Tag Archives: Airbnb

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ICYMI: Travel News Roundup for Saturday, May 13, 2017

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Here’s all the news that caught my eye this week – let me know in the comments if I missed something important or helped you find something new!

Airlines + Miles

Air Canada announced they plan to end their contract with Aimia, the company that runs Aeroplan, and launch their own in-house loyalty program in 2020. Many questions remain, including what happens to existing Aeroplan balances and whether the miles will be worth anything after the transition. Aimia’s stock dropped 57% after the announcement. [Toronto Star]

Alaska Airlines lounges now offer access to Virgin America passengers traveling on paid or award (not upgraded) first class tickets. [Travel Codex]

Alaska also announced that they will extend elite status for a year for Alaska Airlines and Virgin America elite members who take time off of work for a new child. [Skift]

Air India is launching nonstop service from New Delhi to Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Washington Dulles. [Travel Codex]

Delta has partnered with LSTN Sound Co. to offer sleek, socially conscious noise cancelling headphones in its Delta One suites this summer. [Runway Girl Network]

Flying Blue miles can get you from the US to Hawaii on Delta for just 15,000 miles one way. [Travel with Grant]

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is going to spend $38 million to create temporary bus gates in Terminal D while it works on a permanent airport expansion. [Travel Codex]

United is increasing its domestic presence out of SFO with more flights and bigger planes in response to Alaska’s expansion. [Travel Codex]

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Around the World in 14 Days (Business Class Mistake Fares, Airbnbs & a Cooking Class)

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Buenas dias everyone!

I’m a bit late on this, but I wanted to let you know that we started a round-the-world trip earlier this week and will be sharing some updates along the way.

After spending the weekend with some friends in Austin, we took off for Madrid in business class on an American 787-9 – booked with Citi Thank You Points and upgraded with AA System Wide Upgrades. (Four other friends were on our same flight, but we left them behind in Premium Economy…and then they left us behind at the Madrid airport!)

AA business class on the 787 Dreamliner. Photo from aa.com

AA business class on the 787 Dreamliner. Image from aa.com

We immediately hopped on a train to Valencia to visit a friend of my partner’s, crashing at an Airbnb for two nights, and are now on our way to spend two nights at the Holiday Inn Express Barcelona City 22@. Two other members of the group got to Barcelona yesterday, so tomorrow we’re doing the same EatWith cooking class that Whitney wrote about last week. On Friday, we’ll be taking a short flight to Algeria on Air Algerie, then hopping on a Qatar business class mistake fare to Hong Kong via Doha. (Two other friends will be on the ALG-DOH flight, and we’ll meet up with the other four in Doha and fly the rest of the way together). Continue reading →

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Vons/Safeway VGC & AGC $15 Off Coupon, Chime Card Offers for SWA/VA/Uber/Lyft/HotelTonight/Airbnb & BankAmeriDeals

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Good afternoon everyone.  If you can read and understand the title, you are an experienced travel hacker / MSer.  My friend Mike sent me a picture of a current promotion running at his local Von’s (Safeway) grocery store.  Purchase $150 or more in Visa or American Express Gift Cards and you will revive a coupon for $15 off your next $25 grocery purchase.  The promo is running from November 4 to 17 and the coupon must be redeemed within 7 days of your gift card purchase.  Assuming you buy gift cards on the last day of the promo (November 17), you have until November 24 (2 days before Thanksgiving) to redeem the coupon.  This coupon could be great if you have lots of Thanksgiving grocery store purchases to make.  I don’t know if you can redeem more than 1 coupon per transaction, but get creative.

Vons Gift Card Promo 11-7-17-2015

Here are the full terms of the promo:

Vons Gift Card Promo Terms Conditions 11-7-17-2015

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What’s Up with Grant? CA Fires, CVS-AMEX, Citi Photo Cards, Update on Checkout51, and Hamburg/Copenhagen Planning

What's On My Mind

What’s Up with Grant? CA Fires, CVS-AMEX, Citi Photo Cards, Update on Checkout51, and Hamburg/Copenhagen Planning

Good morning everyone!  California has a had a rough couple of days deals with several forest fires.  I hope my friends/family/readers in San Diego County are all doing ok.  Thank you for all the hard work from the fire fighters and other respondents.  I am going down to San Diego on Saturday June 7 (3 weeks from today) to meet a friend of mine.  She is a big miles/points aficionado like myself, so I wanted to know if anyone would like to join us, a very casual miles/points meetup.  The time and place has yet to be decided, but it will probably be in the afternoon on Saturday.

Also, I have been a *really bad* blogger this week.  I haven’t posted anything in the last 3-4 days so I apologize for not keeping you up to date on the latest miles/points news:

  • Southwest Airlines credit card now 50,000 mile sign up bonus
  • Barclays Arrival Plus credit card now with chip and pin and the same sign up bonus
  • Chase Ink Bold/Plus credit card now with 60,000 Chase UR Points
  • American Express Daily Deals, maybe I should say “deals”, not too impressive this year
  • Evolve Pay now you can pay with some credit cards (mostly MasterCard)
  • Charlotte Mile Madness reviews
  • Whatever else I missed

Just because I haven’t been writing the last few days doesn’t mean I haven’t been experimenting with different topics/ideas.  I have some pretty good posts in the pipeline.  One post that’s been 1+ month in the making is my headache of a problem dealing with CVS and my American Express Target card.  Have you ever had a situation where neither company could help, but then you decided to do a 3 way conference call and have them speak directly to each other and solve the problem?  Ya, that’s what happened here.  I’m glad to finally have my $503.95 back.  More info to come shortly (P.S. crazy story).

Chargeback

Umm, what the heck is a reversal of chargeback and why do you do this to me AMEX??

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