offer, but at the moment just for the New York area.

Folks who call New York home need to check out Today's New York Area Airfare Report.

Posted by gleff at 6:43 PM | Comments (0)

March 1, 2005

Site59 Discount

Site59, the provider of last-minute discount travel packages, is offering $59 off packages of $300 or more with promo code JETSET59 (valid through March 15).

Posted by gleff at 3:41 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2005

Bid on Priceline, Get Assigned a Priceline Room?

Chris Elliott has a piece in US News on hotels assigning their worst rooms to customers booking through discount channels.

This absolutely happens at some properties, though I've never experienced it personally through scores of successful bids.

The best advice is that discount sites aren't the right venue when room selection really matters. If you can afford a nice hotel with an ocean view on your vacation, Priceline may not be the right answer given the risk of being assigned a garden view. You might want to pay to actually reserve the ocean view room. On the other hand, if money is an issue then a "Priceline room" at a four star property may be better than a regularly-reserved room at the two star property you'd have otherwise booked.

Meanwhile, if you do go the discount route and are unhappy with your room, as to be changed. And if the first person says no, ask someone else.

Chris Elliott offers some further advice but I'm not sure what to make of it:

Analysts say the discounts--as much as 40 percent to 60 percent on sites like Priceline and Hotwire--make the travel websites worthwhile. But, if you can, check with the hotel to learn what kind of room you get for that rate. Earning frequent-stayer status also can help your room assignment.

Check with the hotel about the room you'll get, before booking on Priceline or Hotwire where you're explicitly not even supposed to know what hotel it is you'll be getting?

I know as well as anyone that sites like Biddingfortravel.com and Betterbidding.com will help give you an idea what you'll be getting in advance. But even then many zones and quality levels have plenty of hotels you might get, and there can always wind up being new previously unreported hotels as well. So I'm not sure how calling a hotel upfront before booking a nonrefunable room is a useful option here.

And while some hotels might still honor elite status even on a Priceline stay, several chains like Starwood and Hilton explicitly state that elite status does not provide benefits on stays booked through these channels. Hyatt and Marriott are generally better in this regard.

The ultimate point is simply that Priceline and to a lesser extent Hotwire are outstanding tools but they are not universal silver bullets for all occasions.

Posted by gleff at 7:08 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2005

Foot Locker Discount

FootLocker has a printable coupon for 30% off valid from January 21 - January 23. It can be used online as well with promo code FF05EM01.

There's a similar printable coupon for Foot Action and Champs Sports.

Posted by gleff at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Borders Discount

Print this coupon for 15% off a single item at Borders through February 2nd. You can, of course, print the coupon numerous times and make multiple trips to generate additional discounts.

Posted by gleff at 3:50 AM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2005

Pier 1 Discount

Pier 1 has a printable coupon for 20% off a single item, redeemable in stores (not online) through January 27.

Posted by gleff at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2005

Subscribe to InsideFlyer

Now's the time to subscribe to Inside Flyer magazine. They're offering 50% off subscriptions in conjunction with the Freddie Awards. The usual $45 a year may be rich for some, but a few new tactics or bonus offers to take advantage of and it more than pays for itself. At $22.50 it's a steal.

Posted by gleff at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 8, 2005

Up to $100 off on Travelocity Last Minute Deals

Travelocity has a new promo code, TRAVEL_MORE, which will take:

$50 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $300.


$100 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $600.

Valid through April 30.

Anecdotally it appeared to take $150 off a $900 package as well, but it may be an anomaly.

Posted by gleff at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)

January 2, 2005

Fare Glitch on Tickets Originating in French Polynesia

Travelocity seems to be having difficulty properly converting French Polynesia Francs to US Dollars.

Right now, all tickets originating in Tahiti and Noumea are showing up at 10% of their usual dollar cost. For instance, Tahiti-Los Angeles roundtrips are showing up from $299 in business class.

So if you plan to be in French Polynesia, now is the time to book your tickets.

If you already have tickets to French Polynesia, consider buying a one-way return ticket in business or first class and throwing away your existing return.

Or you might claim an award ticket to French Polynesia (expensive in miles, I know) and fly from there to pretty much anywhere in the world in a premium class of service. After catching a free flight, top level elite status can be had for ticketing originating from French Polynesia for less than $2000.

For anyone who can possibly use this glitch, hurry because it's certain not to last.

I discovered it yesterday afternoon when trying to buy interisland tickets from Tahiti to Bora Bora and Travelocity returned a price of $37 roundtrip. They couldn't seem to ticket the local interisland carrier, but they can certainly ticket the international carriers flying in and out of Tahiti.

There's also a current discussion on Flyertalk about this glitch.

Posted by gleff at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2004

Luggage discount

Tumi is offering 40% off selected luggage.

Posted by gleff at 4:44 PM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2004

Time to start thinking about taxes again

Lots of rebates, and all your finance and tax software needs for $6.49, shipped. Note, though, that the Norton Anti-virus rebate is an upgrader's rebate so the deal only works if you already have a version of a Norton, Symantec, or McAfee software product (which in my experience a large number of people do).

Borrowed from FatWallet.com:

# Amazon.com is carrying this TaxCut 2004 Deluxe for $24.50


# Search for "B0006466DA" to add TaxCut 2004 State to your shopping cart for $24.50


# Search for "B0002D1572" to add Microsoft Money Standard 2005 to your shopping cart for $27.99


# Search for "B000646EGO" to add H&R Block DeductionPro 2004 to your shopping cart for $19.95


# Search for "B0002UCJV6" to add Norton AntiVirus 2005 to your shopping cart for $46.99


# There is a $5 Mail-In Rebate on TaxCut Deluxe until 04/30/2005


# There is a $24.50 Mail-In Rebate on purchase of TaxCut Deluxe + State until 04/30/2005


# There is a $27.99 Mail-In Rebate (Page 1, Page 2) on purchase of TaxCut Deluxe + Money Standard until 04/30/2005


# There is a $19.95 Mail-In Rebate on purchase of TaxCut Deluxe + DeductionPro until 04/30/2005


# There is a $30 Mail-In Rebate on purchase of TaxCut Deluxe + Norton AntiVirus until 04/16/2005


# There is a $20 Upgrader's Mail-In Rebate on AntiVirus until 12/31/2005


# There is a $10 Amazon.com Promotional Certificate offer on TaxCut Deluxe until 02/19/2005


# All the items are eligible for "Free! Super Saver Shipping" on orders over $25


# Your Final Price: $24.50 + $24.50 + $27.99 + $19.95 + $46.99 - $5 - $24.50 - $27.99 - $19.95 - $30 - $20 - $10 = $6.49 + Free Shipping

Posted by gleff at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2004

Overstock discount

Overstock.com is offering 10% off through Monday night.

Posted by gleff at 3:53 AM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2004

Office Depot Coupon Codes

Here are several Office Depot coupon codes. Note that the free luggage is combinable with discounts so long as the order is of sufficient size.

• Free 3-Piece Luggage Set with $50 purchase: coupon code 31639089, expires December 14
  

• $10 off $50: coupon code 23896353, expires December 31
  

• $20 off $100: coupon code 73418862, expires November 30 and excludes memory, drives, and networking equipment
  

• $30 off $150: coupon code 52578186, expires November 30 and excludes memory, drives, and networking equipment
  

And of course Office Depot participates in several mileage mall programs, with the AAdvantage Mall being the most lucrative at 2 miles per dollar spent, doubled for payments made with Mastercard by December 31st.

Posted by gleff at 7:29 AM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2004

Free and Almost Free (After Rebate) from Circuit City

• Belkin Single-Outlet Surge Protector: $10 - $10 rebate
  

• Philips 700MB/80-Minute CD-Rs (100-Pack): $20 - $20 rebate
  

• Belkin F5D72304 802.11g Wireless Router: $65 - $57 rebate
  

• Belkin F5D7000 802.11g Wireless Desktop Adapter: $45 - $40 rebate
  

• Belkin F5D7010 802.11g Wireless Notebook Adapter: $45 - $40 rebate
  

Remember that if you go to Circuit City via a mileage mall, you earn miles for your purchases based on the original (not after-rebate) price. I recommend the AAdvantage Mall because they're giving double miles for purchases using Mastercard plus Circuit City is a featured merchant for the threshold bonus of up to 10,000 miles. Free after rebate items are a great way to earn those miles.

Posted by gleff at 5:38 AM | Comments (0)

British Airways sales

British Airways is running a 3 day sale on business class (from today through Sunday) from $2000 roundtrip.

Through December 2nd there's also a sale on coach which includes a London stopover on the way to another European destination along with two nights hotel in Lodon.

Posted by gleff at 5:03 AM | Comments (0)

November 25, 2004

"Black Friday Sale" - $50 off $400 at Overstock.com

Overstock.com is offering $50 off $400 on Friday November 26th only.

Posted by gleff at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2004

Discount on overpriced 'cool' stuff

The W Hotel Store is offering 20% off through June 30, 2005 with promotion code 2WP2E.

Posted by gleff at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)

30% Off at Polo.com

Just found this:

Between Saturday November 20th and Tuesday November 30th simply enter promotional code NOVEMBER within your shopping bag to receive 30% off the entire site.

If you use the promotional code during our PRIVATE SALE period (November 20th through Monday, November 22nd), your 30% off will
be applied to already reduced prices.

Also, you’ll enjoy FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $150.

Posted by gleff at 4:13 AM | Comments (0)

Inexpensive Washington, DC Hotels

Special hotel rates are available through March 31 in conjunction with the movie National Treasure.

Rates at Washington, DC's Grand Hyatt start at $99. Other hotel deals are available as well, such as $109 at Melrose.

The Grand Hyatt's standard rate hovers around $300 per night, though it dips down so around $229 on lower occupancy nights -- so $99 is an excellent deal. However any night where the $99 rate is available I'm almost certain that there'd be Priceline availability as well. A four-star bid in the Capitol Hill/Convention Center zone should yield the Grand Hyatt for $65-$70 on those nights.

Posted by gleff at 3:52 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2004

W Newark (Silicon Valley) for $48

From 9am Eastern on November 18th to 9am Eastern on November 20th, the W Silicon Valley is available for $48 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night stays between November 19th and January 2nd.

Call 877-WHOTELS and mention rate plan UNWRAP.

Posted by gleff at 5:25 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2004

Seattle to Rome: $107 + tax roundtrip

USAirways has a fare of $107 (a bit over $200 with tax) from Seattle to Rome with a connection in Philadelphia. Naples and Florence price the same way (with a likely connection in Munich).

Lots of availability as it's a coach ticket booked in H inventory, one of the higher coach classes.

You cannot depart after March 31st, there's a six day minimum stay, you must travel on the weekend, and you cannot travel during the Christmas holidays

I'm able to get this to come up on Expedia, Orbitz, AA.com, and United.com. Sometimes I can get it on USAirways.com, but their website is glitchy.

Use a multi-city search and enter Seattle-Philadelphia, Philadelphia-Rome, Rome-Philadelpha, Philadelphia-Seattle.

Since this has been available since yesterday, I wouldn't expect it to be up for much longer.

Posted by gleff at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

Cheap Kitchen Supplies

Can't vouch for the quality, but JCPenney has a 75 piece kitchen set for $39.99, marked down from $139.99.

Free shipping this month with promo code NOV4WEL.

Cookware is 1.2mm aluminum with non-stick interior. Bakeware is durable carbon steel, also with non-stick interior. Knife, gadget and cutlery sets are stainless steel. Dishwasher safe. Includes: 1- and 2-quart covered saucepans, 5-quart covered Dutch oven, 9-1/2" frypan, 12" pizza pan, roaster pan, cookie sheet, grater, peeler, pizza cutter, bottle opener, can opener, stainless steel knives (bread, chef, boning, utility, paring and 6 steak), sharpener, wood block, 6 nylon kitchen tools (slotted spoon, spoon, turner, skimmer, pasta server and soup ladle), 10-pc. measuring cup/spoon set, 12-pc. cutlery set (4 pieces each fork, knife, spoon), 6-pc. round storage set, 2 bag clips, plastic cutting board, 6-pc. cookie cutter set, salt & pepper shakers and 2 ice cube trays.

Posted by gleff at 6:06 AM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2004

QuikBook Kicks Back an Amazon Gift Certificate

QuikBook, the hotel consolidator, is offering a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate when you book and stay by March 31 with promotion code AMMI (one per customer, gift certificate delivered by email within 30 days).

QuikBook is a pretty useful tool, though with limited application. It sells only hotel rooms, and then only in some major cities. But its rates are often better than the other travel websites (other than Priceline, for instance, when PL has inventory). In many cases it is buying and reselling rooms, so even when hotels are more or less sold out QuikBook may still have inventory. When there were no rooms to be had in New York City at any price (other than the Howard Johnsons at Penn Station for $220 and similar), I managed to get the Holiday Inn Midtown for $150. And when there were no rooms at all in DC, I managed the Radisson in Alexandria for $120 -- even though the Radisson said it was sold out.

So it's worth keeping this one in your back pocket.

Posted by gleff at 7:07 AM | Comments (0)

November 6, 2004

20% off at Borders

Borders Friends and Family discount is back -- 20% off from November 12 - 15, 2004 (40% on food items) with printable coupon.

Posted by gleff at 5:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack