With no published award-price charts to refer to, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program don’t know when award prices are higher or lower than normal. That’s because there is no baseline to use as a reference point; there is no normal. Or rather, normal is whatever Delta chooses to publish as the price for an award…
Enter the Family Circle “Sail Away with MasterChef” sweepstakes by August 31, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a seven-night MasterChef cruise for two, including air to and from the cruise port, and a $650 check to cover port charges and other trip expenses. Related: Win a 6-Night Tour of India for…
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week. If it was a good deal—or a notably bad deal—from an airline, hotel, or car rental loyalty program, you can read all about it here, and plan your travel accordingly. How NOT to Use Loyalty…
It’s a basic premise of savvy loyalty-program participation that the best return-on-investment is to be had by redeeming points for the program host’s own services. Airline miles are best redeemed for flights, and hotel points are best redeemed for free room nights. Sure, all major programs offer alternative award opportunities—consumer electronics, clothing, event tickets, and…
Want to enroll in the TSA’s PreCheck trusted-traveler program? Got 9,000 points in Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program? Now you can redeem the latter for the former. Through August 22, Rapid Rewards members can cash in 9,000 points for an authorization code that allows them to apply for PreCheck membership without paying the $85 application fee.…
The Department of Transportation today announced its nominees to operate nonstop flights to Havana, Cuba. In all, eight airlines were approved for service to Havana from 10 U.S. airports, as follows: Alaska Airlines – from Los Angeles (daily) American – from Miami (4x daily) and Charlotte (daily) Delta – from New York (daily), Atlanta (daily),…
Judging by their load factors, U.S. airlines are doing just fine. For June, Alaska Airlines filled 86 percent of its seats; Delta flew 87.7 percent full; other carriers’ results are expected to be similarly robust. With such strong demand, there isn’t much reason to offer travelers extra incentives. And yet, Virgin America today announced a…
The world’s best this, the world’s best that. Everyone has an opinion. But those opinions only accrue real value when they’re aggregated with those of other people, and preferably other people with first-hand experience of the matter being judged. Which is a long way of saying that when more than 200,000 Travel + Leisure readers…
Just a week after Hilton announced decidedly benign changes to its award pricing, Hyatt is doing the same. Today Hyatt posted on its website a list of hotels that will change award categories beginning on August 1. On that day, 56 properties will shift to a lower category, requiring fewer points for a free night,…
Enter the Budget Travel “Incredible India” sweepstakes by August 7, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a six-night tour of India for two, including air, hotels, coach transport, breakfast and dinner daily, tour guide. To enter, provide the requested information (name, email, etc.) on the sweepstakes landing page, and press “Submit.” Done!…
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week. If it was a good deal—or a notably bad deal—from an airline, hotel, or car rental loyalty program, you can read all about it here, and plan your travel accordingly. Delta Discounts CLEAR Memberships for…