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Congress Ends Air Traffic Control Furloughs…Until September

April 26, 2013

Well it looks like after all the political posturing over the air traffic controller furloughs brought on by “sequestration cuts” that Congress is finally getting its act together and has approved a bill that will end the furloughs and should keep the air traffic control system operating normally…at least until September 30. The House passed [...]

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JetBlue 30% Award Discount – Ends Today!

April 26, 2013

JetBlue launched another short-term promo today where you can get a 30% discount on award bookings until the end of today for travel May 2 – June 26, 2013. The “Stop Dreaming. Start Redeeming” promo takes 30% off the usual point redemption rates for TrueBlue rewards – and remember, JetBlue is a transfer partner of [...]

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Destination of the Week: Bangkok

April 26, 2013

From the first sight – and smell – of it, travelers recognize that Bangkok is a thumping, slightly seedy thumping heartbeat of Southeast Asia. Unlike some of its more sedate neighbors, this bustling metropolis is a forest of high-rise buildings, a swamp of smoggy traffic jams and contains warrens of some of Asia’s liveliest nightlife [...]

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Routehappy Adds Ticket Prices to Flight Search

April 26, 2013

As I’ve written about before, Routehappy is a cool new site for travelers that rates airlines and specific flights based on user-generated reviews of everything from the type of seats to the WiFi availability to entertainment options. This morning, Routehappy launched a new generation website with Meta search that matches its “Happiness Score” to a [...]

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New Seat-To-Seat Ordering Means More Mid-Air Flirting on Virgin America

April 25, 2013

Virgin America prides itself on a freewheeling, fun-loving atmosphere and adding to the ambiance of bonhomie, the airline has just launched a new seat-to-seat ordering feature that will allow passengers to purchase food and beverage service items for other passengers from their own seatback touchscreens. This is a follow-up to the chat function that’s part [...]

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Registration Now Open for Starwood’s Double Take Promotion

April 25, 2013

Starwood announced its summer Double Take Promo a few weeks ago, and registration is now open. From May 1 through July 31, 2013, you can earn double Starpoints on all eligible stays at over 1,000 properties as well as 500 bonus Starpoints for booking through the chain’s mobile site or app. Here are the details of the promotion: [...]

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Hyatt Award Nights Bookable on Hyatt.com

April 25, 2013

Although Hyatt has a great points program with some amazing redemption opportunities like being able to book award nights at top-tier Park Hyatts for just 22,000 points, until now, one of the drawbacks to trying to book award nights with Hyatt is that unless you had enough points in your Gold Passport account to actually [...]

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Transferring Amex Membership Rewards To British Airways Avios Versus Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

April 25, 2013

In light of the current 35% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways through June 7, 2013, I thought it might be useful to do a comparison of mileage redemption sweet spots between British Airways and Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program, another transfer partner of American Express that doesn’t tend to garner [...]

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Why You Should Never Assume SkyMiles Are Worthless: My Recent Success Booking Low Level Awards

April 25, 2013

It doesn’t take a lot to convince me to go on a trip – especially when you say the word Madrid and face me with an imminently expiring Hyatt suite award. My best friend Lori lives in Madrid and I usually visit a couple times a year, not only to see her but to revel [...]

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Wine Wednesday: Martinborough New Zealand

April 24, 2013

Every Wednesday, we cover a different wine region around the world for our Wine Wednesday series and have so far visited both the Old and New Worlds in countries from Australia to Austria and from Chile to France. Today we head back south of the equator to New Zealand – a country that, though it [...]

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ExpertFlyer To The Rescue: Save Time and Miles With Flight Alerts

April 24, 2013

I’ve been using ExpertFlyer for years, whether its searching for award availability, routing options or fare information, it’s got a lot of functionality. However, the one tool that I can’t sing enough praises about is the flight alert feature which allows you to set alerts for award tickets so as soon as the airline releases [...]

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ANA Award Taxes and Fees: Airline Partner Roundup

April 24, 2013

If you have Amex Membership Rewards points or plan on transferring Starwood points to airlines, you may want to bookmark this post! This is the fifth and final installment of my series calculating the cost of award tickets using ANA miles. In Part 1 I priced out itineraries on Air Canada, ANA, Lufthansa, Singapore, SWISS, [...]

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American Releases Lucrative 2013 Elite Rewards: Easier Qualification and More Choices

April 24, 2013

Elite Rewards is American Airlines’ incentive program for its elite flyers who go above and beyond their status qualification thresholds by offering them gifts such as high mileage bonuses, additional systemwide upgrades and the ability to gift elite status to friends and family among other benefits. In the past, you would just get your Elite [...]

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Chase Sapphire Preferred 3X Points On Dining First Friday Monthly

April 23, 2013

One of the reasons the Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of my all-round favorite points-earning travel credit cards is the fact that it earns 2X Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on dining (as does the Chase Sapphire). But for all your foodies out there, dining out just became even more lucrative because Chase Sapphire has [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: Gifts for the Traveling Mom and Ways to Maximize Points for Mother’s Day

April 23, 2013

It’s that time of when you get to celebrate that special the mother or mother figure in your life! So as Mother’s Day approaches, here’s a list of great ways you can make the most of your points and miles while doing something special for dear mom. This year I’ll be taking my mom on [...]

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Overview of ANA Award Taxes and Fees: Part 4 – Non Star Alliance Partners

April 23, 2013

This is Part 4 of my series calculating the cost of award tickets using ANA miles. In Part 1 I priced out itineraries on Air Canada, ANA, Lufthansa, Singapore, SWISS, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, United and US Airways. In Part 2, I looked at Adria, Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana, Austria, Avianca, Brussels [...]

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Sequestration Air Traffic Control Cuts Go Into Effect – Tips On Avoiding Huge Air Travel Delays

April 22, 2013

Well, today’s the day that Congress’s sequestration cuts finally go into effect for the FAA and air traffic controllers have to start taking one furlough day per 10 work days. The FAA and major news outlets are all predicting huge delays – up to 6,700 flights per day – but is all this going to [...]

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Maximize Monday: What Do 50,000 Amex Points Get You?

April 22, 2013

In light the current limited-time 50,000-point sign-up bonus on the Business Gold Rewards card from American Express, as well as today’s launch of the a 35% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios now through June 7, 2013, I thought that for today’s Maximize Monday post, I’d write about American Express Membership Rewards [...]

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Amex 35% Transfer Bonus To British Airways Avios Now Through June 7

April 22, 2013

Finally! It’s been a relatively quiet year for Amex transfer bonuses, but starting today American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 35% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios now through June 7, 2013. While not quite as generous as recent transfer bonuses of 40% and even 50%, it beats the most recent [...]

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Overview of ANA Award Taxes and Fees: Part 3

April 22, 2013

This is part 3 of my series calculating the cost of award tickets using ANA miles. In Part 1 I priced out itineraries on Air Canada, ANA, Lufthansa, Singapore, SWISS, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, United and US Airways. In Part 2, I looked at Adria, Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana, Austria, Avianca, Brussels [...]

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Video Sunday Reader Question: Replacing Business Gold Rewards With Another Point Earning Amex Card

April 21, 2013

TPG reader Rachel has had the Business Gold Rewards card for a while, but is looking to open a new point earning American Express card: “I have a Business Gold American Express card that I signed up for some time ago in order to get the points – I really don’t need it though as [...]

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Video Sunday Reader Question: Getting to Australia Using AA Miles or SPG Points

April 21, 2013

TPG reader Margo has both American Airlines miles and Starwood Preferred Guest points but is unsure how she should use them to get to Australia: “I signed up for Award Nexus to search for flights for a trip we are taking to Australia in mid September. Although we have plenty of American AAdvantage miles, we [...]

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SRQ: Should I Fly Cathay Pacific First Class To Asia On The Outbound Or Return

April 21, 2013

TPG reader Michael has an award trip to Asia coming up on Cathay Pacific and wants to put his miles to the best use. Here’s his question: “My wife and I are going from Chicago to Bangkok (stopping in Hong Kong). We only have enough miles to get first class Cathay Pacific one way for [...]

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Hotel Review: Intercontinental Sao Paulo Deluxe Room

April 20, 2013

A few weeks ago, I flew American Airlines’ new 777-300ER first class from New York JFK to Sao Paulo, Brazil to check out the city for a few days and attend the amfAR Inspiration Gala. Thanks to a lot of reader suggestions, I was considering staying at the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo and using my [...]

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