Marriott becoming more transparent, Delta SkyMiles becoming less valuable, a man calling in a bomb threat to get his luggage back and some great tips to wine tasting in Washington State. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection, our weekly round-up of interesting tidbits from around the interwebs (links to each article are embedded in the titles).
PSA: Don’t call in a bomb threat if you miss your flight
Many of us have been there. Running late to the airport, getting caught in unexpected traffic, the rental car shuttle is taking forever. There’s a million reasons folks end up not getting to the gate before door close and it’s a frustrating experience, to say the least. Last week, a guy in Las Vegas found a solution…but it was a very poor solution. After missing his JetBlue flight from Las Vegas to LAX and being separated from his bag, he called in a bomb threat hoping to keep the plane from taking off. Luckily, “A search of the plane, passengers, and contents revealed that there was no threat.” The man was allowed to leave after being cited for a misdemeanor. This isn’t the only time this has happened, however. There’s previous examples all over the world, including my favorite, where a man did it trying to get a date with a Lufthansa flight attendant. Who wouldn’t be wooed by such chivalry?
Are casino matches dead in the city of brotherly love?
Our own Nick Reyes has spent a lot of time in casinos over the past year. You might be thinking, “of course, his fedora would fit in perfectly at an all-night poker tournament.” And you’d be right. But the real reason is that he’s been exploring incredible ways to leverage multiple casino status matches as a way to generate free cruises for him and his family. A lot of free cruises. He has a kindred spirit in Dave at Miles Talk, who’s had a series of terrific posts mining the casino match-depths of water travel. Unfortunately, a helpful cog in the wheel appears to be dying on the streets of Philadelphia.
Marriott is forced planning to be more transparent with pricing
Two words that don’t often go together are “Marriott” and “transparency.” However, waving Bonvoy-age to all of the haters, Marriott announced last week that it would begin showing its (often significant) destination and resort fees as part of the total nightly room rate when displaying search results on the both its website and mobile app. Previously, those charges were only added in on the final booking page. You might think that this is Marriott’s way of trying to more even-handedly deal with its customers. In fact, it’s actually a result of a lawsuit that it lost in 2021 for deceptive pricing practices that cost them over $200,000. Regardess of the motive, this will make it much easier to quickly compare the real costs of multiple properties and understand how much you’ll be paying (like my recent “free” stay at the Westin Hapuna Beach that cost me $80/night in fees and taxes). Marriott says this change will be live by May 15th.
Good riddance to SkyMiles?
There’s famously three constants in the world: death, taxes and the plunging value of Delta SkyMiles. Delta has been on a long journey towards pegging its mileage currency at a value of 1 cent each, and Rene at Eye of the Flyer thinks we’ve arrived. He’s a long-time Delta patron that’s finally had enough and refuses to collect them any further. He’s “begging all loyal readers to BURN DOWN your SkyPennies totals…because Delta is without shame and remorse when it comes to the loyalty program.” Rene actually thinks that, eventually, SkyPennies (as he calls them) will drop below one cent in value and that folks should try to keep their balance as low as possible. He may have a point (or a SkyPenny).
How to experience Washington Wine
Ok, I’m a homer. I’ve been involved in Washington Wine for the better part of the last 15 years and think that it’s a great place for wine tourists, with a lot of memorable characters and intimate experiences on offer. Melissa over at Johnny Jet had the opportunity to cavort around the state for a few days and came away both impressed and armed with a list of memorable takeaways from her time in Washington.
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[…] couple of weeks ago, in the Saturday Selection, we shared an article about Marriott beginning to display resort fees after losing one court case […]
You know, I’m really a big Delta person living in Seattle who is from the South and lived in ATL for ten years. Hubby has 2 million miles and is Diamond. I earn Platinum every year with the Platinum Amex and frequent travel to the South to help care for aging parents. I use Skypennies for jaunts to DEN, LAX, SFO, and even sometimes JFK for under 20k SM + fees.
Since we’ve always been a Delta couple, I have seen the program deteriorate tremendously, but given Delta’s investment in SEA and my south Alabama travel requirements, I will remain Delta loyal until my parents die, and then I will consider the regular Platinum Amex instead.
You write a wonderfully entertaining column. Thank you.
If a person is patient, one can hit each of Delta’s personal and business credit cards and receive 500k to 600k SkyMiles from SUBs. Add in those earned by P2. Throw in the 15 percent discount. How many *domestic* economy tickets would that fund? I agree that there is a secular devaluation. But, I also acknowledge that Delta has just thrown a bucket load of essentially free points at me.
Ugh, Rene.
As someone who has made more than two dozen SkyMiles award redemptions since the beginning of the year, I just cannot agree that the value has significantly decreased in the last 6-12 months. All of the redemptions were above 1.5 cpp. Just last night, repriced an award to save a few more miles (6800 to 5900 miles, cash price $129). The 15% price reduction for Delta card holders has been great.
Burning your miles before they devalue is always good advice. Redeeming miles for domestic economy awards is not exciting, but these were all flights I would have bought with cash if the redemption rate was not great.
Lol, Rene isn’t someone for mild takes. I get a kick out of him.
Thanks Tim! I do try to put my flavor into every post!
Quite frankly, I don’t believe any of the mileage reward systems are worth the money or effort any more with the constant devaluations. I’ve given up on all of them and cancel the associated credit cards. I’ve been saving American Airlines miles for more that 20 years. I finally got to 800,000 miles thinking I could go anywhere in business class but I tried to get two BC tickets to ATH from MIA for next spring: 1,2 million miles. Ridiculous! I’m done!
Your mistake was to wait 20 years for the redemption.
Earn and burn is the name of the game, not saving miles for decades for that grand retirement trip.
You’re doing it wrong. Surprised you even found your way here.
Otis, I just did a search on AA for MIA to ATH in mid-March 2024 and came up with 160K points per person. Round-trip in business class. The trick is in the itinerary construction. Play with it. Be creative. You might surprise yourself. Hope this helps.
Why would anyone follow this horrible Delta advice?
Well, he’s not wrong?
Some us dont know any better thats why we are here.