Starwood rolled a bunch of great updates for Platinum Members this week. I won't re-hash them all. You can read about the changes here and here. And if you want to read Gary's thoughts, go here. My thoughts will come in a future blog post.

Today, Hilton responded. Previously, Elite members would have to choose between a list of benefits. As of today, Diamond Members get them all. Check here to see the list of benefits on Hilton's ...

So I'm checking into the my flight at the United Premier section of SFO, and things are going just fine. I notice a man with a dog to the right of me. I take notice because it doesn't look like a seeing eye dog, and it doesn't have any sort of "clothing" on to identify itself as a special dog. It looks like this guy just brought his pet in here. Whatever - this is San Francisco. I turn back toward the counter and stop caring. Then I hear the ...

Okay... I've blogged about this before, but now as I check in for my flight to Denver, it is irking me again. Check out the seatmap.

I've got a window seat, and Denver isn't really that far away. That being said, as a guy who flies over 100,000 miles per year on United, I think I *deserve* a better seat. Yup. That's right. I used the word, "deserve." I hate when people use that word when it comes to travel, especially as they're typically lobbying ...

I've got a reader question that I wrote a response to, and after writing a long response, I decided it might be appropriate for everyone. Bakersfield Ramin writes...

Hey There!

So I'm in Dallas now, and i fly back to Los Angeles every 2-3 weeks, and I figured that American Airlines flies out a lot from DFW - so I'd use them. I signed up w/ their Citibank card for the miles. They gave me about 40,000 miles for spending 2k in the first 6 months and 1 mile for every dollar I ...

Before:

After:

Continental used to count all elite qualifying miles as eligigble for Lifetime Million Miler Status. In other words, if you flew on an Alliance carrier or Continental, it still counted. United only counts flights on their own metal. To equalize the programs with the merger, United gave all Mileage Plus members a one time "bump" on January 1st this year. Miles flown on Star Alliance ...