At the beginning of the month I wrote about a great promotion that Amazon is running. Specifically, you can get 20% off when you use Amex Membership Rewards points to pay for at least part of your purchase. You'll want to redeem exactly one point to…
At the moment the AAdvantage eShopping Portal, Alaska Mileage Plan Shopping, and United MileagePlus Shopping are offering 15 miles per dollar spent at saks.com. These portals ordinarily offer five, four, and three miles per dollar spent for saks.com,…
Here's something that's a cute concept, though rich in irony. Loyalty programs are increasingly trying to engage with members in non-traditional means. We've seen this with programs like Starwood Preferred Guest, where SPG Moments lets you redeem points…
On the heels of their quiet devaluation of the Premium Select product earlier this month, Delta announced on last Thursday's earning call that they plan to expand their Premium Select cabin, with all widebody flights to Europe offering those seats by…
IHG acquired Kimpton several years ago, though until recently continued to operate these hotels completely independently. Then earlier this year, Kimpton joined IHG Rewards Club, meaning it's treated similarly to other IHG brands when it comes to earning…
For those of you not familiar with Amex Offers, it’s a program available through most Amex cards, where different cards are eligible for different savings and bonus offers. In many cases the offers can be huge, and more than offset the annual fee on…
United has announced today a purchase of 29 new aircraft, including 25 Embraer E175s and four Boeing 787-9s. While 29 planes is a lot, when you consider that 25 of them are regional jets going to their regional subsidiaries, that's not quite as exciting…
Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up additional miles & points for purchases you’d make anyway. Just for following a specific link you can earn bonus points in addition to the ones you’d earn anyway for credit card spend. The number…
I'm unsure of how much attention this has received in the US, but in the UK and Australia at least, you would have to be living under a rock for the past few weeks not to have heard about the dramatic rescue situation in a cave in Thailand. We haven't…
On July 2 a cute-seeming story went viral, as someone named Rosey Blair live Tweeted what happened on her Alaska Airlines flight from New York to Dallas. I'd note that Rosey describes herself on Twitter as a "drama queen deep in the heart of Texas."…
While Qatar Airways has an excellent business class product throughout their fleet, they have very few planes with first class. The only planes to feature longhaul first class are their A380s. Qatar Airways has 10 of these in their fleet, and they each…
If you're a Hyatt loyalist with their co-branded credit card, then chances are that you receive a fair number of Category 1-4 free night certificates. While I generally find these certificates to be useful, in this post I wanted to cover what was probably…
I travel through Cairo Airport more often than I should, thanks to the very reasonable paid first and business class fares available from the airport. Overall the airport is getting better than it used to be, in particular with the opening of Cairo Airport's…
A few days ago I wrote about the 21 credit cards that I have right now. There are different reasons that I have these cards. Some cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card, are worth having for the excellent bonus categories…
Up until recently I didn't know much at all about Aigle Azur, a French airline based at Paris Orly Airport. Previously when I heard the name mentioned it sounded to me like a combination of Air Algerie and Azul Airlines. I realize that's because I was…
Ah, Emirates! It was so nice to be back onboard Emirates, especially on a flight this long. We boarded through the forward left door on the upper deck, where we were greeted by the purser and two flight attendants, and escorted left into the first class…
Ah, Emirates! It was so nice to be back onboard Emirates, especially on a flight this long. We boarded through the forward left door on the upper deck, where we were greeted by the purser and two flight attendants, and escorted left into the first class…
Emirates offers chauffeur service for first and business class passengers on paid tickets, as well as passengers on Emirates Skywards and Qantas Frequent Flyer award tickets (though not other partner award tickets), so we took advantage of that feature.…
Welcome to my next trip report, covering our big summer trip, which had us staying at some great hotels in Italy and Greece, and spending way too many hours in Emirates first class (if that's possible). The planning for this trip started with a great…
I won't be writing many reviews for this site, firstly because Ben has reviewed just about everything, and secondly because his reviews will probably be far better than mine, but I wanted to write about The Grain Store, because it is such a genius solution.…
Hong Kong Airlines just recently started flying to the US using their new A350s. As of now the airline flies to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and they plan to add flights to New York soon as well. Given that Cathay Pacific historically has a stronghold…
My flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles was scheduled to depart at 12PM. However, when reviewing lounges I always like for them to be as empty as possible so I can freely take pictures, so I decided to the airport shortly before the lounge was scheduled…
I'm spending a few weeks in the US visiting friends and family, though will be traveling again internationally starting in early August. I'm sorry for the delay in publishing trip reports, but I was way behind on editing pictures (which takes way too…
A few days ago I shared the 21 credit cards that I have in my wallet right now. Overall I'm very happy with my card portfolio, and each of the cards serves a specific purpose. A vast majority of the cards I have are ones that I've had for quite a while…
Here's something you don't see every day. Former three time Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam were arrested last night at Lahore Airport upon returning to Pakistan on EY243 from Abu Dhabi. This came after the former prime…
You guys always have great advice when it comes to anything travel related, so here it goes... Andrew and I are soon taking a trip to Europe -- we're flying Air Italy from New York to Milan, and Condor from Frankfurt to Whitehorse, which we're super…
There's something strange going on with Cathay Pacific business class award availability that I think is worth discussing, though I don't yet have a definitive answer as to what's going on. Historically Cathay Pacific has been generous when it comes…
JP Morgan Chase revealed their second quarter earnings today, where they reported a record $8.32 billion profit. However, there was one cost they incurred that was significantly higher than expected. Specifically, Chase credit card users redeemed Ultimate…
Overall I've been impressed by the way that Marriott and Starwood have handled their merger. They introduced reciprocal status and points transfers from the day the deal closed, which is something we've never seen before from loyalty programs of this…
Chase has one of the best portfolios of business credit cards, which offer just about everything I look for in credit cards -- great welcome bonuses, big spend category bonuses, and useful perks. In this post I wanted to specifically focus on one aspect…
IHG Rewards Club has just introduced a new mystery bonus on purchased points. The bonus is valid for points purchases through August 22, 2018. With this offer, different members are targeted for different bonuses, so you'll want to log-in here to see…
Porter Airlines has just announced a pretty significant update to their fare structure, which is especially interesting given that historically they've differentiated themselves by being full service. Porter is a cute airline based at Toronto's Billy…
