Disney Deciphered

Here Are My Favorite Travel Podcasts (And A Few More)

July 30, 2018By Edward Pizzarello4 Comments

Here are some of my favorite travel podcasts, and a few others I can’t stop listening to.

New Episode! Disney Deciphered, Credit Card 101 And Family Travel Tips

April 13, 2018By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

We’ve got another episode on tap for you with some great guests and fun topics this week!

WHOA: New Zealand Business Class Award Inventory Available!

A true unicorn! Business class award availability to New Zealand is widely available from Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer. Act quickly!

New Tokyo Flights And Free $20 From Venmo

Each week, we cover some of the most interesting stories on BoardingArea of the week on the NowBoarding podcast. This week, we covered five stories that should help you get the most out of your travel. Alaska Airlines Newest Partner Alaska Airlines has added El Al Airlines as a partner. Details are still a bit thin on what award redemptions will look like, but more ways to redeem our miles is generally better. Hyatt’s New Partnership with American Airlines The partnership between Hyatt and American Airlines has launched. Members in […]

Online Travel Agency Will Increase Their Profit To Protect Customers From Resort Fees. Really

Resort fees are uniformly hated by customers. They don’t bother me as much as some other folks. However, a recent announcement by Booking.com does bother me. The online travel agency is poised to make more money when you book a hotel with a resort fee. And, that’s not good for consumers in any way, shape or form.

Monthly Airplane Wi-Fi Reliability Report Card: April 2019

April marks the fourth month in a row where I’ve kept track of the Wi-Fi reliability on all of my flights. With over 40 flights in the books, we have enough of a sample size to start making some reasonable conclusions.

Wait, What? American Express Deposited 100,000 Points Into My Marriott Account

Color me shocked. Baffled, surprised. Use your own words. American Express came out of left field with an early Christmas present for me.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

Edward Pizzarello - May 22, 2019:
Hah, great!

Edward Pizzarello - May 22, 2019:
Jay, I typically see the same behavior when I book with independent [...]

Edward Pizzarello - May 22, 2019:
Howard, the Wi-Fi situation on United is quite bad. And, IMO, an [...]

Jay Friedman - May 22, 2019:
I book directly with the property when I can because I have [...]

Howard Zoss - May 22, 2019:
I fly UAL every month, only non-stop from CLE-LAX. I am [...]