Tumi’s Summer Sale will be running June 16-July 31. The specific sale offerings aren’t loaded onto the site yet (or so it seems) but they promise “Save up to 50% on some of our very best styles.” Generally the sale consists of discontinued items and colors, and the products still aren’t cheap, but Tumi produces my favorite travel accessories and these sales are often the only times that I can afford ’em! The pickings may be slim, or generous, we’ll see in a few days. But the key is to check in early because a sale item lasts until it sells out, so although the sale runs until July 31 only the barest pickings will be left as the thing goes along. Meanwhile, there’s a free shipping offer and also 5 American miles per dollar…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2008.
Free Miles for Churning Presidential Coins from the US Mint
The US Mint sells $1 coins on its website, doesn’t charge for shipping, and takes credit cards. It’s an opportunity for free miles: buy coins, deposit those coins back into your back account, use the money to pay off the credit card. Net result = the miles for the charges on your card. Here’s the Flyertalk discussion. Reports are consistent that these show up on your credit card statement as purchases rather than cash advances (fortunately!). These are ‘Presidential Dollar Coins’ and there are only (6) different ones out so far. They’re adding another 2 per year, apparently. And unfortunately you’re limited to purchasing 500 of each. So right now you can buy 6 x 500 = $3000 and thus 3000 miles. Not quite as lucrative as the days when you could buy savings bonds…
EV Reward.com Rewards All Your Online Shopping And More
You can earn a rebate or top off your mileage account at no extra cost beyond the shopping you already do online. And using EV Reward helps you search out the best offerings. And it may even be a useful mating strategy, too! Most online purchases aren’t that lucrative, since the spending amounts are small. Sure, if you buy a high-end laptop computer at a few miles per dollar you’ll wind up with several thousand miles. But the odd $30 purchase here or there will yield only a couple hundred miles at best most of the time. But it’s amazing how much I, for one, shop online and thus how easily those shopping miles add up. A little effort in clicking a link through a mileage portal goes a long way towards free travel. But…
US Airways Charges For Free Tickets and Sticks It To Their Elites
US Airways announced several changes today including charging for all checked bags beginning with the first, charging for coffee and water in coach, and closing some of their lounges. But the two changes that really hit home are: An “award redemption processing fee.” American recently announced a minimum $5 fee for redemptions made online, and that crossed a line for me — a fee to use your miles for a free ticket. US Airways takes this to a new level beginning on August 6th: $25 to redeem for US domestic and Canada tickets, $35 for tickets to Mexico and the Caribbean, and $50 for Hawaii and international. (No word yet what this would mean for a Star Alliance award intra-Japan, say. Is it $50 for Tokyo-Nagoya?) The end of status bonuses on top of flown…
US Airways Joins the First Bag Fee Party, Charges for Water and Coffee, and Even More!
US Airways is joining United and American in charging for the first checked bag, exempting premium cabin and elite customers (including Star Alliance partner elites). No word in the press release on whether companions of elites will be exempted from the fee. They’ve also announced that they are “Introducing a new in-flight beverage purchase program.” I love the description. It sounds exciting, new and improved, now 25% larger! US Airways will begin selling all non-alcoholic beverages (including sodas, juices, bottled water and coffee) in its domestic coach cabins for $2 effective Aug. 1, 2008. Alcoholic beverages will be available for $7 (currently $5). … Complimentary beverages will continue to be served in domestic First Class, US Airways Shuttle flights, trans-Atlantic Envoy and trans-Atlantic economy class. Unaccompanied minors will also receive complimentary non-alcoholic beverages. $2 for…
Top 5 Most Ridiculous SkyMall Products
Via lucky, it’s worth perusing The 5 Most Ridiculous SkyMall Products Money Can Buy. My favorite? The NoseAid! No need to hold the nose. By gently applying pressure to the outside of the nose, NoseAid stops nosebleeds instantly!” And don’t forget all the mileage offers available for shopping at SkyMall…
United Introduces $15 Fee for First Checked Bag Beginning August 18
The Flying Critic lays out the details of United’s plan to follow American’s lead and charge a fee for the first checked bag, after only recently adding fees for checking a second. Although I’d point out that – unmentioned by the Critic – United exempts not only elites (including Star Alliance partner elites) but also other passengers traveling on the same reservation as the elite member. This isn’t mentioned on United’s website detailing the new rules, but it is mentioned explicitly in their email announcements today. Lucky scoffs at how United has built something so complex that it requires a United’s website detailing the new rulesmatrix on the website to decipher the fees a customer will be charged.
Skyteam Upgrades are Coming
Skyteam Chairman Leo van Wijk gave an interview in which he discusses mileage upgrades coming to Skyteam, presumably much along the lines offered by most Star Alliance airlines (United being a notable exception). [W]e will start a mileage upgrade program, where you can have upgrades from one carrier to the other. That will be available as of summer next year, but that requires also that we have a more coordinated fare structure. Otherwise, it’s difficult to implement. … In principle, that will be a program that will not only be available in the North Atlantic, but we will start on the North Atlantic. We will test it in the fall of this year between the U.S. and the U.K. and France first. Then we will roll it out in the course of 2009, in principle,…
Virgin Atlantic Introduces New U.S. Co-Branded Credit Cards
For a $90 annual fee, the Virgin Atlantic Black Card — a Bank of America co-branded American Express — offers 20,000 Bonus Miles with First Purchase 50% off a companion coach award when you spend $25,000 on the card in a year 3 Miles Per Dollar on Virgin Atlantic Spend and 1.5 Miles Per Dollar on “Everyday Purchases” — I haven’t verified the categories of the latter, but presumably gas and groceries. You get one tier point per $2,500 in purchases (up to 2 per month). Since it takes 40 to earn gold and 30 to retain it, up to 24 tier points a year from a credit card is a big deal. They also advertise “additional tier points when you fly Virgin Atlantic Airways” but I’m not clear on what this means, presumably bonuses…
Charging for Carry-on Baggage Would Be a Very Bad Idea
Reader Lisa points to the LA Times Travel Blog which asks whether airlines should charge for carry-on bags. George Hoffer, a professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, thinks the people in a hurry — that is, the ones who want to get off the plane fast and shoot out the door — would be willing to cough up some cash to carry on a bag. Time, after all, is money. “What you’re doing is catering to the person whose time is of more value,” Hoffer said. The question is, what service are you asking people to pay for that they were already receiving at a lower price than they’re willing to absorb? Is it having their bags moved from city A to city B, or is it ‘getting off the plane fast’…
