View from the Wing

Silverjet is running a promotion offering a free roundtrip ticket if the Giants win the Superbowl and if you purchase a roundtrip between Newark and London-Luton (including tickets which involve Silverjet’s connection to Dubai) between 6am Friday EST (1st February) and 12pm Sunday (3rd February).

I don’t see anything on the Silverjet website about it, but they sent me a press release and there’s no mention of signups or promo codes. It appears that all bookings are eligible.

There are some restrictions on the possible free ticket: the paid ticket must be flown before the free one…if you cancel the paid ticket the free one will go away also… and that free travel will have to be booked by the end of February for travel between March 1 and August 31 and once booked is non-changeable.

So it’s a 2-for-1 offer, maybe.

Especially since the Giants are the fourth biggest Superbowl underdog in history.

Still, if you are going to make a premium class flight to London, Silverjet isn’t a bad way to do it. And the potential kickback is sure a nice one. Might even be enough to make me book away from British Airways for an upcoming trip if I was going to make one anyway (and certainly enough to make me book away from AA!), unless I needed the qualifying points for elite status of course in which case I’d give up the freebie… alas.

Now, it did rather strike me as gambling in some sense. You have to buy a ticket (like a lottery) in order to potentially win a prize. Usually sweepstakes say something like ‘no purchase necessary, write to such and such address in Ohio or Colorado with your info on a 3×5 card in order to get a free entry’.

Alas, no free entry possibilities here! I would sure love to have entered to win a free Silverjet roundtirp without purchasing the ticket, but that’s because based out of DC I’m otherwise-unlikely to be planning to buy a London flight that departs Newark.

I asked the P.R.-type pushing the offer how they manage to stay within various state laws (potentially laws of the states from which customers are purchasing tickets, although I’m not an attorney and could be wrong).

They pointed me to this article about how premiums which are offered if a specific sporting outcome occurs are becoming increasingly common, some folks think they’re illegal but there probably won’t be any prosectuion. Which is a good thing. Because as the Massachussets Attorney General’s office noted in the piece, consumers aren’t really complaining or being harmed.  Which finally strikes me as a bureaucrat who makes some sense.

And I rather like a company not beholden to its conservative legal department, willing to take some risks for a bit of fun.

I don’t know that this is new, but I hadn’t seen it before: a way to troll for discounts on Amazon, the Amazon Discount Finder.

You select the category of items and optionally specify keywords, and then select the range of percentage discounts off regular price you want. Amazon then returns search results of items that are within that range.

TravelTechTalk has free Hulu beta memberships to give away.

If you missed what Hulu is all about, it’s an online video site with programming from 40 different studios. You’ll find full length programs like The Office, Family Guy, Prison Break and 30 Rock. And all the content is in great quality, none of that postage stamp sized stuff. They even have a collection of great HD clips.

Via Upgrade Travel Better, channeling MileMaven, Alaska Airlines is offering elites who didn’t requalify for their previous status last year a short-cut to regaining that status. Between January 15 and March 15, MVP status requires four paid flown segments and MVP Gold requires eight paid flown segments. Registration is required.

Man, out on the West Coast a simple segment run like this is easy, Seattle to Portland runs are cheap, there’s a Los Angeles hub, and even flights connecting in places like Boise. It should be possible to requalify for MVP Gold on a single ticket in a single day (albeit that may not be the cheapest option) if you work at it hard enough.

The International Herald Tribune article I mentioned last night is now in the New York Times in substantially the same form, except for the mention of View from the Wing.

Now I really do feel like David Hasselhoff.

Delta is offering double miles to Mexico (in coach, triple miles in business) for travel through April 15. Registration required.

Eligible routes:

Atlanta (ATL)	Guadalajara (GDL)
Atlanta (ATL)	Leon (BJX)
Atlanta (ATL)	Queretaro (QRO)

Los Angeles (LAX)	Guadalajara (GDL)
Los Angeles (LAX)	Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (ZIH)
Los Angeles (LAX)	Loreto (LTO)
Los Angeles (LAX)	Mazatlan (MZT)

New York (JFK)

Mexico City (MEX)

There’s a new set of iDine bonuses available for most programs which having miles for dining components. Ok, the company that offers these is called Rewards Network these days, but they’ll always be iDine to me. They can be thankful I don’t still call them Transmedia.

• United. 500 bonus miles for every $100 in spending through March 15, up to 10,000 bonus miles.




• Delta. 2000 bonus miles for spending $250 by March 31.




• Northwest. VIP Dining Status (which earns 5 miles per dollar instead of 3 for online-registered members) for spending $250 by March 31.




• Alaska. VIP Dining Status (which earns 5 miles per dollar instead of 3 for online-registered members) for spending $250 by March 31.




• American. 250 bonus miles for every dine of $25 or more through March 31.




• Priority Club. VIP Dining Status (which earns 5 miles per dollar instead of 3 for online-registered members) for spending $250 by March 31.




• USAirways. 1000 bonus miles for spending $250 by March 31.




• Continental and Midwest do not appear to have anything in this new round of bonuses.

Personally I have a different credit card signed up with several of these programs, that way I can take advantage of different bonus offers more easily.

(Which sorta makes me feel like David Hasselhoff.)

BoardingArea and View from the Wing are mentioned in an International Herald Tribune piece on business travel blogs.

Hilton HHonors has announced a huge improvement to its award redemption program — no blackout dates, and from the way that I read it what they actually mean is also no capacity controls, just like Starwood if a standard room is available you can redeem for it with points.

The fine print here presumably is that each hotel will likely have some flexibility in determining what constitutes a standard room, this is a problem at the occasional Starwood property as well.

Hilton has long offered the ‘diamond force’ for award nights for its top tier elite members. Presumably now all members will be able to redeem award nights just about any time they wish. This is a huge move for Hilton, and I’m waiting to see how this plays out in practice. Hilton HHonors points used to be somewhat limited in their ability to guarantee a redemption, which is one of the really outstanding features that the Starwood program has had going for it over all the competition.

Now that both Starwood and Hilton are offering similar policies in this regard, it will be interesting to see how Priority Club, Marriott, and Hyatt react — if they lose members or stays at all, if they adjust their own policies.

The accounting on this has to be complicated. I know that Starwood manages it by paying hotels their average daily room night for an award room on nights where the hotel’s occupancy exceeds 90%. In other words, when a hotel really is likely giving up a high priced paid night in exchange for an award night, the hotel receives much more money than they do on a regular night when the hotel is giving up a room that would otherwise have gone unsold.

Presumably a change like this for Hilton also changes the way that a hotel is compensated for rooms by the program. I know that Marriott has a completely different revenue structure for its hotels, I believe they offer incrementally more revenue for each award night redeemed at a property. This encourages the property to make more and more room nights available as each becomes more lucrative for the hotel.

Very interesting development, worth watching, and suddenly most members’ Hilton points have become more valuable. I fully expect that it won’t be a perfect panacea for all members, even Diamonds current have tremendous difficulty securing award nights at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island and I don’t expect that to change!

Me, though, I’ll stick with Starwood for their better properties (for my tastes) and better upgrade policies for Platinum elites (which includes suites). And I’ll continue to prefer Intercontinental’s Royal Ambassador program for upgrades, 8am checkin, and the free minibar. Alas neither progam has nearly the number of properties that Hilton does. So this is a huge move, and one that makes me more willing to accumulate HHonors points whether through stays, credit cards, or transfers from programs like e-Rewards and Mypoints.

Hat tip to NotiFlyer.

American is now offering 1000 miles for new member signup.

Become a member instantly online - then, simply visit www.aa.com/offers and enter promo code BNR08 to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles!

Frequent readers of this blog likely know the general disdain in which I hold most hotel ranking lists. The various ‘best of’ compilations are usually written by people who haven’t been to the properties, and many of the lists seem influenced by advertising buys.

TripAdvisor has issued its new 2008 Travelers’ Choice Awards, which represent a slightly different take… it amounts to an amalgamation of traveler opinions. And while I find TripAdvisor to be a useful site for picking up very specific comments on properties and looking for consistent themes across reviews, picking the best properties from the masses of opinions on the internet doesn’t work very well in practice.

Here are just a few of the oddities which show up at a quick glance:

• The Signature at MGM Grand is supposedly the best luxury hotel in the United States. When it fact it isn’t even the best luxury offered at the MGM Grand let alone in Las Vegas.

• The Four Seasons George V is only the 9th best luxury hotel in Europe, behind the Swissotel Berlin, even!

• Top 10 Best Luxury in the South Pacific is Fiji-heavy, entirely ignoring French Polynesia, and while I really do love the Thala Beach Lodge (I’ve visited there, but not stayed as a guest) it can’t possibly be the best hotel in Australia. But then this list says the second best luxury hotel in Australia isn’t Lizard Island, the Observatory, or even the Park Hyatt Sydney… it’s apparently the Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney.

• For Best Luxury in Asia, apparently the (formerly Hilton) Conrad Maldives is the best Maldives property, two Bangkok hotels make the list but the Peninsula there does not, and the Pen in Hong Kong is nowhere to be found (nor anywhere in Indonesia).

• The best luxury hotel in Canada is supposedly the Fairmont Vancouver Airport. Supposedly a very nice property, but still.

• Best in the 25 Most Popular Destinations lists the Sofitel New York as #1, ahead of the Four Seasons George V in Paris. Enough said.

• Bellagio is the most romantic hotel in Vegas, and 6th most romantic in the U.S.? Hardly. While I had a great stay there, for over the top bling it certainly can’t rival Skylofts and for refined elegance it doesn’t come close to the Four Seasons. It’s in a good location, right next to Caesar’s and across from the Paris. But it’s a huge factory hotel, about 3000 rooms, and just try getting a spot at the pool around prime time. Any request takes 45 minutes because the property is so large. It’s a big casino hotel, not a place for special romantic interludes.

• The OMNI San Francisco has the best service in the United States (and fourth in the world!), let alone the best service in San Francisco?

• And The Hay-Adams as the best service in DC, above the Ritz (Georgetown, not Foggy Bottom), Mandarin Oriental, and Four Seasons?

• Four Seasons is selected as Best Hotel Brand, which is a perfectly reasonable choice. On the whole Peninsula is better, and Aman Resorts for resort properties, but neither have enough locations.

There’s a new United Visa offer, here are the salient details:

• first year free,
• 20,000 bonus miles with first purchase (note, no requirement for minimum spending)
• 10,000 bonus miles for spending $10,000 on the card in six months (if you hit the $10,000 spending threshold, it amounts to earning double miles for your first $10k in spend)
• 10,000 bonus miles on your first anniversary with the card (which will imply paying a $60 fee)

Chase, the card issuer, is clearly trying to incentivize two things: getting new cardholders to start putting their spending on this card rather than existing cards, and getting those cardholders to keep the card a full year rather than pocketing the initial bonus and cancelling befor ethe fee comes due.

For those who just want the quick mileage fix, then the offer of 25,000 bonus miles after spending $250 on the card with first year fee waived is a better choice.

But if you actually want to put spending on the card and keep it, then this could net you 40,000 miles.  And now that it’s no longer possible to churn the card, there’s reason to consider being in it for the long-haul.

Meanwhile, I’ve seen references on Flyertalk to another United Visa offer which comes with immediate ‘Premier Associate’ status .. which basically entitles you to priority checkin and boarding as well as economy-plus seating. I don’t have a link to the offer, so if you do consider mentioning it in the comments or email me.

The Times of London is reporting that British Airways is revoking Michael Winner’s complimentary Gold status after Winner published negative comments about the airline in a newspaper piece.

A spokesman for BA explains: “Mr Winner has a complimentary gold card from British Airways. Given his recent comments, we are sure he won’t be needing it. So we won’t be renewing it. Our message to Michael Winner is: ‘Don’t worry, dear, it’s only a gold card.’ ”

Ok, fair enough, There’s no reason for British Airways to extend you special courtesies if you’re going to trash it in print.

But… wait a minute!

The airline is offering up status, presumably hoping that it will influence your public statements. Shouldn’t that sort of thing be disclosed when you’re commenting publicly on the airline?

And more importantly, why isn’t British Airways extending complimentary Gold status to me so that I’ll write nice things about it? My current Silver status will be expiring in April, so please hurry up BA!

The Fairmont Empress Vancouver Island has $100 room rates bookable through 2008. They’re capacity controlled, of course, and you must book by January 31. But this represents an excellent deal, especially in summer when room nights can go for over $400.

The rate is fully prepaid, but you can cancel 45 days or more prior to stay to receive all but one night’s accomodation back.

Update: Yes, yes, of course, commenters are right, this hotel is not in Vancouver, British Columbia but rather in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Good deal nonetheless, I guess “Canada” is just “Canada” to me (funny, since I can pick apart the nuances of geography across South Asia. Heh).

I really dislike Enterprise Rent a Car. They don’t have any sort of expedited pickup process that I’ve ever experienced, the paperwork takes a long time, and the ritualistic walkaround of the rental car, the theatre to sell you additional insurance, is grating. And I’ve not personally seen any nice cars on their lots. Give me Avis or Hertz any time, and oft-overlooked rental car status, thank you very much.

But if you must rent from Enterprise, I came across a couple of discount codes on Flyertalk recently, no notations as to when they expire. Code ESJ8A3 provides 25% off at neighborhood locations only (not airport locations). And code ERACFRE offers 20% off at all locations when paying by Discover Card.

One of my miles and points New Years resolutions is to be sure to earn miles or cashback for all your online purchases, and I recommended EV Reward to search for earning opportunities.

For cash back sites, I used Fatwallet the most, followed by e-bates. Signing up blind for e-bates doesn’t come with any bonuses. Being referred by an existing member gets both the new member and referring member $5 most of the time (after the new member makes a qualifying purchase). Through the middle of February, though, e-bates is currently offering a $10 signup bonus (again, new members have to make a qualifying purchase — by February 14).

So this is a good time to sign up and start using e-bates. To be clear, using the link about does earn credit for me as the referrer, I pass it along only because not using a referral link won’t earn a new member any bonus.

Hilton HHonors has posted its Point Stretcher participating hotels and dates for 2008.

The page looks a bit funky (someone didn’t check the fonts on the left hand side of the page before publishing! perhaps that will be fixed before you click the link) and you have to search by US state or by country to see whether there’s any participating properties, rather than giving you a single comprehensive list, but it’s worth checking out before booking your next stay.

Point Stretchers offer 40% off of standard redemption pricing, which in most cases is the way to go. Some participating hotels offer only a smattering of dates… like two weeks for the whole year.. and there’s no guarantee that they’ll have availability on those dates when you check! But saving 40% is worth the extra effort to look for such properties.

Following yesterday’s 15% off on American flights to the Los Angeles area, American is also offering 15% off on flights from California to everywhere they fly with promotion code CALIGO.

Flights must be booked before January 23, 2008 for travel through March 13, 2008, and cannot include flights on February 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24.

The American Airlines Uruguay site has a promo in Spanish — only 30,000 miles to redeem an Air Tahiti Nui roundtrip between New York-JFK and Papeete (Tahiti). The usual price is 75,000 miles.

This is only valid in coach, and for travel complete by May 31 (U.S. summer is high season there…).

Unfortunately, nobody at American seems to know about this! So it remains to be seen whether it’s bookable. But it’s clearly being advertised by American. The terms and conditions do not restrict redemption to members from any particular country. I do not see the offer anywhere in English.

If only the offer was for business or first class I’d be pursuing it pretty hard. Air Tahiti Nui’s hard product (seats) are pretty last generation, but the soft product (meals, service, emenity kits) are really outstanding in the premium classes. I did a wonderful trip in Air Tahiti Nui First Class (Los Angeles - Papeete and then Papeete - Auckland) a couple of years ago, back when availability in first and business was much easier to come by than it is today.

Their New York flights are notorious for light booking, and there’s been speculation ever since the service started that it wouldn’t last. Clearly they must be making coach seats available to American at a discount for this to go out.

Here’s a Flyertalk discussion of the offer.

Update: this appears to be working now, based on successful reports on Flyertalk. A really outstanding use of miles for those who can stand 6200 miles each way in coach. Of course, Tahiti is far from an inexpensive destination once you get there! And you really don’t want to stay on Tahiti proper, most prefer Bora Bora (very expensive) though Moorea can be done less expensively.

Update 2: The promo is now available online in English.

A rather strange (to me) offer of miles for subscribing to an online service:

Access over 4000 best-selling business books—each succinctly summarized in five pages, and earn 10,000 SkyMiles. GetAbstract’s expertly-written summaries are available online, 24×7, downloadable to your PC, PDA or iPod.

I can’t imagine I actually want this. 12 months for $299 or 6 months for $179, and either apparently earns 10,000 miles.

At 1.79 cents a mile it’s a bite more than I would be willing to spend to buy Delta miles (a penny is my limit) but if anyone finds this even remotely appealing it’s likely a good deal.

Update: that’ll teach me to read promos when I first wake up in the morning, before my coffee. The offer states:

You receive 10,000 Delta award miles for a one year subscription!

And a one-year subscription is $299!

Again, only worthwhile if something like this interested you anyway, certainly not just for the miles.