Monthly Archives for October 2006.
American wants you to text WORLD to 88398 and they’ll send you back a 10% discount code valid on roundtrips originating in Chicago. Discount requires booking by December 19 for travel through March 31, 2007.
I hadn’t seen this before, and have been wanting such a tool ever since Dave Friedman’s excellent site stopped working maybe three years ago — a website that finds United Mileage Plus promotions and automaticallly signs you up for them. The only caveat is that the tool doesn’t discriminate between better or worse promotions, so if there are two out there which are mutually exclusive (don’t permit double dipping) you’ll wind up getting the first one the tool finds. But for busy people without the time or inclination to specifically track what’s available at any given time, this is outstanding.
This is the best offer I’ve seen yet for an Alaska Airlines Signature Visa from Bank of America: 20,000 miles plus two board room passes on approval, 1000 additional miles for applying online, plus the standard annual $50 companion ticket. The $75 fee isn’t waived, but the benefits strike me as worth it — enough miles to upgrade two transcon flights, for instance. The best bonus I’ve seen previously for this card was 10,000 miles. So a big thanks to reader David for the heads up. Update: I understand this is a promotion intended to ‘come out’ November 1, but they apparently made it live a bit early. I’ve put in my application..
Starwood is offering progressively increasing bonus points at 15 participating Texas hotels for stays through January 13, 2007: 1,000 points for one night, 2,000 points for two nights and 3,000 points for three or more nights, up to 25,000 total bonus points. Registration required.
I’ve never really given much thought to Asiana’s frequent flyer program, even though I knew that they had an especially attractive to make and retain Star Alliance Gold status: you need to fly 100,000 miles with their program but you aren’t limited to a calendar year to do it — in fact, take as long as you need. What’s more, status lasts three years and you have those three years to rack up just another 40,000 miles to requalify. Easiest Star Alliance Gold there is. (One caveat — although given the generosity of the criteria for earning status not really a huge one for most — is that not all coach fare classes earn 100% of miles flown.) What makes the program even more interesting — and what I hadn’t realized — is (as outlined…
Maybe I’ve been under a rock for awhile, but this is the first time I’ve seen the United Business Visa with fee waived first year — hence in the past I’ve never churned these. They’re offering 21,000 bonus miles after $250 in purchases, and since there’s finally no fee to get those miles I’ll give an application a whirl.(Hat tip to Don.)Update: a helpful reader points out the business visa also comes with 25,000 points after $250 in purchases, fee waived the first year. I knew about this offer on the personal card, didn’t realize it applied to the business card…
The Avis iTunes promo is back — through September 30, 2007. Registration is required, but when I tried to register it told me I already was — presumably because I registered for the last iTunes promo. Haven’t had a chance to verify that’s the reason yet.
HotelChatter reports that the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach’s $45 million renovation will complete on December 21. (This hotel needed it!) Among the cooler innovations invisible televisions in the master bathroom – cleverly hidden behind the mirror and only visible when turned on–seven-jet oversized showers and free-standing soaking tubs with views of the ocean. I especially dig the televisions — LCD screens inside a mirror, the screen appears only when turned on and vanishes when turned off.
Through December 31, Northwest is offering new members enrolling in Worldperks up to 7000 miles: Earn 1,000 Bonus Miles: complete your first flight (one-way or roundtrip) Earn 5,000 Bonus Miles: complete a second flight (roundtrip only) Earn 1,000 Bonus Miles: subscribe to NWA E-mail for two consecutive months. Flights must be completed within six months of enrolling to earn the bonuses, and the offer is available to accounts with North American addresses only. (Hat tip to Flyertalk’s slippahs.)
Through December 29th you can get a free ride on a scotter to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and 1000 British Airways miles.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
