✈️ Earn 7,000 bonus Avios with Qatar
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Seeing as how I’ve recently spent some time flying on Qatar Airways, I thought I’d share a pretty sweet promo that’s currently going on.
Members of Qatar Airways Privilege Club can get an easy 7,000 Avios by booking any travel between now and December 15th.
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Here’s how it works:
- Get 5,000 points after flying your first segment
- Get 2,000 points after downloading the Qatar Airways app
- You must have already been a Privilege Club member prior to this offer
- Travel must be booked by December 15th, 2022
This is especially relevant for anyone looking to attend the 2022 World Cup in Doha later this year who still needs to book travel.
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Since Qatar flies to pretty much every major city in the world, this is also a great chance to earn some bonus points by traveling anywhere that you can connect to via Qatar.
Even if you aren’t a frequent flier of Qatar, you could also transfer these Avios to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and a number of other airlines, making them super flexible and definitely worth pursuing if you can swing it.
If you’ve ever flown with Qatar before and have an existing loyalty number with them, I’d recommend looking into flying with them for any of your upcoming travels, especially because…
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🇶🇦 Qatar Airways flash sale (today only)
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Until the end of the day today, Qatar Airways is having a flash sale on flights departing from some European countries, including the U.K., Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, France, and Germany.
Here are the details:
- Sale is only good until the end of the day today
- Sale applies to flights all over the world (not just Qatar)
- Sale includes both economy and premium fares
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Overall, these are pretty good prices considering the wide range of far-off destinations you have to choose from.
For you Europeans, this is great news! Qatar Airways has some of the best planes, crew, and airport experiences in the world, so having the chance to fly on them for cheap is always a treat.
For people in North America, this could be a way to piece together a trip by using points and miles to get yourself to Europe and then take advantage of cheap fares via Qatar to make your way to your final destination.
For example, round-trip flights between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Abu Dhabi, UAE are only $400.
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Seeing as how Copenhagen is well-connected to a number of U.S. cities, this could be a great way to visit the Middle East, save some cash, and even spend a day or two and unleash your inner Hygge in beautiful Copenhagen.
Overall, this is a sale that could potentially appeal to many people all over the world. Qatar Airways is a treat to fly, and even flying economy feels like a premium experience. So definitely spend some time checking out these fares to see if you could take advantage of this.
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🏨 Marriott adds a new brand to its portfolio
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Marriott is the largest hotel chain in the entire world, with a whopping 30 hotel brands in its portfolio. Well… 31 brands now.
That’s because Marriott has recently acquired City Express Hotels, a budget-friendly hotel chain in Mexico and Central America.
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Marriott was already my preferred hotel program simply because of the sheer number of properties they have around the world, so the fact that they’re still looking into expanding their network of hotels is really exciting.
It’s still unclear exactly where this hotel chain fits into their overall portfolio, but I think it will lie somewhere close to the Fairfield Inn or Four Points by Sheraton brands, which are almost always the cheapest hotels around.
This is nothing new for Marriott, which has taken over a number of hotel chains to hone in on certain markets.
Protea Hotels is a brand that is very popular in sub-Saharan Africa and was bought by Marriott in 2014 in order to beef up its presence in that part of the world.
Another brand, AC Hotels, was originally only in Europe until Marriott took it over and brought the brand to other continents around the world.
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This is an example of an AC Hotels suite I just stayed in a few nights ago!
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Overall, more properties at lower prices make me even more confident in my loyalty to Marriott. The fact that Marriott has a history of taking smaller brands and building them up means that we might be seeing more of these hotels popping up outside of Central America as well.
If you’re someone who spends a lot of time in Mexico or Central America, getting more involved with Marriott would probably be a wise move.
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😬 Woman sneaks past security and onto a flight
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Yikes… That’s not a headline you want to see.
A few weeks ago in Rotterdam, a woman snuck past airport security and boarded a random plane, which then proceeded to take off without anyone realizing what had happened.
Here’s what happened:
When approaching airport security in Rotterdam, this woman intentionally set off some kind of alarm, which caused panic and confusion in the area. While everyone was freaking out, confused about what was happening, she slipped past airport security undetected.
She then boarded a flight to Malaga, Spain - again, without anyone realizing.
That plane then took off, STILL without anyone realizing there was an un-ticketed, non-security-screened passenger on the plane.
It wasn’t until about two hours into the flight when the pilots got word from the airport that the woman was in fact on the plane. The plane then diverted to Madrid and offloaded the passenger before continuing the journey to Malaga.
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But wait, it gets crazier… kind of.
In those two hours of blissful ignorance, the airport staff didn’t know exactly which flight this woman had boarded. Out of an abundance of caution, they contacted another flight that had taken off around the same time, this one heading to Faro, Portugal.
The pilots of this plane decided to divert to Bordeaux, even after getting the update that the naughty passenger wasn’t on their flight. It was a strange move, but I guess they were just being extra cautious (if only the airport staff had exercised the same caution).
Anyway, everything worked out in the end… Except, of course, for the stowaway passenger.
I find it a little upsetting that an alarm sounded, chaos ensued, and the airport still let planes take off before they had a chance to investigate what exactly happened.
Anyway, never a dull moment in the travel world, eh?
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That’s gonna do it for today, y’all.
Have you ever flown on Qatar Airways? Are you alarmed at the poor security situation in Rotterdam? Let me know by replying to this email, reaching out on social media, or sending me chicken noodle soup and rom-com recommendations so I can feel better.
Until next time,
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