It’s been a busy couple of weeks so I haven’t had time to post regularly but while I am working on my follow up to my M&M post I wanted to fill you in on interesting news from around the travel blogosphere:
– Up to 1000 Turkish Airline miles for updating your profile. Valid through April 30.
- 250 Bonus Miles for members who update their TCKN (Republic of Turkey Identification Card Number) .
- 250 Bonus Miles for members who update contact (business or home address or email) details.
- 250 Bonus Miles for members who update mobile telephone numbers.
- 250 Bonus Miles for members who update contact information and click on all of the E-mail Subscriptions boxes
– For anyone who uses Lufthansa regularly, you’ll be pleased to know that LH has redesigned their online fare search tool. New improvements include a better graphical interface that is easier on the eyes but what’s important is that it makes viewing the options easier (meal, baggage, fare class, restrictions). You can even reset the timeout clock. See below screenshot. Lufthansa Flyer has a good post on this.
– Lufthansa is also rewarding (aka. complicating) their program by adding a new point system known as “Select Miles” which will run in parallel with their existing point system. In essence, customers will receive additional benefits on reaching certain mileage thresholds. I will be updating my original M&M post with this additional program. General consensus is that this is relatively useless. You can read the announcement here and find more info about Miles and More Selections here.
– Interesting read on how new fuel efficient aircraft are changing airlines routemaps.
– If you have any SPG hotel stays planned, today is the last day to sign up to their Bring on the Nights promotion and get up to 15,000 bonus points by registering here.
-D like Delta and Devaluation… again. Delta is switching to a revenue based system and very few people will benefit from this change but Delta knows how to make a buck and is one of the most valuable airline brands despite this. Gary’s post covers it well.
– Today’s the last day to redeem your Hyatt Diamond Upgrades. They can be redeemed for stays that are as far as you can book at this time.
– Today’s also the last day to use your Fairmont Platinum Certificates. This page has more info on these certs.
– Austrian is selling all economy flights with a 20% discount this weekend only – T&C apply. Use code WeekendSale20. HT. Milesfromblighty
– My home town of Geneve, Switzerland was the site where a hijacked Ethiopian plane landed. If you want to hear the audio where the copilot requests asylum click here. What I find to be the best part of the ordeal (since nobody was hurt) found on Wikipedia:
The flight was escorted by Italian Eurofighter and French Mirage fighter jets while traversing their respective airspaces. The Swiss Air Force did not respond because the incident occurred outside of normal office hours, which are 08:00-12:00 and 13:30-17:00. According to a Swiss air force spokesman, “Switzerland cannot intervene because its airbases are closed at night and on the weekend…It’s a question of budget and staffing.” Switzerland relies on neighboring countries to police its airspace outside of regular business hours. The French air force has permission to escort suspicious flights into Swiss airspace, but does not have authority to shoot down an aircraft over Switzerland.
After making sure everyone was ok, as a passenger (and points addict) I would probably ask for a minimum of double mileage and a free flight for being put through such an experience…
Since I’m Swiss and its outside of working hours, Enjoy the weekend!
