It seems like a ton of airlines and hotels are jumping the bandwagon and offering free status upgrades, matches, and challenges this month. If you have status with a hotel chain or an airline, it might make sense to consider leveraging it with other programs. I’ve compiled a list of current offers and promotions to … [Read More…]

My days of Boarding Group 1 are long gone. With that being said, first off, you can make sure you’re never in Boarding Group 5 with the United MileagePlus Explorer credit card (which gives you Boarding Group 2). Learn more about the United MileagePlus Explorer Card Ever since United switched to a revenue-based model, I’ve … [Read More…]

Earlier this week, I met with Noah Brodsky, Wyndham’s Senior Vice President for Worldwide Loyalty and Customer Engagement, about the direction of the Wyndham Rewards program. In a world of constant program devaluations, it was refreshing when Wyndham changed their program for the better last year by introducing free nights with a flat 15,000 point redemption rate.With … [Read More…]

With all of the recent talk about free hotel status and status matching, I remembered that Best Western offers an on-going promotion called “Status Match No Catch“, and it’s a fairly simple process. While the site suggests filling out the form to request the status match, I just sent an email to StatusMatch@bestwestern.com, asking for a match, … [Read More…]

Almost all of the airports in Germany have “EasyPASS gates”, designed to make transiting through Germany a seamless experience for European citizens with an ePassport by default. This initiative is similar to the Global Entry kiosks here in the United States. The best part of it all is that these gates aren’t just limited to European … [Read More…]

I just came across this offer from Hilton: Apparently it’s being advertised in the image that Hilton will match status with another program valid all the way up until March, 31 2018 (Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club, Hyatt Gold Passport, Choice Privileges, or other hotel loyalty program). I recently matched to Hilton Diamond … [Read More…]

I have 2 Etihad A380 rides coming up this week, and I’m giddy like a kid in the candy shop. One of these awards was booked months ahead of time, and the other – yesterday. On Sunday, I am headed to Abu Dhabi in Etihad’s pearl business class from New York with my dad for … [Read More…]

I have a few international trips coming up and have had a completely-filled, non-expired passport (not really a bad thing, right?) for quite some time now. I had a hard time dealing with the thought of being grounded by sending my passport away for 6 weeks (or even 3 weeks for expedited-service) to get renewed, … [Read More…]

Yesterday a friend of mine asked for my opinion about Weeknder, a portal that sells last-minute weekend flights at what they claim to be a deep-discount. As someone who loves to travel spontaneously, I was naturally intrigued to investigate these deals. I quickly learned that Weeknder is powered by Priceline, and I know that Priceline … [Read More…]

Many readers have booked the super-cheap Sydney to US tickets this morning, and now the question that I’m being asked left and right is: Where do I credit my miles from this trip? Crediting to Virgin Australia The table below shows the points you earn for each mile traveled in each Virgin Australia class of service. … [Read More…]