Star Alliance member Avianca is offering a 100% bonus on transferred miles in its LifeMiles program through July 17. Be careful, there are probably states where it’s illegal to give someone “the double” without their explicit consent. You can transfer up to 75,000 miles (with the recipient receiving 150,000) at a cost of $17.70 per 1000 miles transferred. That means you’re buying incremental miles generated through the promotion at 1.77 cents apiece, an increase over earlier pricing. Note that an account cannot receive more then 150,000 miles (which is reached with one 75,000 transfer) in a year. I don’t like investing in LifeMiles speculatively: Last May they tweaked some award prices without notice and increased the cash cost of cash and points awards as well. When Avianca joined Star Alliance I declared their program the…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2014.
1000 Free Miles, 40% Off Hyatt Sale, and $25 off $25 at Costco
What Others Are Writing That You Need to Know: The Only Packing Tips You Need to Know $25 off $25 at Costco Hilton makes mid-year award category changes — with no notification to members, other than on an obscure website, and with just one week’s notice Hyatt Asia Pacific 40% Off Sale this weekend only. 1000 Free Air Berlin Miles How an airport sign designer pursues their craft You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
10,000 Bonus American Miles for Eating Out 10 Times
There are some great bonuses for signing up for free programs that let you earn miles when you eat out at restaurants. And once signed up, there are also some current strong bonuses for eating out frequently at participating restaurants. Via Rapid Travel Chai, you need to log into your account to see what bonuses you’re being offered. The American AAdvantage-branded version of the program has a live offer of 10,000 bonus miles after 10 dines of $40 or more by August 15, 2014. There’s a United offer as well for 5000 miles after 10 dines of $40 or more by August 15 as well. Be sure to read How to Earn Miles for Dining Out at Restaurants. It includes a list of all of the dining programs, and you can check with each once…
I Need Your Help to Redesign This Site
It’s time for a refresh. I started this blog in 2002, over at blogspot before blogspot was part of Google. Randy Petersen offered to host the blog and in early 2003 it was moved to webflyer.com/blog. There have been a few tweaks since then but for the most part the look and feel of the blog has remained the same for the past six years or so. I don’t think much about aesthetics, I’ve always been far more interested in information, but I also realize that the way a website looks and feels influences how easy it is to access that information. For instance, with an increasing number of people reading via mobile the page needs to be far more mobile-friendly. Nonetheless, my computer knowledge is frozen in time from decades ago. Once upon a…
15% Off Gift Cards, More Bluebird Opportunities, and Cheap Private Jet Flights
News and notes from around the interweb: Last minute private jet flights on the cheap (HT: Alan H.) Bluebird increases daily load limit to $2500 per day. It can now be loaded up to $1,999.99 per day at Walmart registers, cutting required Walmart visits in half. Back in April it looked like the Suntrust Delta debit card, a tool I use to generate lots of miles, was no longer available. There was a limited window, though, to get the card in person or via online chat still. There are reports now that this window has slammed shut. Anyone still having success? TwoSmiles.com has 15% off gift cards — including Southwest Airlines gift cards — through July 7 using promo code FIREWORKS15. (HT: Julian B.) Better than usual Delta American Express Card offers. You can join…
Let’s Rename Washington National Airport!
In my Tourist Guide to Washington DC (the most important things to know in a nutshell, I’ve lived here for 18 years), I wrote that: You always want to fly into National airport (and not Dulles or Baltimore) when possible, all things (price, non-stop flights) equal. Nobody calls it Reagan National. This was a controversial claim, lots of discussion in the comments. I actually think it breaks down along the lines of how new you are to the area. It isn’t just tourists that call is Reagan, it’s also newbies. The airport was re-named for Ronald Reagan as a part of Grover Norquist’s very successful pitch to make a lot of money from conservative donors campaign to rename something for Ronald Reagan in every state. Now there’s a move to take away the name. And…
Where Are All the DoubleUp Rates at PointsHound?
A couple of days ago I wrote about booking website PointsHound increasing the airline miles they’ll award you for making hotel reservations. I surmised that, their having been acquired by Points.com, they likely have access to better pricing on miles and the economics now let them provide a greater incentive to you to book through them. What I like best about PointsHound is that they offer ‘DoubleUp’ rates. You can book through them and earn airline miles for the reservation, and as long as you’re booking one of these rates you will still: Earn points in the hotel’s program as well. Get recognition for your elite status in that program. Earn credit towards elite status with the hotel chain. PointsHound’s competitor Rocketmiles has historically offered more miles, but since Rocketmiles is offering only third party…
20,000 Starwood Points Transfer to 30,000 US Airways Miles This Month
Yesterday I shared that there’s a new bonus for transferring Starwood points into American frequent flyer accounts: 20,000 Starpoints yields 30,000 AAdvantage miles through July 31. It’s a 20% bonus. Starwood normally transfers 20,000 points into 25,000 miles with most programs. Under this offer that 25,000 miles multiplies by 1.2 into 30,000 miles. The same bonus is being offered for transfer of Starwood Starpoints into US Airways Dividend Miles. Here’s the email: The offer page is here. Starwood can post up to 79,999 points to a given airline mileage program during a 24 hour period. And of course you want to transfer in chunks of 20,000 to maximize your bonus. So don’t transfer more than 60,000 Starpoints (which will yield 90,000 American miles) in a 24 hour period. If you want to make a larger…
What Does it Look Like When the Best Airport in the World Builds a Brand New Terminal?
Singapore’s Changi airport tops most lists of ‘Best Airport in the World’ and for good reason. It features several gardens, including a butterfly garden. The shopping — and food options — are hard to match. There’s even a movie theater. You can take a free transit tour. And there’s a Crowne Plaza hotel linked to terminal 3 via covered walkway, and a transit hotel which doesn’t require clearing immigration. Changi airport opened terminal 3, the home for the bulk of Singapore Airlines fights and especially their long haul operations in 2008 (they are not the sole occupants of the terminal). The airport’s Budget terminal was opened in 2006 — and closed 6 years later. It will be replaced with a brand new ‘terminal 4’ expected to open in 2017. A rendering of the new terminal…
Uber Will Continue to Operate in Pittsburgh Despite a Court Order
Uber and Lyft received cease and desist orders to halt operations in Pittsburgh. The judges issuing the orders recognize they’re hosing residents. “We are not blind or deaf to the public opinion, at least in the Pittsburgh area, that the transportation needs of many individuals are not adequately met by currently certificated carriers. Nor are we unmindful of the potential benefits of the service proposed by Lyft,” they write. “…Therefore, it may seem to some that our order here is contrary to the public interest in the ability of individuals to secure transportation in a timely manner.” Uber intends to continue operating anyway despite the order. Uber and Lyft continue to operate in Virginia as well despite being ordered by the DMV not to do so. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these…
