Late last month I posted a review of how travel managers ranked airlines, those people who have contracts with Fortune 500-type businesses who are responsible for planning travel. The same outfit, Business Travel News, also surveyed a similar 519 corporate travel department officials who rated hotel chains across 13 categories. As with the last post,…
My travels/observations
Category Archives for My travels/observations.
Buying top-tier elite status for $400? I’m doing it… would you?
I’ll openly admit I’m a sucker for status matches and challenges, and I received a targeted offer yesterday from Hilton HHonors to fast track to Diamond Status. What to do, what to do? First, here’s the offer: I’m already Gold through March of 2013 and this offer would require I complete six stays by the…
Upgraded, downgraded and well compensated yesterday flying United Airlines
I flew back to Los Angeles from the Chicago Seminars yesterday and encountered what ended up being a fun screw up on United Airlines’ part. The agent working the first flight began boarding as usual and I was about the sixth or seventh person scanned and made my way onto the jetway. The flight attendant…
Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars: Day three summary – Sunday 10/30/11
The 2011 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars concluded yesterday and it was an incredible weekend filled with an amazing amount of mileage and point tips that one could never process on their own. Airline miles I have pretty down pat, but I did learn a few great hotel point and credit card maximization techniques. Yesterday started…
Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars: Day two summary – Saturday 10/29/2011
If there’s only one day you can attend a future Frequent Flyer Seminar series, it’s definitely the Saturday session. Yesterday was packed at the 2011 Chicago Seminars and featured an incredible amount of concurrent discussions on all things airlines, credit cards, hotels, miles and points. When booking your ticket for the event you select your…
The 2011 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars have arrived!
It’s officially here! Tonight begins the 2011 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars and I’ll be in attendance for the entire weekend. The event has sold-out and it promises to bring an uncompromised amount of education to all areas we mile and point fanatics care about. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and am certain I’ll pick…
Hotel review: Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront
A couple of weeks ago I attended the United Airlines Family Day event at San Francisco Airport. Instead of flying up just for the day, I spent the weekend there and booked a room at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront. I’ve stayed at a huge amount of airport hotels and this is the first…
The painful inconsistency of airline call center agents
I’ve briefly touched on this subject in previous posts, but having just freshly ended another call with the United Airlines “elite” 1K Desk, I feel compelled to make a unique post about the matter. My experiences have ranged from incredible – clone this agent – to – why did I bother calling. The tried &…
Social media outreach success: Hilton HHonors promo failure resolved via Twitter
Back in August I posted about a targeted offer I received in the mail offering instant Hilton HHonors Gold status and the opportunity to earn bonus points and airline miles after completing five stays. The mailer included a new Gold card and account number with additional verbiage, “If you’re already a HHonors member, please contact…
United Airlines 2011 Family Day event at San Francisco Airport
It was rumored this year that management might have a change of heart in allowing outsiders into the United Airlines Family Day event at San Francisco Airport on October 9, 2011. Fortunately, a few champions opened up some spots to we uber enthusiasts and I luckily got an invite. I went last year and had…