American AAdvantage Gold elite status can be obtained for 25,000 miles or 30 segments. Platinum is 50,000 miles or 60 segments. (Both can also be obtained via a fasttrack challenge.)

However, Executive Platinum has been obtainable only by flying 100,000 miles — so segment qualification existed for the “EXP” level.

Supposedly American will announce shortly that next year they’ll introduce segment qualification for their top elite level. Just like United, 100 segments flown in a year will earn top-tier elite status.

American has also announced a price increase for 500-mile segment upgrades. They’ll go from $25 to $30 when purchased online or at a kiosk. Over the phone or otherwise ‘assisted’ the price will be $35.

Jacob Sullum finds himself defending the TSA against an even bigger idiot. As the New York Times piece he cites explains

Mr. Hawley said that checkpoint screeners were opening one bag in four to look for scissors and small tools spotted on X-rays, and that this was a distraction from identifying greater threats.



“It’s not about scissors, it’s about bombs,” Mr. Hawley testified. “Sorting through thousands of bags a day at two or three minutes apiece to sort out small scissors and tools does not help security. It hurts it.”

But Stevens wants to reduce the number of bags going through checkpoints, to make it easier for the TSA to Take Scissors Away:

Mr. Stevens proposed instead that the security agency reduce the number of bags that passengers may carry on board to one from two, giving the screeners fewer items to handle.

But, um, like.. the current rule is only one carryon and a personal item and has been since immediately following 9/11. Ted Stevens wouldn’t know that because, as Sullum observes, “when Stevens flies someone else takes care of his bags.”

Just got my copy of
Mileage Pro in the mail. I plan to read it on my flight to Miami Friday morning. Alas, I ordered too early — OAG is offering free shipping through December 31st with promo code DGD5MY (I’d have saved $3.95!).

Use the promo code at checkout and hit ‘recalculate’ and the cost of shipping and handling will come off.

Oh well, I paid full price for shipping when I ordered it a week or so ago. I guess that’ll help me give the book for Christmas.

An introduction to the book and free chapter can be found here.

Northwest now requires travelers seeking a bereavement fare to join its frequent flyer program first.

Jokes about bereavement fares are probably in poor taste, so I’ll leave it at that.

Amtrak has announced changes to its reward chart effective January 3, 2006.

Business and first class redemptions on Acela Express and Metroliner trains go up 500 points apiece (to 8,000 and 10,500 each way respectively).

$50 gift cards go from 5000 points to 6000 points, a 20% increase. It used to be that Amtrak points were worth a penny apiece when redeemed for merchandise at this level. That penny-a-point parity threshold has now been breached.

However, if you want to retain that purchasing power you’ll need to redeem 10,000 points for newly introduced $100 gift cards set to be on offer next month.

I got the news in my online statement which arrived by e-mail today. Three weeks notice isn’t enough for these kinds of changes — but it’s better than the no-notice changes Amtrak is known for, such as shutting down transfers to United overnight and capping transfers out of the program at 25,000 points per calendar year without warning.

My colleague Curtis passes along that Koryo Tours will be making available North Korea trips for US citizens in 2006.

They brought 150 of the total 190 US citizens attending the Arirang Mass Games in 2005, and North Korea will be repeating the games in 2006.

Tours are offered from Beijing. Scroll down to the bottom part of the page for details on US citizens visiting the DPRK. Personally I find visiting the country to be intriguing, it’s one of the most backward repressive regimes on the planet and international exchange and visits can only serve to open it up to the rest of the world and benefit its people. I’m also not concerned about the government earning foreign currency from visitors, to some extent even that can only serve to help a people while at the same time undermining its government.

This Flyertalk thread is a fascinating trip report from earlier in 2005. Odd that North Korea’s national carrier offers two classes of service…

Scott McCartney’s Wall Street Journal column argues today that airline offers making elite status easier to earn are swelling the ranks and diluting the benefits.

Being an elite-level frequent flier won’t be quite as special next year.



Eager to raise cash and satisfy their credit-card company partners — who have propped up struggling airlines financially — several carriers have made it easier to qualify for premium-level status as an enticement to spend more on credit cards. Some recent offers have also made it a banner year for “mileage runs,” trips made solely to push mileage totals over qualifying thresholds.



As a result, the ranks of premium travelers who get perks like upgrades, exit-row seating and preboarding privileges are swelling — eroding the exclusivity long associated with elite status.



By one count, the number of elites could grow by more than 300,000 travelers in 2006 — an 8% increase. This comes at a time when many frequent travelers are already nursing a raft of complaints: That first-class upgrades are harder to score. That crowds of premium customers elbow each other when boarding some flights. And that special elite-only lines for security screening sometimes move slower than regular queues.

There’s certainly an element of elite status inflation, driven by partnerships and offers.

My own strategy is just to be a top tier elite, which most airlines do protect to some extent. Except for USAirways/America West and Continental, major US carriers are reluctant to offer complimentary status matches to their top tier.

Even top tiers get crowded, especially at carriers offering qualification at just 75,000 miles. And until Alaska introduces a third elite tier, its MVP Gold status is hardly a guarantor of benefits on transcon flights. Still, United and American treat their top tier elites especially well. And if you’re a domestic-only flyer Northwest does a good job delivering upgrades (and offers a token bonus mile deposit each time they don’t upgrade you).

Just realized that my ING Direct savings account is now paying out 3.75% interest. Not bad for a savings account. Not bad for a 12-month CD for that matter (not the best, mind you, but more than many).

I only keep short-term dollars there, money I’m likely to need soon, but I find it quite easy to make fee-free electronic transfers between it and my two checking accounts. (Which also makes it a good workaround to make free electronic transfers between those two checking accounts.)

Last month I reported on the Wendys/Airtran promo where you earn a free roundtrip ticket for 64 sodas. Naturally, this seems to be leading to a rash of dumpster diving.

Danielle and a friend spent nearly two hours digging through dozens of grease- and ketchup-smeared garbage bags outside two Manhattan Wendy’s restaurants searching for soft drink cups with AirTran frequent-flier coupons printed on the side.



In all, the pair collected about 330 cups, more than enough for two round-trip flights for each of them. “It’s pretty disgusting work, especially when you grab a handful of chewed meat,” says Danielle, who asked that her full name be withheld to ensure that AirTran would honor her claim. “But it’s about the only way I can afford to see my family [in San Luis Obispo, Calif.].”

…

Some sellers even boast of their foul efforts to obtain the coupons: One eBay seller from Nashville, who sold 65 coupons for $75, prominently featured a photo of the dumpster out of which he’d fished them.



On Craigslist, buyers are soliciting coupons for upwards of $1.50 each, more than the retail value of a Wendy’s soft drink. “I will pay you to dumpster-dive at Wendy’s,” writes a buyer in Indianapolis. “Looking for about 1,000-1,500 of these, maybe a few more.”



Brooke Szczepanski, a financial planner from Hayes, Va., admits her obsession with Wendy’s cup collecting. She bought herself and her husband two headlamps and a long grabbing tool to pluck the cups in the dead of night from Wendy’s trash containers. To date, she has collected 2,600 cups and sells them on Craigslist, 64 coupons at a time, for $100.

What does the airline think of dumpster diving and online auctions?

The company, which has already redeemed an estimated 85,000 coupons, is limiting individuals to two round-trip flights, he notes.



In addition, the airline anticipated a black market for the promotional cups, Mr. Hutcheson says, but “when we looked at the pros and cons of it, the cost of getting exposure for AirTran outweighed the bad.”



Wendy’s executives also anticipated coupons would be sold online, but none expected it to reach the levels it has, says Bob Bertini, a company spokesman.



“Anytime you have a promotion of this magnitude, you’re going to have some challenges along the way,” says Mr. Bertini, adding that AirTran is responsible for handling the redemption process.



Indeed, Hutcheson warns that AirTran will not honor flight requests for those found to have purchased the coupons online or through any other means than plopping down at least $1.29 for each soft drink. But, he adds, “It’s not easy to prove, it’s not like we’re going to fingerprint every coupon and see if they match.”



The airline, however, has tried to quell the sale of the coupons through other means. Employees at Wendy’s and its cup manufacturer, Oldemark LLC., are not eligible. AirTran cross-references the names of coupon-redeemers with the employee databases of those companies. The airline has also purchased some coupons on eBay to take them out of circulation, says Hutcheson.

On November 3 I wrote:

you can’t become the next Pudding Guy (and you won’t get a movie made about your mileage exploits)

The AirTran promotion has already become the stuff of urban legend, calling to mind the California man who, in 1999, redeemed 12,000 pudding cups for 1.2 million frequent-flier miles. David Phillips, who paid $3,100 in all for the Healthy Choice pudding, became an instant cult hero and was the basis for a character in the 2002 movie Punch-Drunk Love.

You read it here first — by almost six weeks!

Jane Galt offers good basic financial advice.

I do pretty well — readers of this blog know I can get quite a bit out of a buck, and often not just in travel — but I know I don’t save enough, and like Tyler Cowen I’m not going to give up on eating out.

But it’s still worth clubbing myself over the head every now and then about what best practices ought to be.

As a companion to the best ever American Airlines Mastercard offer, Citibank is also offering 20,000 bonus miles and fee waived the first year on its Business Mastercard.

Priority Club is offering 3000 bonus points or 1000 bonus miles for every third night you stay between January 16 and April 30, 2006. Members can earn the bonus 10 times. Registration is required.

There’s a new Priority Club Visa offer which is better than the standard 10,000 points with first purchase:

• 15,000 bonus points with first purchase
  

• Free $20 statement credit with first purchase
  

• 10,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on the card each year
  

• No fee the first year ($29/year thereafter)
  

• Gold status in the Priority Club program (which doesn’t offer much)

It’s still not a great card to put large amounts of spending on. It only offers 1 Priority Club point per dollar spent (3 per dollar at Priority Club hotel properties, e.g. Intercontinental and Holiday Inn). I’d take almost any other card’s earning strength. But the offer is an improved one and the signup bonus is nice. And the earning isn’t bad when earning 3 points per dollar spent or if you put exactly the annual spending on the card needed for the bonus points — no more and no less.

There’s also a similar new Priority Club Business Visa which offers the same benefits as above except it’s 15,000 bonus miles each year you spend $20,000 on the card.

Yes, you should be able to get both cards (provided you have the requisite credit). And given the issuer of these cards I’d bet that you can sign up for the cards multiple times and earn the signup bonus each time.

One of the easiest stories to do on travel right now is the exploding cost of Manhattan hotel rooms. USA Today‘s Matt Krantz turns in the obligatory piece, focusing on the $330 a night Super 8 and then draws the stark contrast

For less than the price of the Times Square Super 8, guests could stay this week at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix, for $249 a night. It boasts an award-winning high tea, a cigar bar and full spa. The Super 8 offers an iron and ironing board.

Of course, the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix isn’t anywhere near Wall Street or Broadway, making it difficult to use as a jumping off point for New York City’s business and sights. But the point is still a shocking one.

(On less busy nights New York City properties are of course much cheaper, Starwood often promotes the Sheraton New York for $159 when not heavily booked and the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park generally goes for about $399 on less traveled days without any kind of corporate discount.)

New York is a great place to redeem hotel points. There are still Category 4 properties in the Starwood chain, meaning 10,000 points per night for a room and availability isn’t usually a problem unless a property is completely sold out.

It’s worth noting that the next few weeks will see Starwood Preferred Guest doing their annual re-evaluation of property categories, and the remaining category 4′s may well become category 5 for next year based on the higher average room rates achieved in 2005. As a result it would be wise to book any potential 2006 hotel nights you may need in New York City (and elsewhere) now. You’ll lock in 2005 award pricing, and if the category goes down or your plans change you can always cancel and rebook (at 2006 rates of course).

Priceline is an especially valuable tool for New York, but the days of scoring the Grand Hyatt for $75 are long in the past. Occasionally the Hilton New York will still go for $110 but the starting price for Four Star properties is generally about $130 at least. A few weeks ago it took a whopping $205 bid to get the generally uninspiring W New York, but that was still less than half that hotel’s price on the Starwood website and far better than paying $299 for the Ramada Plaza or $269 for the HoJo’s at Penn Station.

There are a couple of tricks to scoring good rates in New York, and fortunately I also have some friends with corporate rates that include last room availability…

But in a pinch the Jersey City Hyatt, right next to the Path station, is a good alternative. I’ve gotten it for as low as $58 on Priceline, but even at a fairly normal $179 at Hyatt.com it’s a reasonable choice and much better than paying $330 to stay at the Super 8 in my view!

David Rowell reviews the new Randy Petersen/Tim Winship book, Mileage Pro. His bottom-line:

If people buy the book to get a complete standalone and ordered presentation of all data that would otherwise take a lot of surfing to try and piece together, they may be disappointed. But if they buy the book seeking a strategic overview of what mileage programs are all about and how best to approach them, they’ll be very pleased.

My copy hasn’t arrived in the mail yet, it was held up slightly waiting to be autographed by the authors, but I’m looking forward to reading it!

About 30,000 people were mistakenly added to a terrorism watch list that causes them to be selected for extra screening.

Kennedy said that travelers have had to ask the TSA to clear their identities from watch lists by submitting a “Passenger Identity Verification Form” and three notarized copies of identification documents. On average, he said, it takes officials 45 to 60 days to evaluate the request and make any necessary changes.

The government made a mistake. It’s up to affected people to file paperwork to get things straightened out. But even then the government still adds an extra hassle because there’s still someone else (not those affected) out there.

After submitting their notarized forms and identifications, and waiting for evaluations, the vast majority of the people mistakenly matched to names on the watch list have now been added to a “clearance” list. That doesn’t mean their names are erased from the watch list. In fact, travelers who go through the paperwork are told, Kennedy said, that “it will not quote ‘remove’ you from the list because the person we’re still looking for is out there.”



Instead, their names are put on the separate clearance list, which means they typically can’t check in for flights at an unmanned kiosk and must approach the ticket counter to explain their situation and have an airline employee match their name to the clearance list.

Update: Meanwhile, JFK screeners released a man whose sneakers tested “off the charts” for explosives, “the highest ever” and which “had tape around them and rubber-bands sticking out of them.” While mistakenly added names can’t get off a watch list, this man wasn’t even checked against the list because computers were down.

Of course, even this guy proved not to be a threat…

Hartwick and Grove, which offers overpriced wine and expensive shipping, is finally worth buying from. They’ve got a mega-United mileage offer:

Earn 25,000 Mileage Plus miles. When you spend over $1,000 on a single Hartwick & Grove order and pay with your Mileage Plus Visa Card, you’ll receive 25 miles per dollar. That’s 25,000 miles for a $1,000 purchase. As you know, 25,000 miles gets you a round trip ticket to anywhere United flies in the continental United States, so start making travel plans. *



Harvest special offer now through December 31, 2005.



Earn 2500 extra bonus miles when you spend $50. This is in addition to the miles per dollar spent. Offer limited to one 2500 bonus per mileage number.



Mileage Plus Visa cardholders: Double Your Miles – Earn 20 miles per dollar spent! *


Mileage Plus Members: Earn 10 miles per dollar spent! *

The Airport Security Screening Playset — unfortunately, it’s out of stock. They’re supposed to email me when it’s available again.
 

Concurring Opinions already has one, and reports that it’s not very realistic:

There was only one passenger to be screened. Where were the long lines? The passenger’s clothing wasn’t removable for strip searching. The passenger’s shoes couldn’t be removed either. Her luggage fit easily inside the X-ray machine. There were no silly warning signs not to carry guns or bombs onto the plane. And there was no No Fly List or Selectee List included in the playset.
 
Another oddity was that the toy came with two guns, one for the police officer and one that either belonged to the X-ray screener or the passenger. The luggage actually opened up, and the gun fit inside. I put it through the X-ray machine, and it went through undetected. Perhaps this is where the toy came closest to reality.

 
The biggest departure from reality was that the passenger had a cheery smile on her face.

As they say, read the whole thing.

Amtrak’s online mall is offering 100 points for spending $100 by the end of the year.

The W Hotel Store is offering 20% off everything through December 9 with code P4X8A.