Deal of the Day
Posted by FrugalTravelGuy Thursday, October 13, 2011, No Comments
13% cash back IHG hotels starting Saturday Oct. 15 by using FatWallet! Stays must be completed by Nov. 30
There is a way to get very cheap American miles by flying LAX-LAS and spending a night. It is much better if you are an elite already, but be careful and watch out for any catches. One Mile At A Time offers a good explanation of the AA offer in general too if you’re not in the LAX region.
Enter to win up to 500,000 Continental Miles + a cruise for two!
If you don’t have a TripAlertz account, sign up for one here! You can learn more about TripAlertz here. Once you sign up, you can invite friends/family and receive $10 referral credit towards a free trip for each of your friends that signs up!
Deal of the Day: Twitter Contest for Priority Club Points
Posted by FrugalTravelGuy Wednesday, September 21, 2011, No Comments
$100 Travelocity Incentives Gift Card for $50. Must be used towards a $250 stay and some on FT are reporting upcharges on the Travelocity Incentives website so YMMV.
Up to 30% off select Hyatt properties when using code C48H9
Deals we Like is reporting that Snique Away is giving away $25 credit to new and existing members. All you have to do is sign in to your account.
The Points Guy tells us about 500 free Aeroplan Miles when signing up for the Fairmont reward program.
Priority Rewards is giving away 2 million points a day via Twitter. Details can be found here
New Lower Minimum Spend on the Starwood Preferred Guest Card. Now $5K in Six Months
Sunday Success Story
Posted by Rick Sunday, September 04, 2011, No Comments
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| Florida Beach, photo by Andrew Ingersoll |
From Jason:
Rick,
I thought I would share with you a quick success with getting bumped from flights.
I was traveling with my three daughters, ages eight, five and three, from New York to Florida. We had a 4:45 p.m. flight that was oversold and I volunteered verbally when I heard an announcement. However, they were only looking for two so we were out of luck.
We boarded the plane first and as the plane filled up, they announced that they had a need for three additional volunteers. We were seated toward the front of the plane so I rang the call button as the attendant walked by and asked about the offer. They again said they only needed three, but I told them if they took four, I was game. They discussed amongst themselves and said, “Gather your stuff.” By now the plane was full and we were applauded, to my daughter’s amazement, as we deplaned.
The deal was $400 each in travel vouchers and $12 each for meals as well as the next flight to Florida. The agent called another gate as there was trouble with passengers at a flight to Atlanta at 5 p.m. that we might be able to get on. We went to the gate with the agent and, after a few moments, we were not able to board the plane. But he told me we were on the next flight to Atlanta at 6 p.m. and then we were confirmed with four seats in first class from Atlanta to FLL. The girls were excited. He said we should grab a snack and see the gate agent to get our tickets.
We grabbed snacks and then headed over to the gate as the plane was boarding in about 15 minutes. The agent jokingly (it seemed to me) asked if we wanted to be bumped again. I said if hotel and transportation are included, as well as same amount of vouchers as before, we were in. They were.
So after all is said and done, here is where we stand:
Flight vouchers for first bump: $400 X 4 = $1,600
Food vouchers: $12 X 4 = $48 (basically enough for water in NYC)
Flight vouchers for second bump: $400 X 4 = $1,600
Food vouchers: $12 X 4 = $48 (more water, LOL!)
Hotel transportation: $15 value
Hotel: $179 value
Amount saved for room in Florida: $50 (Holiday Inn Express at the Entertainment Card rate)
Rental car saved: $50 for one day
Total value for about 15 hours of delay = $3,590
This doesn’t include that the tickets were originally free, courtesy of Grandma. Not a bad day I guess.
Update: We bumped again for a bride and her bride-mates for another $600 each ($2,400) plus vouchers for food and bags delivered to the house. Not bad for a total of about $2,600 plus the $3,590 from yesterday = $6,190. Thank You, Delta!
Best regards,
Jason
50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, No Fee 1st Year, Transferable to Many Programs. Now offering two points on Dining, Airfare and Hotels.
Key Lime Pie
Posted by Rick Wednesday, August 03, 2011, No Comments
by Andrew Ingersoll
Have you every traveled somewhere desperate for the food? I can recall phoning my father (Rick) one afternoon and hearing a ruckus in the background. “Dad, where are you?” I asked.
“I’m in San Francisco!”
“What? Why?”
“I wanted good Chinese food.”
It was with this ridiculous exchange that I realized the Frugal Travel Guy had gotten himself into one crazy hobby. It may not be surprising to some, but he was on a mileage run, no doubt acquiring Elite Qualifying Miles for probably less than the cost of a night out at the cinema.
A good group of my friends spend Labor Day in Key West, Florida, every year. So when I decided I was going to make the journey from Australia to Florida for a couple weeks, I was pretty darned sure I was going to get myself a good piece of Key Lime Pie!
I flew on a OneWorld Award with Qantas and American Airlines from SYD-LAX-ORD-MIA. For those of you who have traveled to or from Australia, you can appreciate my unhappiness having ORD in my itinerary. Sometimes we have to accept a little annoyance when we’re traveling for peanuts. Despite my booking six months in advance, the nonstop LAX-MIA flights were all booked out.
Living in Oz, I really appreciate the time I spend with my American friends and family. On this occasion it wasn’t until I was driving along US 1 back to Miami that I realized I hadn’t had my Key Lime Pie. Thank goodness the Keys are riddled with excellent mom-and-pop diners, including the Key Largo Conch House. I highly recommend their award winning Key Lime Pie!
Does anyone else get cravings for certain foods only available in certain parts of the world? Kimchi in Korea? Gelato in Italy? Empanadas in Argentina? If you could recommend a destination for its food, where would it be?
Who is Azafady? The Charity I’ll be working with in Madagascar
Azafady, a registered UK-based charity (no.107121) and Madagascar-based NGO (non-governmental organization), works on conservation, humanitarian, and sustainable livelihood projects in the southeast of Madagascar. Azafady Madagascar is an independent organization, set up with help in 1996. The organization, known in Madagascar as “ONG Azafady,” is the group that actually turns projects into a reality.
Azafady focuses its work in the southeast of the island in the region of Fort Dauphin. This region is home to a great variety of unique, rare, and endangered plants, animals, and ecosystems. But, as is the case in all of Madagascar, poverty poses an enormous and immediate threat to this precious natural environment. Azafady has a bias towards projects that bring measurable benefits to the very poorest members of the village communities where help is needed most.
Azafady’s goals are to:
- Promote sustainable livelihoods
- Improve well-being
- Protect/maintain the environment
Goals are reached by working on projects in these general areas:
- Basic health infrastructure and training
- Water supply and sanitation
- Sustainable natural resource management
- Income-generating activities
- Research and conservation
- Institutional strengthening
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances (I couldn’t get time off work as previously planned), I’ve postponed my trip to Madagascar until early spring 2012. I’ve secured my place with Azafady and will advise on a new date in the near future.
Limited Time Offer Ends August 7th
Rookie Travel Tips with Shannon and Earn Miles Paying your Taxes on $3.89
Posted by Shannon Friday, April 15, 2011, No Comments
Rookie Travel Tips Friday!
Last weeks winning tip goes to Arpita S!
“Always check out the credit score and inquiries on your credit report before applying for a new card. There are some free trials that rick features from time to time. However, one needs to cancel these trials in order to ensure that there is no charge.
So, it is better to enroll in two totally free services: 1) creditkarma.com shows your transunion credit report and FAKO score. 2) Quizzle shows your Experian credit report and FAKO score.
You can update your your creditkarma score as frequently as you wish. You can update your Quizzle score twice in a year. “- Arpita S
This week I had a second chance to do Vegas and I came out much better this time. As many of you already know, I went to Vegas last month as a Rookie traveler and it cost me big. I wasted a lot of money getting ripped off by cabbies, eating expensive food, and missing a 1 a.m. flight that cost me an extra $800. No frugality in that one.
I went back last week and vastly improved on my traveling skills thanks to a ton of great tips from you all. I flew in on an award ticket, made all my flights, checked in online, and I went 100 percent carry on.
For me going to Las Vegas carry-on was an accomplishment in itself. One thing I did learn from my last mishap was that if I checked bags and had a cancelled flight, or missed a flight, the airline would only rebook me to my original destination. In the past I have been able to be rebooked into a city close to my home town and had a friend pick me up. or taken the shuttle home. Living in the middle of South Carolina I have four airports from which to choose, all about an hour and a half drive from me. So that gives the airlines some options when I have to rebooking.
Also, going carry-on opens me up for bumps and the award vouchers that come with them. When I was waiting for my plane, the U.S. Airways flights were all overbooked due to earlier cancelations and they were offering a $500 voucher and ground transportation to CLT for anyone who would give up their CAE-CLT flight or take a later one. That day I wish I had flown U.S. Airways.
I arrived on time and used your tips about the website toandfromtheairport.com to choose the cheapest commute from LAS to my hotel. Toandfromtheairport.com is a great site for information on all different forms of ground transportation from hundreds of airports all over the world. My options were: taxi, limo, public bus, or shuttle bus/van. The site told me where each type of transportation could be found in relation to the airport and its terminals, the approximate cost, the time it would take, the different companies, their websites and/or phone numbers, and a bunch of additional insider tips.
LAS to the strip:
By taxi: $12-15 dollars and 10-15 minutes
By Limo: $ 40-70 dollars — not this time. But I do have a funny story regarding limo transportation: My husband’s flight from CLT to CAE was cancelled the last time he flew in late from Vegas so he and five other guys shared a limo ride to CAE and split the cost, which ended up being the most affordable choice for them. Also if you can get with a group of people going to the same place, the cost of a van or limo can be reduced to less than a taxi. But as a lone traveler, this was not the cheapest travel option for me.
City Buses: Route map included on the site. Cost $1.75 per adult. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the city bus and my husband said it was a no-go. But this would have been the cheapest option.
Shuttle: $6 and about an hour of your time. They service both terminals. I went right outside baggage claim and bought a token at the ticket booth. Note to all: They only accept cash. The driver loaded my stuff, it was comfortable, air conditioned, and full of tourists. Took about 45 minutes to an hour but I got to drive around and see the strip, which was a great orientation for me.
I subscribe to Livingsocial.com and groupon.com and while there I logged into the Las Vegas daily deals. They were not all applicable to me (dental cleaning, a dozen cupcakes). Although, had I opted for 12 gourmet cupcakes, a dentist would have been a good idea! Groupon ran a 50% off bus tour special to the Grand Canyon that would have worked out but I couldn’t be gone all day.
On about.com I searched cheap buffets in Vegas and found a great list of cheap eats:
Circus Circus Buffet: Breakfast, 7 AM to 11 AM: $8.99, Lunch, 11:30 AM to 2 PM: $9.99,
Dinner, 4:30 PM to 10 PM: $10.99 Phone: (702) 734-0410
Fantasy Market Buffet: Palms: Breakfast, 8 AM to 10:30 AM: $5.99, Lunch, 11 AM to 3 PM: $7.99,
Dinner, 4 PM to 10 PM: $11.99 Phone: (702) 942-7777
Ports O’ Call Buffet: Gold Coast: Breakfast, 7 AM to 10 AM: $5.95, Lunch, 11 AM to 3 PM: $6.95,
Dinner, 4:30 PM to 10 PM: $10.95 Phone: (702) 367-7111
Roundtable Buffet: Excalibur: Breakfast, 6:30 AM to 11 AM: $10.49, Lunch, 11 AM to 4 PM $11.49,
Dinner, 4 PM to 10 PM: $14.49 Phone: (702) 597-7777
Sahara Buffet: Sahara: Breakfast, 7 AM to 10:30 AM: $7.99, Lunch, 10:30 AM to 4 PM: $8.99,
Dinner, 4 PM to 10 PM: $10.99 Phone: (702) 737-2111
World’s Fare Buffet: Riviera: Breakfast, 6 AM to 11 AM: $9.99, Lunch, 11 AM to 2 PM: $9.99,
Dinner, 4 PM to 10 PM: $15.99 Phone: (702) 734-5110
On my second day I looked up all the free stuff to do there on Vegas.com. I took a cab up to MGM Grand and saw the free lion exhibit then walked the strip back, stopping in all the random stores. Along the way there was a booth selling half-off tickets to the shows and I managed to get our show tickets at about $30 off. On my walk back I saw a “hole in the wall” reflexology foot massage place and stopped in for a 20-minute massage. I ended up getting a full body, two-hour massage for a fraction of what the spa charges. It was worth every penny.
All in all, Vegas can easily be an expensive trip. But with a little research and a commitment to finding the deal, it can be done on a budget. This trip I made all my flights on time and left feeling like I had added another great experience to my book of travels. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Tips Tips please! Submit your experiences and tips under comments!
-Shannon
Pay Your Taxes with Your Visa Debit Card Only $3.89 Flat Fee and Earn Miles
If you have a Visa debit card it only costs you $3.89 with this special promo.
Thanks Randy
Delta Offers Rollover Elite Miles and a New American Free Wifi Code
Posted by Rick Tuesday, July 28, 2009, No Comments
AAWiFi80208A2 will get you free wifi onboard American flights until September 5th.
Delta Rollover Elite Miles
For the first time that I can remember, an airline has really helped themselves retain their frequent fliers after they reach top tier status.
Here is what Delta has done. If you reach any status level during a calendar year, but not quite enough miles to reach the next tier, the excess elite qualifying miles over the achieved status will carry over into the next years calculation.
My example with United is this: I have 102,000 Elite qualifying miles schedules with United this year including our trip to Hawaii and December and the outbound portion of our trip to New Zealand December 28th. I have had no previous incentive to continue flying United in 2009 as I would not reach the next award level ( 150K for two more systemwide upgrades). I actually have considered working on my American lifetime Platinum status for new flights booked the remainder of this year.
If United adopts the policy that Delta has just announced, they would continue to get my business as the miles would count towards next years Elite Qualifying Miles goal.
This is a smart move on Deltas part and I am in hopes that the other legacy carriers adopt the same terms and conditions. Please understand that if you do not achieve at least the first tier of elite status there will be no rollover for you into next year.
Come on Big Boys. Match this one.
Delta’s fourth tier info is on tomorrows blog entry.
