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The Best Time to Book December Holiday Travel Is…

November 7, 2011

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the best times to buy Thanksgiving airfare, and now it’s time to start considering your December holiday travel plans. As I said before, it can be darn near impossible to figure out when exactly you should buy your holiday airfares—after all, we’ve probably all experienced that sinking feeling [...]

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The Best Time to Buy Thanksgiving Airfare Is …

October 21, 2011

I’m always asked about buying airfares and to be honest, I really don’t have a clue. Trying to make sense of airfare fluctuations and fare rules is a game I don’t have time to play. However, the geniuses over at Kayak.com pulled together a ton of data around historical Thanksgiving airfares to show when the [...]

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Remembering 9/11: 10 Years Later

September 11, 2011

TPG reader Mark sent me some incredible 360 degree pictures he took from the top of the World Trade Center in June of 2000. He writes, “I think it would be nice to step back in time and remember the Twin Towers as they were” and I couldn’t agree more. View from the top of the [...]

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FAA Tax Refunds to Come For Tickets Purchased Before July 23

August 3, 2011

It looks like the current FAA deauthorization will last until after Labor Day, so if you purchased a ticket for US travel before July 22 for travel on or after July 22, 2011, you may be entitled for a refund. It’s not clear how the refund will work, so I’d recommend waiting while the details [...]

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Dear Airlines: Stop Pocketing Tax Holiday Savings

July 27, 2011

I know this may fall on deaf ears, but I’d like to urge the airlines to pass along the savings from not collecting FAA taxes onto consumers. I’m writing this post on a Delta flight that I was able to rebook for a $40 savings the day the taxes stopped being collected. That certainly helps considering [...]

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Reduced Taxes on Airline Tickets

July 23, 2011

I have to be honest, I haven’t been closely following the drama in Washington over the budget, but I did read an interesting blog post from Gary at View from the Wing about the the possibility of less taxes being collected on airline tickets. And as of today, fewer government taxes on airline tickets, which is [...]

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Frequent Traveler University

April 30, 2011

Today I’m going to Frequent Traveler University, which is a day-long workshop with the top minds in the frequent traveler space. I’ll be attending sessions by Rick Ingersoll, The Frugal Travel Guy, on tips for maximizing credit card applications as well as sessions by Boarding Area bloggers Ben from One Mile at a Time and [...]

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Frequent Traveler Awards Results

April 29, 2011

Last night was the Frequent Traveler Award Ceremony and the results for the Americas were: 1) Program of the Year: Air Canada Aeroplan 2) Hotel Program: Marriott 3) Best Loyalty Credit Card: Alaska Airways Visa 4) Best Elite Program: United Airlines 5) Best Hotel Elite Program: Hyatt 6) Best Airline Redemption: Air Canada Aeroplan 7) [...]

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Live Tweeting from the Frequent Traveler Awards Tonight

April 28, 2011

Tonight I’ll be attending the Frequent Traveler Awards at Citi Field in NYC, along with 9 TPG readers as my guests. The Frequent Traveler awards will honor the top loyalty programs in the following categories: Best Promotion for Redemption (Airline & Hotel) Best Promotion for Earning (Airline & Hotel) Best Redemption Ability (Airline & Hotel) Best [...]

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Signed Copy of Michelle Bernstein’s Cuisine a Latina Giveaway

April 26, 2011

Last night, I (along with 40 of NYC’s top Diamond Medallions, top Delta executives and members of the press) had the pleasure of attending an event sponsored by Delta at the Chelsea Market James Beard Foundation Pop-up restaurant. The meal was cooked by Delta celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein and her crew who flew up from [...]

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$100 Global Entry Fee Now Waived for Amex Platinum Card Members

April 5, 2011

Have you ever gotten off a long international flight and then had to snake through a brutally slow line at US immigration? To me that’s worse than waiting in a security line upon arrival at the airport, because I’m already tired after an international flight and you can’t even use cell phones when queuing for immigration. Luckily the US [...]

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Massive Email Hacking Affects Loyalty Programs

April 4, 2011

So far today, I’ve received emails from Hilton Honors, Best Buy Reward Zone and Chase notifying me that my email address and names were potentially stolen by hackers who breached the systems of their marketing vendor, Epsilon. The emails stress that financial information was not stolen and that the only risk will be an increase [...]

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Be My Guest at the 2011 Frequent Traveler Awards at Citi Field

March 23, 2011

On Thursday April 28th, frequent travelers and travel industry representatives from around the globe will converge for one night to honor the top loyalty points and miles programs. The awards are voted on by frequent travelers and if you haven’t done so already, submit your ballot here. Since the event is being held in NYC at [...]

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United to Install Lie-Flat Seats on Transcontinental P.S. Flights

March 23, 2011

United had their Investor Day yesterday and CEO Jeff Smisek spoke at length about the newly merged carrier’s plans. Key things to note: 1) More changes coming to the frequent flyer program that both customers and shareholders will like 2) Fully lie-flat seats on transcontinental (JFK-LAX/SFO and possibly more) flights. This would put United way [...]

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Buying Discount Business Class Fares vs. Upgradeable Economy

March 15, 2011

As I’ve written about lately, there have been a ton of super cheap business class airfares recently – even to Europe during peak season. Continental also usually runs a pre-summer sale on business class, so I expect more low fares (and subsequent matching by competitors) to appear in the next month or so. These fares are [...]

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My Thoughts on Domestic Air Travel in Spain

March 13, 2011

I’ve been in Spain for the past couple days and while this  isn’t my first time,  I have to say I’m pretty impressed with their style of travel. The facilities at  at Madrid’s new Terminal 4 and at Barcelona, were stunning. Spacious and well-designed with lots of nice shops and restaurants. In both airports, there [...]

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Poorly Trained Phone Agents Can Cost You Time and Money

March 11, 2011

Airline phone agents are the bane of my existence. As part of my award booking services, I call the airlines every day, so I’ve had the unique opportunity of speaking to hundreds of phone reps. While a few are truly gems who are fast and know the rules, many are clueless and their mistakes can [...]

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Do People Still Use Traveler’s Checks?

March 8, 2011

I personally have never used a traveler’s check. I don’t really see the value in them- they cost money, many companies don’t accept them, and you don’t earn points on them. However, I’m sure there are still people who use them out of habit. I just wish they saw the light and used debit/credit cards that [...]

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Pan Am TV Show in the Works

February 28, 2011

I generally don’t watch much TV, mostly because I travel all  the time and my DVR queue gets so backlogged I don’t know where I left off.  However, this is a show I may actually watch: A new pilot about the golden days of flying on Pan Am – back when air travel was sexy. It definitely [...]

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Am I Becoming a High Maintenance Traveler?

February 21, 2011

I’d like to think I’m a savvy traveler – I’m not easily stressed and I can usually handle whatever is thrown at me, whether it’s a pesky cancelled flight or a rogue gate agent who doesn’t know the rules of the game. My frequent travel entitles me to top status on Delta and with Hyatt and Starwood and some [...]

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Sad Fact of the Day: Only 30% Of Americans Have Passports

February 7, 2011

I found this CNN article ,which outlines the key reasons why Americans don’t travel internationally, to be extremely interesting and on the money. The key fact is that only 30% of Americans have passports compared to 60% of Canadians.  While the US and Canada are two very different countries, I have to agree that 30% [...]

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My Travel Tips and Thoughts on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

January 19, 2011

I booked New Years in Rio de Janeiro early in 2010 when I stumbled across perfect award availability- it was kind of like a light shining down from above: 2 United first class saver level 67,5000 mile tickets from LGA-IAD to Rio and 2 American first class saver level 62,500 mile tickets from Buenos Aires to JFK about 10 [...]

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American Airlines War With Travel Agencies Heats Up

January 6, 2011

UPDATE: American and travel agencies have resolved this issue. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about American Airlines pulling its flights from popular online travel agency Orbitz. To sum it up, American wants all of the companies selling its tickets to use a new, proprietary system and not the standard ticket pricing systems (GDS) that most [...]

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10 New Years Resolutions for Miles and Points Addicts

December 31, 2010

UPDATE: Few airlines continue to offer debit cards, severely limiting choices. We can all (myself included) do more to become better points masters. Here are 10 quick tips to maximize your points in the new year. 1) Open up a points-earning checking account/ debit card. Most major airlines have them, like Continental, United, US Airways, [...]

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