Miles Should travel tips

I’m old enough to remember when Las Vegas was as much about cheap as it was about sin. The sin itself might cost you, but everything else was a bargain. Cheap room rates. Cheap all-you-can-eat prime rib buffets. Free cocktails. Penny slots. And free parking.

It has been a publicly stated goal of the Department of Homeland Security to sign up 25 million members of the PreCheck and Global Entry prescreening programs. A big number, with a big payoff.

It was almost exactly a year ago that JetBlue announced that Amazon Prime members could stream Amazon video inflight. At the time, the two companies also promised that the partnership would be expanded to allow TrueBlue members to earn points for Amazon purchases sometime in 2016.

One of the many irritants of travel-rewards programs is expiring miles. Typically, miles or points expire if there’s no account activity during a two- or three-year period. It’s a policy that’s irrelevant to high-frequency travelers, because they’re constantly on the go, pushing the expiration date forward with every trip. But for the great majority of travelers, who fly infrequently, the danger of allowing hard-earned miles to disappear is clear and present.

There was considerable hand-wringing in the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday that travelers would be facing something just this side of hell on earth. Packed planes. Overflowing overhead bins. Overcrowded gate areas. Endless check-in lines. And even longer lines to clear security checkpoints.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer has looked into United’s Basic Economy fares, set to launch early next year, and he doesn’t like what he sees. He’s particularly outraged that the new ultra-low-priced fares will restrict customers to a single small carry-on, leaving the overhead bins for the exclusive use of those paying higher fares.