Welcome back to our Sunday Summary Series where we review the stories that were covered throughout the week.
Sunday Summary
Hackers Breach Hotel Company Franchised Under Marriott, Sheraton, Westin
Here goes another security breach. This time it was a hack against White Lodging company that has franchises under the Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin branding. Marriott says that this security breach occurred in 2013 and was found to have affected hotels in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville and Tampa. To read more about this story Read more…
Important Information for Sri Lanka
On Sunday, there was an unbelievable fare loaded for Etihad Airways that allowed people to begin their travel in Colombo, Sri Lanka and fly to Dallas. It could be booked as a one-way or a round-trip. One-way in First Class cost under $1,000 and round-trip was around $1,400. There were many, many people who got it on this. The details can be found here at this Flyertalk thread. Here is some information from my trip to Colombo last January. Entering Sri Lanka – Read more…
RoadID Giveaway Ends Tonight!
The other day, I started a giveaway for a gift card to RoadID – the company that exists to keep you safer on the roads. We have a few people signed up but would love to see more of you enter to get this to help with your ID when traveling/running. There have been some very good suggestions on how to stay safe and I would love to see more. Read more…
2,500 Southwest Points for New Members
Southwest has a special going on right now where all you need to do is sign-up for their Rapid Rewards program (their frequent flyer program) and you will earn 2,000 points! If you opt-in for their account summary e-mails and update e-mails, you will receive an additional 500 points. Southwest is a revenue based point system so this translates to a fixed value of $42 (a little more in actual redemption because it reduces the taxes on the tickets so it would be worth a little closer to $50). After their devaluation on March 31, these points will be worth $36 (you can read about the devaluation here). For a bonus that costs you nothing but a few minutes of your time…Read more…
Buy Mile Promos
There are quite a few buy mile promos going on right now! While I would not normally recommend purchasing miles, there are some instances where it can be very helpful like topping up an account for an award redemption or “purchasing” premium cabin travel at a fraction of the actual cost of the cabin. Good for economy travel? Typically, it is a very bad idea to purchase the total amount of miles required for an economy ticket. Here is an example: Read more…
My Thoughts on Safety And the Winner of the RoadID Giveaway
Last week, I held a giveaway for a gift card to RoadID to help someone get one of their products to stay safe on the road. Running is an incredibly fun hobby that can be a great stress reliever. However, it can be stressful to family if we are gone a lot longer than we had said we planned to be or if they cannot get a hold of us on the phone. To have something on our person that emergency personnel can use to contact our loved ones in the horrible occurrence of an emergency situation should help to put their minds somewhat at ease. Read more…
Dealing With a Disappointing Destination Marathon
I have had almost two weeks now since my disappointing marathon in Dubai. During this time, I have thought a lot and analyzed some of the things that had gone wrong and what of the race went right. I also thought about how to deal with these types of races (my wife is always telling me I think too much and overanalyze stuff ). Here are some of my thoughts about dealing with a disappointing destination marathon. Read more…
Getting Cheap Car Rentals
Hopefully, you have realized by now how easy it is to get flights and hotels for cheap or even free! But what happens when you have to drive somewhere? Is it possible to get free or cheap car rentals? As one who has driven over a hundred thousand miles over the last few years, I realize the importance of getting cheap car rentals. Read more…
US Bank Increasing Credit Card Offer for the Olympics
For the Summer Olympics in 2012, US Bank launched a promotion for their FlexPerks card that added on to the regular 20,000 point bonus a certain amount of points for all the medals the US Olympic team won. Thankfully, they had quite a lot so it translated to a bonus of 33,150 points – 13,000 over the regular offer. Now, they are doing it again for the Winter Olympics, so one more reason to cheer on the US Team! Read more…
Delta Amex Cards About To Get Better
My go to cards when I am traveling internationally have always been Chase cards, thanks to their lack of foreign transaction fees. Since foreign transaction fees are 3% of the charge, using a card with such a fee negates any point value. That means that my Delta American Express cards normally stay in my drawer in the US. That no longer is the case after May 1, 2014. Delta and American Express will be waiving the foreign transaction fees on the… Read more…
What Cards Are Still Good Without the Bonus?
There is no question – credit card sign-up bonuses are the easiest, fastest way to earn all of our valuable miles and points. However, after the bonus is earned, credit card companies then try to pack the cards with enough perks to encourage you to continue using the card. As a result, we continue to use certain cards throughout the year. Then, we have to face the anniversary of our credit card bonus (or when we signed up for the card) and with that comes the annual fee. Most cards waive that annual fee for the first year but it comes… Read more…
Why You Should Collect A Variety of Miles and Points
Every so often, I will get someone asking me why they should start collecting miles and points when they do not really travel much and do not have a desire to increase their travel. The answer is simple: Because you never know! Sure, you may not think you are going to add to your travel plans much as things stand right now, but you have no idea what the next month or year is going to look like. Read more…
Find Out How to Guarantee Entry to the Marine Corps Marathon
The Marine Corps Marathon is one of the largest marathons in the country (and world) with 30,000 entrants. It is by far one of the most popular races in America with the 2013 edition selling out in 2 hours and 27 minutes (which was faster than the female winner and almost faster than the male winner of the race!) and the 2012 race reaching capacity in 2 hours and 41 minutes. However, last year’s registration was plagued with technical problems for Active.com who was handling the sign-up process. So, for the 2014 race, the Marine Corps Marathon… Read more…
Are Premium Cabins Worth the Premium Miles?
This is a post I wrote earlier last year but decided to revise the numbers since the United devaluation to once again look at the value of premium cabins for travel. Are Premium Cabins Worth the Premium Miles? If you read travel blogs, you will notice after a while the emphasis that is placed on premium travel – premium travel being flights in business class or first class. This is a natural perspective because it demonstrates… Read more…
Earning Points For Being Sweet
Valentine’s Day is next Friday and is the biggest shopping time of the year for flowers, bears, and chocolates. Flowers are not the cheapest things in the world, but they are expected! As such, it is a good idea to see what kind of point deals are out there for your Valentine’s Day shopping. Time for earning points for being sweet! Earning Points for Valentine’s Day Some of the biggest points per dollar in the shopping portals are online floral stores. While the point numbers are high, it is normally not great to buy things from those places because the prices are high. However… Read more…
BIG Thank You, American Express, Or…
So, a big thank you, American Express, or a thanks a lot, AwardWallet? I got an e-mail on my phone tonight that made me dash to my computer to login to my Membership Rewards account. The e-mail I got was from AwardWallet with my recent awards activity. All of the figures in the e-mail were amounts and changes that I knew about except one. I checked my accounts and my wife’s accounts and kept getting numbers that I knew were right. At first, my mind and heart were racing so fast that I didn’t figure it out. The only changes that… Read more…
What Is The Most Difficult Race In America To Get To?
Miles and points open up a world of places to race. That was the reason I first started Running with Miles, to give fellow runners a chance to run more races in more places – for less. There are so many beautiful places in the world to run, yet travel costs money. Sometimes, it costs a lot of money! To be able to get to races in America for less than the cost of a dinner for two is the beauty of miles and points. However (you know that had to be coming, right? :), while miles and points allow us to get to many places we may not have otherwise thought possible… Read more…
Reminder: Don’t Let This Happen to You!
Believe it or not, it is possible to earn and collect so many miles and points that you forget what miles you have in each program! One of the worst things you can allow to happen is for those miles and points to expire. Here is a story of one man who did just that: – from CBS Boston That’s right – this traveler allowed 700,000 American Airline miles expire! Read more…
