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Having just earned my Starwood Platinum status for the first time, I was curious to see which (if any) programs would match my status. I learned from this thread on Flyertalk that Hyatt will give you a status “challenge” and match you to Hyatt Diamond status if you can prove that you are:
Marriott Gold/Platinum Starwood Platinum Hilton HHonors Gold/Platinum Priority Club Rewards Platinum EliteUPDATE Oct 3, 2013 Note: As reader PrateekJain2012 points out, you must have at least one stay with your current chain in the past 12 months of be accepted into the challenge. For example, if you earned Hilton Gold status solely from the [...]
So, I had an awesome Memorial Day weekend trip planned to surprise McCown to St. Kitts & Nevis:
But, I learned that I had to cancel very last minute due to a family emergency. In the days of cheap flights, hotels and cheap awards, cancellation and change policies have been getting stricter and stricter. When I learned that I wouldn’t be able to go, I just knew that there was no hope of getting any of the reservations refunded because it was so close to the date of departure (as in 12 hours before we were set to depart). Despite my pessimism, I started making the calls to see if a phone rep might have a little mercy and help me out. All told, I expected to be [...]
Note: A lot of info in this post refers to the 35% transfer bonus between AMEX Membership Rewards and British Airways Avios that runs until June 7, 2013. More info here: Deal Blitz Alert: 35% Transfer Bonus from AMEX to British Airways Avios. If you’re reading after June 7, 2013 you can still get some great value out of your Avios miles.
British Airways/Iberia Avios miles are [glossy term=”distance based awards”] distance based awards: on the surface, it seems like you’re getting a bad deal on award redemptions. But, as with anything involving miles, it opens up possibilities to find great values on non-stop short distance flights.
One partner [...]
American Express Membership Rewards has an ongoing special that will give you a 35% bonus on miles transferred from AMEX into British Airways Avios points.
This has been the first transfer bonus between AMEX and BA in many months, so I’d suggest everyone jumps on it before it ends on June 7th.
The bonus is hardcoded in the transfer rate
As a reminder, British Airways Avios are distance-based award:
And, you can book on member airlines such as American Airlines, Air Berlin, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN…
We’ll have a series of quick posts on [...]
12 Cumberland St, Charleston, SC American, Beer Garden $$ – $8 to $20 for an entree
We had the opportunity to check out the much-anticipated Craftsmen Kitchen & Tap House on their opening weekend.
The much-talked-about restaurant has completely transformed what used to be that bar we all loved but never remembered, Johnson’s, into a awesome little beer garden restaurant. The actual “beer garden” portion is quite small, but they’ve got the authentic-looking Bavarian tables, so I’m sold on liking everything about it.
If you claim to be a beer garden, then you can damn well count on me sampling [...]
Always make sure to set a few reminders to double check your hotel bookings to see if any specials have become available since you’ve booked.
On our recent trip to Europe, I made a booking using Starpoints a few months in advance for a stay at The Westin Europa & Regina in Venice, Italy. I determined the Starpoints Cash and Points redemption to be a great value:
I booked a “Deluxe Room” for 8,000 points + $150 USD instead of paying 451 euros (appx $631 USD) for the same room. This yielded a return of:
An amazing return of 6.01 cents/point!
Not satisfied with the hotel though, I kept checking SPG.com for an opening at either the Gritti [...]
UPDATE Oct 3, 2013: Added HNL-SJU UPDATE Nov 27, 2013: Added FLL-SEA and ADK-SJU
Ever wonder what’s the longest flight operated within the US? Here’s a list of the top:
Longest non-stop commercial flight in the contiguous 48 states:Winner: Miami (MIA) to Seattle (SEA) on American Airlines at 2,724 miles in 6 hours 40 minutes. Update Nov 28, 2013: Close second is Alaska Airlines’ Ft. Lauderdale-FLL to Seattle-SEA. The 2,717 miles route takes 6 hr 35 mins on a B737 (thanks reader Red Guevarra!)
Runner-up: Boston-BOS to San Francisco-SFO takes appx 6 hours 35 minutes and covers 2,704 miles. United, JetBlue and [...]
