On Thursday I received the following email from Hilton:

Dear Lucky,

Due to a technical issue, 2,500 bonus points were inadvertently added to your account. This error is in the process of being corrected. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you should have any questions please call HHonors Customer Service at 1-800-446-6677. You may review your account summary by clicking here.

First of all, I think it’s pretty petty that they feel the need to correct this “technical issue,” but whatever. Second of all, I think it would be nice if they deducted the points before emailing me, so that I know at what point this error has been corrected. Lastly, I have no clue what the hell this “technical issue” was. I’ve had the same point balance for at least two months now, and just now my total went down by 2,500 points. I keep track of my points balance pretty closely, and as far as I know I wasn’t issued any points in error.

Pathetic, Hilton. It’s not like you posted 2,500 points to my account a few days ago without cause. Instead, you (apparently) posted points to my account months ago, and now you’re choosing to deduct them? Again, other than the fact that my account has 2,500 fewer points, I have no clue what the error was.

While Priority Club loves to have different rates that include point bonuses (essentially a way to try and screw over your company), this is a legit promotion. For stays between July 6 and August 31 they’re offering 10,000 bonus points per stay at select properties. The rate for this promotion is the same as the best flexible rate.

I’ve just rebooked my stay at the InterContinental Hong Kong using this promotion.

On Wednesday I posted about my one week anniversary of no travel, and it looks like the trend will continue for at least a couple more weeks (due to no good deals and no need to travel). I’m having a bit of a problem with my sleeping pattern, though, which I blame on my lack of flying.

You see, I’m a “late to bed, late to rise” person whenever I don’t have a 7AM class or a 6AM flight.  In the past my mileage runs helped balance out my schedule in the sense that I’d have one redeye a week. Since I don’t get much sleep on redeyes, I’d typically go to bed early the night after, sometimes at around 6PM. Then I’d naturally get up at 6AM. Then as the week progressed I’d continue to get up later and later, but it nonetheless helped me to get up and go to bed at a reasonable hour. The ability to make me tired at an early hour the night after made redeyes worth it.

Now without redeyes, however, I’m having problems sleeping. Since I don’t have to get up early at the moment, I find myself going to bed later and later. And in turn I’m waking up later and later, to the point that I’m getting up at close to 1PM and going to bed in the wee hours of the night. I’m thinking one way to counter this is a “virtual” redeye. Just pull an all nighter for the heck of it, and go to bed early the next day.

Maybe doing that once a week will help me balance out my schedule a bit? On the plus side I have to get up (relatively) early again starting tomorrow, so I’m guessing it’ll be a short night.

It’s just one of the many challenges of being a flyaholic, I guess.

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Patrick for sending in this one.

Correct Answer: Paris, France
Winner: boifromtroy

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Just a quick heads up for those that might be interested. I just switched over to Flickr for hosting pictures a couple of months ago, and up until today I’ve only uploaded pictures from current trips. I’ve decided to go back and add pictures from previous trips, so for those interested in seeing pictures of premium cabins of many foreign airlines along with their destinations, feel free to check out my Flickr account. I’ll continue to upload more pictures over the next few days, so check back often.

While I realize I’m totally weak compared to some of you, I earned two free nights through Priority Club’s current promotion which have to be used this year. The added challenge of maximizing these free nights as a Royal Ambassador with InterContinental is that they don’t technically honor elite benefits on award stays. This can be frustrating, as I’ll be staying at the InterContinental Hong Kong in August, and the thing that makes the hotel spectacular are their harbor view rooms. Unfortunately they’re stingy when it comes to award benefits, so I’ve booked a revenue stay, although I would have loved to use my free nights there.

I’ve still never been to London, shockingly enough. Given that the InterContinental London honors Royal Ambassador benefits on award stays, it seems like a good candidate for a weekend trip in the fall. 

The challenge is figuring out how to get there. I haven’t flown an international revenue ticket on United in ages, since I typically do first class awards on premium carriers for my international travel. Given that London really isn’t that far I’ll probably just end up booking a cheap, non-upgradeable fare on United, or maybe I’ll book an upgradeable flight, but it just seems like such a waste. The other option is using ANA miles to fly Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class.

I’m in no position to book this  yet because I have to figure out my schedule, but it’s something I’m keeping in the back of my mind.

As I snack away at a couple of packs a day of snack mix I stole from the Red Carpet Club, I feel obliged to share an observation which really bothers me: some packages are 90% pretzels with hardly any of the good stuff, while other packages are about 50% pretzels with the rest being split between those little cajun stick things, nuts, and those crunchy things.

Please be a bit more consistent and consistently include more of the good stuff!

Thanks,
My taste buds

Today marks the one week anniversary of me not being in a pressurized cabin. Now, that doesn’t seem like a whole lot to most. About five years back I flew maybe two or three times a year. As recently as last year there were some months I only stepped on a plane once. But since March of this year, there hasn’t been any seven day period where I haven’t traveled, at least as far as I can remember (memory seems to be the first thing to go when traveling this much).

There are some symptoms of withdrawal, though. First, and foremost, I’m remarkably well rested. I’m not yawning all day and my eyes don’t look like UFO landing sites anymore. That’s the only good news. Unfortunately I’m starting to have nightmares having to do with flying. Yeah, those bad graphic dreams involving planes doing bad things. Next, I’m going to bed super late. If I can’t be on a redeye from the west coast, I’m at least going to stay up till boarding time (not that I want to, but I just can’t sleep). Lastly, and most importantly, I’m starting to run out of airline snacks I stole from the Red Carpet Club! I’m down to the last dozen packs of Harvest Premium Snack Mix. What can I say, I went all out last time I sat at the SFO RCC for seven hours.

Either way, I’m ready to get back on a plane, but I’m going to break my addiction. Fares suck right now, so the closest I’m going to get to flying is walking up a set of stairs or going to the airport to do some future ticketing (in my favorite shirt, of course).

Is anyone else experiencing similar symptoms?

I saw this posted on Things in the Sky, and got a real kick out of it. Check out this BBC article. Basically passengers were asked to move around for weight and balance reasons. I don’t remember the last time that I was on a CRJ where we didn’t have to move around, assuming the plane wasn’t full. Heck, I’ve heard several reports of passengers having to move around on a 747 for weight and balance. But apparently on this Thomas Cook flight, 71 passengers decided they wanted off.

I mean, isn’t the headline just total garbage:

Dozens of holidaymakers returning to Newcastle refused to fly after they were asked to act as human ballast.

I mean, this is something I’d expect The Onion to write, not BBC News.

We’ve gotta give the InterContinental Montelucia kudos for their creativity. Through October 31 they’re offering 15,000 points for each reward night reservation made. You heard me right. They want to give you points when you spend your points. This essentially brings down the cost of an award night at the InterContinental Montelucia to 15,000 points, since it’s usually 30,000 points.

It’s not quite as good as PointBreaks, but it’s an excellent deal nonetheless. The revenue rates are excellent this time of year as well, and for reservations through June 26 there’s even a Travelzoo rate of $95.