Bainbridge Island

Are Starpoints Getting Easier To Earn? How About Your Own Apartment At 35,000 Feet? Or a Co-Pilot Seat For An Awesome Voyage? Things I Find Interesting On Sunday, May 4, 2014

May 4, 2014By Edward Pizzarello6 Comments

Can I tell you how excited I was to read this post on Hack My Trip talking about the possibility that the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card may be getting some new benefits? I just got through presenting at Frequent Traveler University on Hyatt and Starwood Preferred Guest. One of the things I commented on was just how hard it is to earn large amounts of Starpoints. Unless you travel quite a bit and pay higher rates, the only other option is the SPG AMEX. And it only earns […]

WOW: 50% Off Southwest Flights During 3-Day Flash Sale!

ETA: Thanks to James in the comments for pointing out this works on award flights as well! This is one heck of a fare sale to wake up to! As part of Southwest Airlines’ 50th anniversary celebration they’re offering 50% off all flights this fall. As reported by Ben from One Mile at a Time, you’ll need to purchase your flight by 6/17. When you use code SAVE50 at checkout, you’ll save 50% off the base fare for all Southwest flights departing September 15 through November 3, 2021. You’ll see […]

Wide Open Business Class Awards From Tahiti To The US

Earlier today I noticed View From The Wing reported on a ton of availability between Tahiti and Los Angeles (the route is PPT-LAX). Tahiti is a destination that has eluded me over the years. I almost ended up with a stopover there right before the pandemic started closing countries. Now, you can book business class award for the whole family on many days at a reasonable rate. There are two options: 64,000 Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles plus $292.36 per passenger. The Flying Blue has lots of transfer partners, including […]

Marriott’s New Brand Standard That Should Have Never Been Necessary

What’s the saying, one bad actor spoils it for everyone else? There are over 5,600 Marriott hotels in the US and Canada. There may be more than one bad apple, but only one hotel that recently made news for charging guests a 2% convenience fee to use a credit card. I recall reading the original story and thinking how absurd it was. I spent a number of years in the hotel industry. We hated taking cash. It was a necessary evil, but caused all sorts of problems. Cash creates opportunities […]

Bonus Offers For Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest and United Credit Card Holders (Targeted)

Chase is offering a wide range of credit card holders. Between my wife and I we were targeted for these offers on three of our credit cards. World of Hyatt Credit Card Bonus Offer The World of Hyatt credit card usually offers four points per dollar on purchases at Hyatt hotels and two points per dollar on some travel purchases (airline tickets purchased directly from an airline and local transit costs). This offer essentially doubles the points earned on Hyatt stays and more than doubles the earning on any travel […]

TODAY ONLY: Book 8,000 Mile Round-Trip Award Flights On United Airlines Through End Of Summer 2021

If you’re still dreaming about where to travel this summer, you should definitely pay attention to the award sale United Airlines is having today. There are some prices on award tickets here that I don’t ever recall seeing. I did a bunch of searches for a recent story I published on The Points Guy and I wanted to make sure to share some of that data here as well. A few notes before we dig into city pairs: You have to book round-trip flights. You need to include a Saturday […]

I Flew Frontier, Saved $400 And Didn’t Die. My Frontier Airlines Review

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

How To Use New Metro Silver Line To Get Between Dulles and Reagan National Airports

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

Update: American Airlines Variable Choice Plus Pricing A Feature, Not A Bug

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

A Summary Of United Airlines Global Services Benefits

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

Is Foursquare Dead?

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]