In a move that most of us knew had to happen, Royal Caribbean International recently announced that Crown & Anchor Diamond members will no longer enjoy Concierge Lounge access on its ships effective July 1.  This change along with others was recently announced on their website.  Suite guests and Diamond Plus members of RCI’s Crown & Anchor Society will continue to enjoy Concierge access on ships that have the lounges.  Not all of them do.  And Diamond members will continue to enjoy access to dedicated Diamond Clubs on Freedom and Genesis Class ships.

I’ve enjoyed Concierge access as a Diamond member and will miss this benefit.  However, I understand the reasons behind the move.  Frankly, the lounges were just too crowded.  As the popularity of cruising has evolved, the number of people obtaining Diamond status (10 cruise credits) has increased.  I’ll continue to choose Royal Caribbean ahead of other cruise lines, and obtain Diamond Plus status soon enough.

I don’t recall the last time I saw anything like this from American Express.  Enroll your eligible American Express Card here and earn double points on purchases of gas and groceries through March 15, 2010.  T&C’s can be reviewed on the registration site.

Delta is taking things up a notch.  In response to American’s offer, Delta is offering up to triple Medallion Qualification Miles (MQM’s) for flights through June 15th.  Of course, there’s a catch.  You can only earn triple MQM’s on the most expensive fares.  H, Q and K fares earn double MQM’s, while L, U and T fares only earn actual miles flown.

Register for this offer here.  The eligible fare codes and their respective earning possibilities are listed on the same page.

Delta’s press release can be viewed here.

Rent an SUV or Mini-van from Dollar for three or more days and get triple Rapid Rewards credit.  As always, certain terms and conditions do apply.  Use promo code WNAWD when booking.

Get thyself to AA.com and register for this offer.  Promo code DBEQM.

In reality, Metro, our much maligned public transit system in the District of Columbia does an OK job of getting us where we need to go.  I use it everyday to get to work, and in truth, Metro rarely lets me down, even if it is over-crowded at times.

I’ve known about the option of taking Metro to BWI for sometime, but I’ve never used it.  I told myself that I spend enough time on Metro, why spend more?  But yesterday, Friday evening rush-hour no less, I decided to take one for the team and give it a shot.

Several days ago, I booked a 9PM Southwest flight from BWI to Raleigh/Durham (RDU).  Reagan National (DCA) is far more convenient for me, but the price wasn’t justifiable for this trip.  If you have to spend $30 to $40 dollars getting to and from BWI, DCA becomes more viable.  But you don’t have to do that if you use Metro’s Green Line train to get to Greenbelt station and connect to the B30 Metrobus which then takes you nonstop to BWI.

I boarded Metrorail by my office in the Washington Navy Yard at 5:15PM and arrived at Greenbelt Metro station about 40 minutes later.  I then connected to the 6:00PM B30 bus to BWI Airport.  The bus was crowded, but I was able to get a seat.  Some others were not as lucky.  It is equipped with luggage racks and the seats are pretty comfortable.  We departed right on time.  Getting out of the Metro parking area seemed to take longer than anything else.  It was the middle of rush-hour, and traffic wasn’t speedy, but certainly not stuck.  Nonetheless, Metro’s advertised 33 minute travel time to BWI seemed pretty close, as we arrived at BWI only 2 minutes behind schedule.  The bus makes two stops at BWI, Terminal A/B for Southwest and other airlines, and an additional stop that serves the International Terminal.

A short walk to the terminal, up the escalator, and I was in the short TSA line.  At 6:45PM, I was having my first glass of wine at Phillips Seafood along with their Signature Crab Cake.  Yes, you should try it when flying from BWI.  Total cost for the trip was $6.50 using my Metro SmarTrip Card (R).  Paying cash, the cost is $7.10.  Metro has a pretty good website which you can use to plan your trip and determine your expected costs depending on which Metro station you are traveling to or from.

I would not recommend the train/bus/plane connection for those traveling with a plethora of small children and accompanying child care apparatus like Volkswagen-sized strollers unless you are mighty patient.  But this was a pretty easy trip for a solo traveler, or a couple getting away for the weekend with light luggage.  I will use this option again.  Give it a try next time you need to get to get to or from DC from BWI.  The price is right and the trip was easy.

Good news for Delta fans!  Delta begins nonstop roundtrip service from Washington Reagan (DCA) to Raleigh/Durham (RDU) on May 4th.  The service will be operated by Delta Connection carrier Comair.

This has seemed like a logical offering from Delta for so long.  They have a sizable base of customers in both cities.  With US Airways and American in the market, this gives us three choices of airlines.  I can’t help but think that someone is going to cut service.  My prediction:  US Airways.

Enter the Advance Your World Challenge and possibly win one of several prizes.  Seven grand prize winners will receive 1 million Hilton HHonors points.  This contest is sponsored by the Hilton HHonors (R) Card from American Express.

Contest rules can be viewed here.

You read it here….maybe not first, but as soon as I found out!  Southwest Airlines will be serving free beer on its St. Patrick’s Day flights.  My wheels are spinning…trying to find a reason to fly Southwest on 3/17!

If you flew in February, you probably noticed the lighter crowds.  I only traveled twice.  And while my particular flights were nowhere near empty, you could score a vacant seat beside you if you tried.  Load factors were still north of 70 percent for most airlines.  I remember when 70 percent load factors were considered high, and 75 percent?  Geez…it must be Christmas!

Airlines have done an ok job of pulling down capacity, but traffic is falling slightly faster which led to lower load factors for most airlines last month.  February has historically been one of the lighter travel months, but this week’s plethora of traffic results was eye-opening.  It’s important to keep in mind that the remarkable reductions in capacity were done in response to near $150 dollar a barrel oil, not the unraveling of financial markets and general downturn in economic activity that we are now experiencing.  I expect capacity to continue to come down, and perhaps accelerate as airlines seem to have finally developed some discipline in this regard.  March and April will be key months to watch as spring-breakers take to the skies.  If college students don’t fly south in their usual numbers, that could be an indicator of economic weakness that’s even worse than I think it is.

Capacity reductions aside, there are some pretty good deals out there right now if you’re looking to travel.  Keep your eyes and ears open, and use a service like Yapta or Travelocity farewatcher to monitor fare changes in markets you’d like to travel.  This could be an interesting year in travel.  Stay flexible, and be ready to jump on any last-minute deals.

American Express has been taking it in the shins lately.  Frankly, they deserve a bit of constructive criticism for some of the conduct I’ve read about in the papers such as cutting cardmembers off for using their card at shops where their computers say other shoppers have had problems paying there bill and such whether you’ve had trouble paying your bill or not.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) really summed things up well.  Basically, the article traces a lot of Amex’s current troubles to a gradual shift away from it’s classic charge card business and into credit cards.  It’s a worthy read, and not just for those of you who are Amex customers.

These issues aside, I continue to carry two American Express cards, and have experienced no problems with credit limit reductions, spending limits and charging shut-offs.  I’m blessed with stable employment and an above average income, and I’m guessing that makes me a target demographic for Amex and most other financial firms right now.

I’ve posted about the American Express Platinum card previously, and I still recommend it for anyone that travels at a reasonably frequent level.  The Platinum card continues to offer a number of enticing benefits for travelers, topped off with day of travel lounge access for those flying American, Continental, Delta and Northwest.  That alone pays for the annual fee.  Add in the many other benefits of carrying this card, and you have a compelling case for ‘not leaving home without it.’  I certainly don’t.

Hat Tip:  Let me offer some recommended reading to you.  Creditmattersblog.com is a fantastic resource for those of you interested in the subject of credit.  I’ve learned a lot since I found this blog, and highly recommend it for your regular reading list.