Monday April 2nd was a sad day for the community of frequent flyers. Tim Winship — long a standard voice among those passing along wisdom and as well the sanity of the topic of miles and points — passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Tim is my friend. Let me tell you about him.

I first met up with Tim in the late 1980s when he was working in Singapore Airlines’ North American marketing department. Tim was a California guy and had a MBA in marketing from the University of Southern California (USC). The Singapore Airlines offices were deep in the shadows of LAX and Tim stayed well after dark as I in my pre-iPhone days stumbled around trying to follow directions to his office. I was interested in what Singapore might be doing with frequent flyer programs in the U.S. and Tim had been assigned a project to tie Singapore Airlines up with the young American Airlines AAdvantage program. That evening started a friendship.

Tim got hooked with the miles and points topic there at Singapore and later moved over to the North American offices for All Nippon Airways (ANA), also in the shadows of LAX where he helped them develop both their Goldpass program along with the ANA Mileage Club. Later, he spent time with Hilton Hotels. Yes, Tim was of the industry; but he was also a renaissance sort of guy. In addition to his MBA in marketing from USC, he also earned a BFA in design from California Institute of the Arts and completed several years of grad work in philosophy and symbolic logic at Cal State Los Angeles. Now you know why when asked a question … he would pause first. Yes, Tim was a thinker and that served him well as he transformed his knowledge inside frequent flyer programs to what most of you know him for today.

Add in his wit and humor, he is the real deal.

In 1996, Tim launched as a hobby because of his interest in technology plus his profession of miles and points, a website called theffpsite.org. True to the honesty of Tim, he chose the .org URL because it was at that time totally non-profit. I used to tease him that with a MBA in marketing that the best he could come up with was “theffpsite.org”? It was a running bit of laughter between the two of us as we relied mostly on Compuserve for early messaging — and, of course, your dial telephones at the time. After a while, Tim learned that there was something to this topic of miles and points and changed his URL to .com because he was experimenting with banners and started to earn some revenue. Again, Tim was completely honest because he did not want to betray the intent of a .org with “profit”. I always admired and loved him for that trait which over the years never wavered. In late July 1998, Tim decided to leave his role at Hilton Hotels and go all in on his website. Around that time I got a call from a broker about buying frequentflier.com. I was fairly entrenched with my own online ventures and reached out to Tim and suggested I didn’t have a need for the URL but maybe, just maybe he consider buying it and change out from his theffpsite brand. He did; and in October 1998, he purchased that URL for $500. Heck of a deal and off he went.

Tim’s knowledge of both inside the industry and transformation to being an entrepreneur took hold as he launched his Frequent Flier Crier newsletter and became one of the early voices online and off to help the frequent flyer learn to use miles and points. Over the years, he branched out and became a contributing editor and columnist for SmarterTravel and AirfareWatchdog among others and even contributed to the OAG Frequent Flyer magazine. Always wise and always sound advice and information wherever he wrote.

Tim is (there is no “was” among friends) one of my favorite writers ever. Whether it was his interest in logic and philosophy that made his writing so reasonable, I don’t know; but there were few articles he wrote that I would not put forth as #bestever. I was a talking head, he was a true writer — so much so that he was actually a member of the Society of American Travel Writers. Our friendship continued to grow over the many years. We shared many a Mexican meal around LA where he knew them all — especially those which were Cal-Mex rather than Tex-Mex. It was over tamales at El Cholo that we engaged in an idea that later became a co-authored book — Mileage Pro. I had done a few books under the Official Frequent Flyer Guidebook (OGGF) series and Tim was an author-in-waiting having penned a series of articles for SmarterLiving (now known as SmarterTravel) called Joy of Miles. After turn downs from the Idiot’s Guide people at Macmillan, we eventually found a publisher in Official Airlines Guide (OAG) who had published the earlier popular Frequent Flyer Magazine. We finally got serious in 2004 and the book made its debut in 2005. It was a hit and we both were proud of the effort with authoring alternating chapters and topics. Those were some of our best times. The countless conversations, deadlines, discussions and agreements we made to make that book work. The book seemed to take many by surprise as they thought we were adversaries and here we were co-authoring a book. Never. I am a fan of Tim’s writing and work and never thought of him as anything other than a friend.

He later sold frequentflier.com to Internet Brands and in late 2015 contacted me about blogging on BoardingArea. There’s nothing i would not do for Tim and we immediately found him a home with The Real Deal blog. Later he moved on to also blogging on InsideFlyer.com. Wherever he wrote, he was solid, he was worth reading.

Tim struggled most of his life with being able to walk and relied on a cane to get around. One of my favorite memories of Tim was back in the late 90s. While his FrequentFlier website was doing well, he was still looking for other opportunities; so he came out to the House of Miles in Colorado Springs to interview for an editor’s job with InsideFlyer magazine. At the time, our company car was a Corvette and I had Karen Heldt on our staff go pick him up at the local airport. I had forgotten that Tim had difficulty getting around; and Karen had a heck of a time getting him into the Corvette. She must have given him quite the ride because all day long he had grin on his face that never left; and when we were done, he asked me if we could take him back to the airport in the Corvette. For a friend that I thought had a conservative side, he seemed to love a wild ride.

Now you know a little more about Tim Winship. He is one of the early ones who helped shaped conversations around the frequent flyer. He supported travelers by being a spokesperson; he helped make them more knowledgeable by his writing and advice; and he will long be remembered by all who ever came in contact with him. And for nearly 30 years he’s been a part of my life.

Tim was devoted to his readers. On Monday April 2nd, he posted his last blog post on InsideFlyer.com at 4:16 pm. Hours later, he would pass away. In an ode to Tim from the movie Up In The Air — “Tonight, most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs and sqealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day, and tonight they will sleep. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places, and one of those lights slightly brighter than the rest will be Tim’s wingtip passing over.”

Tears for my friend Tim Winship. Tears for his family. We lost a good one.

The post In Memoriam. Tim Winship. appeared first on InsideFlyer.

A total of 8 airlines and their frequent flyer programs in the United States, as well as two programs in Canada, abruptly scuttled their programs in a frenzied one-hour period starting this morning in reaction to the backlash of Baskin Bearways Airlines raising the award price for inflight showers. You Is Airways touched off the wave of cancellations at 5 am with a terse statement that its frequent flyer program would bite the dust on April 31, 2016. Within minutes the other 7 airlines had announced they too were getting off the frequent flyer merry-go-around.

Concerned that the moves could send airline stocks plummeting and transit shock waves throughout the economy, governments around the world halted trading in all transportation stocks. The exception at press time appears to be the Trading Stock Exchange in Republic Of*. (*Note: National flag carrier, Republic Of Airlines does not have its own frequent flyer program.)

As a result of the cancellations, members of frequent flyer programs must book any outstanding award trips by midnight April 15, 2016. All award trips claimed must then be completed by April 31, 2016. This two-week period is expected to be the busiest travel days of the year and the BS[A] has recalled 145,000 government-trained employees to handle the PostCheck lines certain to be filled with former frequent flyers.

The 8 airlines, expecting a last-minute rush of award requests, will keep their websites open around the clock. Most of the carriers are even installing additional award redemption kiosks at the airport and automated recordings on their pay phone service centers, in an attempt to offset the anticipated onslaught of phone calls. When asked about social channels such as BaseBook and Slittler, airlines were wary of releasing too much information and they were still hesitant to trust this unproven channel of communication during such an important time in their futures.

“Like most other airlines with mounting frequent flyer liabilities and growing hoards of cash,” says Ricardo Sanderson, president of Deter Air Lines, “we have been looking for quite some time for a way to get off the hook. Everyone wanted out, but nobody wanted to be first. But once one carrier tested the water, we all tore off our clothes and plunged in”. Baskin Bearways Airlines CEO, Hadby Stilton echoed the same though noted that the polar bear plunge was a really cold plunge. He also noted that the recent outrage wasn’t really bloggers that caused the shower decision, it was the inability to resolve with their partner who would bear the cost of additional hot water heaters on board.

Hoss There-Moon Yoz, president of Untied Airlines, said his airline has devised a way to soften the blow for its members. Each member redeeming an award will be given 80,000 bonus miles, he says. “Those miles, like all others currently in members’ accounts must be used by the April 15 deadline.”

Ironically, a spokesman for You Is Airways now says that carrier cancelled its frequent flyer program in error. He explained the Airline’s Super Strategic Planning Objectives Committee, more commonly referred to as ASSPOC, held an off-site meeting early yesterday morning to look at the ramifications of a series of scenarios. A number of options were considered ranging from scrapping the program in its entirely to awarding quintuple mileage in all months containing the letter “R”. The committee recommended the latter choice, but notes from the earlier discussions were handed erroneously to the company’s public relations department and they in fact were confused because of the pending ground crew merger with Person AnAmerican Airlines of Burlingame, CA.

For airlines, there could not be a better time than late April for travelers to claim free trips. Most people have run their credit cards to the limit to pay for March Spring Break vacations, and are now forced to make a minimum payment on their credit cards before they can charge their summer vacation. Most planes over the next two weeks would be flying almost empty. By filling the seats with flyers traveling on free awards, the airlines can pay off their debts to members without cutting into revenue payloads.

There is, the possibility that not all members will be able to get space by the April 15 deadline. Barry Sellme, president of SOS Airways, says capacity controls should not be a problem. “Even if you can’t get on a flight,” he says, “keep in mind that the e-ticket emails are suitable for framing and can make lively conversation, especially with your grandpa who may have lost his miles when Pan Am discontinued their original program back in 1987.”

A spokesperson for BoardingArea, a frequent traveler reader community said, “The website has burnt out the search tool looking for answers from bloggers as distraught travelers who are afraid that since both the IRS and airline award redemption deadlines are on the same date, either the IRS or the awards will have to wait.” At least the IRS will give you an extension.

The stock of hotel companies has rocketed as it’s assumed that travelers will use the hotel guest programs as a substitute to earning free travel with the airlines. In fact, Dam Perks, vice president of Hil-A-Ton Hotel properties noted that new memberships were coming in at 500,000 a minute with no end in sight as travelers are aware that they can still earn free airline tickets by staying at a hotel. Stock trading for StarWouldNot Hotels has been halted because the share-price trading has paralyzed the system and because IAMBIGBANG renewed their pursuit after sucker punching MarryMeALot into thinking that they were not interested in acquiring StarWouldNot with the hopes of acquiring 14Points and shedding the rest of the hotel brands to UnTied Airlines who announced they were exciting their frequent flyer programs with hopes of building a new synergy around hotels and car rental companies—assets that they have identified as being over valued by most everyone.

Meanwhile, economists are divided on how the demise of frequent flyer programs will affect the Western economy given the current financial situation. The most pessimistic forecast comes from Harvard University economist John Kenneth Goldbrick. “Without bonus miles, no business person in his or her right mind is going to go through the hassles and frustrations of flying,” he says. “And without business travel there will be no business conducted. The world could be facing a depression equal to that of the 1930s… uh, today.”

However, president Arock Nomama foresees little long-term effect from the curtailment of business travel, “Entrepreneurs will simply find new ways of carrying out international commerce, possibly by way of using their new two-inch Blackberry phones.” He did however leave open the possibility that his government would consider a bailout of this situation with T-MARP (Troubled Mileage Asset Relief Plan).

There is some hope though as presidential candidate TheDon Trumpcard announced he was going to build a wall around the airports preventing frequent flyers from ever cashing in their miles, thus saving the potential economic blow to his stimulus plan for “Making Frequent Flyer Programs Great Again”.

For up-to-date information on the cancellation of frequent flyer programs, please contact the airline of your choice.
Someone will likely remind you that it is April Fools’ Day.

The post Airlines Through Fooling Around With Frequent Flyer Headaches appeared first on InsideFlyer.

“Our intention was never to launch a website, our intention was to build a global brand for frequent flyers.”

We’ve got news to share with you. Today we are announcing a change to our name—a change that makes you a part of the first global brand for road warriors / frequent flyers and other travelers seeking a friendly but informative experience online. The InsideFlyer name is now a globally connected resource with local content/language websites in the U.S., Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands with Germany and the U.K. coming soon.

We’ve known for a long time that when travelers “go online,” they are likely to do several things—participate in discussions in forums, read news from blogs, use tools to check their loyalty programs balances, view their pending travel itineraries, use the services of companies that cater products and services to these same travelers and increasingly all these activities are integrated socially. That’s where we come in. InsideFlyer represents content + community + technology + social in a single destination in your browser.

We’ve just released our Beta edition to get you comfortable with the things we have planned. We’ve added new content, new benefits, a new interface and the promise of much more to come.

We’ll be tuning up our launch and adding many new features in the days and weeks to come.

One of the most popular new benefits is the Travel Manager which if you choose to opt in, will track your loyalty accounts for you, automate your travel itineraries and allow you to connect with your fellow flyers and friends. These benefits are all FREE with your InsideFlyer membership. As a Milepoint member and now InsideFlyer member, we invite you to join this new service.

GLOBALLY CONNECTED.

We’re Just Getting Started

Once beyond our beta period, we’ll launch our sponsored forums which will connect you with experts in the area (LoungeBuddy staff answering questions and advice on airport lounges around the globe; information and questions being answered by the leading expert on manufactured spending, the Frequent Miler blog). Other items include a search tool that will provide you with results culled from not only our forums but the blogs we also feature—more content, better results. We’ll be adding in forum tools that allow you to bookmark threads similar to bookmarking items in your browser and the ability to customize the current forum tree. Only want to see five different forums? You’ll see only five. We’ll also be adding “related threads” to the forums to give you ideas on other threads should the thread you are reading not contain the information you are looking for.

More Content In One Place

In addition to our forums, we have integrated blogs to match your interests. And we made it easier to see what’s in the forums from our front page by displaying two “latest posts” rather than a single “latest posts”. For those simply browsing the forum tree—that’s a 100% increase in viewable content. No longer will you have to decide to visit a forum based upon a single topic. As well, look for our partnership with The Flight Deal featured on the front page. Now you have access to great deals without leaving InsideFlyer.

A Dynamic Dashboard

Imagine with one dashboard >> easy access to the latest news from blogs, most popular threads in forums and your loyalty score. We’ve introduced a dynamic sidebar that you use to customize your experience. With an easy click on a side tab you instantly personalize your page. In the forums but still interested in what information might be posted in the blogs—easy. In the forums but want to see what threads are trending—easy. Anywhere on the website and interested in what your loyalty balances are or what your travel looks like in the coming weeks—easy. Yes, every page on InsideFlyer is about you.

Travel Manager

Travel made easy. It’s early, but one of the most popular new benefits is our Travel Manager which if you choose to opt in, will track your loyalty accounts for you, automate your travel itineraries and allow you to connect with your fellow flyers and friends. The best part? All these services are FREE with membership at InsideFlyer. In a world of takeaways, we’ve added more value to your free membership. Now you know how many miles and points you have without ever leaving a good discussion or reading a good article.

Sponsored Forums

In a first of its kind, we’ll be introducing sponsored forums which connects you to topic experts. Who knows more about airport lounges than LoungeBuddy? Their staff will help answer questions about lounges that they track and you’ll have a chance to add your own lounge reviews and as well read the reviews of LoungeBuddy app users. A perfect marriage of content and community. And who knows more about Manufactured Spending than the blog Frequent Miler? In a unique partnership, Frequent Miler will contribute content, participate in discussions and provide expert opinion and advice on the topic. And to answer your next question? Yes, we have more ideas connecting you with experts.

Premium Partners

The internet is a large place—too large say some. But we’re going to make it smaller by integrating selected premium partners services and information for you. If you’ve been on a delayed or cancelled flight or been denied boarding within the last three years, AirHelp will help you with information and a service that could get you your money back and you never have to leave us to find them. Same with Roomer. This service specializes in helping travelers find options for hotel rooms and reservations they can’t use. One of the coolest apps we’ve ever seen will soon make its appearance. You’ll enjoy using Hotel Hustle which will help you identify hotel locations and award redemption opportunities in cities you may be visiting. Instantly saves you a lot of time researching these things. More? There’s also FLYR which will help you predict and lock in airfares before you buy. Yes, there’s more and all will be integrated into InsideFlyer so you never have to spend time searching the rest of the Internet.

InsideExtras

The answer is YES. The question: will you be returning any Premium Membership offers? But we’d like to bring to your attention to another new benefit on InsideFlyer called InsideExtras. These are special very limited time offers exclusive to InsideFlyer members. Our first one features the ability to purchase LifeMiles with a 150% bonus plus have access to an award sale on Star Alliance partners with discounts on awards of up to 50%. This is the richest offer ever for these miles, even better than what LifeMiles offers its members directly. You must act fast, you have only until Thursday October 8 to register for this exclusive offer.

As many of you know, I founded the Freddie Awards to give voice to the frequent flyer. I founded FlyerTalk to provide a place for my fellow flyers to discuss the topic of travel among themselves and I founded BoardingArea to make it much easier to find advice and content by expert bloggers. Today I’m very proud to be a part of the founding team that is launching and will grow the first global footprint for the road warrior / frequent flyer. During this initial beta period, all mistakes and glitches are mine alone but with your help, feedback and interest in being part of a community that actually invests in its members—the future looks bright.

Cheers,

Randy Petersen

co-founder

CONTENT + COMMUNITY + TECHNOLOGY + SOCIAL

The post Milepoint is now InsideFlyer. appeared first on InsideFlyer.

At the end of 2013, there were 2,163 Best Western hotels in North America. Best Western divides their hotels into three types: Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier with escalating amenities and features.

Best Western Rewards was launched in 1988 and currently has over 22 million members. With hotels located almost everywhere around the globe, including new locations like Malaysia and Suriname, Best Western Rewards members have many opportunities for earning and redeeming points for hotel stays.

Best Western hotels in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean offer free Internet access (since 2004), free continental or hot breakfast and free local phone calls as standard hotel features. Best Western Rewards offers customized affinity partner programs such as Best Western Ride Rewards (for Harley-Davidson enthusiasts), Best Western Speed Rewards (for race fans) and the AAA or CAA Preferred Best Western Rewards program (for AAA and CAA members). The basic structure of these specialized programs is the same as Best Western Rewards; however, members have the added benefit of additional earning opportunities and may be eligible for special sweepstakes, discounted rates, exclusive offers and award redemption options.

Earning Ability
Members earn 10 points for every U.S. dollar spent on the qualifying room rate, excluding taxes. Or members may choose to earn airline miles for stays.

Members can also earn points through Best Western Rewards MasterCard and other credit card partner purchases, retail partners and car rentals.

Award Choices
A free award night starts at 8,000 points and there are eight redemption levels: 8,000, 12,000, 16,000, 20,000, 24,000, 28,000, 32,000 and 36,000 points. If you redeem for an award and would like to upgrade to a higher-level hotel, you can redeem for a 4,000-point level adjustment award.
If you don’t have enough points for a free night, you can redeem for a Best Western Travel Card that can be used toward Best Western hotel charges and applicable taxes at any Best Western hotel worldwide starting at 6,000 points for a $25 card. A $50 card is 12,000 points (11,000 points for elite members), a $100 card is 24,000 points (22,000 points for elite members) and the highest denomination of $250 is 60,000 points. The cards are reloadable and you can rush an order for delivery using 4,000 points, waived for Elite members.

Best Western Rewards has many other gift card award options. For as little as 2,000 points, you can redeem for an AMC movie ticket. Redeeming 5,800 points will get you a $25 gift card for The Sports Authority, Autozone and AMC Theatres. Redeeming 6,500 points will get you a $25 gift card for restaurants such as Applebee’s, Chili’s, Red Lobster or Starbucks. There are many other gift card and other (non-hotel stay) award options such as an iTunes $25 gift card for 6,500 points, one ticket to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for 15,000 points or 26,000 points will get you $100 Best Buy, Home Depot, Target or Walmart gift cards. Members can even spend their points to fill their gas tanks, starting at 6,500 points for a $25 Shell or Exxon/Mobil gas card.

Members may also opt to spend their points for cash donations to various charities including American Red Cross, Kiva, Make-A-Wish Foundation and more.

Members can convert 5,000 Best Western Rewards points into 1,000 airline miles with participating frequent flyer programs: Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, American AAdvantage, Asiana Airlines Asiana Club and US Airways Dividend Miles. Or you can redeem 5,000 Best Western Rewards points for 1,200 Southwest Rapid Rewards points, 1,600 AeroMexico Club Premier kilometers or 80 AIR MILES. Car rental awards are 11,600 points for $50 gift certificate for Avis or Budget or 13,000 points for $50 to be put toward Alamo or National car rentals.

Members who want to redeem points for merchandise can choose from an assortment of items starting at 5,000 points. A one-year membership in CAA can be obtained for 16,000 points and a Harley-Davidson H.O.G. membership starts at 6,250 points for a one-year associate membership in the U.S. (8,500 points in Canada).

Best Western Rewards does not currently offer auction awards or combinations of cash and points for award stays.

Partnerships
Best Western Rewards partners with the frequent flyer programs of AeroMexico, Air Berlin, Air Canada, Alaska, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, American, Asiana, Avianca, China Southern, Czech, Hainan, LAN, Lufthansa, Southwest, Turkish, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Payback in Germany, AIR MILES in Canada and Deutsche Bahn in Europe also partner with Best Western Rewards. Most airlines offer 250 miles per stay with the exception of Lufthansa and Aeroflot, offering 500 miles per stay, Aeromexico offering 400 kilometers per stay and Southwest, which offers 600 points per stay. AIR MILES offers 20 reward miles per stay.

Best Western Rewards will be introducing a new credit card partner for U.S. residents in the Spring of 2015. Currently members can earn 15 points for every $1 spent at Best Western locations and one point for every $1 spent everywhere else with the Best Western Rewards MasterCard issued by Barclays Bank. Cardmembers automatically receive Gold status after their first purchase and Diamond status each year they spend $10,000 on the card.

The Canadian card is issued by MBNA Canada Bank and offers 20,000 bonus points after the first purchase, 1.5 points for every $1 spent and has no annual fee. Cardholders receive a one-tier elite status upgrade when spending $6,000 per year.

Points can be transferred into Best Western Rewards at a ratio of 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points to 1,000 Best Western Rewards points. Diners Club points can also be transferred in varying amounts.

Members can earn points plus discounts on qualifying car rentals with Avis and Budget. Best Western Rewards does not currently have an online shopping mall but partners with a few retailers. Members can earn up to 12,500 points for membership in Vinesse Wine Club and can earn points for purchasing flowers through FTD or Teleflora.

Elite-level Program
Best Western Rewards has three elite tiers: Gold Elite, Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite. Members who complete 10 qualifying nights or earn 10,000 points during a calendar year will receive Gold Elite status. Gold Elite members receive a 10 percent point bonus on their stays and exclusive elite-only offers.

Members who stay 15 qualifying nights or earn 15,000 points during a calendar year receive Platinum Elite status. In addition to Gold benefits, Platinum Elite members receive a 15 percent point bonus on their stays, best available room and a welcome snack and beverage or 250 bonus points at hotels in the U.S. and Canada.

Stay 30 qualifying nights or earn 30,000 points in a calendar year and you’ll receive Diamond Elite status. In addition to Gold and Platinum benefits, Diamond Elite members receive a 30 percent point bonus on their stays.

Only points earned from hotel stays qualify towards elite qualification. Best Western Rewards also offers a “Status Match…No Catch” program, where elite members of any other hotel loyalty programs can receive comparable status with Best Western. If you own a co-branded credit card, you’ll receive Gold status.

Rules and Conditions
Free room nights are fully transferable and can be used at any Best Western brand lodging establishment in Asia, Australia, Europe, Central America, North America and South America that accepts the point value designated with the free room night, subject to capacity controls and lodging establishment room availability.

Points are awarded for room rate only (excluding tax) and members will not earn points on stays longer than 30 nights (upon the property’s discretion). Members can earn points on up to 10 rooms reserved under the member’s name.

Best Western Rewards points do not expire for members of the North American club, which includes members who reside in North, Central and South America, Asia and South Africa. Points may expire for members who reside in other countries not mentioned above.

Points cannot be pooled with other Best Western Rewards members unless they reside at the same address. There is a Best Western Best Advantage program designed for small- to medium-sized businesses offering 10 percent off best available room rate, Diamond Elite status for the company owner and Gold for employees, exclusive perks and the company earns 10 percent of all points into a company account that the company’s travelers earn.

Missing point requests must be made within six months of the stay by contacting Best Western Rewards customer service.

New members can claim points for stays occurring 30 days before enrollment.

Members in the U.S. and Canada can purchase points at the rate of 1,000 points for $10, up to 20,000 points per transaction.

Points can be transferred without a fee by contacting customer service, and may only be between members who share the same address.

Service Support
Many general questions can be answered by visiting the FAQ list at http://www.bestwesternrewards.com . Members can also email customer service from the website or call the customer care center. There are 28 local customer service telephone numbers that members can access worldwide.

Online Services
Members can view their account activity, update their account information and change their preferences at http://www.bestwesternrewards.com. Requests for hotel awards, point donations, gift cards and point conversions to airline miles can all be made via the website.

Missing point requests can be completed online or by contacting customer service. To get credit for stays booked in other ways, you will need to mail or fax a copy of the missing point request form (available online) along with a copy of your hotel receipt.

Plus Features
Best Western has a vast array of hotels worldwide where members can earn and spend points. Best Western hotels are often located in smaller towns and may be your only hotel option if you want to earn miles or points when staying in places off the beaten path. Points can be transferred between members residing at the same address with no fee and points don’t expire for most members (depends on where you live). The Status Match … No Catch program is a definite plus for anyone wishing to switch loyalties.

Minus Features
A complimentary room upgrade at a Best Western can’t compare to the type of upgrades offered by upscale hotel groups and it could be argued that the program is lacking truly aspirational award stays, although Best Western hotels can be found in desirable locations. Members do not have the option to combine cash and points for a hotel stay.

Program Rating
Overall Score 7.21
Earning Ability 7.0
Award Choices 7.5
Partnerships 7.0
Elite Level 7.0
Rules & Condition 7.5
Service Support 7.5
Online Services 7.0

Program Information:
Best Western Rewards
PO Box 42007
Phoenix, AZ 85080
(800) 237-8483

www.bestwestern.com/rewards

The post InsideLook: Best Western Rewards appeared first on InsideFlyer.

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Zaman has a GoFundMe page to find funds to help with his legal expenses. At this writing, he was requesting $65,000 and had received $64,096 in pledges from 3,004 supporters. Zaman is 22 years old.

Bottom line: You don’t have to use a website like Zaman’s to put together a hidden city fare so the lawsuit will do nothing to stop the practice.

The post Hidden City Lawsuit appeared first on InsideFlyer.

The post Aeroplan and TORONTO 2015 appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Bottom line: Other offers include earning 2,000 bonus points with just one stay while others allow for a higher upper threshold for the bonus, up to 65,000 bonus miles, for example. It pays to register to see what you’re individualized offer is.

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Bottom line: It will be up to individual travelers whose plans change and who are not able to cancel their reservations a day in advance to ask the hotel to waive the fee, or more likely, get a refund when the hotel charges the fee on your credit card. As with Marriott and Hilton, so far, elite members of the loyalty programs will have to pay if they miss the deadline to cancel their room, just like everyone else.

The post Starwood Follows Hotel Cancellation Fee Trend appeared first on InsideFlyer.