Hilton for Business members can earn double elite night credits on stays through December 31, 2024. All eligible rates (including award bookings) will count toward this promo.
You'll automatically be registered for this promo if you're a Hilton for Business member.
Points Wire Note:
Hilton Impresario bookings at Conrad, LXR, and Waldorf Astoria properties will count toward this promo. This is a great way to get VIP perks in addition to the double elite nights.
Check out our self-serve booking portal where you can book Hilton Impresario rates.
Thrifty Traveler: "With absolutely no warning, Virgin Atlantic just quietly raised award rates for many Delta One tickets to Europe to as much as 77,500 points by adding peak and off-peak prices. It gets worse: The airline is also adding a cash surcharge of more than $1,000 on each and every Delta business class redemption."
New Virgin Atlantic Rates On Delta - Business Class
I would expect flights from the Midwest to match the East Coast rates as Virgin Atlantic typically groups the East Coast and Midwest together.
Points Wire Note:
No-notice devaluations are among the most disrespectful ways to treat loyalty program members so this is rough. Even if you could stomach a 55% rate increase, the addition of $1,025+ surcharges is horrendous and makes this a non-starter.
Given that Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic and has repeatedly shown that it hates aspirational award bookings, I can't say I'm totally surprised by this - just disappointed.
Thrifty Traveler flagged that Air France and KLM have removed an easy way to access the award calendar.
"When trying to pull up Flying Blue's flexible price calendar using the old trick of leaving the date field blank when searching, you'd be met with only blank dates on the calendar."
"Type in your departure and arrival cities and select business class …. but rather than leaving the departure date empty as you once would, scroll to the absolute last date on the calendar Air France or KLM will let you select."
Once the calendar displays, you can click the arrows to scroll to your desired month.
Head for Points flagged that QantasLink flights are bookable with Avios, but not online. To find award space, you can use the American Airlines site then call British Airways to book.
Additionally, they noted,"If the British Airways agent initially says there’s no availability for a return flight, ask them to check as one way flights each way rather than return – they will often then appear."
QantasLink is a subsidiary of Qantas that operates regional flights within Australia.
View From The Wing: "An Autograph Collection hotel in Detroit – the Hotel David Whitney – is playing an interesting game with denying elite breakfast benefits to guests, and it underscores just how confusing and messy the Marriott Bonvoy program has become."
"The Marriott Bonvoy program is too complicated, with too many asterisks, and hotels don’t always understand it. Marriott customer service associates don’t understand it, and they’re trained to follow the lead of the hotel. The hotel explains they’re in compliance, that seems to be enough for front line customer service (and even managers) and it takes real corporate escalation to get anything beyond that fixed."
Loyalty Lobby: "Hyatt and Lindner made a deal back in 2022 (read more here) that this German hotelier’s properties would become World of Hyatt participating properties, including me and all hotels, as part of JdV in 2023."
"Now, Hyatt has acquired this conversion-friendly brand from Lindner and plans to launch it as its own brand, separate from JvD, and use it for various reflags in Europe."
Frequent Miler flagged a nifty solution to problems booking Air France and KLM award tickets via Virgin Atlantic Flying Blue.
If you get an error when you submit your credit card details, use Virgin Atlantic's online chat function.
"Virgin Atlantic offers an online chat function. You might not see it on their home page, but if you click through on a desktop browser from their home page to “My booking… Manage booking” (or browse directly to: virginatlantic.com/my-trips/search) you should see a red box in the bottom right corner that says “Need Help? Chat to us.” Click that. If you have any trouble with it not popping up after clicking, try another browser instance."
Follow the prompts and select the following options to get to an agent:
Hopefully, the chat agent will be able to get you sorted!
Forbes: "Within the next year, the South Pacific carrier will adopt the American AAdvantage program as its own giving its passengers the opportunity to earn and redeem AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points on all flights within its network as well as on Oneworld partner airlines. A specific start date has not yet been announced."
View From The Wing: "Cathay Pacific will leave the American Airlines terminal 8 at New York JFK airport and relocate to the new terminal 6 once the first 5 gates open there, projected for “early 2026.”
"Cathay will open its own roughly 10,000 square foot lounge there, its second in the U.S. after San Francisco. The airline says this move will give customers 'a signature Cathay Pacific airport experience' suggesting that they do not have one now in the American terminal."
My friend Max Miles Points has partnered with Southwest Airlines to offer a 20% discount on flights.
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