Natural Springs

Swimming With The Fishes. Athens & Paris For Dollars A Day

November 21, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Welcome to my multi-part review of our summer vacation. We spent 12 days abroad, predominately in Athens and Paris. We did squeeze in about half a day in Amsterdam before heading home. While I’m writing the series, I’m happy to answer any questions you have ahead of time. We traveled in mid-July, so right in the middle of the Athens financial crisis. Here’s most of what I expect to cover, including links to posts I’ve already completed: Planning Our Summer Vacation! British Airways First and Business Class Lounges at Philadelphia […]

Delta Should Proactively Offer All Sky Club Members A Refund

Delta Air Lines has what some folks might call a “good problem”. In reality, this problem is causing frustration with many of the airline’s best customers, something we discussed in detail this week. For quite some time the domestic airlines ran very mediocre lounges in the US. The lounges were a quieter place for members to catch up on work or relax in between flights. Food offerings were meager as were drink choices. Delta set out to change that, and has done an excellent job. Massive renovations and staffing increases […]

Starting Today: 7 Days Worth Of 6X On Dining, 4X on Travel And 2X On Virtually Everything Else

I earn affiliate credit if you sign up for the Bilt Rewards Mastercard using links in this story. If you’re not going to sign-up for a really lucrative, no annual fee card this week, when are you? For the next seven days you can earn double points on virtually all charges on the Bilt Rewards Mastercard, and that’s even if you procrastinated until today to apply for the card. That’s: 6 points per dollar on all dining charges (normally 3X) 4 points per dollar on all travel charges (normally 2X) […]

DC, MD, VA Meet-Up Thursday, December 8th! Benefits Toys For Tots

Those of you that have followed my blog over the years will recall that we used to have occasional meet-ups with other travel geeks in the DC area. The pandemic put a pause on that for quite some time but we’ve been talking about getting back to it for quite some time. Thanks to my friend Jeanne Hoffman for kicking me in the butt to get this tradition started again. Thursday, December 8th is when we get this tradition back under way. I’ll be joined by Jeanne and our friend […]

LAST DAY? Unlimited Flying For One Year On Frontier For $599

Of course there are plenty of limitations in the T&C, but Frontier Airlines launched one of the most interesting offers in recent memory this week. Their GoWild Pass gives you unlimited Frontier flights for one year for the price of $599. The last announced opportunity to purchase the pass is 11:59pm MST on Friday, November 18th. What’s The Catch? Well, there’s more than one. But, if you fork over $599 for a year of flying, here are some of the major restrictions: You can only book a domestic flight one […]

Back To The Future: United Finally Implementing Higher Status Requirements, With Some New Twists

Back in 2019 the airlines were gearing up to thin their elite ranks. Travel was booming, though not the unbelievable demand we’re seeing this year. Late in 2019 United announced a pretty significant revamp of how customers would earn elite status. Just a few months later, the reality of COVID-19 caused the airlines to rapidly change direction. In essence, the tougher qualification requirements wouldn’t see the light of day in 2020. Nor 2021 or 2022. As we head into 2023, United has announced that they will be adopting the increased […]

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. […]