6 French work culture myths

Five weeks of vacation, recurring cigarette-espresso breaks, and two hour lunches are among the stereotypes perpetuated about French work culture and I can say from experience, only two of three are still true today. 1. Vacation Reserving time for travel and personal time is as entrenched in French culture as those extended lunches that once […]



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/french-work-myths-need-die/

Rick Report: Tracking Two-Year Bonuses, or How I Almost Screwed Up My Game

Chase has this rule that states that you aren’t eligible for a sign-up bonus if you have received one for the same card in the last two years. Our record keeping is in shambles, but I wanted my wife Katy to apply for the Hyatt card that gives us two free nights. I had no […]



from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2015/03/rick-report-tracking-two-year-bonuses-or-how-i-almost-screwed-up-my-game.html

How was she supposed to know her car would spontaneously combust?

from Elliott http://elliott.org/should-i-take-the-case/how-was-she-supposed-to-know-her-car-would-spontaneously-combust/

I’m Using Miles: Why Do My Award Tickets Have Such High Fees?

Reader Carol asked, When I try to make a reservation using my American Airline miles, there’s always a fee of $500-$1200 included. Do you know why? Yes, I do know why! It’s because you’re looking at award tickets involving travel on British Airways. And because awards on British Airways incur fuel surcharges. The idea is […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/why-do-my-award-tickets-have-such-high-fees/

My Latest Round Of Credit Card Applications

While I spend a lot of time writing about credit cards, I've actually not applied for that many credit cards the past year or so. I'm not sure why. I've been living in hotels and have been happy with my overall card portfolio. So I guess I've just been complacent.

This past Friday I planned on applying for a US Airways MasterCard before the opportunity went away, and got instantly approved. So I figured I might as well apply for a few more cards that I've been eying for a while.

In the end I applied for five cards, all of which I got approved for (eventually).

Here are the five cards I applied for:

The post My Latest Round Of Credit Card Applications appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/my-latest-round-of-credit-card-applications-2/

American and US Airways Expect to Merge Frequent Flyer Programs in Just 6 Days!

On March 13, American sent out word that the American and US Airways frequent flyer programs would be combined within 30 days. Or in American parlance, that’s when they’d move to ‘Single Frequent Flyer Program’ (SFFP). When the 2015 program and details of how the US Airways and American programs would be combined were released […]

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from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/american-and-us-airways-expect-to-merge-frequent-flyer-programs-in-just-6-days/

You Can Still Book Free One-Way Awards When You Redeem Miles. These Mileage Programs Let You.

Reader fauxblogger asked, Which foreign airline mileage programs permit tag flight to/from [North American] gateway city to [North American] home city on a single award when redeeming its own program’s miles? I think I understand what fauxblogger is asking. This reader wants to know what mileage programs allow stopovers on award tickets. The reason they […]

The post You Can Still Book Free One-Way Awards When You Redeem Miles. These Mileage Programs Let You. appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/you-can-still-book-free-one-way-awards-when-you-redeem-miles-these-mileage-programs-let-you/

Etihad Releasing Two A380 First Class Award Seats To New York

A couple of weeks ago Etihad Airways announced that they’d begin flying the Airbus A380 between Abu Dhabi and New York as of December 1, 2015.

While Emirates has well over 100 A380s on order, Etihad has only ordered a total of 10 of them, and will be flying them exclusively between Abu Dhabi and London, Sydney, and New York. Etihad’s A380s are truly one-of-a-kind, in that they feature amazing First Class Apartments.

I had the opportunity to fly the Etihad A380 inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to London late last year, and was blown away by the hard product. The First Class Apartment is unlike any first class hard product I’ve ever seen.

The best part is that Etihad partners with American AAdvantage, and Etihad has been extremely generous about making first class award space available on these flights.

The post Etihad Releasing Two A380 First Class Award Seats To New York appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/etihad-releasing-two-a380-first-class-award-seats-to-new-york/

How to Stretch Hyatt Points and Get Great Upgrades

Reader Christian asks, I have a lot of Hyatt award nights booked for this fall in Asia and planned for next summer in Europe. While building up my points, I’d intended to do a Diamond Challenge early this summer, to have the status for this year and next. Now, with the Challenge effectively dead, I […]

The post How to Stretch Hyatt Points and Get Great Upgrades appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-to-stretch-hyatt-points-and-get-great-upgrades/

Top 20 #travelstoke images 3/15

Did your Instagram photo make the cut?



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/top-20-travelstoke-images-week-march-15-2014/

Hackers stole my identity and Cruise Planners won’t help me

from Elliott http://elliott.org/from-the-trenches/hackers-stole-my-identity-and-cruise-planners-wont-help-me/

Virgin America Eliminates Award Fuel Surcharges On Virgin Australia

Virgin America Elevate is an interesting frequent flyer program given that's it's a hybrid between being revenue based and zone based on the redemption side.

In other words, when you redeem Virgin America Elevate points for travel on Virgin America, the number of points required is directly correlated to the cash cost of a ticket. However, if you're redeeming points for travel on a partner airline, they have an award chart.

One of Virgin America's airline partners is Virgin Australia, which is the airline with the most saver level business class award space between the US and Australia. The only "catch" when it comes to redeeming Elevate points on Virgin Australia is that they've imposed huge fuel surcharges. For example, a roundtrip business class award between Los Angeles and Sydney has cost about ~$850 in taxes and carrier imposes surcharges.

The post Virgin America Eliminates Award Fuel Surcharges On Virgin Australia appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/virgin-america-eliminates-award-fuel-surcharges-on-virgin-australia/

Disney monorail cab for sale on eBay

Christopher Nowak bought a monorail car from Walt Disney World dreaming of the day he might use it to drive his kids to school. But plans change.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/21/travel/disney-monorail-ebay-feat/index.html

What is ‘Minimum Connection Time’..?

Reader Jon Parent asks, I am looking to fly [Boston – Fairbanks] on [American] in June. I found availability for [Boston-Anchorage] only at first saver. However, when I search [Anchorage-Fairbanks], I find business availability as well at the perfect time. I am wondering why [the award search website] doesn’t display all of the segments [to […]

The post What is ‘Minimum Connection Time’..? appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/what-is-minimum-connection-time/

How Do Different Credit Cards Define “Travel?”

Admittedly I spend a larger percentage of my income on travel than most others, given that I basically live in hotels and on planes. Fortunately there are several credit cards that offer bonus points for travel purchases, which takes just a bit of the sting out of some travel purchases. After all, the more you spend, the more points you earn. ;)

What's interesting, however, is that each card defines travel in a different way.

So I figured I'd look at four of the most popular "flexible" travel credit cards, and how they each define travel differently. This includes the:

The post How Do Different Credit Cards Define “Travel?” appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/03/22/how-do-different-credit-cards-define-travel/