Media Query

A reporter for a major newspaper wishes to interview business travelers who are cutting back on hotel expenditures/stays by downgrading the hotels they use, e.g., from Hilton to Super 8; reducing the length of their business trips; or eliminating the trips entirely. Reasons for this can range from new restrictions placed on their business travel by employers or clients, to the inconvenience of air travel and the latest TSA airport security restrictions.

If you are a business traveler who is now cutting back on hotel stays and can discuss this in detail on the record, please reply to this email link with your office and cell numbers and email address by Thursday evening, November 2. Thank you.

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

As always, there's plenty of activity on the FrequentFlier Forum.

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, bigbandjohn is flying to Australia and wondering whether an upgrade is on the horizon: "I was wondering if anyone has tried for a complimentary upgrade on an international flight from full-fare economy? In a case like Australia (where my office may give push back on the fees), can I be fairly confident of a complimentary upgrade to BC, or should I just forget it and push for BC direct? Any advice on "better days to travel" to get the comp upgrade would be appreciated."

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, pfaulkner is encountering the dark side of mileage programs: "I have United miles and just checked (via their website) availability for flights to the U.K. I must have tried 15 dates between March and August 2007 (all give a 5 day window of dates) and I didn't find one available flight.

"I know United has a lot of partner airlines and I might have more luck if I all their 800# to see what is available but just wondered how easy in general is it to use all these free miles I am accumulating. Do all airlines offer similar amounts of seats for award travel or are some programs better than others?"

And much more. Questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

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More Alaska Miles for Red Lion Inn Stays

Through December 4, members of Red Lion's GuestAwards program who book Red Lion stays on Travelocity will receive an electronic certificate code good for a 10% discount on a future trip on either Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air plus a choice of 2,000 GuestAwards points or 1,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.

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ANA Offers Double Miles for Chicago Flights

Members of ANA Mileage Club will earn double miles when flying on ANA's new Chicago-Tokyo flights between October 29, 2006, and January 31, 2007. To earn the bonus, members must have North America addresses and be traveling on tickets with the following fare types: F, A, C, J, D, Z, Y, B, M, H.

Registration is required.

In a separate but related (and combinable) offer, ANA Mileage Club members who apply for the ANA Card U.S.A. Visa and fly Chicago-Tokyo between October 29, 2006, and March 15, 2007, can earn an extra 10,000 bonus miles for first/business-class roundtrips and 3,000 for coach roundtrips.

:: More (Chicago Bonus)
:: More (ANA Card Bonus)

Hertz Offers Discounts on Collections Rentals

Through December 31, Hertz #1 Club Gold members can save $35 on a Weekly rental or $25 on a Weekend rental of a Hertz Green, Fun or Prestige Collection vehicle.

Advance reservations using the appropriate promotion code are required. To receive the discount on Weekly rentals, cite promotion code 993650; for the Weekend discount, use 993661.

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Double HHonors Points in the Caribbean, Central America

Through December 31, HHonors members will earn double base points, plus one day of complimentary Internet access, when staying at participating Hiltons in the Caribbean and Central America.

Registration is required.

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Lufthansa Supports Miles For Charity

Members of Lufthansa's Miles & More program can now donate their miles to charity.

The new "Miles to Help" feature allows members to contribute miles to one of three charitable organizations: HelpAlliance, SOS Children's Villages, and Living Lakes, a division of Global Nature Fund.

How far will the miles go? According to Lufthansa, 10,000 miles can pay school fees for a child in India for an entire year or help insure that a Siberian Crane in China will be tagged and protected from extinction.

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Double Priority Club Points for Shopping

Between November 1 and December 31, Priority Club Rewards members can earn double points for purchases at Target, Lands' End, Overstock.com, Brookstone, The Home Depot, Apple Store, Circuit City, Dell Home and Sony Style made through the Priority Club Rewards Shopping site.

For other miles-for-merchandise opportunities, use the FrequentFlier Mile Search utility.

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Thanksgiving Bonus from W Hotels

Starwood Preferred Guest members who stay at W Hotels between November 17 and December 3 at special Thanksgiving rates will earn triple Starpoints.

Advance reservations are required using promotion code WTG.

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Double United Miles for Ted Flights

Mileage Plus members will earn double miles for selected Ted flights between November 15, 2006, and January 31, 2007.

Eligible flights are as follows:

~ Chicago (ORD) and Ft. Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach
~ Washington D.C. (IAD) and Ft. Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach
~ San Francisco (SFO) and Las Vegas
~ Denver (DEN) and Las Vegas, Miami or Phoenix

Flights on the following dates will not receive the bonus: November 17-22, November 25-27, and December 21, 2006, to January 3, 2007.

Registration is required.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Tahiti Fares from $548

Fall and winter flights to Tahiti are on sale from Air Tahiti Nui. Los Angeles departures to Papeete, Tahiti, start at $658 roundtrip, and New York departures start at $768 round-trip, not including taxes and fees.

Travel is valid on select flights in November and December. Book tickets by December 10.

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2) US Airways' Reduced Fares from $160

US Airways has lowered prices on many of its domestic routes by up to 69%. The newly-reduced fares start at $160 roundtrip when purchased at least 21 days in advance, and destinations include Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Columbus.

US Airways has not listed travel dates or a booking deadline, but fares must be booked at least 21 days before departure. Fares require a one-night minimum stay.

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Win 2,500,000 SkyMiles

Enter Delta's "Tickets for Life" sweepstakes by December 15 for a chance to win the grand prize of 2.5 million SkyMiles plus $25,000 in spending money, or one of the daily prizes of 50,000 SkyMiles each.

Sweepstakes entries are awarded for purchasing Delta tickets, with extra entries for charging tickets to an American Express card. But it's also possible to enter without making a purchase, by mail.

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[Visit http://frequentflier.com/sweeps.htm for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

"I've given up... at one point I was elite on American, United and Delta all in the same year--and was so for awhile. Now, I am only elite on American because I have nearly 2 million miles with them. But the bottom line is I really don't care anymore. I can so rarely use miles for flights or upgrades, I've pretty much given them away. And frankly, the airlines are all pretty much the same. Now I feel the freedom of simply booking any airline I like for price and convenience. Luckily I live in LA so I have a real choice of airlines and airports. And I usually try to opt for smallest security line. Takeaway from my experience: The airlines all blew me off, but you know it feels real good to blow them off as well. It's liberating.

"Airlines: I hope you're reading this!" [Jon C.]

"One of the sneakiest things about Delta's upcoming change to mileage expiration in December is that there's no way to tell, online, if you're going to lose your miles or not, except by guessing based on your 'current' expiration date.

"The new policy states that if you haven't had activity within the past 24 months, as of December 31, 2006, you lose the miles. Well, my current expiration date is December, 2007. That could mean Delta is counting some activity in December 2004 (and counting forward 3 years to the same month in which the activity occurred); or it could be something I did in January, 2005, and Delta counts the month in which the transaction occurred as the first month of the 36 it used to offer.

"So, did I redeem or earn miles in December, 2004, or in January, 2005? I can't remember; I know I took a flight USING the SkyMiles in January 05, but I may have reserved the ticket in December 2004, or I may have reserved it earlier in 2004, and earned a batch of miles later in December. But I chose to let Delta send me e-statements, instead of paper ones, and of course you can't get statements older than one year online. Nor can you look up transactions to your account older than one year. I've written them, asking for confirmation, but who knows whether they'll bother to respond, or even respond accurately, as to whether or not my miles will actually expire in December?

"I realize Delta's more interested in passengers who have a lot more recent activity in their accounts than me. But at least the company should give you the ability to find out, online, exactly when the last activity to your account was, even if it was 2 years ago." [Kevin M.]

"Hi... just wanted to share the following Northwest Airlines adventure, which I wrote about on my blog for the website of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal (where I am a staff writer):

"The lede: Call it Northwest Survivor -- Who Gets Voted Off The Plane?

"Amazingly, Northwest Airlines sent a 50 passenger plane to pick up people in Burlington, Vt., (including a number of Society of Environmental Journalists conference participants) after booking for a 69 passenger plane. Yes, they changed the equipment. And bunches of people were apparently booked on the same seats. Jim's blog continues here...

"Thanks -- like your newsletter. Thanks for doing it." [Jim B.]

"Re your article When Do Your Miles Expire?

"Based on all these rules and expiration dates, it sounds like a better choice of mile/point earning credit cards would be the non-airline specific cards... i.e. NOT Delta SkyMiles Amex Card, NOT NWA USBank Visa Card, etc.

"Have you reviewed these non-airline specific cards?" [Philip]

[FrequentFlier.com replies - There's a pretty comprehensive summary of the complete range of rewards cards on FrequentFlier.com.]

Until next week...