Monthly Archives: November 2007

What if airlines held a “Black Friday” event?

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“Welcome aboard American Airlines. We’d like to direct your attention to a lucky passenger seated in 3A. He’s flying on a special promotion where he bought 1 First Class ticket free and got a whole week of vacation at the Ritz Cancun for free!”

or “For every 3 Delta coach tickets that you buy in the next 30 minutes, 2 of them get an instant upgrade to First Class.”

Doesn’t each one of the above mentioned sound neat? Airlines should create a “Black Friday” type event that stores are offering today. Heck, I wouldn’t mind getting up at 2 A.M. to “score” an additional 2,500 EQMs for a ticket I was going to purchase anyway, but just a few weeks later. Folks without Club memberships could be convinced with 3 free entrance passes. An airline “Black Friday” event could be done just before a quarter closes to bump up sales, not necessarily the day after Thanksgiving.

Air travelers, think about it! Airlines, consider it!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US Airways now headed to London’s Heathrow

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While I have heard about this for the past week, today’s Press Release issued by US Airways confirms that US Airways will indeed fly to Heathrow.

I think this is excellent news. Not only will it increase healthy competition on the Philadelphia-London market, but it will also make for convenient and timely connections to Star Alliance partners out of Heathrow.

For a passenger like myself, flying to Poland on US Airways currently invloves two seperate tickets and an overnight in London on the return, should I connect through London. Now, the new PHL-LHR flight times are set up perfectly for connections in both directions. On the way out, I get in at 11:05 A.M. No need to change airports, and I will make a connection to a LOT or Lufthansa flight going to Poland. On the way back, the flight to Philly leaves 12:50 P.M. Before, even if I took the earliest flight from Poland leaving at 6.A.M., I would still not make it in time to be able to change airports and connect to a US Airways flight from Gatwick. Now, I have 3 things working to my benefit: a) The Philly flight leaves almost 2 hours later than the US Airways Gatwick flights, b) I don’t have to change airports in London and c) By March of 2008 all Star Alliance carriers will co-locate at Terminal 1, meaning I don’t have to change terminal facilities. For those travelling to Europe, this is very exciting news!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

ClicKing to catch up on those EQMs

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To be honest I am quite afraid of something. In 2007 I have traveled much less and I need to find a way to catch up on EQM’s (Elite Qualifying Miles) in the US Airways Dividend Miles program.

Mileage run- a concept that is often executed by frequent travelers during the months of October, November and December. It is traveling for no purpose. Wait! There is one purpose, to earn miles. Not just any kind of miles, but special elite qualifying ones that make you a VIP with your carrier of choice.

So here is my EQM situation. I need about 20,000 EQM’s. I never attain status by segments. I may have about 5,000EQM worth of travel in December, so that leaves me with a 15,000 EQM gap. Since US Airways is part of Star Alliance, I can also utilize United and Air Canada services should my mileage run remain in North America. However most of you know me better than that! It’ll definitely be on US Airways!

Let me be blunt, only one routing will work so far and that is LAX-SJU. I am finding same day return fares for early December at around $336 round trip including all taxes and fees. Depending on how I route, I may be able to squeeze in up to 10,000 EQM’s on the roundtrip.

Short segments are helpful to get maximum EQM’s- most airlines will give you 500 miles for them, and the flight itself won’t get you too far from your originating city(for those confused at this point, let me be clear- it is a good thing). For example, one of my potential routings offered: LAX-SFO-PHL-SJU, meaning I would be flying United on my first leg and I would be receive 500 miles towards status. LAX-SFO doesn’t take me any bit closer to PHL, so aside from paying just a few more dollars for taxes and fees, it’s like I get 500 free elite qualifying. Short hops are very helpful, given that the fare will permit it without charging you extra fare aside from taxes.

Staying near the $336 price on the LAX-SJU round trip, the following routing seems to offer a good amount of EQMs:

LAX-LAS-PHX-PHL-SJU-PHL-DCA-CLT-DFW-LAS-LAX.

All flights are mainline and US Airways operated. Big plus! No RJ’s and all flights are eligible for complimentary upgrades (space permitting), but since I’m a Chairman’s there shouldn’t be any problems. The EQM miles I would get for this snazzy trip? 9715. Not bad at all!

Some people also do ”mattress runs” to attain a required amount of nights or stays at a hotel. This is for the purpose of achieving or retaining an elite level in their hotel rewads program. 29 more nights at a Marriott hotel? Thanks, but no thanks! 69 per night(cheapest Courtyard I could find) X 29 would be about $2000. And thats prior to taxes! 3 or 4 nights? Sure, why not! 29? Nope!

Here’s wishing everyone a good 7 more weeks of 2007 mileage and mattress running!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Senator Specter rather arrogant in his Pittsburgh/US Airways related press conference

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This may turn out to be a rant of some sort.

After listening to the press conference regarding US Airways’ service at Pittsburght International Airport (PIT), I was appalled by Senator Specter’s arrogant tone. Not only that, but he wouldn’t even listen to the facts presented to him in regards to the PHL Airport international gate situation.

First off. You’re a big guy. Learn your stuff before you go in front of the mic and make a fool out of yourself. Allow me to correct you:

  • We are talking about three gates here, not two. Coun’t em!
  • We are talking about gates here. Actual, physical gate space. Don’t try to confuse people by saying these are slots or flights. They are not! We are talking about gates. Look at ‘em!

To give three international gates to Delta and it’s wholly domestic operation to ATL, CVG, JFK, BOS and SLC is ridiculous. If they were empty, go right ahead! But these gates accommodate wide-body and international aircraft that bring tourists from around the world to your state. They are the people who bring their Pounds, Euros, Swiss Francs and other international currencies that help strengthen and boost your state’s economy.

This isn’t just about US Airways. It’s about priorities. Other airports such as LAX, ORD, ATL or MIA would not give away lucrative international gates for domestic short-haul flights.

Mr. Specter, please focus on doing your job! Instead of pretending to be “Mr. VP of Airline Routes and Planning”, why don’t you try being a model Pennsylvania citizen and fight to keep US Airways and international traffic growing in PHL? We both know Southwest, Delta nor any other airline operating at PHL will ever replicate US Airways’ operation there and be such an important player in Pennsylvania’s economy.

So that’s it for now- Mark’s rant mode is now off…

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

An 18 year old’s perspective on “casinoing”

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It’s the place where 21 is only a Blackjack, not the legal age to drink, smoke or gamble. In Aruba 18 is the magic number.

Since smoking is out of the question in my case, I sip the drinks and double down on 11’s. Of all the adult pleasures gambling is definately my favorite. In Aruba I skipped the bar hopping, put on my suit and headed to the casinos.

The island of Aruba is known as the island with the most casinos in all of the Caribbean. If you want to gamble in the Carribbean, this is the place to go to! Nassau and St. Martin also offer casinos, but I would go to Aruba if I were you! I decided to try and visit as many casinos as I could during my stay. I only went at night however as I despise casinos during the day. Their rush of excitement only appeals to me at night. Sure it’s no Vegas, but the lighting inside still gives it that Las Vegas feel.

You will want to skim the Aruba Today paper and the local Aruba guides. You’ll want to do it daily. You can find interesting deals such as match coupons and drink chits for certain casinos. At the Westin Casablanca Casino, the gentleman gets $5 and the lady he brings in gets two drink coupons. The Westin is going through heavy renovations; probably a good a reason why they offer such a sweet deal. The casino is in decent shape. I am however a little skeptical of the electronic card shuffling machines. The mood and the dealers are not friendly. There is also no live band or any kind of music. Most of the slot machines are the new computerized lcd type- not cool!

Next door at the Raddisson, the casino is underground. It looks pretty neat as it has this outer space/universe feel with the entire ceiling with shining stars and lights. You can get a $25 dollar roulette match coupon from the Aruba newspapers. Didn’t hang out too much here either, but did win some at Blackjack tables.

The Excelsior Casino at the Holiday Inn Resort is very small and most tables were closed down. Not that many people there either. You can get a $5 match play coupon for Blackjack or Caribbean Stud from the Aruba guide. My least favorite place- left after five minutes.

The casino at the Occidental Grand resort is run-down, old and reaks of cigarettes and ashes. The ventilation system here must be bust- pun intended. The casino itself is pretty good though. Both nights there- it was chock full of people. All the tables are open and are filled to maximum capacity. You can get a $10 match coupon from the Aruba guide and it will work for Blackjack and a few other games. I won about $50 dollars in three minutes playing Blackjack, much less time than I spent actually waiting to get a seat- that’s how full this place is. Something very neat about this casino is that they offer two games of Bingo every night and both are free. One card per person, one game at 22:30(10:30PM) and the next at 23:15(11:15PM). You need to get a full card to get Bingo. If you get a full card within the first 50 numbers called you win $1,000 bucks. If no one gets that, they continue calling numbers until someone calls Bingo and the consolation prize is $100. I wish I attended every night as I didn’t have luck on my two games.

The next two casinos are absolute favorites.

The Stellaris Casino at the Marriott property has been recently renovated. It is a very big casino and it is very clean and well ventilated. While some may tease me about this, the air quality is actually very important to me. I try to lead a healthy lifestyle so I pay attention to this detail. I go to casino to play, hopefully win and have a good time, not to poison myself! I’ve had the most luck at this Casino and whatever I lost at the other places I won back at the Marriott for a Final Profit of 120 bucks. On my last night in Aruba, I played until 3:30AM because I had such a good time. The staff is very friendly, the drinks here are good and the live karaoke and band keeps you in a good mood. I also like the low minimums here. Blackjack starts from a $5 minimum. There are no deals or coupons for this casino, but it is well worth the visit.

The casino at the Hyatt hotel has been also recently renovated. They have the best deal of all the places. You just sign up for their player’s club- free of charge, and you get $10 cash up front. No coupon or voucher or credit- just cold, hard cash! In order to get this offer, you will need to bring a print out from the Aruba guide. Only one per person! This casino, in my opinion, has the friendliest staff.

The live jazz band creates the best mood from all of the casinos. Unfortunately, listening to music was what I mostly did at this casino- lady luck doesn’t come in here often. I lost a bunch of money at this place, but luckily the Marriott Stelaris helped me win it back(see above). The only thing that helped me ”make” some money here were the slots. In my opinion, the slots a the Hyatt casino are the luckiest of all the casinos.

Have I visited all the casinos in Aruba? No, but I did visit most. The only other two that I am aware of is the Alhambra(in the low rise hotel area on Eagle Beach) and the one at the Renaissance hotel in downtown Oranjestad. The Renaissance Hotel casino is the oldest and most popular casino on the island of Aruba.

The idea of going to a casino has exicted and enticed me for a while now and I was very fortunate to be able to try out some gambling. I will be heading to Vegas when I turn 21 for some repeat action. Gambling however can be as dangerous as drinking or smoking when handled inappropriately. I am good guy though and can control myself.

Have a lucky clicK life,

-Mark