Just a note that I will be posting far less frequently until after April. I am heading into my final exams for law school, and I have three trips booked, with almost no rest time (Las Vegas, California, and Australia). I will still try to post major deals, however, don’t expect any analytical posts until after April. Sorry for the hiatus, but I need it!
I’ve written extensively on how you can convert Aeroplan points to US Airways Dividend Miles (USDM) at a 1:0.84 ratio. USDM miles offered excellent value, with interesting routing options, no fuel surcharges, and the option of waiting to convert them to AAdvantage miles with the US/AA merger. Unfortunately, the option to convert Aeroplan to USDM has disappeared from Points.com. This isn’t too surprising as the merger is coming soon, however, it would have been nice to have some notice. This was the only valuable option that Points.com offered, which I would now consider as a very poor tool in terms of value.
Yesterday I posted an example fuel dump (1X) that I discovered myself.* As I expected, I’ve received some hate mail and disparaging comments. You see, fuel dumping is a highly secretive concept that is covered in code on many forums. I’ve never been able to decipher the code, and have never benefitted from it. To state again, the fuel dump that I posted was found by me without the aid of others.
Our American friends recently struck a deal with China for 10-year visas, and just today, it was announced that Canadians will also now be eligible for the 10-year Chinese visa with multiple entries. Applications for the new visa will be accepted starting today. This is spectacular news as it saves multiple visa application fees, and the visa remains valid even if your passport expires during the validity period – you just have to travel with your old passport that carries the still-valid visa. Your passport must be valid for one year prior to the issuance of the visa.
I recently adopted a cat from the Ontario SPCA, a beautiful one year old black domestic shorthair. Her name is Tonic (catatonic). She was a battered cat, but is getting along surprisingly well. As I do with most things in my life, I’m getting a little obsessed with her and caring for her (i.e., I’m being a crazy cat lady). I’m feeding her wet food and raw food, although I’m keeping her dinner as kibble so it’s easier to feed her when I’m travelling (super-crazy-expensive high-end kibble that costs more than my flights!).
This morning I got an email titled “Exclusive offer for our newest Gold Rewards members” which states that $100 of WestJet dollars have been deposited into my account. I’ve never used my WestJet account before, just having Gold status through a previous status match. There are no substantial restrictions on using the certificate, other than having to redeem the $100 by February 28, 2015. I have no clue what I’m going to use it for… maybe a weekend to Dublin?
