Rancho Mirage

Rome, Vancouver, Toronto On Sale Through September 26, 2015 With SPG Hot Escapes

September 24, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Some interesting hotels discounted for the next 6 weeks on SPG Hot Escapes.

Flying Alaska Airlines In July? I’ve Got A Chance For You To Win A $100 Amazon Gift Card!

Pretty cool news I wanted to share with you guys! My little corner of the internet ended up with a bit of press this month. If you’re flying Alaska Airlines this month, you’ll see an article in the July issue of Alaska Beyond magazine, the in-flight magazine in every seat back pocket on every Alaska Airlines flight. Titled “Family-Travel Podcasts”, it features my Miles to Go podcast and a picture of me recording a podcast segment. Quoting from the article: Recently celebrating its one-year anniversary, Miles to Go is a […]

The Disaster That Was My Recent United Airlines Award Redemption Experience

What should you do when 150,000 miles disappear from your United Airlines account? How about when an agent promises to return 65,000, only to have another 20,000 disappear? My solution was to spend 9 hours on the phone. None of it worked. Find out what did. Buckle in, this is a long one.

My 2019 Mid-Year Airline Status Check

Where have I been spending most of my time as we hit the midyear mark? On airplanes. Lots of them. More than I’d like to be. Here’s what that looks like so far this year.

China Installing App On Tourist’s Phones That Steals Personal Data

This almost feels a bit like tinfoil hat theories, but a recent report seems to indicate that China is going much further in attempts to invade private citizen’s privacy in the name of security. What is your privacy worth? If this were a requirement for you to visit a country while traveling abroad, would it dissuade you from traveling there? What’s to stop a country from detaining you during the customs process if you refuse the access?

Hyatt Grows Again With The Integration of Alila Hotels

World of Hyatt now features new properties in Big Sur, Bali and China. With each of these integrations, Hyatt status gets more valuable. Find out where these new hotels are located.

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. […]

Diana W - July 14, 2019:
Darn! Was on an AS flight a few days ago and saw [...]

ptahcha - July 14, 2019:
Sorry to hear about the issue, especially with dealing with a rogue [...]

AMEX Cracking Down, More United Problems, Airline CEOs Are Jerks, Target's Response To Prime Day, & More! - Your Mileage May Vary - July 14, 2019:
[…] all have the award bookings that make us question if it’s [...]

MARRIOTT BEING SUED OVER RESORT FEES, 100K AMEX BONUS AND MORE | OH Travel Dad - July 14, 2019:
[…] The Disaster That Was My Recent United Airlines Award Redemption Experience [...]

Alison Jameson - July 12, 2019:
Ed, so sorry for all your troubles. :( That [...]