Sympatico

WOW! An Easy Giveaway For $800 Worth Of My Favorite Luggage

September 28, 2016By Edward Pizzarello7 Comments

I got to hang out with the folks from eBags today and help giveaway two awesome pieces of Briggs & Riley luggage. Make sure you enter the giveaway!

British Airways Drastically Increases “Fuel Surcharges” On Award Flights. Is American Airlines Next?

Looking for good news as we head towards the holiday season? Best to look elsewhere than British Airways. Their present for you this holiday is greater fuel surcharges on award flights from the US to Europe. Isn’t that great?

Is It Tru? A Review Of Tru By Hilton

Is it Tru? Did I enjoy my first experience at a Tru hotel? Or was I Tru Blue? Only one way to find out!

Delta Absolutely Nails It With A Celebrity Moment On One Of Their Planes!

I love this moment by Delta. They used social media to interact with a celebrity, then turned it into an onboard moment that got them even more positive attention. Airlines don’t do this enough. Given, they get their teeth kicked in on a regular basis. Trying to personalize the relationship more with customers is difficult but rewarding.

Element Times Square West Review: Better Places To Redeem Your Points

I haven’t been doing as many hotel reviews lately as I probably should be doing. Given, I’ve ended up in a bunch of places folks probably don’t need a review of. Stillwater, Fort Wayne, Fresno and Peoria are all nice places. But, you’re unlikely to need in-depth reviews to pick hotels. New York City on the other hand….. Element Times Square West Review The Element is located at the corner of 8th ave and 39th street in Manhattan. That’s half a dozen blocks North of Penn Station. I had a […]

New Hyatt Promo: Earn AAdvantage Miles On Top Of Hyatt Points

Double Dip? Yes. Hilton? No. 🙂
Hyatt temporarily jumps back into the world of double dipping. And, you should too.

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.

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. […]

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 […]