A sneaky FlyerTalker in this thread seems to have found the link to the new Hyatt Visa credit card from Chase, which comes with a $75 annual fee. They’re offering two free nights at any Hyatt hotel as a sign up bonus. That’s not bad at all, it can be worth up to 44,000 points, but at the same time it’s not all that exciting. The nights have to be used within a year, and there don’t seem to be any free nights upon renewal every year.

Other than that, having the card gets you Platinum status, though that’s readily available quite frequently through promotions. As far as the actual benefits for spending on the card go, you earn one Hyatt point per dollar spent on all purchases, and three Hyatt points per dollar spent on Hyatt hotels. The only other plus is that there are no foreign transaction fees.

Overall it’s not a bad card, but at the same time hardly a great card. It’s probably worth getting for the sign-up bonus of two free nights, though there aren’t any compelling benefits for renewal.

A few months back Hyatt sent out a survey to many Gold Passport members asking for benefit suggestions, which seemed to raise the expectations of  the card. I was certainly hoping they would offer some sort of special benefits to Diamond members with the card. After all, free Platinum status isn’t worth anything to someone that’s a Diamond, and at the end of the day you have the most potential to get a loyal following from already loyal customers.

So it would have been nice if they offered something, be it the ability to use suite upgrades on points stays, or something else minor.

I’ll likely sign up for it eventually, but I’d have a very hard time justifying the renewal of the card. While Hyatt and Priority Club are my two primary hotel chains, I use the Starwood American Express almost exclusively.

Today only, SkyMall is offering 25,000 Delta SkyMiles for making a purchase of $500 or more on select products (excluding tax and delivery). While most of the stuff in there is crap, maybe there’s something that can be resold for $350+, which would probably make this worthwhile?

Check out this CNN article:

(CNN) — Nine passengers aboard a plane at Dulles International Airport were removed before takeoff due to a comment made to a crew member Sunday night, a United Airlines spokeswoman said.

Megan McCarthy told CNN she had no information early Monday morning about the nature of the comment. She said United employees came to the gate, spoke with the crew and then spoke with the passengers taken off the plane.

After the discussions, United determined the group of nine could be re-booked on another flight, McCarthy said.

The flight was headed from Dulles in the Washington, D.C., area to Tampa, Florida. All remaining passengers continued on the flight after the delay.

My mistake! I guess this is what I get for doing a mileage run with eight of my closest friends and asking the purser to heat my nuts because they weren’t warm enough.

While Hyatt’s “Great 10K” fall promotion is a bit of a disappointment, Priority Club’s fall promotion is quite lucrative.

Between September 20 and December 31, they’re offering either double points or free nights. For the duration of the promotion period you can earn either double base points after your first stay, or one free night for every two stays outside of Asia Pacific. You can earn a maximum of five free nights, and the (small) catch is that you don’t earn points on your stays if you go with this option. The redemption period is quite generous on this as well, with redemptions possible through June 1, 2011.

You can bet I’ll be going with the free nights option, and it will definitely drive some more fall business towards Priority Club for me, though I’m capping my stays with them at ten.

Let’s see if this promotion is enough to convince Hyatt to match…

As many United frequent flyers probably know by now, there has been a recent change in the landing preparation procedure. The AFA outlines this change as follows:

Flight Attendant OSAP reports have led to changes in procedures for landing, with the intention of getting Flight Attendants into our jumpseats sooner. United has changed procedures for both pilots and Flight Attendants to support this effort. Pre-landing activities previously accomplished after the captain’s prepare for landing announcement will now be done after the double chimes. Moving these activities to an earlier point in the flight means that, following the captain’s announcement, our sole responsibility is to take the jumpseat and securely fasten the seatbelt and shoulder harness.

These new procedures take effect immediately and will be published in the FAOM October revision. After the double chime indicating initial descent and start of sterile cockpit we make announcements regarding use of electronic devices and preparation for arrival, followed by pre-landing safety checks and inspections. Finish preparing the cabin for landing, including securing galleys, inspecting and locking lavatories where applicable and adjusting cabin lighting. Notify the cockpit as soon as possible if cabin preparation cannot be completed. When the cockpit announces, “Flight Attendants, prepare for landing,” take your assigned jumpseat with seat belt and shoulder harness securely fastened. We should all take heed of these new procedures to support taking care of ourselves so we can take care of others, crew and passengers alike, in the performance of our safety duties.

So basically, in the past, service would continue and you could keep your seat reclined until about ten minutes before landing, when the captain made the “flight attendants, prepare for landing” announcement. Now they’ve changed this policy so that service stops and seats already need to be put upright as the plane passes through 18,000 feet, which is usually well over 20 minutes before landing.

I’m fine with service ending sooner, but it’s quite frustrating to me that seats need to be put in the upright position so early, especially since United’s first class seats have to be among the most uncomfortable out there when in the upright position, thanks to the headrests extending down so far. This is especially frustrating on United’s shorter flights, where this makes a huge difference. On a 50 minute flight, that’s nearly half the flight that seats needs to be upright now, and we all know service doesn’t start till about 20 minutes after takeoff at the earliest. I’m not sure how flight attendants are expected to service a full 757 in about ten minutes.

Now I’m not trying to single United out here, since most airlines already have this policy in place. But I’m a firm believer in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way of doing things. And in my opinion the system wasn’t broken. So why fix it?

According to this FlyerTalk thread, Delta has been testing a program at JFK for their Diamond Medallion members (those that earn 125,000+ elite qualifying miles/year) for a while now. Basically, they’re offering a “meet and greet” service for Diamonds upon arrival from international destinations.

They “fast track” you through immigration and then all the way to your connecting flight. Apparently they’ve been doing this for arrivals between the hours of 12PM and 6PM.

No doubt being “fast tracked” through immigration can save a lot of time (especially if you’re not a US citizen), though I think that’s where most of the value is. Not in them waiting with you for your bags and bringing you to your connecting flight.

Anyway, what’s really surprising to me here is that they’re able to do this. But according to a poster in that thread, there are 20-30 Diamond Medallions arriving between those hours, which isn’t a whole lot.

So more than anything else, this raises the question, does Delta not have that many 100,000+ mile flyers, or does United just have that many more? The average international 777 on United must have anywhere between 25 and 50 1Ks. While 1K is a slightly lower tier than Diamond in terms of miles required, even if you raised the tier by 25,000 miles, I still think they would be lightyears apart in terms of their elite ranks.

Anyway, kudos to Delta for this very cool benefit. I don’t expect it to be replicated anywhere else. Though at the very least, the legacies left with international first class (American and United) should consider offering this service for paid first class passengers. It’s the least they can do given how far behind they are in most other regards.