How to get a FREE Airline Upgrade!

The Elusive Free Airline Upgrade

In the past getting an airline upgrade to business or first class was not unusual. You just had to travel often and be smart and available. With airlines making seat assignments electronically and offering many paid ways to get an airline upgrade using frequent flyer miles, special coach with upgrade tickets, elite status, etc, the chances of getting an upgrade to a better seat on a random basis are slim.

The fact remains that it can happen, and who wouldn’t want more leg room, bigger seats, and better passage through customs and security?...

How to score a Vegas Hotel Room Upgrade

You have just arrived in Vegas. Now, you are waiting in the check-in line at your hotel and you have got one thing concerning you. No, it isn’t shows, beer or 21. It is an upgrade. Upgrades are a variable thing in the hospitality business. We have all heard the stories of somebody slipping the reception desk agent a $10, $20 or $50 and then getting an upgrade to a fantastic room or suite facing the street / sea / park / bay or in Las Vegas, in the Strip. Still, that only worked when the hotel had vacancies or when the reception desk clerk was in a particularly happy mood.

Be...

A shower in the sky: Parts 1 - 3

There are some things in life I have resigned myself to never experiencing. Except perhaps if one day I am retired and, in a fit of spite, I decide to fritter away my heirs’ inheritance. Among these things are staying in a presidential suite at a five star hotel, going into space, and taking a shower on an aircraft.

The only commercial airline in the world with showers on board is Emirates. Emirates runs a fleet of Airbus 380s which each pack two spacious shower rooms aboard its first class cabin. A one-way, seven hour flight from Dubai to London will set you back around US$5,000....

FREE US$1,500 Tag Heuer Watch on a cruise ship! No c...

When I showed my new $1,500 Tag Heuer Aqua Racer watch to my friends telling them that it had not cost me a penny, I could see the quizzical look on their faces. In truth I could scarcely believe it myself. What was interesting was that, apart from my friends even seasoned cruisers we met on board the cruise ship were clueless as to how it was possible and in unison they chimed “Please share your secret with us!”

So I’m gonna share this secret with all you readers. First off, it is not a secret. Even I was ignorant of the availability to obtain what is called “on...