The Flying Critic

Fare Alert: <$1900 for Business Class to Europe this Summer

View from the Wing just posted about a Lufthansa/United deal to Europe this summer in business class for less than $1900.  It sounds like you have to book on Expedia and either use Lufthansa or a Lufthansa code-share of a United flight.  It is a nonrefundable fare.

Fare Alert: Cheap Flights to Hawaii (~$250 all-in)

United (UA) and Continental (CO) are in a little fare war over flights to Hawaii. 

From LAX (on CO), EWR (on UA), CLT (on CO), IAH (on UA), PHL (on CO), and PIT (on CO) you can get to Hawaii for ~250 round trip all-in after taxes and fees. 

This is for travel starting in mid August and going through the end of the schedule. 

Follow the link above for some more details.  This deal has been running most of the weekend so it likely won't last long.

Fare Alert: United removes $130 fuel surcharge until ~8pm Eastern

RickSeaney.com reports that United removed their $130 Fuel Surcharge:

A short time ago, United REMOVED its fuel surcharges in approximately 18,000 of its markets. Most of those fuel surcharges added $130 to the price of their airline tickets. The fuel surcharge is now ZERO.

UPDATE 4PM EASTERN: United Spokesperson Robin Urbanski described this as a “clerical error” and said the fuel charges would be reinstated at 8pm Eastern time.

So if you were looking at buying any United flights you should be booking NOW.  Not tomorrow.  Not tonight.  NOW.  Thanks for the tip Rick Seaney.

Travel Tip: Save money on Hilton hotels with the USA Swimming discount

Most Hilton hotels (including hotels in the Hilton family like Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, etc.) are offering a 10% discount through the end of the year through a promotion with USA Swimming.  It books as 10% off BAR (best available rate) and is often a few dollars cheaper than the AAA rates.  Most of the bookings under this rate are also flexible so you don't have to pre-pay.  You don't have to be a USA Swimmer to use the rate - it's available as a marketing promo for use by anyone.

Go to the Hilton USA Swimming website to start your search for Hilton family hotels that support the discount and you might save a few bucks.

Get a free month of desktop sharing / web conference service from Glance Networks

I'm sent PR requests regularly. In other words, people asking (or begging) me for a free word about their website, product, or service.  Most of the requests are for things you would never be interested in.  But every once in awhile there is something that might help some of you.  Like this one:

Glance Networks, an online meeting service, asked me to pass along their offer of a free month of their desktop sharing service.  If you tell them about a delay or other airline problem you've had you get a free month to try out their service. Normally they only give a 7 day free trial. 

Yes, there are lots of online meeting services out there.  You've probably heard of GoToMeeting. But Glance is easy to use, gets good reviews, lets 100 people watch for the same price, runs two diverse datacenters for increased uptime, works with PCs and Macs, and isn't cluttered with unnecessary features.

Online meeting / desktop sharing services are useful if you are doing product demos, webinars, or just need someone in a different city to be able to see what is on your computer screen.  These services show other people everything that is on your computer screen on their computer screen. Often you combine the desktop sharing with a telephone conference call to have a complete web meeting experience.

Travel Tip: Close to the next elite status level? Consider a mileage run.

Double miles.  First class upgrades.  Standby priority.  Better call centers.  Lounge access.  There are many benefits to airline frequent flyer elite status.

The number of miles you need to fly to get elite status varies by airline but often 25,000 miles gets you the lowest level of status.  The more you fly the higher your status level and the better your benefits can become.

Why you want to get to the next level of frequent flyer status: more miles and more perks

The difference in perks between different levels can be staggering.  For example, on American and United if you fly 45,000 miles per year you get the same mileage bonus rate (25%) that you get if you fly 25,000 miles per year.  So with the 25% bonus and flying 45,000 miles yearly you will earn 56,250 miles per year.  But if you can get up to 50,000 miles per year your bonus goes to 100%.  So flying 50,000 miles per year would change the number of miles you earn from 56,250 per year to 100,000 miles.  By finding a way to fly 5,000 more miles you earn an extra 43,750 miles. (my calculations assume no other bonuses, etc.)

As another example, if on United you fly 95,000 miles you get the same benefits as if you fly 50,000 miles.  But if you can fly 5,000 more miles and get to 100,000 miles you will get 6 international one-way upgrades per year, up to 8 other regional confirmed upgrades per year and lots of fees waived. 

How to get to the next level of frequent flyer status: a mileage run

If it looks like you level of flying will get you close to status or the next level of status it might make sense for you to do a mileage run to get you to the next level of benefits.

A mileage run is an airline trip for the purpose of earning miles.  You don't even have to leave the airport if you don't want to.  The trick is to maximize the number of miles you earn for the lowest cost. 

Lucky, from the One Mile at a Time blog, is one of the world's most prolific mileage runners.  He just wrote a detailed post about how to find and book a mileage run.  If you are thinking about a mileage run you should check out his post.

How to sit in first class on Alaska Airlines with a companion for coach prices

Gary from the View from the Wing blog posted an excellent article on how to sit in first class on Alaska Airlines with a companion for about the same as the regular coach fare:

...one of the great values in airline travel is, in my view, the Bank of America companion ticket used to purchase Alaska Airlines first class travel for two.

Gary details how complimentary and paid-with-miles upgrades used to work on Alaska and points out how difficult they can be to use these days because of Alaska's small first class cabin and lower first class prices. 

His tip is the Alaska Airlines branded Bank of America credit card that gets you a $50 companion ticket every year.   These companion tickets can be used without capacity restrictions for first class tickets. 

Alaska Airlines normally prices their first class tickets about double their regular coach prices.  So if you are are traveling with a companion you can use these companion tickets to get in first class for almost no extra cost. 

Great tip Gary! Thanks for sharing.

Fare Alert: $0 for flights within Florida on Sprit Airlines

The Best Rate Guarantee Blog just posted about a $0 fare after the use of a discount code for Spirit Airlines on flights between:  

• Tampa - Fort Lauderdale
• Fort Lauderdale - Tampa
• Fort Lauderdale - Orlando
• Orlando - Fort Lauderdale

Dates are May 5, 2008 through May 20, 2008 or travel from May 28, 2008 through June 11, 2008 or travel from September 4, 2008 through November 15, 2008.

Coupon code is: SAVE48

Check out the BRG Blog's post for all the details.

Daily Travel Tip: Consider joining the InterContinental Hotel's Ambassador program

If you will be staying in a city with an InterContinental hotel, consider joining their Ambassador program. It's $150 for a year, but if you play it right the benefits far exceed the cost.

Here are the main benefits:

• Automatic upgrade to one category higher room at check-in
• One free pay per view movie per stay
• Free fruit and mineral water welcome amenity in your room
• Welcome gift
• 4pm check-out
• One buy one get one free weekend certificate (pay for a Friday or Saturday night and get Saturday or Sunday night free)

If you are doing a weekend stay and can use the buy one get one free certificate, the program can pay for itself during that first stay.

I've been an InterContinental Ambassador for about a year and have had some amazing experiences at their hotels.  While I am now a Royal Ambassador – an invitation-only higher level of status with the InterContinental hotel chain that provides additional benefits including free upgrades to suites, free minibar beverages, and 8am check-in – I started out as an Ambassador to get the buy one get one free certificate and saved some money on my first visit. 

You can find out more about the InterContinental Ambassador program on their website.

Deal Alert: Save 15% on Southwest Airlines for travel August 23, 2008 through October 30, 2008

Southwest announced a 15% off sale for travel August 23, 2008 through October 30, 2008.  Labor day weekend is blacked out.  You must book between April 18, 2008 and April 21, 2008.  Use promo code: DING15 

More details here.

Daily Travel Tip: How to save your trip photos from loss while traveling - bring several memory cards

Do you use one memory card for all of your photos when you travel?  Don't.  You are inviting disaster.  The card could get damaged or corrupt.  Your card is probably in your camera.  So if your camera gets lost or stolen you just lost all your trip pictures. 

There is an easy solution.  Buy some extra memory cards.  They are cheap.  Then every day or two remove the memory card from your camera and swap it out with an unused one. 

If you are really paranoid, do what a lot of pros do and swap between memory cards while taking important pictures so that you have some pictures on different cards.

If you can get on the Internet while traveling, you should also consider uploading them (or at least the important ones) to a high resolution photo website like www.smugmug.com.

And if you travel with your computer, download your pictures from your memory cards to your computer daily as an extra backup.  But don't delete the pictures from your memory card after transferring to your computer.  You have extra cards so memory space isn't an issue.  By having your pictures on your computer and spread across multiple cards you will significantly reduce the chance of losing all of your precious trip photos.

 

Daily Blog Review: The BRG Blog

The BRG Blog is hotel and travel deal blog.  It is the source for information on how to use the Wyndham Worldwide Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) to get free hotel rooms when there are price mismatches between the corporate site and other booking sites.  From what I can gather, it takes some work to make a successful BRG claim and this blog breaks it all down for you. 

If you want fee hotel rooms you should spend some time reading the BRG Blog to see how it is done and where the hotel deals can be found.

The blog operator also runs a free e-mail list that you can join by giving him your e-mail address and he promises to e-mail you with new BRG hotel finds 2 hours before they get posted to his blog. 

Daily Travel Tip: Stay at Arizona's best resorts for less money by going in the summer

An easy way to stay at great resorts for less money is to go during the off season. 

In Arizona, the off season happens to be during the time most families vacation - the summer.  With the temperature often 100-110(F), few business conferences are taking place in the desert.   

Yeah, it's hot and not the best weather for golf, but if you want to spend your time lounging with the family (or by yourself) in the pool or enjoy a massage in a spa, Arizona's resorts during the summer can make a lot of sense.

Starting in April and May, most of the Arizona resorts start offering summer sales that are hard to beat.  Here is sample of three summer offers that are already being promoted by some of Arizona's top resorts:

The Westin has an offer for AAA members at their Scottsdale Kierland Resort and Spa:

AAA members - Discover The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa!
Delight in a stay at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa and enjoy a great summer offer exclusively for AAA/CAA members:

    * Rates from $179 per night
    * $50 daily resort credit
    * Valid for stay between May 23, 2008 and September 14, 2008

To make your reservation click the Book Now link or call 866-716-8137 and ask for rate plan:  AUTOHOT.

With the daily resort credit, the effective room rate is only $129 per night.

The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess (one of my favorites in Scottsdale) has posted a summer offer:

Book an Only One Way Summer rate and you can earn triple airline miles*. OR, book before June 30, 2008 to receive a $50 food & beverage credit per night if you pay with any American Express® Card*.

Promotion Includes: Room Accommodation

Offer availability: This offer is valid from April 15 to September 2, 2008, subject to availability.

Rates:  Rates for this offer start from $179 plus taxes, based on double occupancy in a Fairmont room.

The Four Seasons Scottsdale offers a great spa package during the summer:

Enjoy deluxe accommodations and indulge in our luxurious spa. Use the fitness centre, steam room, sauna and relaxation lounge, and extend your enjoyment even further.

Includes:

    * Luxurious Casita accommodations
    * Two 50-minute spa services for every paid night
    * Spa gratuity

Offered:
June 01, 2008 - September 06, 2008

Premier Casita Room 550.00               
Deluxe Casita Room     525.00             
Standard Casita Room 505.00             
Partial View Casita Room 485.00   

Daily Travel Tip: Priority Club PointBreaks - hotels for only 5000 points per night

Today's Daily Travel Tip is a link to Priority Club Reward's web page for their PointBreaks program.  The PointBreaks program allows you to get hotel rooms for only 5,000 Priority Club Rewards points per night.

Normal points requirements for one night range from 10,000 points to 40,000 points per night.  So you can see how amazing of a deal this is.

And if you don't have any Priority Club points or you don't have enough, you can flat out buy 5,000 points for as low as $50 - which is probably less than the best rate any the PointBreaks hotels.

For those of you not familiar with the Priority Club program, their hotels include: InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, and Hotel Indigo.

The way the PointBreaks program works is that they periodically select a new group of hotels that the PointBreaks redemption level is available for.  Often the hotels listed are the less popular hotels in their program, but sometimes there are gems. 

Earlier this year I did 3 nights at the Crowne Plaza Geneva and 2 nights at the InterContinental Berlin for only 25,000 points.  I would have had to spend over 1,200 Euros ($1,900) to pay for those 5 nights at the best available rate.  Talk about a great use of points. 

The BRG Blog

This morning I found a link to The BRG Blog.  This is the blog to go to for information about Wyndham's Best Rate Guarantee program.  If you are looking for free hotel rooms and other travel deals this looks like a good blog to follow.