According to this thread in the FlyerTalk Mileage Run forum, several airlines are featuring extremely low fares between the US and Istanbul, Turkey.

There appears to be solid availability in February and early March, and I'm seeing fares as low as $413! This is great news, especially for those of us who couldn't get in on the paid first class fare sale to Istanbul and Moscow last week.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, the Wyndham hotel group has devalued their loyalty program in a big way.

This is terrible news, especially coming on the heels of Priority Club adjusting their award chart for the worse by introducing a whopping nine redemptive tiers. For a complete breakdown of that change, check out my post, Priority Club's Big Award Chart Devaluation.

What does the new chart look like?

I have attached a screen shot of the new award chart below:

That looks fairly innocuous.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, the Priority Club hotel group will be changing their award chart to mirror other hotel loyalty programs. Read on to see why this change isn't good news for frequent guests.

What does the new chart look like?

I have attached a screen shot of the new award chart below.

Priority Club has decided to split their hotels into nine categories. In comparison, Hyatt has six hotel categories. Starwood and Hilton have seven.

Delta Airlines has severed ties with both e-Miles and e-Rewards according to this thread and and this thread on FlyerTalk. As of the New Year, you are no longer be able to redeem currency accrued in either program for Delta SkyMiles.

For those unfamiliar, both e-Miles and e-Rewards are websites that reward visitors with miles or fun money for filling out surveys in a wide range of categories.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk and this thread on Milepoint, Southwest will now start charging a no-show fee for those who fail to cancel their tickets before the flight departs.

Extra fees, especially on traveler-friendly Southwest, are never a good thing. But I am shocked that a fee like this wasn't in place before. Now that it is, I honestly can't blame them for implementing it. It makes sense to penalize when Southwest could resell the seat for a higher price at the last minute.

Marriott Hotels announced that they are changing the requirements for lifetime elite status. The FlyerTalk thread discussing Marriott lifetime benefits can be found here. Shockingly, the changes are all positive. When word came from a Marriott Rewards forum post that lifetime elite criteria would be changing, there was some apprehension. However, I can tell you that the changes are actually beneficial to travelers.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, Hyatt has tweaked the award chart category for 17 of its properties. Hyatt's complete award chart can be found here for reference. These changes will go into effect on February 7th. Room reservations booked prior to this date will still be at the previously published award level.

The complete list of changes:

At first glance, none of these changes stick out as drastic. The Hyatt 48 Lex in New York City changing from a category 4 to a category 5 might be disappointing to Chase Hyatt Visa cardholders.

According to this post on Milepoint, Alaska Airlines is offering 5,000 bonus miles for all travelers who sign up for Board Room memberships by December 31st. Alaska brands its club lounges as Board Rooms (in the same way that Delta calls its lounges Sky Clubs). A complete list of locations can be found here.

Standard one year memberships are $450 (this price includes the initiation fee) and are reduced for Alaska MVP and Gold members.

Board Room members actually have access to all domestic Delta Sky Clubs when traveling same day on an Alaska or Delta ticket.

This offer has expired. Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.

I received an interesting credit card offer via email yesterday and wanted to share it with readers before it expired on December 23rd. Delta Airlines is currently offering 45,000 bonus SkyMiles for signing up for the Delta Gold American Express card. To get the bonus, you must spend $3,000 in the first three months of card membership.