The frequent flyer community Milepoint, which I helped to found last year, today rolled out its new premium membership offerings.
Join Milepoint and upgrade to one year of premium membership for $59, and receive:
- One year of ad-free viewing of Milepoint
- 2,000 United MileagePlus miles
- Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum status through Feb. 2014 (existing elites get 2,000 Hyatt points)
- 1 Year Subscription to InsideFlyer.com
- One Free Gogo Inflight Internet 24-hour pass
- A free 3-month trial of Clear
- A free upgrade to AwardWallet Plus and a free AwardWallet OneCard
- A free upgrade to UsingMiles Premier Membership
And a series of discounts available only to Milepoint Premium Members:
- 40% discount on “Decoding Air Travel” books
- 20% discount on “Decoding Air Travel” seminars/webinars
- 25% discount on “Frequent Flyer Master” e-book
- 20% discount on ExpertFlyer.com
- 20% discount on BookYourAward.com Award Redemption Service
- 20% discount at SCOTTEVEST
- 10% discount on KVS Tool
A limited number of premium membership slots are available. A Milepoint discussion thread of these new benefits can be found here.
We’re doing our best to put together valuable benefits for frequent flyers, and hope this will be an attractive package of offerings for a lot of folks that are looking to connect with each other over travel.
Update: Milepoint Premium Membership was up for a few hours for testing. It’ll be back in a few days for its official launch!
Randy Petersen posted the following on Milepoint:
ANNOUNCEMENT: We are taking the Premium Membership offer down for right now. It has been quite well received by the members of Milepoint but we see a few things we want to tighten up before continuing with the member upgrade. We’ve got several other benefit partners coming on (National Car Rental) and we want to make that list complete for everyone so you can identify the total value of the Premium Membership.
At this point I do not know exactly when we will re-open the Premium Membership program but it may be as soon as Friday. Sorry for any inconvenience to our members, but again, we are continuing to add value and you will have opportunities to enroll in this new level of membership on Milepoint.
Sounds like the offer could be even better when it comes back shortly!
Seems like a good deal for 2k miles and 2k Hyatt points for $59. Any chance for a Diamond with Hyatt instead of other benefits?
Wow! With 2000 UA miles any 2000 Hyatt points this pays for itself. How do you singup?
Gary,
How do I sign up?
Fantastic! Well worth it!
Just log into your (or create a) Milepoint.com account and then go here:
http://milepoint.com/forums/index.php?account/upgrades
Does Chase Sapphire categorize this as “travel” spend? 🙂
Become a member of milepoint.com and then you’ll see a banner ad.
For us lowly Hyatt GP members this is a sweet deal. Platinum level + 2000 UA miles. If already a Plat. you get 2000 Hyatt + 2000 UA. Plus a lot of smaller benies.
Signed up. Great timing as I am going to apply for the Hyatt card this week.
Gary,
Great deal, signed up myself and my wife. Great deal and way to do some good with some of the $ earned.
@Kris Ziel – do note from the website, “Please allow 6-8 weeks for miles, points and/or status to appear in your accounts.”
@Mark – indeed, there’s a commitment that a minimum of 10 cents of every dollar goes to Milepoint charities, which members are involved in.
@gba – I do not believe so, but then I haven’t had Randy charge my card so I cannot say for sure
@Gary – Since it’s PayPal I assume not
But in all seriousness, I’m getting a merchant error when I try to checkout on PayPal and it’s not completing the transaction
Seems to be a great deal just for the points/miles alone. How long before we see a coins-type thread on MP to churn this deal? 😛
I just paid for it using PayPal linked to my checking account – but when will it ask me for my UA MP and Hyatt account numbers?
Any ideas?
@Apu you will claim your points et al through the Milepoint Award store. Note the website indicated 6-8 weeks for fulfillment. No worries. https://milepoint.com/secure/award_store/
just signed up.
Got it, I logged into the Award store, I could enter my numbers for UA & Hyatt.
Thanks!
Why do they call it “premium membership”? Looks more like a groupon type deal which may or may not be worth it to you depending on how much you value miles or hyatt status. Not for me.
How many is a “limited number of premium slots”?
@HikerT – premium member, you are a paying member. You get ad free content, and a vaiety of premiums that we have been able to put together than hopefully folks will value.
@Chris – I believe there are a few thousand slots.
Gary, Just saw your starting subscriptions. Who’s handling your credit card processing? 31% of all plastic churns every year and 32% of all recurring subscription charges decline. You need to deploy the best practices that V/MC/AE/D provide to overcome that problem, otherwise retention implodes. We help prevent churn. We’d do the same for you. I’m a big fan. We help startups and Fortune 50s. All the best – Paul
I do not see where you enter your numbers. I just see 4 items available (tags and cards).
@Gene have you already subscribed?
Yes.
Ah yes, the honeymoon on Milepoint is over, time to monetize. And for some reason I thought it’d be different…naive me…
PayPal said payment would take 3-5 days. Maybe that is the reason?
I am only Platinum with Hyatt ultim August 31st, 2012 (VISA Signature promo). Anyway I can get it extended to 2014 ratehr than getting 2,000 points?
I just signed up — as much to support the site as anything else as I don’t need the UA miles really and I’m already Hyatt Diamond…but Milepoint is great, as is Gary, so it’s worth it to me.
@Jaba – I *BELIEVE* you should be able to
@Gene – yes, they are holding your payment for some reason so it hasn’t been returned to the Milepoint system as paid, the options aren’t yet available to you in the Award Store as a result
@Alan for what it’s worth, this is very much about providing as much value as possible to the frequent flyer. Do the math and think about just how much money anyone is making doing this?
Every dollar that has come in so far — and then some — has been put into the website and into the charities and activities that are being undertaken by its members. Here’s an opportunity to get some miles, some status, and some discounts and set aside funds to cover costs including making funds available for the charitable activities of members.
It may interest you to know that no one has drawn a salary or stipend from Milepoint. If the website becomes a commercial success some time in the future, that’s great, it will be because we’ve introduced it to a community of frequent flyers who get real benefit from it.
Already get my ad free content via adblock. I’d be shocked if milepoint wasn’t turning a profit. Just saying call this what it is, which is a groupon type deal offered by milepoint.
Think about it however you’d like, the hope is that we’re in a position to offer something attractive for frequent flyers. If it’s not for everyone, that’s totally cool!
@Jaba and @gene….I’d be interested to extend my platinum membership as well since i also have platinum because of the signature promo…can anyone confirm this?
@ Jaba, Scott, and Gary – I’m in the same boat. Being able to extend an existing platinum membership from the signature promo would be great. Either way I’m in though!!
I paid for the Premium Membership and got a link to add my Hyatt and UA membership numers to get the benefits. Just need to confirm if I can do that AFTER my Hyatt Platinum membership expires on August 31st, 2014 or I have to choose the benefits today.
Any word on if this includes access to the MilePoint coupon connection?
@Gary – I’d think you were an idiot if you weren’t trying to monetize it. The entrepreneurial spirit implies that you pour as much into the endeavor as you can, it’s admirable that you’re able to return some value to people. Unfortunately there’s no value for me in the premium membership.
I’m in. Nice work Gary. It looks like I’ll be signing up for the Chase Hyatt now too.
Correction to my previous post. Online = $12.
Free Online Subscription
Visitors to the online version of the InsideFlyer magazine, which has been in publication since 1986, are privy to a complete run-down of airline, hotel, car rental and credit card bonuses; frequent flyer program reviews; editorial content and advice, and a host of other special features of interest to business travelers. InsideFlyer helps readers optimize their miles and points, both when it comes to redemption and earning.
Are United and Hyatt providing the gifts for free?
@Elton I do not believe so
@Jaba – you do not have to choose the benefits today, i will seek clarification if choosing the status can be done today even if you are a current Platinum member
@Oliver2002 – you can do the math and know we probably aren’t retail for the points, or if we were we’d be subsidizing this with a ton of cash which we don’t have. But you also know enough to know that if we are able to pay less than retail, that we aren’t able to share the business terms as part of the arrangement. Sorry if that fails to satisfy the prurient interest!
@Alan – as I say I do hope it becomes something of a success, in every dimension. It will be a success if it is able to provide value to frequent flyers. There’s no one in it for a quick buck or the expectation of turning a profit short-term. For now totally happy seeing the money go right into the community. Which, in turn, may be just what makes it a long term success!
BTW, the first 100 people to sign up also get a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge.
-David
@LIH Prem – yeah?
there are scant details in the offer, for example, how does 20% EF discount work for existing subscribers? What are the terms. Is it ongoing or one time or what? Is it annual, monthly, … ?
yes, Gary, I can print up as many deeds as you need. Just send me the names. 🙂
@LIH Prem – I believe you will be able to use a discount code for an Expertflyer purchase, so you’ll be able to use it for a one-year membership if you’d like even.
“No account upgrades can be purchased at this time. Please check back later.”
Now it shows….
No account upgrades can be purchased at this time. Please check back later.
How were United and Hyatt chosen? What are they getting out of this deal (other than the $ from reduced price bulk points milepoint bought)? Is milepoint getting anything from United/Hyatt for choosing to feature them over their competitors?
As I posted in the update, this was being opened up early to make sure all the functionality was working. It was 🙂
It’ll be back online soon.
Please inform if we want to choose one of the 2 Hyatt benefits rather than being assigned one of them automatically.
Different people in different boats would want things that suit them…
@Gary: Yea, I saw that. The trip I’m looking at using Hyatt for is in like 9 months, so I will wait until I get platinum status to apply, but this is nice timing.
@Kris
Yup, me too. Planning a trip to the PH Paris with the wife, and always wanted to try a suite *somewhere* but could never justify the cost/points. $60 for a two night upgrade on my Chase Hyatt card (that I have yet to apply for)? No brainer.
Someone said there’s a 500 trips to Hong Kong rumor/sale in here somewhere… Did they shut down the site already? 😉
Argg no I am too late now
I don’t care what the benefits are … or the cost … We should all just support Randy & MilePoint.
Wonderful on so many level – looking forward to signing up.
Gary, when I tried signing up, I got this message:
No account upgrades can be purchased at this time. Please check back later.
Are all of the slots taken?
@Ace .. no, see the update to this post and my previous comment here as well
@Steelsnow – the UA HKG and this Milepoint ‘special’ appeal to the greedy nature of travel bulletin board readers. 😀
Gary,
Please edit your post to mention that you’re one of the owners of MP, and that you’ll benefit financially if folks sign up for the $59 offer. Isn’t that the right thing to do? You decide.
@Jett Rink – my role with Milepoint is disclosed on the ‘About’ section of this blog. In the post I describe that “we” are making this offer. No secret there.
But if you think it helps — and by the way I am unlikely to benefit financially from anyone’s $59 in this deal — I am happy to note my Milepoint role an additional time in the post.