Tag Archives: Southwest Airlines

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

2014 New Years

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

Happy holidays everyone!  As 2014 quickly approaches, I wanted to share my predictions for 2014, regarding airlines, hotels, and credit card rewards.  Feel free to agree, disagree, or share your own comments below.

Airlines:

  • British Airways – I think the 4,500 and 7,500 (maybe even 10,000) Avios award prices will go away or the entire award chart will be revamped.  The current prices are just too good.
  • Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines – since there has been a lot of fighting over routes to/from SEA and SLC, I think Alaska will no longer allow you to earn or redeem miles with Delta.
  • American Airlines and US Airways – after the merger, we will see some new “enhancements” (aka devaluations) to the new award chart.  Maybe off-peak awards will be changed or removed.
  • Southwest Airlines and AirTran – hopefully the merger goes through smoothly and quickly.  I look forward to using Southwest Rapid Reward Points for flights to Hawaii, Mexico City, and other tropical destinations south of the border.  I also think the 50,000 Southwest Rapid Reward sign up bonus will no longer count for companion pass status, it is just too easy to get Companion Pass.
  • Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.
  • Lufthansa  – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.
  • Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.

Hotels:

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Part 2 – Hilton Elara Timeshare in Las Vegas (Perks and Presentation)

Hilton Grand Vacations

Part 2 – Hilton Elara Timeshare in Las Vegas (Perks and Presentation)

Time for my timeshare.  Let the fun begin.  Vacation Experience Reception, here I come!

Timeshare

The timeshare agent was very friendly and showed me around some of the rooms on the 65th floor.  Great views from up there.  Now we sat down and talked numbers.  lots of numbers.  Anyone with an MBA in statistics will probably understand what is going on.  Good luck to everyone else (myself included).

Timeshare1

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Southwest Airlines Offers Gate-To-Gate WiFi Access on their Planes

Southwest Share The Spirit Logo

Southwest Airlines Offers Gate-To-Gate WiFi Access on their Planes

This afternoon I was at an APEX (airline passenger experience) conference and an executive from Southwest Airlines was speaking about their newly introduced (today) gate-to-gate WiFi.  That means that as soon as you board the plane, you will have internet access for the entire duration of the flight.  Here is an email I just received as well:

SWA Wifi

Internet access is $8 per day (not per flight) – which is great if you have more than 1 flight on Southwest per day.  There are currently 13 live television channels and a few recorded television channels.  The executive said that NFL RedZone was a premium channel (sounds like it will cost money to watch) and they are working on adding more channels to their portal.

SWA Wifi 2

Not mentioned in the online announcement, Southwest will also introduce a $2 internet plan which is for passengers who only want to “text” through iMessage (iOS) or other Android apps (WhatsApp).  This could be a cool feature if you feel like texting the entire flight.  It is all done over the internet so you will not incur any data or texting fees from your carrier.

I asked the executive about the Dish Network content and she said that content was not provided by Dish Network, they are only a sponsor (advertising only).  I also suggested that Southwest modify their boarding system to allow people to board earlier so they can use the internet longer.  I will see if that idea every comes out.

That’s it from Southwest.  Good changes for passengers.  If you have any comments, please leave a comment below.

Hyatt’s Fall 5,000 Point Promo Earns Me the Southwest Companion Pass

Hyatt Logo

Hyatt’s Fall 5,000 Point Promo Earns Me the Southwest Companion Pass

A few weeks ago I wrote Targeted: 5,000 Bonus Hyatt Gold Passport Points After Spending $3,000 in 3 Months.  Today, I share my journey.  I received the following email (and a similar letter) from Hyatt regarding my Chase Hyatt Credit Card.

Hyatt Fall 5K Bonus

Spending $3,000 in 3 months is a piece of cake to earn 5,000 bonus Hyatt points.  My credit card statement closed a few days ago and I was glad the bonus points posted in the same time period, not the 6-8 week time window the terms stated.  Since I recently downgraded my Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card to the Sapphire basic card, I have been using my Hyatt card more for international restaurant purchases and making airline reservations.

Hyatt Card Rewards

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Save 1,000+ Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward Points by Rebooking Flights

Southwest Share The Spirit Logo

Save 1,000+ Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward Points by Rebooking Flights

Currently Southwest Airlines has a flight sale – a GREAT SALE!  If you booked SWA flights between December 4 – 18, 2013 and January 7 – February 12, 2014 you should rebook and save a few hundred or thousand Rapid Reward Points.

SWA Sale 10-8-13

I was able to find my SNA to SFO flight for 2,820 SWA RR points one way, a decrease of 1,860 SWA RR points.  1,860 SWA RR points x 1.67 cents per point = $31.06 savings.

Save SWA Points Rebooking

Here is the updated reservation with new SWA RR point balance.

SNA-SFO Flight

My SWA RR points balance was 38,367 points before rebooking.

Current SWA Balance

My new SWA RR points balance is now 40,227 after rebooking.

New SWA Balance

I had about 5 other SWA reservations that I was able to rebook and save 1,000+ SWA RR points.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.