Back on April 21 I noted that US Airways is offering new Dividend Miles members 1500 miles for signing up by July 31 by using promo code NM15. The offer is here. I figured that a post noting the offer by Points, Miles, and Martinis is a good reason to mention it again in case anyone comes across this blog that isn’t already a US Airways frequent flyer member. 1500 free miles makes it worth signing up. While I don’t love the airline, I’ve certainly found the frequent flyer program to be lucrative — lots of great promotions for earning large number of miles at low cost, and amazing redemption possibilities using Star Alliance partner airlines with a reasonable award chart, no blocking of partner award seats (as United unfortunately does), and very few routing…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for May 2010.
Getting Help Booking Mileage Awards
In the current month’s Wise Flyer, a regular feature in Inside Flyer (subscription required.), Randy Petersen answers a reader question about services that help you search for frequent flyer award tickets. AwardPlanner by MileageManager .. is part of a paid mileage manager service so you actually get far more for your investment since MileageManager manages your frequent flyer accounts–including help with expiring miles. AwardPlanner, a dedicated award tool, allows you to search for award seats from all the programs in which you have miles–making it a one-stop shop for watching for award seats. If the tool is unable to find your award seats at the time of your request, it will put your request into a queue and re-check daily for you until it finds an award seat and will then notify you via email.…
Three Major Questions for the United-Continental Merger
From the perspective of a frequent flyer, I’ve had (3) main questions about a United-Continental merger. Starnet blocking. United is the only airline in the Star Alliance that will not allow its mileage members to book any award seat taht its partners offer to them. United often doesn’t want to pay for the seats, to they program their computers to respond that award seats other Star Alliance carriers are offering “aren’t available.” Continental has explicitly rejected such a strategy. This month blocking has been at a minimum, though that’s part of the normal cycle (I usually see blocking at its lightest in February/May/August/November). So I’m not ready to take this as a clue that blocking is done for a merged entity. Whether or not blocking exists in the combined entity is – to me –…
10,000 Free United Miles for Graduating College Students
It’s been a very long time since I’ve written about this, so the reminder this week from the MilesLink newsletter is much appreciated — that United still offers the College Plus program which awards students 10,000 free miles upon graduation. You have to join College Plus prior to graduating and send your final transcript within 12 months of graduation to get the miles. So for everyone about to graduate, sign up now! (Or anyone in college not quite ready to graduate, sign up now so you don’t forget later…)
Behave at the Checkpoint, Children, or It Will Go on Your Permanent Record
USA Today reports on another flyer ‘list’ kept by the government: Airline passengers who get frustrated and kick a wall, throw a suitcase or make a pithy comment to a screener could find themselves in a little-known Homeland Security database. The Transportation Security Administration says it is keeping records of people who make its screeners feel threatened as part of an effort to prevent workplace violence. Remember – you must respect their authoritah! The database was created in late 2007 as the TSA launched a program to prevent the nation’s 50,000 airport screeners from being attacked or threatened, agency spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. At the time, TSA officials voiced concern about passengers disrespecting screeners, and they began issuing new uniforms with police-style badges pinned to shirts. (Emphasis mine.) But how’s this list of folks on…
4,725 US Airways Miles for a 3-Day Avis Rental
Flyertalk member Evan! points out that the US Airways 50% Bonus on Hotel, Rental Car Earning and Points Transfers I posted about yesterday (registration required) means that you can earn 4725 US Airways miles on a 3-day Avis car rental through July 31. That’s because the US Airways 3000 mile bonus for a 3-day Avis rental is eligible for the bonus. Wonderfully lucrative for any 3-day rentals you’ve got coming up!
Ranking the Best Airlines in the World
ABCNews.com ran a piece on why there are no North American or European airlines amongst the Skytrax top 10 in quality. Skytrax acknowledges progress in US and European ‘hard product’ such as seats and entertainment. Indeed, United’s new business class seats (installed fleet-wide on 767 and 747 aircraft and just beginning to roll out on their 777s) are very good. And British Airways has set a world standard for business class seats for many years. Air Canada has some outstanding seats, similar to the Air New Zealand (which makes the list) and Virgin (which does not) offerings. The new Swiss business class looks pretty great, though I haven’t tried it. Of course, American’s business seats and Air France’s are in my opinion quite awful and neither has a solid plan for replacement. But the piece…
US Airways 50% Bonus on Hotel, Rental Car Earning and Points Transfers
Through July 31, US Airways is offering a 50% bonus on rental car and hotel mileage earning, and points transferred into Dividend Miles from hotel points programs. Registration is required, and bonus miles are scheduled to post weekly. They ran this promo last summer as well. As I pointed out at the time, a transfer of 65,000 Starwood points would yield 120,000 US Airways miles — enough for a first class award from the US to Hong Kong (grab some of those sweet Chicago – Tokyo All Nippon first class award seats that are available in February..).
Lucky and I Discuss the Value of Miles
The June issue of Inside Flyer runs a cover story on the value of miles, how to think about when to use them, and what value to expect back in return for those redemptions. The piece includes a sidebar Q&A with me and with Lucky. We agree on most points. Delta Skypesos are the least valuable major mileage currency in North America. United’s Starnet blocking is a huge detriment to the value of their mileage. International premium cabin awards are the best use of miles, though they aren’t ‘worth’ for most people the sticker price that airlines charge for paid versions of the same itineraries.. We both like Aeroplan. Our disagreements? Lucky thinks miles have gotten less valuable because of award chart inflation (a fair point) while I think that on the whole they’ve gotten…
35,000 American Airlines Miles for New Credit Card Signup
Another Frugal Travel Guy pointer, American is offering 35,000 miles after $750 in purchases within 4 months of cardmembership for your choice of Citibank co-branded Mastercard, Visa, or American Express. The especially nice thing here, indeed, is that you can get the bonus for signing up for one of each card — that’s 105,000 miles for three credit card signups. This specific offer doesn’t come with an annual fee waiver, so the card costs $85. Please let me know if you come across this same offer with a fee waiver, that would be ideal. The previous best offer — which some will prefer because a first year fee waiver is available — is 30,000 miles after $750 in purchases and 5000 more bonus miles after $5000 in purchases within 12 months. Update: Thanks to a…
