MileagePlus and Mercedes-Benz Offer

Wow, United actually has a great offer available.  Most emails I've read recently are bad ways to acquire miles and worse ways to spend them, but the Mileage Plus Mercedes Benz offer is a great deal.  The deal is run through TrueCar.com and starts with the best TrueCar prices then adds an additional discount ($500-$7,000) and bonus miles (up to 50,000).  This is probably the best price on a new Mercedes publicly available.  Now if only I had a spare $100,000 for a 577 hp station wagon.

Like 757's, Good Deals Are Harder to Find

Could Be Worse

It's not de-icing season yet.

Coming Soon to an Airport Near You

IHG Rewards Credit Card Extra Bonus Points

The IHG Rewards card I picked up earlier this year is still paying out bonus points.  The sign up offer I received was for 80,000 points after $2,000 spent (any offer less than 70,000 isn't worth taking).  IHG ran a promotion when I signed up that gave me an extra 2,000 bonus points for acquiring the card. All these points counted to status and I earned Spire Elite status which comes with 25,000 bonus points (or gift Platinum status).  I thought 80,000 points was a good credit card bonus, but I actually earned 107,000 points.  I wish other credit cards had extra bonuses like this.

I Have a Few Free Nights to Enjoy

Visit Britain Shop Review

I'm excited for my trip to the UK and Ireland in October and I've started my planning.  The British tourist board has a great website for exploring activities and a shop to buy travel cards, tourist cards, and maps.  It's a top notch production and I ordered London transits cards and a map for my trip.

On Board Soon-ish

Post #600

To celebrate 600 posts, here's an uplifting picture from CLT.  Thank's for joining me on the trip.

About to Depart CLT on Runway 18 Center

Etihad Starts Race To Bottom in Middle East

Etihad is pulling a Delta by making a new fare class that comes with fewer benefits and the same price as the previous cheapest fare.  The new Business Breaking Deal fare class doesn't even include a chauffeur to the airport.  Who could fathom business class travel without the airline sending someone to pick you up?

How About That? I Had An Etihad A330 Picture

New York Departure Problems

I wanted to get home Thursday. Bad weather in Houston and New York made it almost impossible.  

Number 18 for Departure

Flight Option 1: I started Thursday booked on a 7PM from EWR to DEN. I expected a quick day at the office and switched to an earlier departure.  Option 1 left 5.5 hours late and arrived in Denver at 2:30AM.

Flight Option 2:  I switched onto a 5:30 flight to IAH with a comfortable 90 minute connection to the last flight out to Denver.  I liked it because I would earn more EQM's and have better seating options.  The 5:30 flight from EWR to IAH was delayed 3 hours, but the IAH to Denver flight went on time.  Even if I got the 4:30 to Houston, it was 3 hours delayed and I would have spent the night in Houston, but I switched to a third flight.

I Counted 13 Waiting While at the Gate

Flight Option 3: I flew this flight.  I saw storms were coming into New York and wanted to get airborne as fast as possible.  I called United around noon and asked about flights to Houston, Dulles, Chicago, and Cleveland with no luck. I did get the last seat on the 3:30 flight from LGA to Denver.  It was a gamble because the inbound aircraft was running late and hadn't left the gate in Houston.  My flight was 2.5 hours late and by far the best outcome when I looked at flight details Friday morning at home.

I Made It to Denver on Thursday