Here are a few of the pictures my brother took during his recent trip to Egypt. Enjoy!
As much as I like seeing the New Year right around the corner, I’m depressed to think about the United Mileage Plus changes that go into effect on January 1. With these changes you’ll be paying as much as 35,000 miles MORE per seat, which is complete robbery as far as I’m concerned, especially with Starnet blocking still in place.
Anyway, the only thing we can do about this at the moment is to lock-in awards at the current levels. As long as you book your award by tomorrow night that rate will be honored, even if you make changes in routing, dates, or destinations. As long as you don’t change the cabin or regions you’re flying in, you can use that ticket anytime in the next year. Of course change fees apply, but if you’re a 1K you’re lucking out here, since you can make changes for free.
At the moment I only have about 110,000 miles in my account, since I’ve been burning like crazy lately. I still haven’t decided what to book yet. I’m leaning towards a South America business class award ticket, since I haven’t been to South America yet. Business class awards to Asia or Europe are also options.
I better decide soon….
It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to mudba for sending in this one.
Correct Answer: Beijing, China (Summer Palace)
Winner: Ed
If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.
While it’s a bit hidden on the bottom right of the site (under links, archives, categories, and pages), I just added a new poll feature to the blog. I’m guessing it won’t get a lot of exposure due to the fact that it’s way the heck down there, but I’ll give it a try for a month and see how it goes. The first poll question is pretty simple — I’m curious to see how your travel plans for 2008 and 2009 compare, especially given the economic situation. Will you be traveling more, about the same, or less than in 2008?
Hilton is once again offering 50% off many properties (excluding Australia and North America) for stays through August 2009 booked by the end of January. Unfortunately the rates are non-refundable, but they do include breakfast, so there are some fantastic bargains to be had. Add this to the double points promo, and Hilton isn’t looking half bad right now.
As an example, I’m seeing the Conrad Hong Kong the cheapest I’ve ever seen it, at under 200 USD including breakfast.
Enjoy!
Below are pictures my brother took when visiting The Dolder Grand in Zurich through the $19.28 Leading Hotels of the World promotion. Here is an interesting NY Times article on the Dolder Grand. Apparently, according to the Swiss Air in-flight magazine, two things epitomize Switzerland: (i) private banking, and (ii) The Dolder Grand. Is it worth the price tag at over 700 USD per night? Well, at under 20 USD, it’s a no-brainer! 
Hotel exterior
View from the front of the hotel
Lobby
Room Doorway
Room
Minibar…. no Royal Ambassador benefits
Bathroom
I just got around to selecting seats for one of my January trips (returning February 1), and was ready to select 11C (my seat) on Ted from ORD to TPA when – be sure you’re sitting down and holding onto something — a 757 seatmap popped up! That’s right, a 757 seatmap! Totally shocked I fell to the floor and once I got up ran around as if I just won a new car on the Price is Right. This may seem insignificant to most, but I was pretty damn excited. I decided to look at the schedule, only to realize that the flight after mine was a 767, albeit a domestic one!
What’s going on here? Is Ted dead? Is it Superman? Wait, no, it’s the Superbowl… I guess that’s a sad reflection of how interested I am in football.
Oddly enough, my flight gets in an hour after the Superbowl kicks off in Tampa, so I’m guessing they’re flying those planes down because of the tons of passengers leaving Tampa the next morning. Still, I’ll cherish that dinner service on ORD to TPA in first class (if my upgrade clears), and think of it as United’s way of showing me what I can expect in the future with Ted’s death. Is this how they’re trying to counter my Northwest status match?
I have a 5.5 hour “layover” in Seattle next month (not my actual Seattle trip, but just a mileage run), whereby I get in at 12:30AM and leave at 6AM. I’m trying to decide whether or not it’s worth getting a hotel room.
The way I look at it it’s going to be 1:15AM by the time I get to the room, and I’ll have to be up by 4:30AM at the latest, which means I’d get no more than three hours of sleep, and probably a lot less than that if there’s a delay or if I’m too “awake” to sleep.
The only real option I’m considering is booking the Holiday Inn SeaTac for $75, and only because I could earn a lot of points which would basically make the stay a wash (like my brother staying at the Holiday Inn Express FRA and earning nearly 10,000 points). Getting a hotel through Priceline doesn’t seem worth it since it would probably cost $50 and I wouldn’t earn any points. I’m leaning towards just staying at the airport, but am undecided. What would you do?
It’s only a few days till the new year, and that’s both a good and bad thing. On the downside, my United elite qualifying mileage balance will drop from over 200,000 to ZERO. Yuck! On the plus side, I’ll get six fresh systemwide upgrades from United, and more importantly the quest for status begins once again.
Yesterday afternoon it finally hit me that I had no travel planned for next year, and that needed to change. I put a couple of tickets on hold, and this afternoon went to the airport to ticket them, since I had vouchers to burn. I decided to book a couple of pretty cool mileage runs. One includes the reconfigured United 767 on the outbound and Premium Service on the return, both of which are already confirmed in business class thanks to my confirmed regional upgrades. I booked another mileage run which has me on the reconfigured 767 both ways, which I’m looking forward to. I’m always a bit embarrassed to say I haven’t actually flown new UA C/F (although I’ve sat in the mock up, but it’s not the same thing), so with three flights planned on the bird, at least one has to work out…. right? I’ll definitely report back on my impressions, and of course will have plenty of pictures.
I’m actually flying four weekends in January, including a trip on Delta to New York (and I’m purposely routing through ATL to hop on an internationally configured 767), as well as a trip on Continental to Seattle (with a pretty cool thing set up there, which I can hopefully write a bit about after the fact). Here’s to hoping my upgrades clear!
After filling up January I’m not quite as depressed as before about January being right around the corner. Here’s to hoping that weather doesn’t make my travel plans too unrealistic….
It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Kevin for sending in this one.
Correct Answer: Singapore Changi Airport
Winner: ua_flyer
If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.
Well, it seems like Hilton has (finally) listened! Just a few days after criticizing Hilton for their lack of promotions, it looks like they have a double points promotion from January 6 through April 6. Registration is required prior to making a reservation, and be sure to check the full list of participating hotels.
Hat tip to my friend Kent for bringing this to my attention.
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