Free Stuff

Elves at airports

Airports, Free Stuff, Holidays,

hmshost-elves-ohare-photo-1
Airports around the country are ready for the holiday travel season with decorations, entertainment and special events of all kinds – including an invasion of gift-bearing elves.

Beginning Thursday, December 1 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport and running through December 8, the HMSHost Holiday Elves and their “magical sleigh” will be popping up at major U.S. airports handing out electronics, fun gag gifts, holiday collectibles and travel accessories to select lucky travelers and passersby who play the elves’ naughty-or-nice game.

Look for the elves on December 6 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (I’ll be there!) and Orlando International Airport on December 8.

Not planning on being at those airports on those days? You can still can win prizes (in airports or not ) by posting creative holiday travel photos.

 

 

Free meals for military at airports over Thanksgiving week

Food, Free Stuff,

THANKSGIVING postcard

In what has become a holiday tradition, Paradies Lagardère, which operates many retail and restaurant outlets in North American airports, will be offering active or retired military a free meal during the week of Thanksgiving ( Sunday, November 20, through Sunday, November 27 ) in almost 50 airport restaurants listed below as part of the Treat our Troops program.

A “meal” includes one menu item, which can be an appetizer, salad, sandwich or entrée and a non alcoholic beverage.

In “coffee” or “grab & go” locations, the meal can be one prepared grab & go item, such as a pastry and a prepared coffee or bottled/fountain beverage. (Bagged candies, chips, granola bars, etc., aren’t included.)

Active and retired military service men and women just need to show their military identification when ordering or checking out to take advantage of this promotion, which is limited to one meal per customer per day.

Asheville Regional: Blue Ridge Tavern Long Beach: Long Beach Burger Bar
Asheville Regional: Blue Ridge News Long Beach: Taco Beach Grill
Aspen–Pitkin County: Aspen Bar & Grille Long Beach: Taco Beach Cantina
Aspen–Pitkin County: Aspen Kiosk Long Beach: Long Beach Marche
Austin–Bergstrom: Ruta Maya Coffee Long Beach: 4th Street Vine
Austin–Bergstrom: ThunderCloud Subs Long Beach: The Boathouse
Dallas/Fort Worth: Whitetail Bistro Northwest Arkansas: Smokewood American Grill
Denver: Say Si Bon! TravelMart Northwest Arkansas: Say Si Bon! Gourmet Market
Denver: Auntie Anne’s Pretzels Northwest Arkansas: Mountain Bird Coffee/CNBC
Denver: Big Bowl Northwest Arkansas: Jammin’ Java
Denver: The Magic Pan Crepe Stand Northwest Arkansas: Auntie Anne’s
Denver: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Northwest Arkansas: Core Brewing Co.
Denver: Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs Pittsburgh: Bar Symon
Eagle County: Mountain Java Pittsburgh: Bottega dei Sapori
Eagle County: Alpenglo Express Reagan National: Say Si Bon! Gourmet Market – Center Pier
Eagle County: Townie Tavern Reagan National: Say Si Bon! Gourmet Market – North Pier
Eagle County: Alpenglo Grille Reagan National: The Magic Pan Crepe Stand
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta: Sweet Auburn Market Reagan National: Wow Bao
Long Beach: Polly’s Gourmet Coffee N. Terminal Reagan National: Washington Pour Bar
Long Beach: Polly’s Gourmet Coffee S. Terminal Reagan National: U Street Pub
Long Beach: George’s Greek Café

 

 

 

Amex offering free Uber rides from 11 airports

Free Stuff, Transportation, ,

Uber app

Here’s a great perk for travelers who need a ride from the airport this holiday season.

Uber is partnering with American Express to give card members 2 free rides home (up to $65 a ride) from 11 different U.S. airports through December 31, 2016.

To get your ride credits, start your Uber trip one of these airports:

JFK International Airport

LaGuardia Airport

Newark Liberty International airport

Chicago O’Hare Airport

Chicago Midway

Dulles International Airport

Reagan Washington National Airport

Boston Logan Airport

Houston Bush International Airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

McCarran International Airport – Las Vegas

Then: enter ‘AMEXAIRPORT’ in the promotions tab on the Uber iOS or Android app when you request a ride and make sure you’ve selected your American Express card as your method of payment.

The $65 will automatically be taken off the total cost of the ride when your trip has ended.

Amex Card Members (prepaid cards aren’t eligible) can redeem this offer for up two eligible rides during – for a total value of $130 – through December 31, 2016.

See more details here.

Today is National Coffee Day: where to get free cups

Free Stuff, ,

coffee

Every day is National Coffee Day around my house. Yours too?

But on the ‘official’ National Coffee Day, September 29, everyone gets to celebrate with free and really cheap deals on coffee.

Here are a few:

Participating Krispy Kreme locations around the country are giving away free glazed doughnut and a free cup of coffee. (No coupon necessary)

Participating Dunkin’ Donuts locations are offering medium cups of coffee for just 66 cents.

Participating Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlets – check to see if there’s one in your airport – are offering free espresso shots for anyone uses the chain’s app.

Cumberland Farms shops will be pouring their Farmhouse Blend or Bold Coffee free – hot or iced, any size – for free all day long today to customers who text the word FREECOFFEE to 64827. (You’ll get a mobile coupon back to use today.)

The free coffee continues throughout in October, with Cumberland Farms’ “Free Coffee Fridays.” Beginning October 7th – and every other Friday throughout the month – the brand’s 600 or so retail locations in the Northeast & Florida offer free coffee, extra espresso shots, and caramel apple or pumpkin flavor shots for no additional cost

And if you happen to be driving through South Dakota, don’t forget that Wall Drug has darn good coffee – for just 5 cents – all the time.

Wall Drug coffee

 

Travel Tidbits: mariachi, dirndls & free cheeseburgers

Events, Food, Free Stuff, , , , ,

Some fun Friday travel tidbits for you today…

delta-shake-shack

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First – Sunday, September 18 is National Cheeseburger Day and Delta Air Lines will be celebrating with Shake Shack and giving customers flying Delta One on select flights from JFK to LAX a complimentary ShackBurger.

photo1

But wait, there are more cheeseburgers: all customers flying from JFK to LAX on Sept. 18 will receive a voucher for a complimentary ShackBurger at the LA West Hollywood Shake Shack.

Not up for cheeseburgers? How about some mariachi music at the airport?

las-mariachi

Mariachi music welcomed travelers to McCarran International Airport last year at this time as well. Photo: Mark Damon/Las Vegas News Bureau.

McCarran International Airport is kicking off the busy Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend by welcoming passengers to Las Vegas with a special performance in the Terminal 3 international arrivals lobby on Friday morning by Mariachi Oro Del Rancho – a 19-member student band from Rancho High School.

Mexico is an important market for McCarran: from Thursday through Sunday, 41 commercial flights fly directly from Mexico to McCarran International Airport, including ten charter flights added specifically for this holiday weekend.

 

And Lufthansa is celebrating Oktoberfest season..

Trachten 2016, Trachtencrew

Keep an eye out for Lufthansa crew members dressed in special anniversary in traditional attire at many  passenger service stations in Munich and on some flights, including Munich to Shanghai September 20, Munich to Denver October 2 and Munich to Boston October 3 and, at the end of the Munich Oktoberfest, to European destinations  Belgrade, Birmingham, Cluj, Nice, Olbia and Sylt.

This is a Lufthansa tradition and over the past ten years the carrier has had different fashion houses design the yellow, blue and white dirndls.

This year’s costume is once again designed and tailored by the Angermaier fashion house, based in Munich.

 

(Dirndl descriptions: Outside and in the center: current anniversary costume. Other costumes from left: Traditional blue print dirndl from 2006, costume from 2009, dirndl from 2012 and the traditional dirndl from the 50s (2015 costume). Courtesy: Lufthansa/Stefan König)

Free museums this weekend

Free Stuff, Museums, , , ,

When I’m not in an airport, I’m checking out museums – especially on the first weekend of each month when the Museums on Us program gives Bank of America cardholders free access to more than 150 museums and cultural institutions around the country.

Adler_Ivory_Telescope

Ivory telescope from the Alder Plantarium

If I could zip around the country, I’d use my bank card to gain free access this weekend to the Alder Planetarium in Chicago (general admission: $12), to see the telescope collection and the temporary exhibition that explores the post-Pluto question: What is a Planet?.

Alder image

I’d also head to American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore to see the Big Hope Show – which is closing soon – and to Morristown, New Jersey to see the Toothpick World exhibition and the fortune -tellers, gambling machines and other early coin-operated entertainment machines at the Morris Museum.

1_Intro_assorted machines_courtesy Morris Museum

Freebies to gather while traveling

Food, Free Stuff,

National Ice Cream Day is over, and so is National Milk Chocolate Day.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t cash in some great freebies while you travel.

Cookie Stack_edited

Coming right up on Thursday, August 4, 2016 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (who knew, right?) and to celebrate DoubleTree by Hilton will be giving a chocolate chip and walnut cookie to anyone who walks into one of the brands more than 460 hotels worldwide.

Usually those cookies are only given to guests at check-in.

On National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, DoubleTree by Hilton will also be handing out free cookies with Amtrak at New York’s Penn Station and at Chicago’s Union Station.

At the train stations, cookies will be handed out in pairs: you can eat one and give one to a friend, coworker or stranger. Or just keep both cookies to yourself.

Tip: In each station, the first 25 people who mention “Nice Travels” to a DoubleTree team member will receive a full tin of cookies from the brand’s new Traveler Tin Collection, which is a set of seven commemorative cookie tins celebrating California, Chicago, Florida, New York, Texas, The Carolinas, Canada and other destinations around the world.

(You can buy the tins or try to win one – or some other prize – in an Instagram contest.)

Don’t care for chocolate chip cookies? Don’t worry – there’s another freebie-packed “holiday” for you just up the alley:

Saturday, August 13th is National Bowling Day and Bowlmor AMF centers are around the country will be offering free bowling from 10am-12pm at any of the 300 bowling centers operated by Bowlmor AMF, including AMF, Brunswick Zone, Brunswick Zone XL, Brunswick’s, Bowlmor and Bowlero locations.

 

 

 

 

Free meals for military at airports

Airports, Food, Free Stuff, Military,

Armed Forces

Between Memorial Day and Independence Day 2016, active and retired military personnel traveling through many of the nation’s airports may show a military ID when or ordering or at check-out and receive a free meal (an entree, salad, or appetizer and a non-alcoholic beverage), courtesy of the Treat of Troops program of airport retail and restaurant operator Paradies Lagardère.

Here’s the list of airport restaurants participating in this program:

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport – Sweet Auburn Market

Asheville Regional Airport – Blue Ridge Tavern

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport – Say Si Bon!, Washington Pour Bar, U Street Pub, Wow Bao and Magic Pan

Denver International Airport – Say Si Bon!, Magic Pan, Big Bowl and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Long Beach Airport – Long Beach Marché, The Boathouse and 4th Street Vine

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport – Jammin’ Java, Coastal Roast, Say Si Bon!, Smokewood American Grill and Core Brewing Co.

International Women’s Day at MIA Airport

Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, ,

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Today, in honor of International Women’s Day (March 8), Miami International Airport is joining up with the Association of Floral Importers of Florida (AFIF) to hand out 25,000 complimentary flower bouquets to passengers.

Starting at 10 a.m., a variety of airport personnel, along with volunteers from the AFIF, American Airlines, the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Transportation Security Administration will be greeting passengers at airport entrances with roses, daisies, carnations and spray chrysanthemums, and a postcard with information about the meaning of the day and a reminder that MIA is the gateway for more than 90 percent of all the flower imports to the United States.

Definitely the Airport Amenity of the day!

JetBlue’s Rube Goldberg winning machine

Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, ,

2U1A1476_V2

JetBlue flies from cold, snowy New York to hip and sunny Palm Springs, California and to remind New Yorkers of that the carrier has a set up a fun, storefront-sized contest promotion involving a golf ball and a chance to win prizes.

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Today and tomorrow – passersby in New York’s Lower East Side (at 168 Bowery and Kenmare) can putt a golf ball, watch its make its way through an intricate path set up in a 25-foot window and maybe win a trip to warmer climes – or other prizes.

Hours: Canceled Friday Feb 5 – due to snow – but let’s hope it’s up and running on schedule Saturday Feb 6, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.