I’m unsure how reliable my internet access will be over the next few days, so there may be little if anything new on this site until Monday.

Register and then buy or lease a 2005 Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep by August 1 (offer not valid on SRT models, Viper, Sprinter, 300 models, Magnum RT or 2006 Charger).

Then go to United.com/chryslermiles and submit the car’s VIN number and date of purchase by August 31, 2005.
Update: Offer appears to be targeted, if you didn’t receive an email from United about it you may not be eligible.

Matt Lauer did a piece on the Today Show this morning (video clip) on the recent spate of travel pricing errors.

He mentions the USAirways $1.98 fare, the $55 Fiji trip, and the Lanesborough Hotel pricing error. He manages to hit key questions like whether airlines and hotels have to honor pricing, what role the internet plays in disseminating mistakes, and whether lists and websites promoting the errors are monitored by travel companies in order to correct errors more quickly.

The piece actually seems to be driving a bit of traffic to this website today. Mentioned in the interview are Flyertalk, FareAlert, and the New York Airfare Blog. Lots of people looking for similar sites are happening onto this one.

Tyler Cowen doesn’t want to see cell phone use on planes. He has a strong opinion and is looking for academic arguments to support it:

Can I claim that cell phone calls are a socially wasteful means of signaling to your spouse that you care? Can I claim that commercial airplanes are modern (short-term) monasteries, and that markets undersupply such temples of silence?

Phone use is actually allowed onboard planes now — the phone is in the seatback and the cost is several dollars per minute. The change is making low cost calls available via personal cell phones. Tyler would presumably tax that useage substantially in order to maintain existing cost levels which prevent would-be phone users from invading his silence.

I think Tyler is incorrect if he’s imagining people on cell phones yammering on around him on planes with current seating configurations once regulations change.

Tyler’s dislike of cell phone calls around him is widely shared. He doesn’t believe Bryan Caplan that the market will successfully address the problem. And there might be a short transition period where Tyler’s nightmare scenario is real.

I don’t envision some enterprising airline voluntarily enforcing no cell phone useage and attempting to get people to book away from other carriers in order to gain peace. Travelers articulate desires for quiet, for better food, for non-stop flights but in their booking decisions they don’t pay for those things. I don’t imagine a ‘quiet plane’ business model would be successful.

More likely, one airline will slightly innovate and others will get in line, just like JetBlue adding satellite TV to its planes and Delta recognizing that its lowfare unit needed entertainment as well — meaning that its Song subsidiary offered more amenities than its mainline counterpart. Lowfare carrier Airtran then recognized the need to invest in entertainment, and brought XM Satellite Radio onboard.

Before the FAA banned smoking onboard US planes, airlines used to offer smoking and non-smoking sections. I don’t see why cell phone and non-cell phone sections wouldn’t arise. Amtrak currently offers ‘quiet cars’ along the Northeast corridor for folks who want their monastic peace. Certainly airlines, while not known as the most flexible business entities, can be as innovative as Amtrak.

In an environment where planes are often quite full, passengers may not have the option of assigned seating in the quiet section of the plane. So the non-smoking section model isn’t a panacea.

Technology can help here as well. Tyler can internalize his desire for a quiet plane by purchasing a noise-reduction headset ($40 – $300).

Many airlines give these out now to business and first class passengers on international flights (and sometimes on international-configured planes flying domestically).

A small investment can bring Tyler his peace and quiet, instead of relying on government or airline rules to subsidize his preference. This would carry the benefit of unbundling transportation from comfort, and Tyler could choose to purchase each separately if his effective demand really mirrors his notional demand.

I just completed my marketing offer for the free digital camera. It was the easiest offer from Gratis Networks yet — Napster.

You sign up for a 14-day free trial. You do have to download their software (and when you’re asked whether you want to restart your computer, it’s important to say NO or else you may not get credit). Then a couple days later credit for the offer shows up on the free electronics offer website. The best part is that you can cancel online — you don’t even have to speak to a live person. I printed out the page saying I had cancelled, but I also got an email from them anyway. Then I uninstalled the software. Easy, free, a great way to complete a requirement.

The other easy one that I see up at the moment is EFax. You cancel via live chat with them. It’s a free offer, so you aren’t out any money. And the good part of the cancellation process is that you can copy the entire live chat into Word or use some other method to save the whole conversation, so you have a record of the cancellation just in case.

As a quick refresher, the various free electronics offers require you to complete a marketing offer and refer friends who complete marketing offers as well.

When you sign up you’ll be asked whether you want to participate in several ‘optional’ offers. Answer no to each one of them.

Then complete an offer like Napster or EFax — which cost you nothing. Naturally you don’t want to join Columbia House…

(For additional context, these are the same folks that offer the free iPod which I got myself almost a year ago.)

Keith Alexander speculates on what would happen to frequent flyers in an America West-USAirways tie-up.

He quotes Randy Petersen saying that USAirways members could finally relax about the future and stability of their miles.

Separately, if the combined corporate entity remains as USAirways, and its existing partnerships continue, then America West flyers will gain access to international awards like they’ve never known before through USAirways’ membership in the Star Alliance. Currently, America West’s premium international redemption options are hugely limited.

Of course, this is all speculation. If a merger were to go through, and if it were to cause the combined entity to exit the Star Alliance (after all, America West is a significant competitor to United on the West Coast of the U.S. and to the best of my knowledge America West management hasn’t commented on its position vis-a-vis Star) then USAirways frequent flyers would have their redemption options slashed dramatically.

This is all speculation — on both sides, of course — but it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) carries a piece this morning offering a recent history of pricing errors, “Consumers Race to Cash In On Flurry of Pricing Errors That Some Are Honoring”

In recent weeks, sharp-eyed consumers have spotted a number of travel pricing mistakes — including several $1.86 US Airways flights, and a $51 flight to Fiji on Travelocity — and have raced to cash in.



Pricing mistakes are a growing headache for travel companies since consumers are increasingly able and willing use the Internet to quickly spot and snap up low prices. As a result, it is getting easier for them to take advantage of pricing slip-ups that happen often when prices are updated in real time before the company can correct the mistake. For instance, in less than a half-day, about 1,000 mispriced US Airways tickets were bought before the airline caught on.

…

This month, for instance, London’s luxurious Lanesborough Hotel mistakenly sold rooms online for £35, or about $67, instead of £350. The Lanesborough, a Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. property, gave people who had booked one reservation each at the low rate, up to a three-night maximum — but excluded perks like airport car transfers.

The recent round of snafus started in early April, when Sabre Holdings Corp.’s Travelocity was selling an Air Pacific flight from the West Coast to Fiji at $51, including all taxes and fees. (It was supposed to be a companion fare.)

…

In the case of the Lanesborough Hotel, within 10 hours of posting the price, 34 people made 86 reservations — in at least one case, for a block of 30 nights, the hotel says. At first, the hotel offered to rebook the customers at £350. About 24 hours later, Starwood backed down and offered the three-night compromise. (Customers who reserved through Cendant Corp.’s Orbitz got all the extras, including daily breakfast with champagne upon arrival.)



A couple of days later, US Airways started selling a $1.86 (plus taxes) roundtrip fare originating or arriving in eight minor-market cities, including Lebanon, N.H. and Hilton Head, S.C. The company says about 1,000 tickets were sold and it has decided to honor them.

…

In 2001 at the W Times Square hotel in New York, a Starwood property, a rate was listed as $25 instead of $250. The hotel honored it because only 250 rooms were booked. The following year, when Starwood’s Bora Bora Resort & Spa mispriced some luxury bungalows at about $85 rather than $850 and 136 people booked 2,631 rooms, the company struck a bargain: It told guests it could sell the rooms for $531.

As the piece observes,

[I]n an era in which low airfares are proliferating, and rock-bottom promotional prices on travel are commonplace, sometimes it can be tough to tell what is real and what isn’t.

True enough. Yesterday’s AU$1 rate at a Melbourne, Australia hotel appeared on Priceline’s (non-bidding) hotel search site. William Shatner advertises phenomenal deals, and I’ve seen legitimate $5 rooms on Priceline (and even legitimate $13 rooms in Vegas booked directly with the hotel).

Ryanair in Europe has been known to sell flights for a $1 as well. So while we may ‘know it when we see it’ when an error rate pops up, it can’t really be incumbent upon the consumer to tell the difference between a promotion and a mistake.

Furthermore, consumer mistakes aren’t treated all that lightly by most travel providers. United aside — if you book directly with them you have 24 hours to cancel a nonrefundable reservation — if you buy a ticket for the wrong date or flight or city you’re generally on the hook for change fees in a best case scenario. Those are the rules that airlines and hotels offering pre-paid rooms often apply, and should stick to them as well.

As I mentioned recently, when money hasn’t yet changed hands there’s a good likelihood that a deal won’t be honored. The Bora Bora Nui rate is one example, along with the Thai Airways $0 first class fare from London to Bangkok (which required in-person ticketing), and it looks like the AU$1 Melbourne hotel will be another example.

Money changing hands, though, is not a guarantee that a deal will be honored — and as the W Times Square offer shows it isn’t always required in order for a deal to be accepted either. But in my experience it’s a good predicter.

James Wysong’s newest column is on ways to get an upgrade. His advice:

Become a member of that specific airline’s frequent flier mileage club. You can be a member of many different airlines’ clubs.

Unlikely. Being an elite member of an airline’s frequent flyer program is the surest way to an upgrade, although each program’s terms and conditions are different — you may need to pay a certain fare or spend upgrade certificates, and the rules likely vary between domestic and international flights. But simply joining a frequent flyer program is unlikely to score an upgrade (except in one limited circumstance, overbooking of coach, discussed below).

The flight is oversold in economy, but there are empty seats in business and or first class.

Absolutely. Airlines oversell coach and instead of denying boarding (which is costly, requiring both reaccomodation of passengers and compensation) they’ll upgrade people to the next class of service. This is called an ‘operational upgrade’ and is intended to get the plane out with the least amount of disruption.

Sometimes being an elite member of a frequent flyer program helps. Some agents will use frequent flyer status to determine whom to upgrade. But remember, this is about getting the plane out full and not a perk of the loyalty program. Sometimes people will be bumped up seemingly at random.

Operational upgrades may be done a few hours before the flight (you check in, and are given an upgraded boarding pass). Don’t check in too early, say more than three hours in advance, because you may miss out on the chance to be upgraded. The airline isn’t likely to call you back to give you a new boarding pass.

Operational upgrades are also done at the gate. The master at these upgrades is Flyertalk’s PremEx. Here, it’s best not to pester the gate agent. Go up, lay your boarding pass on the desk (which will show your elite status, if you have it) and say something like

I’m traveling with you ["Full Fare" if applicable"] to [CITY] today and I’m quite happy with my [Seat X], but if you should need to move anyone up, I’d be happy to help out. My name is X and I’ll be sitting right over there…

Stay around in that spot and don’t move.

Don’t board right away, either. An agent isn’t likely to come onto the plane to find you to move you up, they’re likely just to pick someone else instead.

And just because an agent tells you “first class has checked in full” don’t take it to mean your chance for an upgrade is over. Often a first class passenger will be connecting from another flight, and they may well misconnect — meaning that the first class seat that has already checked in will actually become available.

You are dressed smartly or in business attire. Jacket and tie for men and a dress/suit for women.

Looking appropriate doesn’t get you an upgrade, but dressing down could certainly cost you the upgrade if a gate agent is deciding whom to move up for operational reasons. This only applies to at the gate operational upgrades.

You are traveling alone. Sorry, if you’re with kids, it’s almost an automatic disqualifier.

One seat is much easier to accomodate up front than several. That’s a bigger reason for this than a desire to keep kids out of the front cabin.

Always be willing to move when asked. I know of a man who refused to move because he was seated on the aisle. What he didn’t realize was that the seat they were offering him was in first class.

Sure, you may be getting moved up front, but this is unlikely. Onboard upgrades are rare (except, perhaps, on British Airways or Aeroflot — for a fee — which in the latter case is actually a bribe).

Be early. Your chances of sitting up front diminish quickly when you inquire at the last minute.

But not too early — don’t checkin before advance operational upgrades are done, three to four hours in before departure.

Use the right card. Many times the credit card you pay with has a redeemable mile feature usable with several different airlines.

The USAirways Bank of America Visa Signature comes with upgrade benefits but you’re at the very end of the line for upgrades. Only flights that would otherwise have empty first class seats are likely to provide this benefit.

The American Express Centurion Card comes with elite status on Delta, USAirways, and Continental (which also provides upgrades on Northwest). That card can get you upgrades directly via your automatic elite status.

But other than those two cards, the point of ‘choosing the right card’ is really ‘accumulating the right miles’ and looking at what opportunities there are to use your miles for an upgrade — often at the time of booking — but just as with elite upgrades, there may be minimum fare purchased requirements and the rules likely differ from domestic to international flights.

When you book the ticket ask about upgrades and prices. There is a fare called Y-UP fares that cost a little more but increases your upgrade chances immensely.

If you’re paying full fare, you may be entitled to a first class seat. YUP fares are sometimes less expensive than full fare, and sometimes less expensive than first class.

But don’t also forget to inquire about the price of a first or business class ticket — sometimes it’s less than you might imagine. I searched for a colleague’s trip to Bucharest yesterday. Most business class fares were $5000, but both Continental (with intra-European flights on KLM) and Alitalia offered $2500 fares. That’s a relatively small premium over coach for the days she’s traveling.

It’s one of the times of year that all the programs push their flowers and gifts mileage partners. America West just sent out an email offering 20 miles per dollar with FTD, with Butterfield Blooms, with Gift Sense, and from the San Francisco Music Box Company.

The FTD offer says “Elite Members” but the offer was sent to me by America West, and I do not have elite status with that airline. I do have some experience with FTD offers originally targeted for elites, and everyone has always been able to earn full mileage with the offers regardless of status.

The best mileage offer has been around for a couple of years, FTD offers 30 United miles per dollar spent. The offer mentions United 1K members but everyone has been able to take advantage of it regardless of status.

The Venetian is running a special for weekdays at $100 a night from July through September.

May and June is available at $149, and weekends are available at $199.

Leigh Witchel has an extensive tutorial on Priceline bidding strategies.

It’s a good basic introduction, with a nice discussion of advanced rebidding techniques. (Biddingfortravel.com had a more complicated version a couple of years ago where I first picked up the technique — Leigh’s is simpler to understand.)

TravelWeb, Priceline’s non-opaque booking site, has The Langham Hotel for AU$1.00 (roughly US$0.78). It’s fully cancellable and changeable.

This was a deal that went out over a FareAlert email. I’ve booked a room myself. Flyertalk discussion is here.

Just go on over to TravelWeb, search for hotels in Melbourne, Autralia, and I found the Langham on the second page of results.

This may not work out — the rate description says “Pro-Air New Zealand Redemptionmust Provide Air Nz Card on Arrival” — so I may not be eligible for this rate, but I have a booking nonetheless.

The normal rate is about AU$260 a night.

Update: This looks to me like the rate plan associated with redeeming Air New Zealand points as payment fo rhte room, and that it somehow became bookable online.

I am not experienced with Air New Zealand hotel redemptions, but there’s probably a certificate you get from Air New Zealand that you have to hand over at checkin.

That’s my guess, which would imply that the rate will not be honored for those booking at TravelWeb. But I have a reservation nonetheless.

Update 2: This deal no longer appears at TravelWeb.

The InterContinental The Grand Palace Srinagar also has its Presidential Suite available as a 30,000 point award. Another mistake, and this too will disappear quickly.

So where exactly is this?

Known as the paradise on earth, Srinagar, the summer capital of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, is nestled in the beautiful Kashmir valley, surrounded by soaring snow-clad mountains midst the soft murmur of river Jhelum and idyllic lakes.



Formerly the palace residence of the maharajas, InterContinental The Grand Palace Srinagar, ringed by the majestic Himalayan ranges, overlooks the picturesque Dal Lake. Originally built in 1910, this twin storey heritage property with its sprawling lawns has been carefully restored to its former glory and is today a full facility destination.



The palace is located 15 kms from the airport and just minutes away from the city’s key historic attractions.

The Intercontinental Grand in New Delhi is showing all of its room types available for 30,000 point redemption — not just the basic room. This is your opportunity to get the Presidential Suite on an award booking.

Not all nights are available, and this will not last. August 3rd was first identified at Flyertalk.com in the Priority Club Suite Redemption Alert thread. I see most nights available, presumably except those where the Presidential Suite is already booked.

KING PRESIDENTIAL SUITE
KING BEDROOM LIVING ROOM DINING ROOM PRIVATE SAUNA AND JACUZZI GUEST BEDROOM 3TVS BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SAFE

One thing about a blog, you really do need to check it every day or at least every couple of days. Sometimes the really great offers last only a few hours, like airfare glitches or incredible mileage offers (10,000 Delta miles for playing a short online game, 100 Delta miles per dollar spent at 1-800-Flowers.com). But sometimes offers are around awhile — but if you don’t check the site frequently they’ll scroll down past the bottom of the page.

Naturally you should come to this website everyday.

But if you don’t, or if you’ve just found it, you’ll want to be aware of some recent offers posted such as free Gold status with Hilton HHonors, 20% off from Independence Air, and $25 free for opening an ING Direct savings account.

There are also some classic posts worth reading, like:

• How to find the best airfare deals
  

• How to find the best hotel deals
  

• Best mileage earning credit cards

Finally, there are some key websites everyone interested in travel should know about like

• Scott Carmichael’s fare alert email list
  

• Andrew Cram’s Mileage Mall Comparison Chart
  

• Free Frequent Flyer Miles
  

• Seat Guru
  

• DeskPort (for tracking your miles
  

• KVS Availability Tool for the superknowledgeable who understanding fare buckets and booking codes…

If you got yourself a free iPod, why not also get 33 free songs from iTunes for test driving an Audi?

Air Canada has confirmed its intention to spin off its Aeroplan frequent flyer program as a separate unit.

Mr. Milton did not close the door to selling part of Aeroplan to a private buyer. But he said buyout firm Onex Corp. is not in the picture as a potential purchaser. Onex had a deal with Air Canada to buy a 35% stake in Aeroplan for $245-million before that fell apart with the airline’s bankruptcy protection filing. Onex said recently that it was still interested in the unit.



Mr. Milton offered no specific timing for the sale. He said the company is working on legal and regulatory issues to ready its public debut.



Aeroplan is worth in the range of $1.3-billion to $1.9-billion.

In January Randy Petersen wrote that Air Canada would likely be the first program to spin off its loyalty program, and that United might follow suit — with Mileage Plus worth a full $2.5 billion or more.

The ever-controversial Gratis Networks has given away over $8 million in free products. I’ve gotten everything they offer except the free digital camera — I’m still working on that one.

It all started with the free iPod, of course, but since then I’ve gotten the flatscreen TV, photo iPod, iPod shuffle, desktop computer, Mac Mini, and Xbox.

I just did the required marketing offer for the Sony PSP this morning, completing that one as well. I signed up for a free trial with Napster. The free period is 14 days and the offer should post within the next 3 — so there’ll be plenty of time to cancel before I get charged anything. It’s nice to have a totally free option back.

I’ve gotta say that Gratis Networks has no customer service whatsoever. More often than not you don’t need it, everything works as it should. But patience can be required.

This Seattle Times piece (hat tip Tripso Daily) discusses internet web sites that allow travelers to post reviews of the hotels they’ve stayed at.

Sites like TripAdvisor.com are absolutely invaluable for getting a window into a hotel property. Reading what past travelers have had to say can be very useful. The piece observes, though, that reviews are posted anonymously. I haven’t found that to be a problem so much as the other observation in the article, that individual’s standards vary greatly.

The best thing to do in reading internet reviews is to read through several of them and look for consistent themes and patterns. Those are most likely to provide a window of truth about a property. And then it’s important to read between the lines: one resort where I stayed last year had several negative reviews, all commenting on how expensive food was. The food was pricey, but no more so than you find at other high end resorts. The people writing the reviews had different expectations than I do. Their negative ratings really didn’t reflect on my likely enjoyment.

Still, frequent comments like dirty, front desk takes a long time to answer requests, there’s always a long line to check in, are very telling. Look for consistent fact patterns rather than average ratings.

I’m personally hoping that Flyertalk’s Reviews section grows substantially, because I trust the opinion of the median Flyertalk member far more than the general internet writer.

Forbes carries a piece on airfare pricing glitches like the recent $52 Fiji deal, last summer’s $60 Iceland fares, and the $20 flights from the US to anywhere in Europe in World Traveler Plus.

The piece mentions Scott Carmichael’s fare alert email list which has been reactivated. I subscribe to my work email, my Yahoo account, and my cell phone.