Southwest has made official a new benefit for their A-List and A-List Preferred elites. Essentially elites may now board after A60 has been called ensuring a Window or Aisle seat regardless of what their boarding pass reads. While under normal conditions, an elite can expect a boarding pass somewhere between A16-A60, an irregular operation such…
About alex
Alex loves to travel and does so a lot. Logging 100,000 flight miles each year over the past 4 years, Alex uses points and miles to power his passion. Alex is continuously striving to experience the far reaches of the globe. In his day job, Alex is a Management Consultant frequently on the road advising Technology organizations. I love thinking about, reading about, and talking about all things travel. Feel free to reach me at pmmalex@gmail.com
Sign up for Email || Twitter || Facebook |
Hotel Offers || Airline Offers || Bank Offers || Cash Back Offers
Southwest new destination promotion–1000 point bonus per flight
Southwest has launched a new promotion in which they are offering 1000 bonus points per flight into 5 new Southwest destinations including the tradition-breaking destination of San Juan. Southwest has only served the lower 48 up until this point. All 5 of these routes are really just former AirTran flights transitioning into Southwest flights. “Southwest…
Hyatt adds landmark Austin hotel to its portfolio
After hearing several rumors over the past week, Hyatt confirmed Friday the purchase of The Driskill hotel in downtown Austin. The Driskill is a gorgeous 127 year old property with a perfect location in downtown Austin near the “Raucous on 6th street” . While the hotel is haunted, I have enjoyed several late nights sipping…
Trick to picking Airberlin seats online
Alliances and shared booking systems create some very strange scenarios in terms of which airline’s website can see another airlines flights. This is one of the stranger I’ve found. I recently booked flights from Hawaii to Berlin using AA miles. I chose Airberlin because Berlin is our first destination and they have a newly launched…
Club Carlson Gift Card $1,000 Giveaway – Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Golden Giveaway
Are you getting tired of this seemingly endless wave of hotel devaluations?! I know we sure are. What better time to team up with a hotel chain that has chosen not to go down the devalue road and has continued to find ways to offer more to its loyal members rather than less. Club Carlson…
Denver Airport adding connected Westin, high speed train
If you’ve ever been to Denver’s airport, there is a good chance you probably muttered, “Why is this airport so far outside the city?” A drive from downtown to the airport is a solid 30 miles. The airport hotel district doesn’t provide much relief as the shuttle rides are pretty lengthy. A lot of the…
Monster week of points earning
The stars were aligned this past week as several uncharacteristically awesome points opportunities stacked together to significantly boost my points earning. In an average 5 night business travel week with no special promotions as a top tier elite, I generally earn around 4000 Southwest points for the round-trip flight and another 5000 SPG OR Hyatt…
Flying to Hawaii stinks but do it anyways
One of the least glamorous ways to fly has to be flying from the West Coast to Hawaii. Don’t get me wrong, I think Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I would take this flight any day of the week. Moreso than any other destination, Hollywood has a tendency to…
Don’t leave points on the table: Buying a car
I recently purchased a new vehicle from a dealership and ended up financing the vehicle through the dealership. I needed to put money down to secure the low interest rate offered so the the agent requested I bring in a check with the down payment we agreed upon. I was about to hand over the check of the full…
Did you win the Briggs and Riley Giveaway?!
And the winner of the Points, Miles and Martinis Briggs and Riley Giveaway is….. A big thank you to all the participants in this giveaway and especially to Briggs and Riley for generously participating in this giveaway. We greatly appreciate your readership. Congratulations To The Winner Commenter #140 JP says his favorite part about the…
I just earned Hyatt Diamond into 2015, now what?
When I have the opportunity, I start my calendar year bouncing between cheap Hyatt properties to secure Hyatt Diamond status quickly on stays. I consider Hyatt Diamond the most lucrative status one can earn with only 25 check-ins. I was fortunate this year to complete my 25th stay this week earning me Hyatt status valid through February…
Have you entered our Briggs and Riley luggage giveaway?
As a quick reminder, Points, Miles and Martinis readers have an excellent opportunity to win a Briggs and Riley Carry-on! My Personal Experience With Briggs & Riley Warranty Like The Weekly Flyer, I too am a proud owner of a Briggs and Riley Baseline Carry-on. His story sounds a whole lot like mine. Last April, after 3 solid…
How I would improve status challenges
I spent some time this week thinking about simple changes loyalty programs can make to win more business while improving their relationship with high frequency business travelers. On Tuesday I mentioned an easy fix for hotels so today I will turn my focus to airlines. For the most part, commenters agreed with Tuesday’s post on my hotel suggestion though…
Too many hotels miss an easy way to make guests feel welcome
I wasn’t planning to write about this when it happened to me the first time, but now that it has happened on three consecutive stays I think it’s time to speak my peace. First impressions are meaningful in just about every human interaction, including the way you perceive a hotel. Hotels spend millions and millions…
A one-way flight that earns 800 USD worth of points
My fellow business travelers often question my choice of Southwest, a discount carrier, for my business travel when I could just as easily choose “full service” carriers like American or United out of the Chicago market. The month of February is a great example of the massive earning potential for business travelers who choose Southwest.…
Aloha from Maui
Some destinations never get old. I try to get to Hawaii once every year using either cheap west coast fares, free one ways from AA awards, or avios short haul awards from LAX. There are so many beautiful, diverse islands in the Hawaiian archipelago so it doesn’t make sense to keep returning to the same…
Southwest adding inflight entertainment options, increasing prices
I find myself on a Southwest domestic flight about once every three days so when inflight options change onboard I tend to pick up on them pretty quick. New Watch a Movie option Over the course of the past few weeks, Southwest inflight entertainment, served via its satellite internet, has added a new on-demand Watch…
The BEST credit card signup bonuses are not always online
I wrote yesterday about obtaining a Southwest Companion Pass by signing up for two Southwest Visa credit cards when the signup bonus was at 50,000 for a total of 100,000. In the post, I mentioned that the current publicly available online signup bonus was 25,000 points which is mostly true in regards to online offers…
The single best trick to travel domestically is still alive!
We’ve witnessed a few longstanding points and miles tricks fizzle out in recent weeks. Fortunately, not everything is gloomy as I am happy to report that the single best trick to traveling domestically on points is alive and well! I am speaking of course about the easy way to obtain the most powerful and underrated…
"Is that airplane upside down?!"
When I write about my favorite aspects of air travel, I generally end up talking about amazing champagne served inflight, beds that lie all the way flat, or showers in the sky. While those are certainly fun experiences to seek out and relive in a post, in truth, saying those are my favorite aspect of…