Starwood announced their upcoming promotion on Milepoint this morning: SPG Double Take. Between May 1 and July 31 Starwood is offering double points at most hotels (non-participating properties.. hate that!) and 500 bonus points for all reservations booked on Starwood’s mobile site or iPhone/Android mobile apps (no excluded properties). Registration is not yet available, I tend to remind folks of these things once registration opens but Starwood is happy to remind you via text as well if you’d like: Request a text from us letting you know when registration starts in late April. To opt in, text DBLT to 44264 in the U.S. or 447950080934 in the U.K. Back in the fall they offered double or triple points and a mobile booking bonus. So certainly this one sounds familiar (I did a double take!). This…
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The Death of the Double Miles Award: and Why the US Airways/American Merger Will Kill it For Good
I’m going to stake out a prediction for the US Airways-American Airlines merger that I haven’t seen anyone else make yet — it spells the death knell for the ‘double mileage award’. Most US Programs Used to Charge ‘Double Miles’ for a Seat When There Wasn’t Award Availability Traditionally US frequent flyer programs offered to let members book any seat on any flight for twice the miles. That way if there wasn’t any “saver” award inventory, it would still be possible to use your miles. Now it wasn’t always precisely twice the miles. Up until October 2006 United Airlines Mileage Plus offered awards from North America to Australia in business class at 90,000 miles roundtrip — or 150,000 miles for what they called "standard" or rule-buster style awards where you could have any empty seat…
50% Bonus When Transferring Hotel Points to US Airways
It sure seems to be US Airways day! (That is, in addition to April Fools Day…) There’s no registration required. US Airways will give you a 50% bonus on top of whatever miles your hotel program sends over to US Airways with an activity date in April. The promotion is supposed to be valid for transfers initiated in April, though the terms and conditions appear to have a typo in them since they seem to require points to be reported by a hotel program within the next 9 days! The last date that activity from a qualifying partner can be received by US Airways for bonus miles consideration is April 10, 2013, regardless of the eligible activity date for such activity. That’s clearly a mistake, and I’m unconcerned about it. What I don’t know, though,…
250 Bonus Miles for Every US Airways Booking Paid for With MasterCard
Register and every US Airways booking made by October 31 for travel through December 31, paid for with a MasterCard, will earn 250 bonus miles. At least one segment of the reservation must be for paid travel on a US Airways (or US Airways Express)-operated flight. Bonus miles post 6-8 weeks after travel is completed.
Preview of My Next Trip Report: Best First Class Award EVER
This is a quick introduction to a new trip report I’m starting, even though I haven’t finished the last one. I’ll do a much more thorough job especially with the return portion of the flight and also my adventures in Russia. But I just had to share right away a little bit of the product that I’ve just experienced — an ANA award first class redemption on new Russian carrier Meridien Airlines. It’s probably the best product I’ve tried, and right now award availability is really good. Two years ago Transaero Airlines (which many know as a partner of the since-acquired by British Airways british midland) split off a smaller airline, led by a disgruntled faction of the board, creating Meridien Airlines which operates Boeing 777, Boeing 737-800, and Airbus A319 aircraft. Last year they…
British Airways First Class, Seattle or New York to Anywhere in Europe for $120!
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen amistake fare as good as this. And while British Airways has pushed back on honoring these sorts of things in the past it seems pretty clear that under new FTC guidelines they’ll really have no choice. Your trip has to be entirely on British Airways, and originate in Seattle or New York (please add a comment here if you find it from other British Airways cities, but I haven’t seen it work from anywhere else yet) but apparently you can fly from those cities to anywhere in Europe for about $120 all-in. The exact price will vary just a bit based on the airport taxes of your destination, and I haven’t been able to get it to work for just London (you need to connect beyond London…
US Airways 50% Bonus for Shared (Transferred) Miles in April
US Airways usually offers a bonus of some sort for shared miles or purchased miles. When they run a 100% bonus on purchased miles the cost to buy miles directly is 1.87 cents apiece, something that many consider. Their best offer is a 100% bonus on sharing miles — transferring miles from one account to another, with the amount of miles transferred being matched by the same number of additional miles. That lets you buy additional miles at just a penny apiece. April’s offer isn’t as good as either one, but will be strategically useful to some that need to top off an account towards an award or clear out an orphan account with just a few miles in it. Limited time offer: Give a 50% bonus when you Share Miles! Share miles from from…
Frequent Traveler University in April is Sold Out — Book Your Tampa Tickets Now
Next month’s Frequent Traveler University in Northern Virginia has been sold out for months. Some folks have been able to secure tickets because, while tickets are non-refundable, they are transferable up to about four weeks before the event. So folks who bought tickets speculatively, or who discovered they had work or other conflicts, were able to transfer tickets to those who remained alert and jumped on the opportunity. Today marks the last day where April Frequent Traveler University tickets can be transferred. In all, we expect 650 people at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner April 26-28 — the biggest gathering of frequent flyers ever. They’ll come to hear from me, Randy Petersen, The Points Guy, Lucky from One Mile at a Time, Million Mile Secrets, Seth of Wandering Aramean, Frequent Milers, Rapid Travel Chai, plus…
Last Day to Cast Your Vote in the Freddie Awards
The Freddie Awards are in their 25th year of representing the voice of the frequent traveler, honoring the best in airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty programs during the previous year. Today is your last chance to vote for your favorite programs, the ones you believe did the best job for their members in 2012. Last month I predicted that you would be among more than 1,000,000 frequent flyers expressing their collective voice. In fact – and I don’t have final numbers yet — it appears that nearly three million people have participated so far. I’ve had the great honor of serving as Chair of Nominations for the Freddies, so I’ve been in touch with leadership at scores of frequent flyer programs over the past couple of months preparing for this. And as a co-founder…
Return to the Maldives: Tea at the Burj al Arab, Dubai
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class Our hotel media rep dropped us off at the Skyview bar, where we identified ourselves to the desk. We were the third reservation there, they found us on the little slips of paper at the desk. It was important to us to be on the early side (and we arrived…
