Best Travel Blogs

December 30, 2014

Q1 2015 Hilton HHonors Hotel Category Changes

As of April of this year, Hilton HHonors has shifted how they make award category changes. Rather than having massive award chart changes every so often, they’re doing quarterly hotel category adjustments. That’s to say that they’re not changing the number of points required for each category every quarter, but rather are shifting which hotels belong in which categories.

Ultimately I favor anything which isn’t an award chart massacre like what we saw with HHonors early last year, though I don’t really buy that this is being done to increase transparency.

Basically, rather than emailing members when there’s a big award chart change, they now have a website where Hilton lists the category changes. That sounds great in theory, except I’m not sure how a vast majority of members are expected to know when these changes happen.

The post Q1 2015 Hilton HHonors Hotel Category Changes appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/q1-2015-hilton-hhonors-hotel-category-changes/

Hilton HHonors Announces Hotel Award Category Changes — Find Out Which Hotels Will Cost You More (or Fewer) Points to Redeem

After Hilton’s dramatic award chart gutting of nearly two years ago, there weren’t huge changes again this year. And Hilton decided to change the way they made changes to how they re-assign hotels to award categories. Instead of an annual change to tons of hotels (a schedule they really weren’t wedded to in the past […]

The post Hilton HHonors Announces Hotel Award Category Changes — Find Out Which Hotels Will Cost You More (or Fewer) Points to Redeem appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/hilton-hhonors-announces-hotel-award-category-changes-find-hotels-will-cost-fewer-points-redeem/

In Transit Blog: Dressing for the New Year in Brazil

Guests at the Ponta dos Ganchos resort in Brazil will celebrate the arrival of 2015 by wearing white (there will be fireworks too).

from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/41e3f478/sc/10/l/0Lintransit0Bblogs0Bnytimes0N0C20A140C120C30A0Cdressing0Efor0Ethe0Enew0Eyear0Ein0Ebrazil0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Air France KLM 50% Off Flying Blue Promo Awards March/April

Flying Blue, the mileage program of SkyTeam partners Air France, KLM and Air Europa, offer Promo Awards each month, which let you book award flights for as little as 50% of the miles normally needed on certain routes and in specific cabins. While these awards used to be released every two months, Flying Blue now […]

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2014/12/air-france-klm-50-off-flying-blue-promo-awards-marchapril/

Scary Thought: Someone Spent $230,000+ On Delta Last Year

The past few years Starwood has published a "Year In Review," whereby they share some fun statistics with member highlights.

There are the facts that seem believable. For example, the Sheraton New York Times Square was the most popular hotel that members redeemed Starpoints at in 2014.

And 86 is the most number of SPG properties visited by one member this year.

The post Scary Thought: Someone Spent $230,000+ On Delta Last Year appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/scary-thought-someone-spent-230000-delta-last-year/

New 2015 Starwood Promotion Announced: Double Play

It’s almost the end of the year, which means we should be hearing about new hotel promotions for the first quarter or two of 2015. Leading the pack is Starwood Preferred Guest, which just posted today about its new “Double Play” promo for Q1. Per the terms of the promotion, SPG members must register at […]

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2014/12/new-2015-starwood-promotion-announced-double-play/

Alaska Offering Mileage Plan Members Free Checked Bags In January

Here's a brilliant promotion on the part of Alaska Airlines. Alaska is offering Mileage Plan members traveling during the month of January one free checked bag. That's a savings of $25 compared to the normal cost of a checked bag.

Let me start by saying that Alaska Airlines is the one airline I consistently check bags on. As much as I give Alaska a hard time in some ways, they do an amazing job with checked bags. They have a baggage service guarantee, whereby if your bag doesn't arrive at the baggage carousel within 20 minutes of when the aircraft door opens, you receive either a $25 discount for a future flight or 2,500 Mileage Plan miles.

Alaska literally puts every other US airline to shame in that regard, and it shows a real respect for their customers. It's absolutely infuriating when you pay to check a bag on another airline, only to have it take 45 minutes for the bag to arrive at baggage claim.

The post Alaska Offering Mileage Plan Members Free Checked Bags In January appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/alaska-offering-mileage-plan-members-free-checked-bags-january/

David vs. Goliath, United and Orbitz Try Cracking Down on Cheap Airfare Practices

Regular readers may be familiar with the indispensable guide to saving money on airfare using hidden city and throwaway tickets. In the guide I explain how to find extra flights for your ticket that allow you to save money, I outline the risks and how to make best use of the techniques. A year ago […]

The post David vs. Goliath, United and Orbitz Try Cracking Down on Cheap Airfare Practices appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/david-vs-goliath-united-orbitz-try-cracking-cheap-airfare-practices/

2014: Looking Back On a Rewarding Year

As a frugality expert and savings enthusiast, I’ve always had an interest in getting free or almost-free stuff. But if I’m being honest, I have to admit that most of my money-saving hobbies from years past were rather boring – things like couponing, thrift store and garage sale shopping, and playing the bank sign-up bonus […]

from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/12/2014-looking-back-on-a-rewarding-year.html

In Transit Blog: In Telluride, Fire as Art

A new festival in Telluride, Colo., features fire barrels and sculptures.

from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/41e34375/sc/10/l/0Lintransit0Bblogs0Bnytimes0N0C20A140C120C30A0Cin0Etelluride0Efire0Eas0Eart0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Video Footage Of Virgin Atlantic Emergency Landing

As most of you probably have heard by now, a Virgin Atlantic flight between London Gatwick and Las Vegas made an emergency landing yesterday. The plane had issues with the gear after takeoff, and after circling for nearly four hours it made an emergency landing back at London Gatwick. Fortunately the plane landed safely with no serious injuries.

What's really cool is the footage of the plane making an emergency landing (as you can see, the right-most gear isn't out):

The post Video Footage Of Virgin Atlantic Emergency Landing appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/video-footage-virgin-atlantic-emergency-landing/

Hyatt Diamond Status Challenge Returns Thursday!

Hyatt has been exceptionally generous in being willing to give elite members of other hotel chains temporary top tier status in the Gold Passport program, while offering an expedited way to keep that status. And they even gave these temporary Diamond full confirmed suite upgrades as though they had earned the status for a year. […]

The post Hyatt Diamond Status Challenge Returns Thursday! appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/12/30/hyatt-diamond-status-challenge-returns-thursday/