more points Members of Starwood Hotels' Preferred Guest frequent-stay program can now purchase extra program points needed to meet specific award requirements. The service is available online at www.spg.com/starpointpurchase. The purchases start at $25 for 500 points, and points are instantly deposited in the buyer's account so they can be redeemed for awards. Holders of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express get a 10 percent discount on point purchases.
multiple boarding Northwest Airlines said it has upgraded the capabilities of its online check-in service (www.nwa.com) so that passengers traveling on interline itineraries can now obtain boarding passes for each leg of their flight through the Northwest Web site. E-ticketed passengers can now check in online for Northwest flights and connecting segments on KLM, Continental, Delta, Alaska, Horizon Air and Hawaiian Airlines. They can also do so at airport kiosks.
skybonus extra Employees of small and medium-sized businesses that belong to Delta Air Lines' SkyBonus program can rest assured now that their flights will be counted when they buy tickets online at www.delta.com, as long as they enter the company's SkyBonus number on the passenger information screen. Previously, members who bought tickets at Delta.com had to manually track their ticket numbers at delta-skybonus.com to receive credit in the program. Companies in the program can earn free tickets, upgrades and other benefits based on how much their employees travel on Delta.
package savings If you're going to book a hotel room with your air ticket anyway, why not save a bunch of money by booking a package that includes both? The latest big Web site to offer this option is Cheap Tickets, which will cite you a single price for the air/hotel combination, but won't reveal how much each one costs—and thereby it can offer savings of up to 50 percent compared to buying each one separately, the company said. It's designed for leisure travelers, but who's going to know? Check it out via the "Vacation packages" tab at www.cheaptickets.com.
high-speed hotels Best Western (www.bestwestern.com), the huge (4,100 hotels in 80 countries) lodging group of independently-owned member properties, said it will bring high-speed Internet access to 2,300 hotels in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean during 2004. Wireless and hard-wired Web access will be installed in hotel public areas and at least 15 percent of all guest rooms. "As an additional service, wireless access cards will be available at the front desk," a spokesman said. "This service will be free to all hotel guests."
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