Time to Act: Here’s What to Tell Delta and United About Their New Frequent Flyer Programs

Frequent flyer programs do roll back changes — but don’t like to admit they’re wrong when they do it. American did just that when they introduced a $5 online award booking fee that never went into effect. The idea was dropped, no announcement. Because it was stupid. Here are five more heroic times when consumers […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/30/time-act-heres-tell-delta-united-new-frequent-flyer-programs/

How Did You Do On Small Business Saturday?

Yesterday was Small Business Saturday (aka the day where American Express helps subsidize your annual fees), which is one of my favorite days of the year on the credit card front.

For the past several years American Express has run a promotion on this day whereby you can get a statement credit when you shop at a small business that day.

This year they offered three $10 statement credits per card. As far as I'm concerned, it's a great way to subsidize the annual fees on many American Express cards. ;)

So, I'm curious to hear what your strategy was for Small Business Saturday. The way I look at it, there are four kinds of American Express cardmembers when it comes to this promotion.

The post How Did You Do On Small Business Saturday? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/30/small-business-saturday/

Boaters in Voyageurs National Park at Sunset, Minnesota

from Everything Everywhere Travel Blog http://everything-everywhere.com/2014/11/29/boaters-voyageurs-national-park-sunset-minnesota/

Op-Ed Columnist: Just Plane Ugly

Look! Up in the sky! It’s the very worst of us.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/40fab3c6/sc/10/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A140C110C30A0Copinion0Csunday0Cfrank0Ebruni0Ejust0Eplane0Eugly0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Now a oneworld Frequent Flyer Program Announces a Devaluation

On top of a new Star Alliance program devaluation, oneworld member Japan Airlines Mileage Bank — one of the surprisingly most useful frequent flyer programs out there — has announced their own devaluation. Americans care about the JAL program because: You can transfer Starwood points to JAL JAL has a reasonable distance-based award chart They […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/30/now-oneworld-frequent-flyer-program-announces-devaluation/

Book a Stopover… Even When Your Frequent Flyer Program No Longer Gives You Free Stopovers

Just because your frequent flyer program no longer allows stopovers included free as part of an international award (American eliminated them entirely, Delta sheds them completely January 1), doesn’t mean you shouldn’t book a stopover. The point of this post isn’t that it’s possible to still trick a program into giving you a stopover for […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/30/book-stopover-even-frequent-flyer-program-no-longer-gives-free-stopovers/

Club Carlson Cyber Monday 100% Bonus On Purchased Points

Club Carlson Tweeted on Friday that they'll be offering a 100% bonus on purchased Gold Points for Cyber Monday.

Earlier in the year Club Carlson offered a 75% bonus on purchased points a couple of times, which was already an incredible deal.

The ordinary cost to purchase Club Carlson Gold Points is 0.7 cents per point, so with a 100% bonus you'd presumably be paying just 0.35 cents per acquired point.

The catch is that you're limited to purchasing 40,000 points with Club Carlson per calendar year, so if you took advantage of the last offer you wouldn't be eligible for this one.

The post Club Carlson Cyber Monday 100% Bonus On Purchased Points appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/30/club-carlson-cyber-monday-100-bonus-purchased-points/

How to Think About People Who Disagree with You

And other ways of applying perspective. “Guy from Minnesota says it’s cold in the winter. Guy from Mexico disagrees, says it’s hot in the winter. Both have a hard time realizing they’re each right based on their own unique life experiences. They call each other idiots in the comments section of news article that has…



from The Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/how-to-think-about-people-who-disagree-with-you/

Reader Success Story: A Scandinavian Stay

My wife had always dreamed on visiting Scandinavia. For the economical traveler, this destination seems almost an impossibility due to the high prices of almost everything. However, we enjoyed a 20 day vacation there for peanuts! First, the airfare: we discovered that there were flights leaving from Ft. Lauderdale going to Oslo at around $450 […]



from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/11/reader-success-story-a-scandinavian-stay.html

Federal government wraps up quiet year for traveler protections

from Elliott http://elliott.org/the-navigator/federal-government-wraps-quiet-year-traveler-protections/

Walking Into the Water

Communicating a Feeling in a Photo If you’re stuck in a rut and trying to figure out a new take on things, try to communicate a feeling rather than try to take a picture of a “thing.” In today’s photo, I am kind of explaining what that feeling is for the sake of illustration, but […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2014/11/30/walking-into-the-water/

Now what?

from Elliott http://elliott.org/blog/now/

Massive Airline Ticket Fraud, 22% Off Hyatt, and Pig Kicked Off of US Airways

News and notes from around the interweb: Washington Dulles airport is shrinking, and that’s a problem for Washington. The reason is simple: Washington Dulles is a very bad airport. 118 arrests in massive airline ticket fraud A woman brought a pig onboard a US Airways flight on Wednesday as an emotional support animal. The woman […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/29/massive-airline-ticket-fraud-22-off-hyatt-pig-kicked-off-us-airways/

Flight Attendant Tells Passengers Not To Videotape

Passengers being removed from flights by law enforcement is pretty common, so it usually only makes the news when passengers are especially uncooperative.

Here's an interesting situation from a Delta Connection flight, not because of how the passengers were acting, but because the flight attendant got on the PA to tell passengers not to videotape it -- "ladies and gentlemen, this is not an opportunity to video anything. So if you can stop videotaping that would be extremely appreciated."

Interesting. On one hand, disobeying flight attendant orders violates FAA regulations, so if you kept filming you could be removed from the plane. Similarly, airlines do often have policies against filming onboard.

The post Flight Attendant Tells Passengers Not To Videotape appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/29/flight-attendant-tells-passengers-not-to-videotape/

International First Class Isn’t Disappearing – It’s Surging Like Never Before!

Last month I asked, Why is International First Class Disappearing? I concluded that it isn’t — there are certain trends that are causing it to disappearing from some airlines and some markets, and for those airlines that retain it to ‘right-sze’ the cabins (no more 16 seat first class cabins on Lufthansa!). But airlines aren’t […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/11/29/international-first-class-isnt-disappearing-surging-like-never/