Via Dan’s Deals: Login to your Starbucks account and …enter in the following codes will each give you 5 free stars: MCATALINM MCATALINH MCATALINL You can only use 2 codes per day. I used 2 of these last night and the 10 stars are already in my account. They say the stars can take up to 24 hours to post. I entered in the 3rd code today and expect to see those stars by tomorrow. Enter the codes here once you’re logged in. This is not working for me, so your mileage may vary. However, since Dan posted this and he’s really quite reliable, I pass it along in case the problems are specific to me or my account. In case this does work for you, 15 Stars is halfway to ‘Gold’ status, which doesn’t…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2014.
Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – New York JFK: Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
25% Off Award Tickets to Japan, Your Packing List, Where Tourists Go (But No One Lives).. Bits ‘n Pieces for March 29, 2014
United is offering a 25% discount valid for United economy roundtrip saver awards between the 48 contiguous U.S. states, Alaska, and Canada and Japan booked by April 17 for travel between April 1 and April 30. A checklist of things to do before your next long trip. Countries with more tourists than residents. No one beats Vatican City, but France ranks pretty well. What to do if CVS stops taking credit cards for Vanilla Reload purchases You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Lots of Miles and Points Deadlines This Week: Act Now
US Airways Dividend Miles US Airways’ last day in Star Alliance will be Sunday, March 30 and first day in oneworld Monday, March 31. Here’s some information on how award tickets will work with the oneworld transition and also here. And here’s my guide to booking awards with US Airways miles. If you want to fly to Europe, especially without fuel surcharges, act now (though bear in mind that any changes made after Monday won’t be able to include Star Alliance airlines). Star availability to Europe is much better than with oneworld, and the largest carrier over the Pond British Airways incurs fuel surcharges. Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Meanwhile, be sure to book any Southwest awards by Monday as well before Rapid Rewards reduces the value of its points when redeeming for the cheapest (“Wanna…
Anthony Bourdain is Bringing a Singapore Hawker Center to Lower Manhattan
From 10 Questions for Anthony Bourdain: Everyone is anticipating your new, international food market in Lower Manhattan. Care to dish on what’s coming — venue, concept, offerings? It’s about what turns me on. I’m a huge fan of Singapore and Hakka centers and the Asian-Hong Kong and Dai pai dong and the way that Singapore has been able to keep the integrity of their street food in a modern, germophobic world. I think it’d be very cool to have that in New York and I hope to riff on that model. I hope to have some great Singaporean and Southeast Asian and South American vendors and craftsmen bring in the kind of delicious food that many other people around the world see as a birthright and for one reason or another we really haven’t had.…
British Airways Promotes Trips to the Indian Ocean, United’s Cease and Desist Letter, and Inflight Internet Pricing (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 28, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Gogo inflight internet will be raising its prices after April 13 (previously they had announced a deadline of April 6). Customers with existing monthly internet plans will be grandfathered at the old rates. Unfortunate British Airways ad campaign The Wandering Aramean blog gets a cease and desist order from United Airlines Emirates Skywards is offering a 100% – 175% bonus for paid travel on Virgin America through May 31. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Cathay Pacific’s The Wing Newly Renovated First Class Lounge: Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Qantas Introduces a Simpler (Needlessly More Complex), Fairer (Fewer Miles on Cheaper Fares) Frequent Flyer Earning Program
Qantas is completely revamping its mileage-earning structure effective July 1. In general it is meant to award more points on higher fares, and fewer points on lower fares. But they haven’t gone with a revenue-based model the way that Delta has. They aren’t rewarding points based on ticket cost. Instead they have more categories, based on distance and fare class, and have created byzantine charts that I have had open on my screen for more than a day thinking about how to explain them. And in the end I’m left shaking my head at the complexity, thinking that the charts sort of speak for themselves (or express the inherent confusion on their own). Oh, and they call it a simpler, fairer flying program. Which tells me they’ve been drinking too much Fosters. * * I…
Up to 25,000 Bonus US Airways Miles for oneworld Flights
US Airways joins oneworld March 31 and has a promotion for crediting oneworld tickets to Dividend Miles. [R]egister with your Dividend Miles number and fly with oneworld partner airlines through June 30, 2014. Each partner airline will only count once, so the more partner airlines you fly, the more miles you earn – up to 25,000 bonus Dividend Miles. Here’s the earning table: Registration begins on March 31, and you can register any time up through June 30 to earn miles based on oneworld flights credited to Dividend Miles during the promotion period. Though the earning table refers to purchases, the terms and conditions are clear that — like the short description above — “You will earn bonus miles based on the number of different partner airlines flown.” You can only earn a credit for…
US Airways Improves Service Levels Starting Next Week!
I declared last year that US Airways elites are hungry. They don’t get fed in first class on a 3 hour flight. When the CEOs of US Airways and American sat down to pitch the merger to the New York Times, I had 9 quotes in the ensuing piece and pointed out that CEO-to-be of the joint airline Doug Parker has traditionally believed that all that matters is being an on-time airline and thus the importance of actual service might be diminished. Focusing on good value and good service was one of my key points in a USA Today op-ed when the merger was finally green-lighted back in December. Earlier this week I worried about the US Airways-ization of American, code for giving customers less and finding more things to charge for. So it’s only…
