TRAVEL + LEISURE GOLF Magazine is published bimonthly except monthly in September and October by American Express Publishing Corporation.

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Labels: american Express, free, free magazine, Travel and Leisure Golf

Plus receive 5,000 OnePass bonus miles.
Book a Continental Vacations package of three nights or more to Las Vegas by Dec. 17, for travel Sept. 20 through Dec. 20, 2007, and you will be entered to win:

* 1 Million OnePass Miles
* Round-trip tickets for two to Las Vegas on Continental Airlines
* Three-night stay at the Wynn Las Vegas
* Limousine transportation to/from airport
* Dinner for two at one of the Wynn's award-winning restaurants
* A $1,000 shopping spree at the Grand Canal Shoppes

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Book your Las Vegas trip today.

Labels: bonus miles, Continental Airlines, Las Vegas, OnePass Miles, Vacation

Looking for the perfect gift experience for any occasion is easy with Golden Moments! Whether you are buying a gift for your family, adding an activity day to your Hilton Family hotel stay or surprising a loved one, we guarantee a memory that will last a lifetime!
4 steps to a great day out
1) Choose the perfect gift for you or a loved one
2) Login to your Hilton HHonors account
3) Redeem your HHonors points for an experience reward
4) Enjoy a fantastic day out

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Click on blue line above to get all the info.

Labels: Father's Day gift, Golden Moments, HILTON, Hilton HHonors, Lamborghini

In order to provide you with a more personalized travel experience, we’re inviting you to fill out our Travel Survey. Doing so will help us better understand your travel interests and allow us to serve up deals and promotions that are more customized to your needs. And we’re offering you 250 AAdvantage miles just for completing the survey and opting in to our email! It’s our way of showing how much we appreciate your time.

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Do the survey - keep your miles in good standing.
Customers must stay opted in to the American Airlines Vacations email for three months to receive the offer.

Labels: Air Miles, american Airlines, travel

Hundreds upon hundreds of links arranged by category. We hope you don't need it -but it's a great site to have.

Click on blue line above to take a look. Scroll to bottom right for section on wildfires.

Labels: CBS, disaster, Malibu fire, San Diego fire

Enjoy Better Trips With All Your Info In One Place
TripIt is a new kind of online travel service that automatically organizes all your travel plans into one master online itinerary with everything you need for your trip – including travel confirmations, daily weather, local maps, city guides and more.

With TripIt it's easy to...
Access all your travel plan / Get the most out of each trip
Save time planning trips / Share trips with your friends

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What a great idea!!!

Labels: tripit

Wake refreshed and invigorated each day—even between stays at your favorite Westin Vacation Ownership resorts—with your own Heavenly Bed®.

By entering the Heavenly Comfort contest, you will be eligible to win a complete Heavenly Bed ensemble—including all 10 layers of Pure Comfort—to enjoy in the privacy of your own personal space. The grand-prize winner will receive their choice of a king- or queen-sized mattress and box spring, sheets, pillows, a comforter and duvet cover—a retail value of up to $3,235.

experience renewal with additional prizes

Each quarterly prize winner will receive other invigorating items featured in The Westin Heavenly Bath®, including two Heavenly Bath Robes, two White Tea Candles and a White Tea Potpourri—a retail value of more than $300.

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
contest ends at 11:59 p.m. PST on 3/31/08

Labels: beds, Starwood Hotels, Westin

Relax, unwind, and just get away. You can get 50% more hotel points with select partners when you transfer Membership Rewards® points to frequent guest programs. Just click on blue line above to see the hotel partners involved in the transfer of points. Hotel bonus points will be awarded within 10-13 weeks after you transfer points.

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Now through November 30, 2007. Thanks again to our reader Rob. F for the tip.

Labels: american Express, Amex, Best Western, HILTON, Hilton HHonors, Priority Club Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest

JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq:JBLU), the low-fare, low-cost airline with the most flights to the Caribbean, today announces it will add new service this winter to two more island destinations: St. Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The award-winning airline will offer one daily nonstop flight between Puerto Plata and New York/JFK effective January 10, 2008, and one daily nonstop flight between St. Maarten and New York/JFK effective January 17, 2008*

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Labels: JetBlue, St. Maarten

Big changes are coming to the goldpoints plusSM program on October 28. We're adding more hotels worldwide and 50-100% more points for every stay. And that’s just the beginning. Learn more about what our program enhancements will mean to you!

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Earn points twice as fast now at Regent® Hotels & Resorts, Radisson® Hotels & Resorts and Park Plaza® Hotels & Resorts

Labels: Park Plaza® Hotels / Resorts, Radisson® Hotels / Resorts, Regent® Hotels / Resorts

"By James Gilden
Special to the Chicago Tribune

Scoring a free or low-cost upgrade from coach to business or first class is among the most coveted of traveler perks. And these days, airlines are offering fliers more ways than ever to fill their first- and business-class seats.

Frequent-flier miles, upgrade coupons and vouchers, last-minute paid upgrades and the ever more rare "operational upgrade" are some of the more common paths to a more comfortable flight. All these options and each individual airline's policies around them have made winning the upgrade game a confusing and sometimes frustrating undertaking.

The rules of the game can change even when you are flying on the same airline.

A colleague of mine was flying from Chicago O'Hare to London's Heathrow Airport in August on British Airways. She had purchased discounted tickets for her and her husband in World Traveller Plus, BA's business-class lite, which comes with a bit more leg room than a regular economy class seat.


Four days before her flight she called BA to inquire about an upgrade to business class. For an additional $200 (cost to change the ticket) plus 15,000 frequent flier miles each, she secured business-class seats between Chicago and London.

Upon arrival in London, she inquired at the BA service desk at Heathrow about doing the same for her return flight to Chicago. She was confused and disappointed when she was told no, that only the flights from the States offered that type of upgrade.

Despite repeated queries to a BA spokesman and visiting BA's Web site, it is about as clear as mud what exactly my colleague paid for and why it was not available on her return flight.



Unraveling all the various rules regarding upgrades is a challenge, even for someone who devotes his life to it.

"Do I get confused? Yes," said Matthew Bennett, a.k.a. "Mr. Upgrade." He is the publisher of the Web site FlightBliss.com and the monthly newsletter First Class Flyer, which has about 15,000 subscribers, he said.

"It takes time to understand them," he says, likening upgrade policies in their complexity to insurance policies. "That's our job to unravel them."

The newsletter is written more for the frequent flier and business traveler, not the average leisure traveler. A one-year subscription costs $97. But FlightBliss features a free blog where Bennett weighs in with some of the latest news and tips on upgrades.

My colleague's upgrade from the States was actually typical if unusual in that it was unavailable on her return flight.

Most airlines these days will not allow passengers who have purchased many types of discounted tickets to use miles to upgrade, especially on international flights. Some, like BA and American Airlines, charge an added fee to upgrade. Others, such as United, only allow upgrading on certain types of fares.

If you are booking tickets on United's Web site, there is an option to book an upgradeable fare. But for the uninitiated, the array of seven choices is confusing.

I decided to test United's upgradeable fare options for a flight from O'Hare to Heathrow in mid-November (these fares are for comparison only and may no longer be available).

When I clicked the first category of upgrades using miles -- an alphabet soup of 10 fare types -- I received a message saying that option was not available. The second option, "miles-MH," yielded a round-trip economy class "upgrade eligible" fare of $822, or $340 more than the lowest non-upgradeable fare of $482. That is in addition to 30,000 frequent flier miles each way.

But here's the rub. Even if you pay the extra $340, you are not guaranteed an upgrade. And if your upgrade is waitlisted and does not go through, you are not entitled to a refund even though the only benefit to the higher fare is the ability to upgrade.

Knowing the ins and outs of a particular airline's policies is key to increasing the odds of getting an upgrade." [Via chicagotribune.com]

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To see the whole article -click blue line above

Labels: Airlines, frequent flyer ticket, upgrades

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
Reports from our readers are -just walk in and ask for the free iTunes card. Some are also getting iTunes buy one-get one free in October coupon. Get all the details by clicking on blue link above.

Available Till Nov.7th.

Labels: free, Itunes, Starbucks

Need a few more Marriott Rewards points for a dream vacation? Marriott offer a variety of ways to help you, your friends and loved ones get there faster.

Purchase Points
Don’t have enough points for a specific reward? You can purchase up to 50,000 points per calendar year for yourself.

Gift Points
You can also buy up to 50,000 points for another member. It’s the perfect gift for any occasion – and it’s always the perfect fit.


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You can buy up to 50,000 points per calendar year. If you need more, do it in Dec 07 and Jan 08. $625 this year and $625 in Jan.
Click blue line above to get the details.

Labels: Marriott Rewards, points

New York City getaway with airfare and hotel for two

(4 days/3 nights)
$1,000 to spend in style – at a Broadway show,
a 5-star restaurant, Fifth Avenue shopping
1-hour style consultation with Tim Gunn
$500 Liz Claiborne wardrobe

Other prizes will be awarded daily. You might win a signed copy of Tim Gunn’s book "A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style,” another great book on style, or a Liz Claiborne gift certificate.

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
ends on October 12, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Labels: contest, Liz Claiborne, sweepstakes, Tim Gunn

You've got the whole world ahead of you—and a lifetime to enjoy it. For the third year in a row, Delta brings you Tickets for Life. Enter for your chance to win the grand prize of 2.5 million miles and $25,000 in spending cash. Or, you could become a daily prizewinner of 50,000 bonus miles.

Register to win then purchase a round-trip ticket at delta.com by December 15, 2007, and fly by January 15, 2008. Use any American Express® Card to purchase your tickets, and you can get an additional entry each time you book.

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No purchase necessary. The Tickets for Life Sweepstakes is sponsored by Delta Air Lines. The promotion begins on 9/25/07 and ends on 12/15/07. Click blue line above to go to registration page.

Labels: Delta Airlines, Delta Skymiles.contest

(Written by a reporter for Jewelry News)

"In St. Maarten, the majority of ALL jewelry retailers are owned and operated by those of Indian decent. This reporter has come to the conclusion (unconfirmed as to number of members) that the majority of Indian owned and operated jewelry retail stores are members of the Indian Merchant Association and many are partners and/or even related in many cases.

Walk from one jewelry store into another and no one is fighting for your business, as if store number one does not close the sale, store number, two, three, four, five, six (and so on) are waiting just a few steps away, ready and waiting to lure consumers into their establishments with a "so-called" great deal on loose diamonds and gemstones or finished jewelry.

What's truly sad about the situation in St. Maarten is that the locals (natives) are struggling to earn a living however, those from India live in palatial homes and send their children to private schools through monopolizing the retail jewelry business on St. Maarten (specifically Front Street).

Front Street is the main thoroughfare, where the majority of tourists disembarking from cruise ships are deposited. While Diamonds International has a firm presence on the island, it is the members of the Indian Merchant Association who are reaping the benefits of ZERO import duty on goods and taking advantage of the open border between the French and Dutch side of the islands and three month stays.

While three year "stay" limits may or may not (yet) apply, anyone can visit St. Maarten for three months, leave, come back and complete process over and over again...

Interviews with locals reveal that many are aware of the Indian Merchant's Association however, do not understand how those who come to live, work and set up retail jewelry businesses are bypassing normal channels to do so. No doubt, a few of these businesses were founded before St Maarten was established as a "must see" port of call for the cruise ship industry. The fact that the Indian Merchant's Association even exists should send up a few red flags among those in government.
" [Via jewelryblogger.com]

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to read the whole article -click blue line above

Labels: Jewelry, St. Maarten

When you enter the "Find It. Book It. Win It!" sweepstakes, you'll have the chance to learn about the new AA.com(R) Price & Schedule booking feature as well as the new Alamo self-service kiosks. Now, navigating every aspect of your next trip is more convenient than ever!

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For your chance to learn more and win, enter before November 16, 2007. Click blue line above

Labels: Alamo, American Airlines AAdvantage® miles, Garmin, GMC Acadia

If you book online and complete a stay for a minimum of three consecutive nights at any Hilton Garden Inn® throughout the United States between October 1 and October 31, 2007 and enter the offer code OHMS you will earn the new Yamaha NX-U10 USB speaker. (Approximate retail value of $150.00.)

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Click blue line, then scroll down to bottom right and and click on " click here- how to book"

Labels: HGI, HILTON, Hilton Garden Inn®, Yamaha