New Girl in the Air highlights current signup bonuses offered by various frequent flyer and frequent guest programs: Alaska Airlines: 500 Miles for Joining and Completing Your Profile American Airlines: 1000 Miles for Joining and Referncing Promotion Code ETD10 Amtrak: 500 Points for Joining and Completing Your First Trip Within 90 Days Choice Hotels: 500 Points for Joining and Completing Your First Stay Czech Airlines: 2000 Miles for Joining Jet Airways: 2000 Miles for Joining LAN Airlines: 1000 Kilometers for Joining Marriott Hotels: 2000 Points for Joining and Completing Your First Stay Southwest Airlines: 750 Points for Joining and Opting In to Emails for at least 3 Months Virgin Atlantic: 1000 Miles for Joining and Taking Your First Flight in Economy Class (2000 Miles for Premium Economy / 3000 for Upper Class) For those programs which…
Yearly Archives
Yearly Archives for 2012.
Credit Card Usage Strategy for Someone Who Isn’t a High Spender
In response to Tuesday’s post laying out my personal credit card spending strategy for 2012, reader Andrew writes: Gary, can you please write a post laying out a credit card strategy for those of us who don’t spend mega dollars in a year? Even with some reimbursable business spend, I’m probably not going to spend more than 50K this year, and it seems silly to split up that spending across, at minimum, three cards (as you suggest). Getting 15,000 or 20,000 points per card per year isn’t getting my wife and I closer to award travel very quickly. I replied briefly in the comments, but will share my take on this as well. My post was about my own personal situation which I described, and I absolutely recognize that it doesn’t apply to plenty of…
300 Free Priority Club Points
Via Miles Momma: Get 300 Priority Club Rewards for answering a simple quiz LINK: http://usa-survey.priorityclub.com/mwpvwj ANSWER: Question #1 – All of the above Question #2 – All of the above Question #3 – All of the above Question #4 – Over 4,300 Question #5 – 50 nights or 60,000 points
The “Spouse Upgrade Debate” Goes Mainstream
A couple of weeks ago, the “spouse upgrade debate” was raging here at BoardingArea: traveling with your partner, one of you gets upgraded, which one of you gets the seat? That debate has gone mainstream with a CNN.com piece in which I’m quoted at the top and bottom of the article, and which also draws on commentary from BoardingArea blogger Deals We Like and also from Online Travel Review. I continue to reject the premise, a false dichotomy of “one of you takes the upgrade and the other doesn’t.” It’s important for you to both get the upgrade. And depending on the trip, I might even consider declining the upgrade, it’s better to be together than separated but with one of you getting a meal..
Free Accor A|Club Platinum Status is Back
It appears that the link for free, instant Platinum status with Accor A|Club that I first posted back in October seems to be working again. As I explained at the time, Platinum status generally requires 60 nights (or 25,000 points earned) and comes with a 100% points bonus and then at Sofitel, Pullman, and MGallery hotels: room upgrades that the rules say you specifically have to ask for, 4pm late checkout, guaranteed availability, and a welcome drink and gift. I’ve always found it odd that A|Club elite status doesn’t get you recognition at Novotel properties, but still being Platinum which is their top tier is certainly better than a hole in the head as my grandfather used to say — especially when the status is instant and free. There was also a Platinum status offer…
Consolidated Award Booking Advice
Picking a Program, and When and How to Book What Program You Should Use Depends on the Destinations You Want to Redeem For The Myth of Booking Award Tickets at Midnight 330 Days Out Placing Award Reservations on Hold (Rather Than Ticketing Immediately) How to Book Awards to Australia and French Polynesia Program-specific Advice on Booking and Maximizing Awards Using US Airways Dividend Miles to Book Star Alliance Awards United’s Generous Award Routing Rules Add Free Segments to the End of an American AAdvantage Award Booking How to Make Delta Miles Work for You Improving Delta Award Itineraries When Schedules Change
Amtrak Northeast Offer: Free Summer Roundtrips for 2-3 Roundtrips in Winter
Amtrak Guest Rewards is offering free trips in addition to standard points earning for travel between January 4 and February 29. (Registration required separately for the Acela and for the Northeast Regional offer, for which you’ll need to be logged into your account. Three Acela trips earns a free Acela trip, and two Northeast Regional trips earns a free Northeast Regional, with free travel having to be taken between July 4 through August 30, 2012. Acela redemptions are subject to time restrictions on weekdays. The offer on the Amtrak Guest Rewards website only references the Acela deal, but Amtrak Guest Rewards representatives have communicated online that it applies even more generously to Northeast Regional trains. (Post updated thanks to commenter Cameron)
Don’t Forget to Add a Segment to the End of American AAdvantage Award Bookings
American Airlines and partner awards don’t allow ‘free’ stopovers (visiting an extra city along the way) except at the North American gateway city. Many airlines will let you stop over, say, in Tokyo on the way to Hong Kong or Bangkok. American Airlines will charge extra miles for this. (Unless you are using one of their distance-based oneworld awards which require flying two oneworld airlines other than American, which permit no changes to routing after issuance, and which do not allow flying on non-oneworld airlines.) The exception is that you can stopover in whatever North American city you leave the country from, or first return to. If you live in New York, you can fly New York – Tokyo – Singapore on Japan Airlines, come back Singapore – Hong Kong – New York. And you…
2012 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminar Dates Announced
Rick reports that dates for the 2012 Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminar have been set: We have firmed up the dates for the 2012 Chicago Seminars. They are October 12, 13 and 14, 2012 back with our friends at the Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village. I have been assured that we will be able to book hotel rooms by the first of next week at the same rates as last year. I’ll surely be posting when rooms are available for booking. Rick will be co-organizing the event this year with The Points Guy, and I’ve been asked back to speak for a third time. (Lucky from One Mile at a Time has been as well.) Here’s a summary of one of the days at the 2011 event from Frequently Flying. Here’s how I described the logistics…
2500 Free Citi Thank You Points
I cancelled my Citibank Thank You Points-earning card about three years ago when they last devalued the program, I used to get 3 cents a point in value by booking domestic business class tickets then cancelling and retaining a credit that I would use towards other travel. By booking Delta tickets, I’d be able to split up the credit into multiple itineraries (and even use the credits not just for myself but – after the first ticket re-issue – for others as well). Back in the day Citi Thank You Points were even more valuable than that, since they didn’t cap the price of tickets they’d buy for you… .. but when the program basically became 1.25% cash back towards travel I became a whole lot less interested. However, in my December credit card churn…
