News and notes from around the interweb: Heartwarming: United’s fantasy flight to the North Pole for sick kids. Frequent Miler ‘may’ have had his account frozen by Paypal for buying Paypal My Cash cards and cashing them out. Here’s how he got his money back. Per the South African Airways Voyager newsletter, the US Airways-South […]
The post A Card With 8% Return at Grocery Stores and Beyond, and Getting Money Back from Paypal When They Shut You Down appeared first on View from the Wing.
As I wrote about last week, EVA Air will be expanding their service to North America next summer, as they'll be launching 4x weekly service between Taipei and Houston as of June 2015. This expansion is a no brainer, not just because Houston is a huge oil city, but also because it's United's biggest hub, so there's lots of potential for connecting traffic, now that EVA Air is in the Star Alliance.
So if you were excited about the new route to begin with, take a deep breath and make sure you're sitting down. As it turns out, this new EVA Air flight to Houston will be operated by a Hello Kitty 777-300ER. The most exciting part? They're not even using an existing Hello Kitty 777-300ER (of which there's only one), but rather they're taking delivery of an all new Hello Kitty 777-300ER!!!
Via USA Today:
The post EVA Air To Operate Hello Kitty Flights To Houston appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Effective February 2, Starwood will offer complimentary internet at all hotels to all members as long as reservations are made through an SPG channel. Non-status members are only entitled to throttled speeds, where applicable. Golds, who can already choose internet as an amenity option, will get high speed internet and can still select a points […]
The post Starwood’s Free Internet Domino May Tip the Lodging Industry to Free Worldwide Internet for Everyone appeared first on View from the Wing.
Vanilla Reload cards used to be a widely available and amazing tool. You were basically buying money that could be loaded onto a variety of prepaid card products. And many places took credit cards when purchasing them. Back when they were sold by office supply stores, many cardholders earned 5 points per dollar. And when […]
The post Vanilla Reloads Being Discontinued! appeared first on View from the Wing.
Every month I make a post with what I consider to be the best credit card sign-up bonuses of the month.
While there are several excellent long standing credit card offers, the specifics of the best offers are constantly changing (be it the annual fee, minimum spend requirement, or even amount of the sign-up bonus).
If you read my blog on a daily basis then by all means skip this post, but for me it’s a useful, “current” place to refer people that ask about which cards they should sign-up for, a question I get on a daily basis. For reference, here is my list of the best credit card sign up bonuses for November.
With that in mind, below are what I consider to be the best credit card sign-up bonuses for this month.
The post 10 Best Credit Card Offers For December appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
The universal symbol for those looking to hitch a ride is to stand by the side of the road with arm extended away from the body and thumb pointed up, tilted in the direction you are trying to go. The hope then is that a passing driver going in your direction will stop and offer you a ride. Of course, this applies to those hitchhikers who have a specific destination in mind.
My Dad tells of a guy he met once who just wanted to explore the country. Didn’t care where he went, just wanted to go. He would stand by the side of the road with one thumb pointed in each direction and jump in the first car that stopped, regardless of which way they were headed.
This more or less describes my family’s travel philosophy – we don’t really care much where we go, we just want to go. The modern equivalent of standing by the side of the road with a thumb pointed in each direction is to watch various websites such as the FlyerTalk Mileage Run Forum or the The Flight Deal and wait for a fare war, mistake fare, or otherwise really good deal that you can jump on. The general idea of these websites is to post fares which are cheap enough that people can and do fly them just for the miles (or status), so if you actually ascribe some value to visiting the destination, then it’s probably a good deal.
The post Hitchhiking the Skies – Flying with Travis And His Family appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Yesterday an American Airlines flight from Seoul to Dallas diverted to Tokyo after hitting severe turbulence. Four passengers and one crewmember were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
We don't generally put much thought into reports of turbulence, since it's not something that really kills people. And we've all experienced some level of turbulence, so it doesn't really sound that traumatizing.
However, there's video of the turbulence from yesterday's American flight, and it's sort of chilling:
The post Amazing Footage: Video Of Severe Turbulence From Inside A Cabin appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
I stay connected pretty incessantly while on the road, even on ‘vacation’. I make sure I have internet and phone capability wherever I go. And I do my best to keep the costs reasonable. I haven’t found a magic solution for that which really makes me happy. There are tradeoffs and downsides to every strategy […]
The post How I Stay Connected – Phone and Internet – During International Travel appeared first on View from the Wing.
While I personally don't think lifetime status is worth "chasing" given how much programs change nowadays, there's no doubt it's a nice reward for stays you'd make anyway.
Hotels offering lifetime elite status
Among the major hotel chains, Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood all offer lifetime elite status.
The thresholds for achieving lifetime status with those three programs are as follows:
-- Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond: $200,000 of spend (one million base points at five points per dollar)
-- Marriott Rewards Platinum: 1,000 nights, 2 million points, and 12 years as Marriott Rewards member
-- SPG Platinum: 500 nights plus 10 years as Platinum
The post Hilton HHonors Lifetime Diamond Status Coming In 2015 appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Doctor of Credit finds a short-term offer for the Delta co-brand American Express cards. Through December 21, American Express is offering a 50,000 mile bonus $1000 spend within three months of account approval. In addition, there’s a $50 statement credit if you make a purchase from Delta within those three months. The offer is targeted, […]
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Most people think it seems too good to be true that you can travel across the world on less than it costs to live at home. They think that cheap travel is a pipe dream. But, as readers of the blog, you know that not to be true and, in the coming months, I’m going to set out to prove that even more! As you know, next month I launch the brand new awesome edition of my book, How to […]
The post How to Travel on $50 A Day: The Book Tour appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
Back in late October, Marriott announced that they would begin offering all Marriott Rewards members booking directly through Marriott free in-room wifi. That came after IHG Rewards Club began offering all members free in-room wifi as of early this year.
Why offering members free wifi is brilliant
Offering loyalty program members free wifi is brilliant on several levels:
-- The major hotel chains are kind of behind the trend on charging for internet, especially compared to the ever increasing number of boutique hotels which usually offer free internet
-- Providing free internet only to people booking directly through the chain builds loyalty and brand awareness; rather than searching rates through an online travel agency, you might go directly through the chain next time
-- This encourages people to sign up for the loyalty program, which further helps build loyalty
-- By encouraging people to book directly through the chain, they avoid having to pay travel agency commissions in many cases (which are typically 10%)
The post Free Wifi For All SPG Members Starting In 2015 appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
