Welcome back to our Sunday Summary Series where we review the stories that were covered throughout the week.
Don’t forget to enter my favorite hotel accesories giveaway that expires tonight!
KLM Gets World Cup Publicity – But Not In A Good Way
With the win of the Netherlands over Mexico yesterday, the KLM twitter account could not resist a little bit of gloating at Mexico. The problem was the image they used to represent Mexico – a caricature complete with sombrero and mustache. This angered many Mexicans, many of whom were probably already ticked by the win and this jab did not help their attitude towards their victors at all. KLM deleted the tweet but not before it was retweeted over 10,000 times.
I Can’t Find An Award Ticket!
Have you ever said this or thought this? That is the response I get from people quite often. People seem to have this idea that if they have 25,000 miles, they should be able to book their desired domestic ticket because that is the amount required for an award ticket in the US. While that is technically true, in the real world it does not always work out like that. Some of the comments I get/hear are: These miles are worthless The chart says it is 60,000 miles to Europe – how come it is telling me 140,000 miles? Why are flights not showing up when I search? They are available to purchase. How come all the tickets are gone to Honduras? Who is going to Honduras? I can’t find an award ticket at all!
Flying In One Of My Favorite Planes
People often ask me what my favorite type of plane is to fly on. I have flown in some military planes, so those were definitely my favorites. If I restrict it to commercial flights, however, it is not the type of plane that most people imagine.
My Favorite Hotel Accessory
There are some things that are good to be able to have from hotel to hotel. Not all hotels are created equal which means having a constant in some areas can be good.
Southwest Goes International
For many travelers, especially those with the highly valued Companion Pass, Southwest’s entrance into flying out of the US was a highly anticipated one. That day has come today with the start of their flights to a couple of international destinations with other ones coming quickly in the next couple of months.
Fly From New York To London For As Low As $248
Low cost carrier Norwegian Airlines has been making an assault on other carriers lately with their flights from Oslo to California. Now, they are beginning a new route that is sure to change some pricing down the road and will certainly give people an inexpensive option to travel to London without using miles.
A 20% Bonus On SPG Points Transferred to US and AA
One of SPG’s great benefits is the ability to transfer their points to over 30 airlines, most at a 1:1 ratio. As an added benefit, for every 20,000 points transferred, they will give a bonus of 5,000 miles for a total of 25,000 miles transferred.
The Next Best Earphones?
Earphones are an important piece of gear for the runner and traveler alike. I have sampled quite a few different types of audio gear for both travel and running. There are quite a few options for both but never one that I felt made the perfect blend.
Another Great Hotel Accessory
The other day, I wrote about my favorite hotel accessory, the TP-Link mini router. There is another accessory that I like to use along with it. In fact, this little accessory can be used anywhere, not just at hotels, but it fits perfectly with hotels.
Boston Marathon Winner Passes 22,780 Runners At July 4th Race
Happy Independence Day, everyone! The Peachtree is one of the largest 10K races in the world with over 55,000 entrants. It takes place every year on July 4th in hot Atlanta and is a classic event to run. Today, Meb Keflezighi, the 2014 Boston Marathon winner, started at the back of the pack in the Peachtree Road Race. Meb Keflezighi joined forces with Kilometer Kids in an effort to raise $75,000 for charity. The goal was to start as the last person to cross the starting line and see how many people he could pass.
Weekend Giveaway: One of My Favorite Hotel Accessories
It is time for another weekend giveaway – especially since holidays put me in a festive mood (even when I am in not in the US on a very US-centric holiday!). I hope everyone had an enjoyable, safe 4th! For this giveaway, I want to give away one of my two favorite hotel accessories. I received a lot of interest on both of them, with quite a bit more coming in about the wireless router. Due to the amount of interest, I have decided that one lucky winner will receive…
Update On Hyatt Diamond Challenge Through 2016 – Honored Or Not?
Back in May, I wrote (as did many others) about the new Hyatt Diamond challenge offer that was giving participants Diamond status through February of 2016 (if they completed the challenge). This was an incredibly generous move on Hyatt’s part since most loyalty programs use the July timeframe as their switch to the next program year. In fairness, however, with the timeframe allowed for the challenge (60 days), it did put those who would complete the challenge into July with the trial, so that may have been what Hyatt was doing. But wait!
