Good morning/afternoon/evening from Muscat International Airport in Oman!
I have to forego the pleasantries, as I Muscat(ch) my flight in a few minutes.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself...
Here's what we got cooking today:
- 🤔 Travel Trivia Tuesday
- 2️⃣ IHG Promo: 2k points every 2 nights
- 🏨 Wyndham: Buy 3, get 2 free
- ✅ Trivia answer revealed
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Today’s piece of trivia is fresh on my mind because I’m flying on a route that involves this particular piece of trivia.
My question to you is this:
What is the shortest commercial route flown by a larger jet (737 or bigger)?
We all know about routes like Papa Westray to Westray, which only last about 1 minute, but those are all flown on tiny propeller planes and don’t count in this case.
I’ll blow your minds with the answer later on in the newsletter.
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2️⃣ IHG promo: Earn 2k points every 2 nights
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This is the time of year when consumers get bored of all their Black Friday booking bonanzas and start craving more great travel deals.
We've seen most of the big players step in with answers to satisfy those cravings, and IHG is coming in hot with a deal of their own.
For the next two months, you can earn a bonus 2,000 IHG points for every 2 nights you stay, with no earning cap.
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Here are the details:
- Earn 2,000 bonus points for every two nights you stay
- Valid for stays between February 9th and April 14th
- You must register for the offer before your first stay
- There is no limit on how many points you can earn from this promo
Before we jump into the "why should I care about this" section of the newsletter, I want to let you know that when you register your account, you may or may not be prompted to enter a promo code.
If you are prompted, try entering 73660. Personally, I didn't have to enter any promo code, but I've seen different data points of people needing it.
So, is this offer worth getting out of bed for?
The answer is yes... but also, you can sit in bed and do this from the comfort of your computer, so also... no?
2,000 points isn't anything to write home about. But it's also a very easy promotion to take advantage of. Unlike some other promos, you don't need to break up your stays into 2-night chunks.
If you book a 13-night stay and then a separate 5-night stay a month later, you'll still get the full 18,000 bonus points. Depending on how expensive those stays are, 18,000 points, in addition to the points you earn already, could be a really nice return on your purchase.
Here's an example:
Let's say you book a 6-night stay at this hotel in Minneapolis (because let's be honest; who wouldn't want to spend a week in Minnesota in February?).
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You would earn 4,740 points just for being an IHG member, plus 6,000 bonus points from the promo.
You're more than doubling your earnings from the stay, which can be used for additional hotel nights in places all around the world.
If you have IHG elite status, you will earn even more points.
This is definitely a far cry from IHG's best promos, but register for the offer just in case you find yourself at a Holiday Inn this winter and rack up some sweet, sweet bonus points.
Plus, this offer goes really well with the other major IHG development this week... but you'll have to tune in tomorrow to hear about that. 😉
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🏨 Wyndham: Buy 3, get 2 free promo
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Wow... two hotel promos in one Daily Drop newsletter?
That's right, folks. But make no mistake; these two offers are very different, and you can compare and contrast them to see which one you like best.
Wyndham Hotels is offering 15,000 bonus points for staying three nights at certain hotels, with some pretty flexible parameters.
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Here are the deets:
- You must register for the offer by April 30th, 2023
- You must complete your 3-night stay before September 30th, 2023
- Valid for Wyndham hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia (with some exclusions)
- Points will be awarded 2-4 weeks after your stay
I'm actually more excited about this promotion than the IHG one, even though I almost never stay at Wyndham hotels... Here's why:
15,000 Wyndham points can get you up to 2 nights at some lower-tier hotels, and those points are in addition to the base points you already earn from the stay.
The offer may not be valid for properties in North America, but it's good for almost every other region in the world. So anyone who has a trip planned before September could take advantage of the offer.
Getting a return of two free nights after staying three is pretty much as good as it gets in the hotel game.
Given the 8-month window for completing your stay, it's going to be challenging to NOT take advantage of this...
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Time for the moment you've all been waiting for...
The reason this trivia question came to mind is that earlier today, I flew on the SECOND shortest route flown by a 737.
The flight was from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar, which clocks in at only 40 miles and about 15 minutes of flying time in a pretty large plane.
But the number one slot goes to the ASKY Airlines flight between Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo.
Look at these two cities on a map... notice anything funny?
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That's right. Despite having a combined population of about 20 million people, there is not a single bridge that connects these two cities or regions... crazy, right?
ASKY, a low-cost African airline, flies the 13 miles between these two cities in a 737, which is by far the shortest flight by a larger plane.
If you want to see how ridiculous that is, pick a favorite landmark near your house, open Google maps, and see how many miles away it is. Now imagine flying a massive jet plane from point A to point B. Yeah. It's crazy.
Anyway, there are some other pretty crazy routes, like Emirates' flight from Dubai to right here in Muscat, Oman.
It's only about 45 minutes of flying time but is often flown by the double-decker Emirates A380, meaning you could technically book a seat in Emirates' first-class suite for only 45 minutes. Worth it?
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That's all for today, y'all. I'm about to step onto my most exciting flight of the entire trip; the Apex Business-class Suites on Oman Air's 787 Dreamliner to Milan.
I don't know which part of me is most excited; the part that loves planes or the part that's exhausted and desperately needs a lie-flat bed right about now...
Anyway, Which of today's two hotel promos are you most likely to use? What's the shortest flight you've ever been on? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
See you tomorrow,
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