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News about airlines and travel

Kaligo and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles promotion

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Kaligo.com is running a new promotion targeting Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members.

During the promotion period from 1st of October until 30th of November, KrisFlyer members can earn 18 KrisFlyer miles per S$1 spent on every hotel booking with Kaligo.com. 

The hotel stay has to be completed by 30 June 2018.

it’s additional 50% more miles compared to regular earnings of 12 KrisFlyer miles per S$1 spent.

I’m already rebooking some of my hotels stays with this promotion, as I recently started to accumulate Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for the First Class trip between Singapore and Hong Kong.

Don’t forget to book with a credit card that earns miles.  For example with new Miles and More Mastercard, you can make a double dip, earn both Singaporean KrisFlyer and Lufthansa Miles and More miles within one booking!

You’ll need to register for this offer at www.kaligo.com/krisflyer-offer.

 

Promotional Terms and Conditions:

  1. To enjoy this offer, please register for the offer with your email at http://link.kaligo.com/krisflyer-offer and place your hotel bookings with your registered email during the Promotion Period: 1 October 2017 and 30 November 2017 inclusive. The hotel stay has to be completed by 30 June, 2018.
  2. Both new and existing Kaligo customers are eligible to qualify for this bonus offer.
  3. Eligible KrisFlyer members will receive an extra 50% KrisFlyer miles on top of the regular KrisFlyer miles earned on Kaligo. The regular KrisFlyer miles refers to at least 2.3 KrisFlyer miles per S$1 (equivalent to at least 3 KrisFlyer miles per US$1) spent that KrisFlyer members could earn on Kaligo.
  4. Bookings made under this Promotion will not qualify for Kaligo Affiliate Program commissions.
  5. KrisFlyer miles will be credited to your account within 4-6 weeks after the completion of the required hotel stays.
  6. We reserve the right to retract awarded miles if we suspect fraud, unauthorised stacking of bonuses, collecting multiple bonuses from the same hotel stay (defined as the same travelling party staying consecutive nights at the same hotel), technical errors, cancel/rebooking activity (defined by identical search criteria), or any other deceptive behaviour attempted to circumvent the limits expressed in these terms and conditions.
  7. You cannot use these offers in conjunction with any other promotional offers or apply them to existing bookings or retroactively apply them to hotel stays completed prior to registration.
  8. Kaligo reserves the right to terminate this bonus offer at any time and without notice.
  9. In case of any disputes, KrisFlyer and Kaligo reserve the right to make the final judgment and the decision of KrisFlyer and Kaligo shall be final.
  10. Please read Kaligo’s general Terms and Conditions carefully as they apply to all hotel bookings made through Kaligo.
  11. KrisFlyer’s terms and conditions apply.
  12. Visitors arriving to Kaligo from meta-search sites will not qualify for this bonus offer.

Hilton 72h Flash sale in Central and Southeast Asia

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Hilton is running a new 72 hours Flash Sale targeting hotels in Central and Southeast Asia.

The sale will end September 8th, 5 AM GMT time, and for the stays between September 5th 2017 and February 28th 2018.

Hilton 72h Flash sale in Central and Southeast Asia

Hilton Hotel and resort properties of the participating are offering a discount of up to 40% off of the best available bed or bed and breakfast rates.

Hilton Honors members during the 72-hour sale get additional discount of 10% — with potential savings of 50% off of regular rates. Guaranteed Discount or lowest price offering is valid for Hilton Honors members only. To qualify, you must be a registered member of Hilton Honors at the time of booking; and the booking must be made through Hilton direct channels: Hilton.com or HHonors.com, or the Hilton Reservation call center.

Keep in mind that all Hampton by Hilton hotel properties in mainland China are excluded from the Hilton Honors frequent guest loyalty program.

I booked a stay in Hilton Phuket Arcadia resort few days ago with refundable rate.

Now the Flash Sale HH rate is 50% cheaper, so surely I will cancel my first reservation and rebook it with Hilton Flash Sale rate.

There’re many interesting offers in Korea and Japan, as well as Singapore. Unfortunately, Kuala Lumpur hotels don’t show any Flash Sale rates. It’d be a really cheap way of extending my Hilton Honors Diamond status by staying in Kuala Lumpur Doubletree hotel.

Did you find any other great deal with Hilton Flash sale?

The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway launches on 7 September 2017

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Singapore Airlines is launching 7 September 2017 “The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway”. Using the new offer is promising  great prices to great places, along with a bunch of great perks.

The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway perks

  • Double KrisFlyer miles with Rentalcars.com and Agoda.com bookings
  • S$10 KrisShop eVouchers for inflight duty-free shopping
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members can also enjoy additional discounts on selected destinations

It would be interesting to see if The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway offers additional ways of earning KrisFlyer miles without actually flying Singapore Airlines. KrisFlyer miles is the best option to enjoy award winning Singapore Airlines first class, including first class suites.

Will keep updated when The Great Singapore Airlines Getaway service becomes available.

British Airways Visa Card Sweden

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British Airways has announced a new promo offer for Visa Card for Swedish market.

The card will allow to accumulate Avios on BA Executive Club reward program for residents in Sweden.

British Airways Visa Card

  • Annual fee: 395 SEK a year
  • Points earning: 1 Avios for each 20 SEK spent and 2 Avios for purchases with British Airways
  • 5000 bonus Avios are awarded on the first purchase made on the British Airways Visa Card before 30 September 2017
  • British Airways Companion Voucher after spending 500 000 SEK a year (SIC! More than triple times the amount required with SAS American Express Premium/Elite)
  • 10% flight discount on a single or return journey between Sweden and the UK on BA operated flights
  • Application form is here

I don’t see many people applying for this card, unless they regularly take British Airways to fly between Scandinavia and the UK. Even though, Avios collection might be of interest for some Scandinavian travelers, but SAS is offering much better service and redemption options in comparison to BA Executive Club reward program. As there is no minimum spending required, technically you can apply for the card, make one purchase, receive 5000 Avios and close the card.

The companion voucher, however, is a complete joke and doesn’t stand a chance against SAS American Express 2-4-1 voucher.

And let’s not forget, British Airways has been constantly on strikes for several years in a row, which doesn’t add much credibility.

Footprint:

1. 5,000 Bonus Avios offer available to Eligible Participants only. Eligible Participants must be aged 20 or over and must reside in Sweden. 5,000 Bonus Avios are awarded on the first purchase made on the British Airways Visa Card before 23:59 30 September 2017.
2. Offer available to new applicants for the British Airways Visa Card only.
3. No annual fee for the first year, thereafter an annual fee of 395 SEK applies.
4. The Eligible Participant must have a valid British Airways Executive Club account to receive the 5,000 Bonus Avios. If you're not an Executive Club member already, we'll automatically enroll you into the Club when you get your British Airways Visa Card.
5. Standard terms and conditions apply to the use of the British Airways Visa Card, see here for full terms and conditions, interest rates and APR. [Annual fee 395 SEK, 13.64% effective interest rate (6 April 2016). The total amount payable is 21,590 SEK based on a credit of 20,000 SEK and 15.77% APR. The amount is calculated on the basis that the credit is repaid over 12 months (instalment amount in average 1799 SEK) and that the interest-free period of 39 days is used. This does not include any charges for cash withdrawals].
6. The 5,000 Bonus Avios points will be added to the Eligible Participant's nominated Executive Club account 30 days from the date of first use of the British Airways Visa Card. 
7. Avios Points are issued subject to British Airways Executive Club Terms and Conditions. Reward Flight Saver bookings and Companion Voucher bookings are subject to availability and Executive Club members are responsible for the payment of taxes, fees and carrier charges. See ba.com for the full range of Avios redemption opportunities.
8. Companion Voucher bookings are subject to terms and conditions.
9. Full travel insurance terms and conditions can be found here: Travel insurance terms and conditions (pdf, 135kb, Swedish only).
10. Eligible Participants shall receive the standard benefits from the British Airways Visa Card subject to the terms and conditions of use referenced in clause 5 above in addition to the Bonus Avios under the terms of this promotion.
11. These terms and conditions may be amended by the Promoter at any time.
12. The Promoter, administrator and issuer of the British Airways Visa Card is EnterCard Sverige AB, Corp ID no. 556673-0593, SE-105 34 Stockholm, tel +46 (0)771-48 00 50. EnterCard Sverige AB is subject to inspection by Finansinspektionen. Cancellation policy applies.
13. Questions regarding the British Airways Visa Card should be directed to EnterCard, tel +46 (0)771-48 00 50.
14. A flight discount of 10% applies to new British Airways Visa Card holders who've taken up the card between 01 September and 30 September 2017. Flights must be marketed and operated British Airways flights booked on ba.comby 31 March 2018 for travel by 31 October 2018. Discount of 10% is inclusive of taxes, fees and charges. One single-use discount code valid per customer. Eligible to be used on Single or Return journeys on routes between Sweden and the UK only. BA cabins available for this offer are Euro Traveller and Club Europe.

Lufthansa Miles&More points bargain Meilenschnäppchen

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Lufthansa monthly promotes Miles&More mileage bargains. September promotion is offering some nice destinations with up to 50% Miles&More discount.

  • Booking period: September 2017
  • Travel period: 01.01.2018 – 15.02.2018
  • Round trip in Business and Economy classes from Europe
  • Promotion and all destinations are available at: www.meilenschnaeppchen.de

Booking economy class with Lufthansa Miles&More isn’t feasible economically, due to very high YQ surcharges. For example, a round trip from Frankfurt to Hong Kong in economy class will cost 40 000 miles and $360 surcharges.

LufthansaeconomyclassHongkong

More interesting offers are in Lufthansa business class.

A roundtrip to Dallas or Chicago is only 55 000 instead of 105 000 miles + $380 taxes. This route is operated by A380, which makes it a great opportunity to experience Lufthansa business class onboard of A380.LufthansabusinessclassChicagoThere are also Asian destinations, including Tokyo and Beijing, which are available for 70 000 instead of 135 000 miles + 460 EUR in taxes.LufthansabusinessclassBeijingLufthansa Miles&More Meilenschnäppchen is also country dependent, so try playing with the departure country to find additional offers, for example departures from Austria have additional destinations in USA and Asia.

Airberlin topbonus status match to EuroBonus level

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It’s not a secret that airberlin topbonus program runs everlasting status match program, matching existing customers status to their Top Bonus Silver (oneWorld Ruby) or Gold (oneWorld Sapphire) card.

However, I was surprised how fast and smooth the status matching process is. I was forced to book a flight with Royal Jordanian airlines, as my beloved Aegean isn’t operating any flights to Amman on required date. With the only option left being Royal Jordanian, which is in the same oneWorld alliance as airberlin, I decided to status match my SAS EuroBonus Gold status to airberlin topbonus program.

How topbonus Status Match works

Email to statusmatch@topbonus.de and provide the following information:

  • Your topbonus number
  • A legible scan/photo/copy of your other valid frequent flyer card (I sent an iPhone screenshot of my SAS EuroBonus status)
  • Your application will be reviewed and processed by our Service-Team.

In addition, I was asked to provide a photo of passport, national ID or any other proof of my Swedish residency. All in all, my status was matched within one day, which is really impressive. When few years ago I tried status match SAS EuroBonus to Turkish Airlines Miles and More, followed by Alitalia MilleMiglia program, it took me 2 weeks at least.

With airberlin topbonus it took just 2 emails and less than 24 hours. Impressive German efficiency!

I received airberlin topbonus Gold status that is valid for 12 months, mostly for the sake of fast track and lounge access. Here are the full benefits:

  • 50 % more status and award miles on flights (Executive Bonus)
  • free seat and XL/preferred seat reservations
  • free access to more than 650 Business Class and Frequent Flyer Lounges at airberlin and oneworld® worlwide
  • free adjacent seat
  • priority boarding
  • security fast lane

In order to be able to use status match, you need to be a resident in one of the following countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Norway. You can also match to airberlin topbonus Silver status, but the benefits are quite negligible if you travel on oneworld partners.

Update:

Airberlin topbonus gold card

My card has arrived within a week by priority mail and I bought lanyards for staff here. The package included one topbonus gold card valid until 08/2018 and two luggage tags.

And I completely agree with “Gold suits you perfectly!”… indeed it does!

Aeroflot Bonus and AeroMenu

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Aeroflot Bonus new partner AeroMenu is offering fresh and healthy food, delivered to the gate before the flight.

You can select one out of three meal combos (for now, perhaps the menu will grow), no later than 80 minutes before the flight from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO). It will be prepared by AeroMenu and delivered to you by the gate.

Aeroflot Bonus and AeroMenu

Current meal sets are:

Balanced meal – 23 Eur or 4138 Aeroflot Bonus miles.


Roast beef and fresh chili salad

Salmon and cheese bruschetta

Carrot cake

Vegetarian meal – 19 Eur or 3362 Aeroflot Bonus miles

Quinoa salad

Tofu sandwich


Chocolate and banana cake

Kids meal – 16 Eur or 2844 Aeroflot Bonus miles

Mini-mozzarella salad

Club sandwich


Cranberry muffin

 

The food can be preordered via a phone app, which can be downloaded from the official webpage.

Unfortunately, it is only available in Russian language now.

Members of Aeroflot Bonus program can earn 1 point for each 0.17 Eur spent with AeroMenu. It’s a very generous miles offer from Aeroflot.

I have not tried AeroMenu food yet, but I’m very happy about an alternative option to Aeroflot in-flight food. My last flight with Aeroflot in EU and domestic left me very unhappy with the meal provided in business class. Scared to think what do they give in economy class.

Personally, I think AeroMenu is a bit pricey, but the food and drinks in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport were always priced ridiculously.

Aegean Miles+Bonus and SPG Starwood Preferred Greece promotion

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Aegean Airlines with SPG is running very generous promotion for members of Miles+Bonus and SPG Starwood Preferred Guest programs.

Book a stay at selected hotel members of Starwood Preferred Guest in Greece and benefit from 3,000 extra Starpoints, which is a value of one night in some properties.

On top of it, if you decide to convert Starpoints into Miles+Bonus award miles you can earn 5,000 award miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred to Miles+Bons in a single transaction. Read more about the promotion on Aegean page.

Gold Miles+Bonus members may take advantage of their exclusive coupons for benefits and discounts at 8 hotel-members of Starwood Preferred Guest in Greece. Read more about the benefits here.

Participating hotels

  • Athens: King George, a Luxury Collection Hotel and Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel
  • The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort and The Westin Resort Costa Navarino at Costa Navarino
  • Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa in Crete
  • Sheraton Rhodes Resort in Rhodes
  • Vedema, a Luxury Collection Resort in Santorini

Τhe offer is valid for stays booked and completed by December 31, 2017, based on hotels’ seasonality and availability.

It is a great offer if you are member of both programs and looking to boost your Aegean Miles+Bonus account together with accumulating very valuable Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints. 

Greece is one of my most favorite vacation destinations in EU during the summer, unfortunately SPG properties there are quite expensive, but worth it.

S7 airlines stops codesharing with Royal Jordanian airlines

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S7 Airlines seems to be stopping codeshare partnership with Royal Jordanian airlines (both are members of oneworld alliance).  I had a reservation with one leg operated by S7 and second leg with S7 flight number operated by Royal Jordanian metal. Yesterday the last leg by RJ just completely disappeared from my reservation. Like without even leaving a single trace it was ever there…

Here is the flight booked several months ago


Searching for the same dates and destinations today on S7 website gives only this notification

It took me two days of being bounced between S7, Royal Jordanian and Expedia to recover the reservation and during that time I managed to visit one of S7 offices in Russia.

I reasonably asked personnel working for S7 what is going on, where is the flight and why they cannot restore their alliance partner flight back to the reservation. I got a quick answer “we are stopping our cooperation with Royal Jordanian airlines“. Unfortunately, S7 personnel refused to dig into details.

It’s not clear what’s the status of cooperation between S7 and Royal Jordanian, but rumors are saying its about who is earning profits from the heavily booked route to Amman.   

During the talk with Expedia, I also asked what is going on. The only reason they could come up with was also stop of codesharing agreement.

In any case, if you have any flights booked with S7 and RJ together, I would highly recommend to immediately check it.

Leave your comments if you experienced the same!

Qatar Airways 48-hours online sale

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Qatar Airways has opened 48-hours online sale of flights in economy and business classes.

Rush to their webpage for some ridiculously cheap flight offers, including Scandinavia and most of other regions. Select corresponding region/language and look for 48-hours offer.

Qatar Airways 48-hours online sale

Here are some examples of Qatar Airways from Scandinavia offers

Sweden

Stockholm – Doha – Auckland
Economy Class from 5699 SEK
Business Class from 18,200 SEK

Stockholm – Doha – Phuket
Economy Class from 4380 SEK
Business Class from 17,690SEK

Stockholm – Doha – Singapore
Economy Class from 3600 SEK
Business Class from 12,200 SEK

Denmark

Copenhagen – Doha – Singapore
Economy Class from 3142 
Business Class from 9806

Copenhagen – Doha – Maldives
Economy Class from 5339 

Copenhagen – Doha – Bangkok
Economy Class from 3179
Business Class from 13,550 DKK

Norway

Oslo – Doha – Colombo
Economy Class from 5689  

Oslo – Doha- Singapore
Economy Class from 4028 Business Class from 12,006 

Oslo – Doha – Auckland
Economy Class from 5952 NOK
Business Class from 17,900 NOK

The most amazing deals are clearly to Singapore (within 400 EUR) and to Auckland (within 600 EUR).

Don’t forget that Qatar Airways is voted the best airline in 2017 by SkyTrax and this is a great opportunity to experience their business class service onboard.