Monthly Archives: May 2012
Well, it has been just over a week, my list of posts to include is now long enough, and I have some time to write. I guess that means it’s time for another installment of Updates From the World of Miles and Points.
For those that are new to the blog, I am trying to do one of these posts once every week to week and a half to help catch you up with what is going on in the world of miles and points. There are often items that come up throughout the week that I donbt really think I should devote an entire post to, but still think you might want to know about. This is where I link to some of the other blogs that I read and respect so that you can get the whole story.
Of course, if something is time sensitive or huge news, you will see me do a specific post about it. In addition, I often tweet or update Facebook with new information far before it makes it to an Updates post. If you want to get all of the information as soon as it’s available, make sure that you subscribe via email or RSS and follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Then you will always be the first to know when I have something new to share.
For now, let’s get started with some Updates From the World of Miles and Points. This week didn’t disappoint with exciting news and solid advice, so take a few minutes to read these suggestions and see if something catches your interest.
Hotels seem like a good place to start this week, and when I think of hotels, my first thought goes to Loyalty Traveler. Ric has a new list out that compiles and details all of the current hotel promotions for all of the major hotel chains worldwide. What I like about these posts are that he doesn’t just stop with the 4 or 5 biggest players in the hotel market, but he also discusses promotions at lots of the smaller chains as well. Details HERE.
Ric also does a very detailed analysis of the Priority Club Points & Cash Award cost increase. Without any warning, the cash portion for these awards has gone from $60 to $70 a night and Ric tells us what that means to the loyalty program member. It really is much more detailed than I would ever get with an analysis of this type and quite an interesting read. Details HERE.
It was announced this week that Club Carlson would be making some changes to their hotel category assignments. I have to admit that when I first read this headline, I was a mix of scared, sad, and angry. Like many of you, I am in the midst of earning a huge amount of Club Carlson points with their current promotions, and I didn’t want to see those points hugely devalued. Luckily, when you really look at the category reassignments, it doesn’t look to bad. In many cases, the new hotel categories are actually better. Details HERE.
Almost everyone can agree that churning credit cards for their large sign-up bonuses is one of the quickest ways to build up your loyalty account balances. Unfortunately, some of the offers available have rather large minimum required spends and not all of us have unlimited abilities to run up the charges on our credit cards. For those on a modest budget, Hack My Trip has some tips and tricks that will help you to get into the credit card game without taking on more than you can handle. Details HERE.
Frequent Miler is well known for being the master of maximizing the potential benefits of gift cards and online shopping portals. He is constantly conducting experiments and trials to find the most lucrative and easiest ways to earn miles and points, and he compiles all of his experiments in the Frequent Miler Laboratory. This week, the Lab got an update that makes it easier to use and much more simple to find the information you are looking for. If you are thinking of buying a gift card to get points, you should probably stop by here first to see if there is a way for you to earn even more. Details HERE.
Also this week, Frequent Miler shows us how we can get an IHG stay for only a few dollars, if not free altogether. The details of his example might be pretty difficult to replicate, but if you use the techniques he outlines, you will certainly be able to save some money on upcoming IHG hotel stays, even if they aren’t quite free. Details HERE.
In just 9 days, the opportunity to transfer American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios and get a 50% bonus comes to an end. If you are like me and still trying to decide how many, if any, MR points you want to transfer, Extra Pack of Peanuts does a good job of explaining why you would or wouldn’t want to take advantage of this transfer bonus. I am pretty sure that I am going to transfer some MR points, but I just can’t decide how many. Details HERE.
View From the Wing tells us about Delta overcharging Skymiles members on revenue tickets purchased on their website for the past few months. Whether you bought a ticket or not, this is quite upsetting. Most people would assume that being a loyalty program member would get you a better deal, if anything, but you certainly shouldn’t have to pay more than non-members. Delta claims it was a mistake, but with today’s legal climate, I would expect to see them have to explain that in the courts before long. Details HERE.
Gary also gives us a few tips on how to save on your rental cars when on a trip. He uses a New York Times article as a base, but comments and expands on most of the points. If you need to rent for an upcoming trip, check out this post to make sure you get the best deal. Details HERE.
Mommy Points gives us another reminder about Grand Slam prep for this year. We still don’t know for sure that the US Airways Grand Slam promotion will return again, but they have done it the past few years, and everyone is hoping for the best. Details HERE.
Many people have recently applied for the Chase Ink Bold Business Card. It is one of the coveted Ultimate Rewards cards whose points can be transferred to a variety of airline and other partners. With the category bonuses and online shopping portal available with this card, you can really earn a lot of points, and Mommy Points gives us an overview of how her earnings went during her first month with the card. Details HERE.
Scott Mayerowitz wrote a story for the Associated Press about the difficulties that families will have finding seats together when traveling by air this summer. This popular piece made its way to several newspaper front pages, and Mommy Points takes a moment to comment on the article. In addition, she gives her advice regarding what you should do if your family wants to sit together when you fly. Details HERE.
Million Mile Secrets outlines a way that you might be able to get the first year fee waived on the new United Club Credit Card from Chase. This would be a great card to have, even if just for the United Club access that comes with it, but the $395 annual fee is more than most people want to pay. If this technique works for you, you can have your lounge access for free for the first year. Be careful though, you might just find yourself addicted after a few visits to the lounge, and as far as I know, there isn’t a way to have the second year fee waived. Details HERE.
An article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, and the study that it was based on, created quite a buzz in the frequent flyer community. Overall, most people think that the conclusions drawn from the study are about as useful as the study itself, not very useful at all. The Points Guy goes over the findings, explains a few of the holes in the study, and tells us why the conclusions are far from an accurate picture of the current state of airline loyalty programs. Details HERE.
The Points Guy also gives us his Top 10 Mistakes People Make With Their Airline Miles. If you are new to earning and redeeming, this points out a few things that are really good to know. If you have been doing this for a while, there are also a few reminders for tricks you may have forgotten. Details HERE.
Citi announced some new benefits for their CitiBusiness AAdvantage World Mastercard this week and One Mile at a Time gave us all the details. The benefits seem to be similar to what they added on to the personal AAdvantage cards earlier this year, but not quite as good in some cases. I am sad to see that the benefits won’t be extended to current CitiBusiness AAdvantage Visa cardholders as I was hoping would be the case. It has been reported that you can call Citi to have these benefits added to your current card, but if you do that, they will just switch you over to a new Mastercard. Details HERE.
One Mile at a Time has also done a great job this week of outlining the different programs that can add a few additional benefits on to your hotel stays. He started out with Virtuoso and American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts, then continued with the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection, and finally added the newly announced American Express Gold Hotel Collection. If not the same, rates through these programs are usually pretty close to what you can get directly through the hotels, and the added benefits can be quite nice. Details HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Finally, for our amusing story of the week, read about what Lucky experienced on a recent B flight he took in coach. The post is super short, but almost guaranteed to make you chuckle. Is this the new best way to get an aisle seat on a flight? Details HERE.
Well, that just about does it for this week’s Updates From the World of Miles and Points.B Hopefully you learned something new, were reminded of something old, or at least got a few good laughs. Until next time, Happy Travels to all of you.
Thanks to a heads up from Mommy Points, I have become aware that the Park Inn “One Plus One” promo registration is going live in just a few minutes. This promo is similar to the Radisson “Big Night Giveaway” and the Country Inn & Suites “Stay One, Get One” promos that went live last week.
Like Mommy Points, and I think pretty much everyone else, I didn’t pay that much attention to the time zone for the Park Inn registration. I just assumed it was the same as the other two promos and I would have to stay up until 1 am EST if I wanted to register when it opened. Well, we were all wrong. Instead, this promo goes live at 12:01 am CET, which is in less than 5 minutes.
I would not be too worried about registering right away, since the other two promos are still open to new registrations almost a week later, but you might as well get it done if you have the time. I know that leisurely registering this evening is sure a lot nicer than staying up until the middle of the night like some of us crazies did last week.
That’s it for now. I want to get this published so that you can all know that registration is open. If you don’t know what this promo is, go register now and you can read the details later. Remember, always register for promos even if you aren’t sure you can take advantage of them. It never hurts to be registered, but it might hurt to miss out because you aren’t.
Off to register myself and my wife now. Happy Hotel Hopping to all of you!
If you have been following the terms and conditions of the Radisson Big Night Giveaway, you know that there has been some confusion and a resulting controversy about whether reservations made prior to registering will count for the promotion. Before the official terms were announced, a Radisson representative commented on their Facebook page and said that existing reservations would in fact count for the promotion. Before the promotion went live, however, Radisson deleted that comment from Facebook. Luckily, over on The Hustle Blog, Mike posted a screen shot that he took when the comment was still there.
The original Facebook post, thanks to The Hustle Blog
After news went out that existing reservations would count, many people took advantage of a sale that Club Carlson was having and booked stays during the promotion period. It is important to note that the terms of this sale meant that these rooms were not refundable. When the Big Night Giveaway went live, the terms and conditions specifically excluded existing reservations, and a lot of people where rightfully upset.
Since the promotion went live earlier this week, several people have been waging a battle with Club Carlson, trying to get them to allow existing reservations since that is what their Facebook representative had told the public. @radisson on twitter had remained very quiet for the past several days, only stating that existing stays would not count and pointing people to the terms and conditions of the Big Night Giveaway. They ignored repeated requests for clarification and resolution from several members, and their poor handling of the situation led to several posts by bloggers expressing their disappointment.
You can read what others had to say about the issue over at Mommy Points, Deals We Like, The Hustle Blog, and Loyalty Traveler. Overall, many members have been disappointed by the way that Radisson and Club Carlson were ignoring the situation and basically telling people that even though they said something on social media, they were not going to honor what they said. To me, it seemed like a very poor move for a loyalty program to alienate so many of its members.
Of course, I was still going to participate in the promotion. No matter what kind of bad PR moves a company makes, it is hard for me to give up 50,000 easily earned points. I did, however, feel extremely badly for those people who had booked non-refundable nights thinking they would count for the promotion and were going to end up losing hundreds of dollars if they had to re-book. It was because of these people that we were all trying to get Radisson to change their minds.
Well, just a few minutes ago, I logged in to my Facebook account and saw the following post from Radisson. Needless to say, I was quite excited.
Today’s Facebook post with Radisson’s reversal of terms.
Unfortunately, there is still a small part of me that is skeptical. I guess when you learn that official company representatives may not be able to be trusted, you tend to think twice when you see something posted on Facebook. When I follow the link that they have listed, it takes me to the Big Night Giveaway page and that is still showing Terms and Conditions that say “Promotion is not valid on existing reservations”. I have to assume that they just haven’t changed that yet and it will be done in the next few days. I can’t imagine that Radisson would really try to retract something like this again. That having been said though, I would really feel more comfortable if I saw this posted by Radisson somewhere other than on Facebook. You can see in my screenshot above that I have already pointed this out to Radisson and hope to see an answer from them soon.
If it turns out that this post is in fact true, that is great news for many Club Carlson members who made reservations in the days leading up to this promotion. I am happy to see that by expressing our dissatisfaction through a variety of social media channels, we were able to show Club Carlson and Radisson just how much they were hurting their members. This issue may not have affected all of us, but if we stand together, we are certainly difficult to ignore. Great job to all of you who spoke up and made Radisson stand by what they said.
UPDATE: Loyalty Traveler received a phone call from a VP at Carlson Rezidor to let him know of the change. (he has a little more pull in the hotel industry than I do) Looks like existing reservations really will count!
Kiva has been the subject of several emails that I have received in the past week. I was planning on writing a post about the first one, thought I should mention the second one, and knew I needed to tell you about the third one. All together, that meant it was time to get writing.
You may remember a post about Kiva that I did back in January, when a generous donor allowed thousands of people to make their first $25 loan for free. I took advantage of this offer and up to this point have been very impressed with the process. Kiva has kept me updated on the repayment of the loan, and yes, the loan is already almost 25% paid back, just 5 months later.
This was the second Kiva email that I got this week, but I was even more impressed by the first. This year, for the first time, Kiva has released an online version of their annual report. In addition to numbers and graphs, there are also real life stories and videos about the people that are being helped by this wonderful organization. If you have a few minutes, make sure you take a look. It will help you understand a little bit better what Kiva is all about. I was already a fan of what they do, and reading this annual report made me even more excited to help.
Perhaps my favorite part of the annual report was the graph that shows the monthly lending for the top four Kiva lending teams. Since it formed in February 2011, you can see how the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team has grown into a tremendous lending force, even leading all of Kiva for a couple of months out of the year. The Milepoint team continues to grow and continues to lend, trying to do our part to help those who are less fortunate and need a little bit of help. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that line go even higher when the annual report comes out next year.
Along with the great work that the MilePoint Kiva Lending Team does for people all over the world, now they want to help you too.B They don’t want to give you a loan, but instead, they want to give you the chance to come party with me and 100+ other miles and points hungry travel addicts at the Star MegaDo 4 Launch Party. I have written about this Launch Party before and how it filled up in less than an hour. The only way to get in now is to win a spot, and the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team is going to help you do just that.
What’s do you have to do to enter? Simple. All you have to do is create a Kiva account, join the Milepoint Lending Team, and loan at least $25 to one of the many worthy people listed on Kiva. Everyone who has done that will be eligible for the drawing that will take place on Monday the 21st. So not only will you get a chance to attend an event that is almost guaranteed to be a fantastic time, but you also get to do a small part to help others in need. To make your chances even better, the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team will be giving away not just 1 or 2, but 5 Launch Party passes.
You can find all the details here and within a few minutes you will be searching the loans to see who you want to help first. You have a couple of days to complete your first $25 loan if you want to enter the contest, but even if you don’t have any desire to attend the Launch Party, take a few minutes to check out Kiva and the Milepoint Lending Team. I’m pretty confident that you will like what you see.
Starwood Preferred Guest is handing out 100 free Starpoints to anyone on Facebook who takes a few minutes to “Like” the promo page and then fill out a quick registration form.
In addition to the 100 free points, they are also doing a drawing which will result in 10 randomly selected members winning 100,000 Starpoints each. So although 100 Starpoints isn’t a huge amount, it is definitely worth the 20 seconds it will take to register for this giveaway. If it makes you feel better, you can always think of it as SPG offering you 100 Starpoints just to enter their contest. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that?
As with anything of this nature, I would recommend doing this sooner rather than later. As word of this type of promo spreads, they are often shut down early. So go over to the SPG Facebook page, click “like”, enter your info, and good luck to all of you. I hope that 9 of my readers win 100,000 Starpoints each. That last 100,000 will, of course, be mine.
If you are like me, you are often trying to meet a minimum spending requirement on a new credit card to get the sign-up bonus. Occasionally, I find myself coming close to the date that the minimum spend must be completed by, and having several hundred dollars worth of spend left to complete.
One good option for completing that required spend without buying things you don’t need is to buy gift cards. American Express or Visa gift cards are often the best bet, since you can use them for your regular purchases later on, but there are often fees associated with purchasing these type of gift cards. Sometimes, it is worth it to just pay the fees and meet your minimum spend, but I know I don’t like to pay any fees that I don’t have to, and I am guessing that you don’t like to either. Well, for the next few months, American Express is providing us with a way to meet the minimum spending on any of their Credit or Charge cards by purchasing fee free Amex Gift Cards.
To get these Amex Gift Cards without paying and shipping or purchase fees, you have to combine a couple of offers. The first offer came to my wife via email last night and is being promoted as a Father’s Day offer.B The offer says to use your American Express card and codeB EMDADCM for 100% off of gift card purchase fees. The code is good until August 15th though, so you don’t have to rush to make your purchase before Father’s Day.
Clicking on the link in the email takes you to the American Express Personal Gift Card page. You should log in to your American Express account at this point. If you need to get back to the gift card page, you can click on “Cards” at the top of the screen and then choose “Gift Cards” under the “Prepaid Cards” heading on the right side of the screen. Now you can select whatever design and denomination of gift card you want to purchase. Options range from $25 to $3000 and you can buy multiples of any card if you want to. Each card has a $3.95 purchase fee. This is not too bad if you are buying a single large denomination gift card, but if you are buying several smaller cards to give as gifts (graduation season), those fees can really add up.
Once you add your cards to your cart, click on Checkout to enter your shipping and payment information. As you can see below, this takes you to a screen with shipping choices and a place to enter a promotion code. The first thing you should do is enter codeB EMDADCM in the promotion code box, so that you don’t forget to do this later. You can see on my screenshot that the shipping charge is $8.95 for Express 2nd Day Service. You can also choose Express Next Day Service for $15.95. A third option, US Postal Service for $5.95 is available if your gift card purchase totals $200 or under.
Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking “What’s the point of saving the $3.95 purchase fee if we are still going to have to pay $5.95-$15.95 for shipping?” I was thinking the same thing until I noticed the little box that says “3 Month Free Trial“. This box will only appear if you are logged in to your American Express Account at this point, and there will also be an additional option in the shipping choices that says “Premium Shipping $99/Year Free Trial”.
By clicking on the “Learn More” link, we find out that American Express will give you free Premium Next Day Shipping on any gift card orders you make with them for one full year for $99. Now I’m not sure how many gift card orders you would have to make to make it worth paying $99 for next day shipping for a year, but the part we want to concentrate on is the 3 Month Free Trial.
Popup when you click on “Learn More”
There is a link that you can click on to read all the terms and conditions of this trial offer, but as with any trial offer, the most important thing for you to do is remember to cancel before you are charged the annual fee. I use an alarm on my phone calendar to help me remember things like this, but you can use whatever way works for you. Just make sure that you cancel this service before the three month free trial is over.
Follow the instructions for selecting the Free Shipping Trial, and that along with your purchase fee code should take away all extra fees and charges when you click through to check out. The terms of the coupon offer say that you muse use an American Express card to check out and compete your order. I do not have any experience with buying Amex gift cards online, so I am not sure if this is true, but I would recommend using an Amex card just to be safe. If anyone has personal experience using other cards with this type of promotion, please let me know in the comments.
Bottom Line
This three month free shipping trial fits in perfectly with the expiration date of our promo code, August 15th. If you sign up for this Premium Shipping free trial and use codeB EMDADCM when you check out, you will have no shipping fees and no purchase fees on American Express gift cards from now until August 15th. This is a great way to meet minimum spending requirements for your new American Express Cards this summer. It can also be a good way to build up your Membership Rewards points, although in either case, I would be careful about making too many gift card purchases. You don’t want to trigger a dreaded American Express Financial Review.
Tonight is finally the night. I have written about it several times. Others have written about it even more than me. People have speculated about what the terms and conditions will be. We have had a few terms confirmed, but at this point there still several points that are unclear. Well tonight at 12:01 AM (CENTRAL TIME), all of our questions will be answered. At least most of them will be. I’m sure there will still be some further clarification that happens over the next few days.
I am not going to give you all the details and rumored terms and conditions at this point, because I would honestly be surprised if any of you haven’t read them already. If by some chance you you have missed it up until this point, you can read what I had to say about the promotion the other day HERE and HERE. If you still want more information, head over to The Frequent Miler, Mommy Points, Million Mile Secrets, The Points Guy, or View From the Wing to get each of their takes on the subject. If that is still not enough for you, I’m sure a quick Google search will turn up many other blogs with similar information.
Instead, I will simply give you the links for the three registration pages. If you really think about it, the terms of the offers aren’t really that important in deciding whether you want to register or not anyway. Like with most promotions, it is best to register even if you are not sure if you are going to take advantage of the offer. I would hate to have any of you end up booking an unexpected Radisson stay after deciding not to register.
radissonbignightgiveaway.com – 50k points, limited to 100k registrations, live tonight
sogocountry.com – 44k points, limited to 35k registrations, live tonight
parkinnoneplusone.com – 44k points, limited to 20k registrations, live at 12:01 am on 5/22 (This page isn’t even live yet, unlike the others which have countdown timers.)
When Radisson ran this promotion last winter, registration lasted for days. I am not sure that they ever reached the 50,000 available registrations. It is very possible that the same thing will happen with the promotion this time and you will have no problem registering tomorrow morning or even after that. On the other hand, the promotions have received far more publicity this time around and are also open to international members, so it is also possible that all of the registrations will be full quickly. This could be even more likely for the Country Inn & Suites and Park Inn promotions, which have lower limits on registrations.
So if you definitely want to get in on the points bonanza and you are a little worried that you will wake up in the morning and find yourself left out, you are in luck. You are welcome to stay up tonight with @Mommy_Points, @THEinfamousdx, @katruns26point2, and me (@JeffTheWanderer) as we tweet the night away until registration time. Rumor has it that Mommy Points will even be giving out some American Airlines 1000 mile certificates throughout the night. If you do stay up and are on Twitter, make sure to say hi to the rest of us crazies as we prepare to earn lots and lots of Club Carlson points.
It’s time once again for an Updates From the World of Miles and Points post. I realize that I have been seriously slacking in regards to these posts. In fact, since I announced that I would no longer be doing one every Sunday, it has been almost three weeks without any Updates. This is not acceptable for something that is designed to keep all of you up to date with the current happenings in the world of miles and points. Ironically, now that I am finally starting to write up another Updates post, I find myself doing it on a Sunday night. (In case you couldn’t figure it out, I started this post last night but didnbt end up finishing until this morning.)
In addition to slacking on my Updates posts, there has also been an overall lack of any type of posting here on the blog over the past few days. I know that I have picked up several new readers and all of you are looking for useful and interesting content. I have failed to deliver this week and if this continues, you are all welcome to start calling me Jeff the Slacker instead of Jeff the Wanderer. Hopefully it will not come to that, but if and when I start seeing comments directed to Jeff the Slacker, it will help me to remember that you are all here for the content and it is up to me to deliver.
For those that are new to the blog, I am trying to do one of these posts once every week to week and a half to help catch you up with what is going on in the world of miles and points. There are often items that come up throughout the week that I donbt really think I should devote an entire post to, but still think you might want to know about. This is where I link to some of the other blogs that I read and respect so that you can get the whole story.
Of course, if something is time sensitive or huge news, you will see me do a specific post about it. In addition, I often tweet or update Facebook with new information far before it makes it to an Updates post. If you want to get all of the information as soon as it’s available, make sure that you subscribe via email or RSS and follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Then you will always be the first to know when I have something new to share.
For now, let’s get started with some Updates From the World of Miles and Points. There is a ton of new information from the past three weeks and we have a lot to cover.
Perhaps the most exciting news of the past few weeks was the announcement by Frequent Miler that he had found an almost perfect perpetual points machine. This technique can earn you 5x Ultimate Rewards points on pretty much all of your purchases. Head over to read all about it and then read the updates post from a week later. Details HERE and HERE.
The Frequent Miler also did some additional legwork on the Club Carlson promos that are starting this week. I did a couple of posts about them HERE and HERE, but he took it a few steps farther and tells us how to earn even more points by taking a couple of additional steps before participating. Details HERE.
In yet another update by The Frequent Miler, we are told that TopCashBack is doubling the amount of cash back they give for Radisson bookings sometime after midnight tonight. Responding to a request from The Frequent Miler (he must really have some pull), they are increasing the amount in the hopes of gaining new users during the Radisson promos that also start tonight. Details HERE.
Loyalty Traveler also did a couple of posts about the Club Carlson promos, but I think this one does the best job of summing up the details for each of the three offers. Details HERE.
There were lots and lots of posts about the new Starwood Preferred Guest summer promo, Nice Choice. The general opinion seems to be that the promo is far more complicated than it needs to be, but as with most things hotel related, Loyalty Traveler does a good job of breaking it down. There are two separate posts detailing the different bonus choices. Details HERE and HERE.
Hack My Trip shows us some pictures and video from a 727 crash, but don’t worry too much. The plane was crashed on purpose as part of a Discovery Channel documentary and there was no one on board. Even the pilot had bailed out. Details HERE.
Recently, myself and many other bloggers have been heavily promoting the many ways you can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Earning the points is great, but a big balance of points isn’t going to do you much good unless you know how to use them. Online Travel Review has given us a handy chart that includes not only the current UR airline transfer options, but also the partner airlines that those miles can be used on. Using miles on partner airlines is one of the best ways to find availability for those exotic trips you have in mind, and this chart can help you see what is available to you. Details HERE.
Over at Frugal Travel Guy, Howie takes a moment to remind us how important networking is, not only in business, but in the miles and points world as well. Many of the best deals happen so quickly or are so limited and secretive that you will miss out on them unless someone contacts you to let you know. This past week when the Launch Party for SMD4 thread went live is a great example of when this is true. I personally know a couple of people that would not have RSVP’d in time if I hadn’t sent them a direct tweet to let them know it was happening. The more people you know, the better your chances are of getting in on the best deals and experiences. Details HERE.
Frugal Travel Guy also continued his Faces of FlyerTalk series this week with an interview with HansGolden. Rick has been doing these interviews for a few weeks and it is a great way to learn a little more about some of the people you see commenting all the time on FlyerTalk. I am mentioning this interview specifically because I know that HansGolden is a reader and occasional commenter here at Indulge the Wanderlust and I was quite interested to learn more about his background. Details HERE.
Last week MilePoint hosted a live chat with Kip Hawley, the former head of the TSA. There were several questions from participants in the chat , including Mommy Points. She asked about what you are allowed to bring through security for your small children. Although the answer Kip gave sounded great, it isn’t exactly what Mommy Points has found to be true in her own experiences. Details HERE.
Mommy Points also reminds us this week about a couple of great things you should know about when booking United award flights. If you have the ability to plan ahead, you can pretty much get the first half of your second vacation flights for free when booking your first vacation flights. Definitely something to learn about and remember. Details HERE.
One Mile at a Time shares with us a couple of annoying rules that American has regarding booking of award tickets. These might not be obvious to everyone and could be the reason that you find yourself banging your head against a wall when trying to book awards using AA miles. They don’t apply in all cases, but when they do, you want to be aware of it so you can plan accordingly. Details HERE.
Lucky also gives us his take on mobile boarding passes, based on his experience trying to use them recently. Like him, I think that mobile boarding passes would be great if people knew how to deal with them, but at this point it seems like they just make things harder. Isn’t that the exact opposite of what the goal is? Details HERE.
There was an article in the LA Times last week about American Airlines revoking the travel privileges of some of its AAirpass holders. You can visit One Mile at a Time to see his view of the situation and then head over to The Points Guy to see and interview he did with MSNBC about the topic. One Mile at a Time details HERE. The Points Guy interview HERE.
Brian also lets us know that the new Flying Blue promo awards for May/June have been announced and there may be some good deals to be had. Flying Blue is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards and even though they charge large fuel surcharges on award tickets, you can get a great value when using these promo deals on certain business class tickets. Details HERE.
If you are having a hard time keeping track of all the summer hotel program promos, The Points Guy does a nice job of summarizing the details of each. You still might need an advanced degree to make sense of the SPG Nice Choice promo, but at least you will know what all your options are. Details HERE.
Deals We Like gives us her take on a new social media promotion involving Cathay Pacific and Klout. I signed up for Klout quite some time ago and never did anything with it. Oddly, the day after reading this post, I got an email from Klout telling me my score and reminding me to visit the site. If I were a little more paranoid, I might think I was being stalked. The good news is, my score is high enough to get me into the SFO Cathay Pacific Lounge. Now all I need to do is get myself to SFO. Details HERE.
David Code did a piece for Huffington Post this week called How Your Family Can Fly Around the World For (Almost) Free. For it, he interviewed many of my blogging favorites, mostly at the FTU that I attended a few weeks ago. Million Mile Secrets was one of interviews and he provides us with a good summary of the piece, as well as a link for those who want to read the whole thing. Details HERE.
Million Miles Secrets also continues with his weekly interview series, speaking with Travis from Extra Pack of Peanuts. Many of you may be reading this post today because you found my blog when Daraius interviewed me a few months ago. With this interview series, Daraius exposes readers to lots of other bloggers who might be of interest to them. I know I have picked up a few daily reads from the Million Mile Secrets interview posts, and Travis is a good one for you to check out. Details HERE.
Speaking of Extra Pack of Peanuts, Travis gives us some great tips on what you should and shouldn’t do when calling credit card reconsideration lines. He tells you how to prepare, what to say on the call, and even provides the numbers you need to call. The reconsideration call can make the difference in whether you get that 100k bonus or not, so it’s in your best interest to be as prepared as possible. Details HERE.
In past Updates posts, I have mentioned the topic of fuel surcharges on flights originating in Brazil. It was reported that Brazilian law forbids the addition of fuel surcharges and that this was a great way to avoid these charges on British Airways awards specifically. (If you can take a quick visit to Brazil before the rest of your trip) Shortly after this was reported, British Airways started adding fuel surcharges on these awards and many of us were a bit confused. Well, I am happy to say that View From the Wing is now reporting that British Airways has once again removed fuel surcharges from awards originating in Brazil. You may now start planning your next vacation fuel surcharge fee free. Details HERE.
As I wrote about HERE and HERE, Gary posted this week announcing the Launch Party for the Star MegaDO 4. The RSVP list for the party filled up in about 40 minutes and there are lots of people on the waiting list, but I am happy to say that I will be attending the party on June 2nd in DC. I can’t wait to see what this event is all about. Details HERE.
Finally, we can’t have an Updates From the World of Miles and Points post without a wacky story at the end. Just Another Points Traveler provides our amusement this week with this post about a Fourth Wife Flies Free sale. Unfortunately for all of you looking to take advantage of this deal, the offer has already expired, but it is still worth a read just for the laugh you will get. Details HERE.
Well, that finally does it for this three week long version of Updates From the World of Miles and Points. Having this much to type up is yet another reason for me to actually do this once a week instead of putting it off. Hopefully you learned something new, were reminded of something old, or at least got a few good laughs. Until next time, Happy Travels to all of you.