Windbag Miles

I said I wasn’t kidding about changing the background color if someone gave me a $25 donation, and much to my shock/disbelief/eternal gratitude, some kind soul has done just that. He didn’t request a specific color, but I felt like not changing it would be a betrayal of my promise. Because dark green is myContinue reading “No your eyes aren’t deceiving you… the background color actually did change.”

Hooray! It’s new Amex Hilton day! I’ve been excited about this day for a while, since I can’t wait to start diamonding my diamonds all over the place. (For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, one of the key benefits of the card is Diamond status in the Hilton Honors program forContinue reading “The Amex Hilton Aspire card has a lot of great bennies, but the $100 Waldorf/Conrad credit ain’t one of ’em.”

I had this idea a while ago and never got around to putting it into practice – basically, I want to keep a running list of all the long haul premium seats I’ve sat in, ranked in order of preference. One reason for this is that I just like making lists and rankings (I’m prettyContinue reading “Ranking all the long-haul premium seats that have cradled my physical form”

Now that 2018 has arrived, it’s time to look back at how I did with sign-up bonuses last year. As policies become more restrictive, mining new bonuses is getting trickier, which is why I have started off this year paying a little more attention than I used to about improving my return on normal spending.Continue reading “My year in bonuses and my (tentative) card strategy for 2018”

Blogger’s note: I just reread this before publishing, and I think I may have just written 2200+ words while literally saying nothing at all. That may be a new record for me… but at least I’m warning you up front that you may get nothing (except boredom) out of this post. Read on at yourContinue reading “Legally SWISS”

I wrote about SWISS a bunch last spring, since I booked a business class award from Zurich back to San Francisco. Here’s a list of links to peruse, presented “real trip report” style as if I’m a real blogger: SWISS Bliss The king died on the throne SWISS Diss And finally, a review of theContinue reading “The SWISS Chronicles – My foray into 4A”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock that blocks your wifi signal, you know that Amex is aiming to make a big splash when their new lineup of Hilton cards debuts next week. New Amex cards usually mean new sign-up bonuses, so it’s always exciting when they come out with new products (even though it’sContinue reading “Am I overhyping Hilton Diamond status? Probably, but no one ever died from having high expectations… DID THEY?”

I’m on record as not loving American Airlines or their loyalty program. I mean, both are fine, but I can’t imagine being “loyal” to American Airlines out of anything deeper than geographical convenience. I’ve had decent flights on American, and I’ve made decent redemptions through AAdvantage — nothing in either direction has ever blown myContinue reading “How I’m doing with Barclay’s AAdvantage “Flight Cents” pilot program”

I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s time for a self-indulgent year-in-review post. This has been a fun year of blogging, and it’s been neat to see the blog pick up a wisp or two of steam. I pulled in 73,883 views this year, which is pretty paltry for a real pointsContinue reading “The way the wind is blowing, 2018 edition”

Justine and I stayed at the Delano Las Vegas last weekend, and it was one of the better hotel stays we’ve ever had. I booked the room through Fine Hotels and Resorts, and I specifically picked the Delano because they offer a $100 resort credit (which includes dining), whereas most FHR hotels in Vegas limitContinue reading “The Delano Las Vegas is a nice hotel”