…screenbert!

Thanks to all that took part in the Hilton free night giveaway. Lots of you made me laugh. One or two of you even made me cry. But it wasn’t me judging, it was my brother. And after spending hours reading all the entries and narrowing it down to about a dozen, my brother eventually chose entry nine:

How about juggling in all the places you visit? On one of my trips I went to Brazil/Florida and juggled everywhere. I received some wierd looks, I got drenched in water (about 2/3 of the way through), I juggled in front of my hotel with a fire-juggling pan handler and even took a ride on a “sandboard” while juggling. Bloopers are at the end of the video. If the final wipeout at the very end (after the credit screen) doesn’t make you laugh then you need to get your funnybone checked out. And as always I enjoy reading your blog.

Here’s the video:

Very funny video! Congrats and you can expect an email shortly.

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

Correct Answer: Omar Makram Statue in downtown Cairo, Egypt
Winner: davidavid237

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

Let’s discuss the (temporary) good news first. The Lufthansa pilot strike has been suspended until March 8 to give the parties involved more time to “talk.” Of course this all happened after a disastrous day with flight cancellations, not to mention several days with severely interrupted schedules. I’m shocked they couldn’t reach an agreement before the strike period, because for the most part the damage has already been done. So let’s at least hope there’s not another strike after March 8.

Now, on to the bad news — British Airways cabin crew have decided to strike over a pay freeze that British Airways management has requested. No date for the strike has been set yet, but hopefully they’ll be able to come to some agreement.

I realize I’m oversimplifying things here, but can’t we all just get along? To a large extent I see where both sides are coming from with both British Airways and Lufthansa. But at the same time these companies are losing billions of dollars. No one wins with a strike. There’s no (major) harm when it’s just being discussed, but when it gets as far as it did with Lufthansa, no one wins. In this economy these games just can’t be played.

Yeah, I’m way behind on this one, tell me about it. I’m not much into technology if there’s an otherwise easy way to keep track of things. Last year I posted about my frustration with tracking miles and points. Little did I know there were sites out there that could help with tracking them for free. I started using MilePort.com but eventually gave up. While it was somewhat useful, it didn’t cover enough programs and often couldn’t update the balances in some accounts. A tracking tool is rather worthless to me if it’s not complete, since I’ll have to worry about which program is updating correctly and which isn’t.

Just recently I discovered AwardWallet.com, which I now use religiously. What impresses me most about the website is how many different programs it tracks, and also the ability to track multiple accounts of the same program, making it easy to keep track of the miles of family members. Anyway, I don’t need any fancy stuff, but I’ve found this to be really, really useful. I no longer suffer from checking all my balances 100 times a day. Now I just check AwardWallet.com ten times a day.

And what’s most frightening to me is my current balance between all programs:

Now I realize that’s nothing compared to many of you, but I’m an earner and burner. Having miles and points sitting around is like having money in a bank account not collecting any interest. They devalue over time, so my goal is always to have the lowest balance possible. So I guess that means it’s time to start burning, which I have no problem doing!

Starting March 1, SPG Platinum members will receive free in-room internet access worldwide. Now that’s a very nice benefit, given the price of internet in some parts of the world….

You have a few more hours to make my brother laugh and win a free night at a Hilton hotel. The contest ends at midnight eastern time tonight, at which point my brother will have the privilege of reviewing all the entries.

The winner will be announced tomorrow. Good luck!

Through the end of the year (yeah, that’s over ten months) Hyatt is offering “trial” Platinum status for 180 days just for joining the Gold Passport program. If you stay five eligible nights during that period you’ll receive Platinum status through February 2011, and if you stay 15 nights you’ll earn Diamond status. Current members can enroll by calling (800) 228-3360.

(Tip of the hat to Loyalty Traveler)

As I mentioned earlier in the month, Captain Denny has given me his flight schedule to share with anyone that would like to fly with him. I posted his February Schedule here, so here’s his March schedule:

03/06 UA619 ORD-SNA 15:55-18:28
03/07 UA316 SNA-DEN 07:46-11:09
03/07 UA103 DEN-SMF 12:14-13:55
03/08 UA020 SMF-DEN 07:26-10:48
03/08 UA956 DEN-ORD 11:46-15:15
03/08 UA164 ORD-MCO 17:25-21:04
03/09 UA183 MCO-ORD 08:12-10:12

03/13 UA839 ORD-LAX 18:39-21:06
03/14 UA958 LAX-ORD 09:50-15:58
03/14 UA164 ORD-MCO 17:30-21:09
03/15 UA199 MCO-ORD 13:23-15:20
03/15 UA619 ORD-SNA 16:10-18:36
03/16 UA436 SNA-ORD 08:30-14:25

03/20 UA757 ORD-DEN 12:06-13:49
03/20 UA342 DEN-BOS 16:58-22:49
03/21 UA167 BOS-LAX 18:00-21:35
03/22 UA126 LAX-ORD 23:25-05:11

03/27 UA288 ORD-MCO 13:10-16:54
03/27 UA499 MCO-IAD 18:50-20:56
03/28 UA141 IAD-ORD 09:27-10:41
03/28 UA609 ORD-SFO 11:55-14:50
03/29 UA134 SFO-ORD 08:35-14:58
03/29 UA896 ORD-BDL 16:59-20:00
03/30 UA381 BDL-ORD 06:45-08:24

….someone please convince me otherwise! And this is for an award on which my brother will join me, and he’s a wine snob. What has gotten into me?!?!

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

Correct Answer: Central City, Colorado
Winner: Jason Steele

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