Tipping for an Upgrade and Refunding Priceline Reservations Plus 30,000 Bonus Points

News and notes from around the interweb: Club Carlson will no longer give the last night free on an award to co-brand credit card holders. However, they’re offering a bit of a make-good: 30,000 bonus points on your next stay paid with the card by August 31. Should you use the $20 trick when checking into a hotel?> (HT: Alan H.) Here’s my primer on tipping at check-in for upgrades and video on how to score the best hotel upgrades. Priceline refunds a rental car booking that a woman claims was made by her infant. Interview with Hector Adler, American’s VP of Inflight. Delta: behind the scenes with your checked bag. (HT: World Airline News)

The post Tipping for an Upgrade and Refunding Priceline Reservations Plus 30,000 Bonus Points appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/04/tipping-for-an-upgrade-and-refunding-priceline-reservations-plus-30000-bonus-points/

My Most Underwhelming Cathay Pacific Flight Yet

As I’ve said a bajillion times before, I’m a huge fan of Cathay Pacific first class, as I find it to be one of the most consistent airline products in the world. They offer one of my favorite first class hard products, the service is generally exceptional, and the food is quite good as well.…

The post My Most Underwhelming Cathay Pacific Flight Yet appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/04/my-most-underwhelming-cathay-pacific-flight-yet/

Intimate Peru at street level [vid]

Join cinematographer, Cole Graham on a trip through the beautiful country of Peru:



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/tv/intimate-view-peru-street-level-vid/

Help! My heat is gone and we’re fighting about a warranty claim

from Elliott http://elliott.org/problem-solved/help-my-heat-is-gone-and-were-fighting-about-a-warranty-claim/

How Much Money Do You Need to Live Abroad? 13 Questions to Ask Yourself

This is an excerpt from Working On the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom by Nora Dunn.Traveling full-time can actually cost far less than it does to live in one place. This is due to a number of cost-saving factors, ranging from volunteering in trade for free accommodation, using frequent flyer miles, spending time in places where the cost of living is cheaper (sometimes), and judiciously monitoring your spending.There's no template solution to how much money you’ll need to begin your life working abroad, but you can use these questions to help gauge the expenses you’ll have and how they will vary based on itineraries, priorities and travel style.



from The Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-live-abroad/

In Transit Blog: Hotel Guests Forage for Meals

Cooking classes at hotels are going well beyond the kitchen walls. Participants now forage for ingredients for meals they prepare.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/451aae04/sc/26/l/0Lintransit0Bblogs0Bnytimes0N0C20A150C0A40C0A40Chotel0Eguests0Eforage0Efor0Emeals0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

The Saturday City: Natchez, Mississippi

As the Southern cotton economy expanded on the back of slave labor in the early 1800s, towns designed to transport the cotton emerged on the Mississippi River: New Orleans, Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez. Located high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, Natchez, Mississippi was established by French colonists in 1716. The defensible strategic location ensured that it would become a pivotal center for trade. In the middle of the 19th century, the city attracted Southern planters, who built mansions […]

The post The Saturday City: Natchez, Mississippi appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/the-saturday-city-natchez-mississippi/

How Not to Get Tripped Up When You Want to Upgrade on American and US Airways

The Points Guy blog runs advice on American and US Airways upgrades in a piece written by Nick Ewen. Since that blog is widely read I thought it would be important to highlight some mistakes in the piece that – understanding them – double as tricks to better understand how to maximize your chances of an upgrade when flying American and US Airways. (I left my caveats and concerns in the comments there but six hours later as I write this, they remain unapproved.) Don’t Buy a Flight Planning to Confirm an Upgrade Just Because AA.com Says the Upgrade is Available Nick Ewan writes, For American flights, you can actually search availability on AA.com if you’re logged into your account. From the “Price & Schedule” page, you’ll see which flights allow you to use SWUs…

The post How Not to Get Tripped Up When You Want to Upgrade on American and US Airways appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/04/how-not-to-get-tripped-up-when-you-want-to-upgrade-on-american-and-us-airways/

30,000 Bonus Points With Your Next Club Carlson Stay

Yesterday I wrote about the huge changes coming to the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature® Card. One of the most compelling benefits of the card has been that the second night of every award redemption is free, which can potentially double the value of your points if you always stay in two night increments. Unfortunately this benefit goes away as of June 1, 2015.

Club Carlson has now emailed those with the Club Carlson Visa Card to officially communicate the change and offer a pretty cool promotion:

"As a valued Club Carlson member and Club Carlson Visa cardholder, we would like to tell you about an upcoming change to your Visa benefits."

The post 30,000 Bonus Points With Your Next Club Carlson Stay appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/04/30000-bonus-points-with-your-next-club-carlson-stay/

Running Through Glenorchy

Best app for finding hiking trails? Does anyone know a good app for this? I’ve mostly been using Google Maps, but I know there are a lot of hardcore hikers out there, so I thought maybe someone has made the “ultimate” app. Daily Photo – Running Through Glenorchy One day we went out for a […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2015/04/04/running-through-glenorchy/

Attention hotel guests! Sometimes, those star ratings lie

from Elliott http://elliott.org/blog/attention-hotel-guests-sometimes-those-star-ratings-lie/

Peek inside the world's largest cave

After traversing a mile through the enormous stalagmites and stalactites, a beautiful, otherworldly scene emerges. Watch this breathtaking video, all captured on the first aerial drone to ever enter the cave.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/tv/wont-believe-whats-inside-worlds-largest-cave-vietnam/

New View From The Wing Site Goes Live Saturday Morning: Here’s What it Means for You

Tomorrow morning (around 10am Eastern) we’re going to start to transition the blog over to a refreshed site. There’s not going to be a lot that’s substantively different, at least at first. The biggest changes are to the ‘guts’ (yes, that’s the, um, technical term) of the site. It will let me: Better organize information […]

The post New View From The Wing Site Goes Live Saturday Morning: Here’s What it Means for You appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/03/new-view-from-the-wing-site-goes-live-saturday-morning-heres-what-it-means-for-you/

12 beautiful photos of Finland

There are plenty of locations in Finland to explore, and this is a collection of 12 of our favorite images from this northern European country:



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/trips/12-beautiful-photos-make-wonder-havent-visited-finland-yet/

Things Wisconsinites have to explain

“Cheesehead” is a term of endearment:



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/20-things-wisconsinites-always-explain-towners/