To Selfie or Not to Selfie?

by Harlan 4 Comments

Pre-departure champagne for your thoughts?

Pre-departure champagne for your thoughts?

Philosophical-type post ahead – about selfies in blog posts. Run now if this ain’t your thing.

Way back when, about a lifetime or two ago, I worked in corporate America.

I built relationships with people, primarily via phone and email. Sometimes the relationships grew to a point where I was talking to people several times a day on the phone. We helped each other; I knew the tone of their emails and could decipher their mood by the sound of their voice. In short, I felt like I got to know them.

Every once in a while, I’d try to find these people on LinkedIn or Twitter and was always kinda disappointed when I couldn’t find a picture of them. I wanted a face to put to the voice on the telephone, and to the person behind the emails.

Why I selfie

I like selfies in blog posts and think that, in general, it is a good thing:

  • Readers get to match a face to a voice
  • I feel like it promotes accountability
  • It more readily encourages interaction (which I love)
  • It makes the blog a more personal space and more of a forum

Last week, at the New York Times Travel Show, I was recognized by a reader, which was SO COOL. We had a chat and got into some random travel-related stuff. It was really cool to meet someone who’d read something I put out into the world. I don’t think that would’ve happened had I not put up the occasional photo.

There are some drawbacks, too. I’m giving away some of my privacy, perhaps. Not a huge amount as I’m still just a tiny blog floating out in Internet-land, but maybe a little. That might bring up concerns of safety, or things in that vein. I’ve always sort of been naively trusting that the world is, on the whole, a good place, and I’d like to think having a picture on a blog doesn’t really matter in the long run, one way or the other.

For me, the good things far outweigh the bad. The reader interaction so far has been just incredible. I’m blown away by how many people want to talk about this sort of stuff. Even if it’s negative, at least it’s striking a chord. And I feel it’s in part due to the selfies. I don’t want to limit that in any way, and if anything, want to encourage more of it. I like to come here to post things I find interesting that are travel-related, and really like talking to other people about it.

So that is my intention.

Other views

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British Airways Fifth Freedom Flights Bookable With Avios

by Harlan 19 Comments

Update 2/2/15: Reader Luke alerted me to a whole slew of Caribbean flights I was missing from this list, so now they are added!

Thought this was really cool.

British Airways has 15 city pairs with Fifth Freedom flights:

  • Abu Dhabi-Muscat
  • Bahrain-Doha 
  • Colombo-Male
  • Johannesburg-Harare
  • Johannesburg-Livingstone
  • Johannesburg-Mauritius 
  • Johannesburg-Victoria Falls
  • Johannesburg-Windhoek
  • Antigua – Saint Kitts
  • Antigua – Tobago
  • Antigua – San Juan
  • Nassau – Grand Cayman
  • Nassau – Providenciales
  • Saint Lucia – Grenada
  • Singapore-Sydney

The good news is that most of them are bookable using Avios, and could provide a springboard to expand award bookings, or to take advantage of open jaws, or as a trip unto itself.

Bookable with Avios

It looks like BA operates a daily flight from AUH-MCT and there is availability on every single flight for every fare class.

Screenshot 2015-01-31 23.06.18

AUH-MCT open award availability

Screenshot 2015-01-31 23.06.53

All fare classes are open, but economy is just 4,500 Avios

Ditto for BAH-DOH, and you can even use Avios to book on all of Qatar’s flights as well. Read More

Using credit cards + REDbird to pay off large debts – and earn major points

by Harlan 16 Comments

This topic came up a lot last night at the NYC Miles and Points Meetup, so I thought I’d do a post about it.

Lots of people were planning to use REDbird + points/miles credit cards to pay off large sums of debt, meet minimum spend requirements, and reach threshold bonuses offered by certain credit cards.

It’s an incredibly easy but effective idea.

Run all your bill payments through REDbird

REDbird

REDbird

REDbird lets you load up $5,000 per month – for free – using a points or miles credit card.

If you max that out for a year, that’s $60,000 run through a credit card.

My own personal example is my student loan. I’m so tired of it hanging over my head and I’m about ready to turn around and kick that sucker in the face – but I’m gonna get a free vacation out of it!

For roundness or whatever, let’s say you owe $50,000 to:

  • Student loans
  • Your car payment
  • A mortgage
  • Medical bills
  • Credit cards
  • Or any or company or even person

You can add any company as a payee on the REDbird website.

At the top of the site, hover over “Pay & Transfer” and a dropdown menu will appear.

Where to add payees

Where to add payees

From there, click “Add Payee” and get rockin’ and rollin’.

What you get out of it

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Tonight: NYC Miles and Points Meetup! 6pm in East Village!

by Harlan 1 Comment

Better than a self-serve beer fridge at an airport lounge!

Better than a self-serve beer fridge at an airport lounge!

I usually say “points and miles” so typing “miles and points” was a bit of a strain for me lol.

In any regard, come grab a drinky poo with your fellow frequent flyers and points addicts hobbyists tonight in the East Village if you’re available. 6-9pm.

Here’s the link to the RSVP.

The 411:

Professor Thom’s, 219 2nd Avenue, New York, NY (between 13 & 14 St)

Thursday, January 29th, 6-9pm

And the upshot:

I was a Nervous Nelly at my first Meetup but over the past few months, I’ve gotten to know a few people here. It’s easy conversation, and you’re bound to hear someone mention something that’ll perk your ears up. Down a liquid courage and hop in.

Plus, there is nothing quite like geeking out about airlines/aircraft/weird routes/award bookings than with people who know exactly what you’re talking about.

Bottom line

Come one, come all. If I don’t post tonight, now you know why. 😉

Anyone been to one of these before, in NYC or another city? If you come tonight, say hello!

Is British Airways planning to eliminate fuel surcharges?

by Harlan 8 Comments

My, my, my. British Airways. Now you’ve gone and done it – changed your award chart again.

I don’t care about the changes they’ve made to mileage earned for the various fare buckets – I mean, it truly sucks if you’re loyal to them as a frequent flyer. My relationship with British Airways is as an earner of Avios and redeemer of short haul flights on partner airlines.

I’ll admit, though, I was enamored of the idea of the Travel Together ticket until I woke up today and tried to get through their mess of an explanation email.

Screenshot 2015-01-28 23.10.11

Wait. What happened?

In the end, I feel relatively unscathed. The only thing I want, as an US-based flyer is those partner short-haul awards. Ooooh, yasss.

But, this does change things

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Thoughts on Visiting the UAE as a Gay Man

by Harlan 71 Comments

a close up of a passport

Thanks for using my links to open a new credit card (US residents only)!

Just wanted to share my impressions.

While writing the previous post, a straightforward review of the Park Inn Yas Island, I wanted to get into the back story of the hotel booking and the overall impression that it left, but then decided it would be better to separate the thoughts into a different post.

When me and boyfriend decided to book the Park Inn for an 18-hour layover, I selected the double bed option without even thinking about it. Force of habit.

Then, he said out of nowhere, “Did you book two beds?” “No, why would I?”

gay in uae

Visiting the UAE

We read the reviews and saw that another gay couple recommended getting two separate beds, because in the UAE being homosexual is illegal. Not “participating in homosexual acts”, but simply being homosexual. For residents, the highest penalty is death. For visitors, it’s deportation, fines, or prison time.

It’s also illegal for unwed couples to share a double bed, for what’s it worth.

So after reading that, I completely canceled the first booking and re-booked for two twin beds instead.

gay in uae

Reserve, oops, rebook

Respecting culture

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Hotel Review: Park Inn by Radisson, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, UAE

by Harlan 1 Comment

a blurry image of a city at night

I stayed here as part of my RTW trip last year, following a superb flight on Etihad in Pearl Business class from MEL-AUH. South Pacific to the Middle East on Etihad using American AAdvantage miles is a sweet spot. For the 14 hour flight, they only charge 45,000 AAdvantage miles each way. That is a crazy steal of a deal on an amazing product.

I was also able to somehow convince United to let me drop CAI-JFK on Egyptair (which is a dry airline) in favor of Lufthansa AUH-FRA-JFK, which were pretty decent (and very “wet”) flights. It left us with an 18-hour gap to fill, and we didn’t want to stay in the airport the entire time. I poked around and decided to pay $90 for the layover at the Park Inn Yas Island. 18 hours would be plenty of time to sleep, eat, take a dip in the pool, shower, and get back to the airport.

So right when we landed, we found the chauffeur desk at AUH and took a car to the Park Inn, courtesy of Etihad (I believe the chauffeur service has since been discontinued on award bookings).

Etihad chauffeur desk

Etihad chauffeur desk

That photo encapsulates the whole experience I had that day: kind of a blur.

I did one of those where I showed up and crashed into the bed without taking pics first (bad blogger!), then woke up in a haze to a cloudy day and decided to catch up on email rather than swim.

Check in desk

Check in desk

Walkway to elevators

Walkway to elevators

When we got to the hotel, it was still the middle of the night. We were dead tired, but the check-in agent was fast and kind, and we veritably collapsed into the separate twin beds.

Hallways

Hallways

The room

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Hotel Review: Radisson Blu, Terme di Galzignano, Italy

by Harlan Leave A Comment

a chandelier from the ceiling

After arriving in Venice on Swiss from ZRH, I picked up the rental car and set about orienting myself in the direction of Padova (Padua), Italy.

I went to Italy for my “round” birthday. After reading up on Venice, I made the executive decision to stay off site at the Radisson Blu in Terme di Galzignano. I wanted the freedom to spend a day or two in Venice, and then drive down to Florence if I wanted. I also wanted to see some of the Italian countryside, and it seemed like the resort was well-situated for day trips in multiple directions. And so it was.

My boyfriend and I booked 4 nights. We both have the US Bank Club Carlson Visa Signature, and both used our BOGO award night for 2 nights each.

We booked a “Superior Room” for 57,000 Club Carlson Gold Points for each 2-night block.

Premium room award rate

Premium room award rate

Premium Room description

Premium Room description

But why the Superior Room? 

We are both Gold in the Club Carlson program, wifi is free at all of their hotels, and for what’s it worth, breakfast is included in every room rate here. I might’ve even scored an upgrade to this room, owing to my status.

I just didn’t want to chance it. It was my birthday trip, and I wanted to be assured of my room choice before I got there.

The normal booking rate is 38,000 Gold Points, so we paid the extra 19,000 points to have our room preference locked in. Plus, I wanted to make sure I had the view of the hills. It was admittedly a purely emotional decision, and probably not the smartest, but I feel like for special occasions it’s worth it to have the peace of mind.

And also, Club Carlson points are just so easy to earn. So I never really overthink my redemptions with this program.

Getting there and first impressions

Dear lord, driving in Italy just about gave me a brain aneurysm – the highways are so poorly signed. Even though Padova was a “straight shot” on the map, in actuality, it required about half a dozen exits, each one leaving me second guessing for miles (or kilos) if I’d done the right thing.

The route to Radisson Blu

The route to Radisson Blu

When we finally got onto the one correct highway, I saw a series of (tiny) signs pointing toward the next turn, until finally, after about a hour, we were at the Radisson Blu.

It is very isolated. There is nothing going on in the hamlet of Terme di Galzignano.

There was another tiny town nearby, Battaglia Terme, that had a couple of restaurants and not much more.

Parking was easy outside of the Radisson Blu, and we went inside to check-in. It was a beautiful, sunny day and right away, the resort felt welcoming and friendly.

The agent checking us in spoke little English and we don’t speak Italian, so it involved a huge variety of hand movements, but after a few minutes, we had our room keys. He wrote down the phone number to the hotel office and indicated that they spoke English if we needed anything. Despite the language barrier, we understood that they recognized our Gold status, combined our reservations, and were fine to let us keep the same room all 4 nights.

Then we headed up to Room 306.

The room

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Confirmed: You can load REDbird at Target stores in New York

by Harlan 19 Comments

a red and white card with white circles

Here at Out and Out, I had this idea to make February “Manufactured Spend Month.”

With the impending blizzard, and then frigid single digit temps on the horizon, I used this nearly 50-degree day to manufacture some spend ahead of schedule.

First, I went to CVS with my Chase British Airways Visa Signature and got $1,000 worth of PayPal My Cash cards. The transaction went through flawlessly. And later this evening, I will pay my first round of rent utilizing RadPad.

After CVS, I dared to face the Target at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, New York.

My heart was pounding as I went in. It’s perhaps the busiest Target store in the entire United States and some say one of the busiest in the Northern Hemisphere (Target does not officially publish their busiest locations), so I wasn’t sure what their stance would be on ol’ REDbird. Would it be par for the course or the one store where credit cards were NOT accepted for reloads?

My experience

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Trip Report: Swiss A330-300 Business Class JFK-ZRH

by Harlan Leave A Comment

a seat with a pillow and a bag on it

I paid for this fare after seeing it pop up on The Flight Deal as a fare attack by Star Alliance on Skyteam hubs. It cost me $1,487 R/T for Business Class on Swiss and the routing was JFK-ZRH-VCE-ZHR-EWR.

Now, when I see fare deals like this, I’m always torn between being totally impulsive and trying to think it through. This deal was on a multitude of Star Alliance partners, so I wanted to pick one that A). I’d never flown before and 2.) that would credit well to United.

Why United? They have a non-stop flight from EWR-MEM (only one of two – the other is Delta from LGA-MEM) and those flights can be either dirt cheap or prohibitively expensive. I knew I wanted to go see my Mom in the near future, and thought I could use the miles I’d earn from this booking to book the most expensive leg of a round-trip ticket, which is exactly what ended up happening.

Screenshot 2015-01-25 10.46.05

I earned 12,493 miles from these flights – 7 miles short of a free domestic one-way

The flight to go see my Mom for Christmas was pricing out at around $450 each way on United – yes, over $900 round-trip.

I redeemed all the miles earned on these Swiss flights for a Christmas trip to visit my Mom on United and got a value of ~4 cents per mile, which is awesome. I also picked up a REDbird card while I was down there. And I got to go to Venice for my birthday – thanks to this fare.

Free flight to Memphis

Free flight to Memphis

Anyway, that’s the story behind the booking, back to Swiss business class.

The flight

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The Two Most Powerful Words in the Travel Industry

by Harlan 9 Comments

…or any industry. 

thank-youThank you. 

When to thank

People often ask me how I sometimes score upgrades on an airline, get my flights changed for free with no notice, get retention offers on credit cards when others have reported not having success, or get awards changed to better routings without paying a fee.

I’ve read the articles about wearing blazers and showing up early to the gate, the $20 trick, and how people say they will close their credit cards to a retention specialist to get more points from banks. Maybe they have some merit and maybe they don’t – but my approach is to be nice to everyone all the time, and say “thank you” with gratitude.

I believe the feeling of gratitude is one of the most powerful feelings a person can experience – more powerful than any negative emotion could ever be.

There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in life – especially in the travel industry. There are many moving parts and much has to happen for everything to go smoothly. I am constantly amazed at just how cool air travel really is.

Sometimes things happen. There is weather, there are delays, flights get oversold. Every day this happens. Yes, it sucks, but you’ve got to roll with it.

Here is when I like to thank: I state my business, ask my question, tell them I appreciate them looking into it, and say thank you. Then I hush up.

Something like:

Hi, I see there is a flight leaving sooner than the one I’m supposed to be on. Would it be possible to switch onto that flight? I don’t have any checked bags. I’d really appreciate it if you could see if it might be possible. Thank you.

And then I wait.

I think of it as putting my wish out into the world, and then releasing it. I figure if I can get something better by simply asking a question, I am in a better position if I get what it is I’ve asked for, and no worse off if it doesn’t happen. So there is never anything to lose.

When thank you has worked for me

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It’s On: AAdvantage Platinum Status Challenge 2015

by Harlan 6 Comments

Also see: 

Thanks to FoundersCard, I just enrolled in another American Airlines status challenge.

The T&Cs say I have to accumulate 10,000 EQPs (NOT EQMs) during the time period of February 12th, 2015 through April 12th, 2015:

FoundersCard Status Challenge T&Cs

FoundersCard Status Challenge T&Cs

Why I care

About a month ago, I resigned myself to the fact that I would have no airline status of any kind when the clock struck midnight on February 28th, 2015 – and that was fine.

I’ve given up on Delta, though still find I’m forced an opportunity to fly their metal from time to time.

But unequivocally, American Airlines has the best thing going of all the legacy carriers with their AAdvantage program.

If I lose Platinum status, my rate of earning goes back to 1 mile earned per 1 mile flown – generous these days – but as a Platinum, I’ve been earning a 100% bonus each time (for economy, more miles earned and higher bonus for premium cabins).

I simply like that earning rate and want to keep it – especially if it’s free to get the status. I also only have to earn 10,000 EQPs instead of the usual 50,000 EQMs -or- EQPs. If it’s going to be this (relatively) easy, I’m gonna go for it.

Well, not completely free because now I have to earn 10,000 EQPs on paid fares. But it beats the pants off American’s “Step up your elite status” promo they have going on right now.

What American would charge to keep Platinum Status

What American would charge to keep Platinum Status

You bet your tooshie I’ll be watching The Flight Deal like a hawk for the next month or so. I want a fare that earns 1 EQP per mile flown, but American is notorious (to me at least) for booking economy into N, O, or S (sometimes Q, hardly ever see G) fare buckets. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, they say.

AA fare buckets

AA fare buckets

This will also be a nice jumping off point into Executive Platinum, which I’ve never attained. I’m of the mindset of “if it happens, it happens.” Most of my flying last year was on mistake/ultra-low fares or award redemptions, so we’ll see what shakes out in 2015.

Regarding the second Challenge: you cannot repeat Status Challenges for two consecutive years. So if you did one in 2014, you can’t do another one in 2015. I did my last one in 2013, so I’m eligible to repeat the Challenge. The final say is up to American, of course, but they allowed me to repeat the Challenge this year.

Bottom line

FoundersCard is offering free Platinum Status Challenges to their members, which would otherwise be $200. Here’s a link to the Flyer Guide Wiki about AA Challenges.

I’ve also written extensively about FoundersCard in the past, which I personally find to be a great complement to my travel goals.

Is anyone else doing a Status Challenge this year, on American or another airline? Is having “status” even more it any more?