US Airways is back with a 100% bonus on purchased miles in January, but it looks as though the bonus is only available to folks who purchased miles in 2012. A couple of years ago US Airways Dividend Miles picked up some new tools that lets them target their purchase miles bonuses and do some better analytics. And since then they’ve done both broad-based bonuses and targeted ones. To find out if you’re eligible, go to the purchase miles page and you’ll be asked to provide your name and US Airways account number, so they can verify whether or not to offer you the bonus. Then assuming you qualify you will be shown the offer. Even with the 100% bonus, after the federal 7.5% tax, you’re still paying almost 1.9 cents per mile. That’s great…
About Gary Leff
Hotel Elite Status Benefits Are More Valuable Than You Think
My recent stay at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris — where I had one of the absolute very best breakfasts of my life (that segment of the trip report is coming) — really crystalized in my mind the value of hotel elite status. I still love my lemon poppyseed pancakes at the Andaz 5th Avenue but the American breakfast at the Park Hyatt runs to 49 euros per person. And the amazing thing is that it wasn’t just expensive, it was probably actually worth that. So I sat in my hotel, one of the better properties in one of the more expensive cities in the world. And I ate my 49 euro breakfast, of course a Hyatt Diamond is entitled to full breakfast for up to 4 registered guests in the room. And on…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: A Wonderful Place to Stay in Paris on Points
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles By the time I made it to the hotel from the airport it was a little bit after noon. There weren’t rooms ready, which is reasonable, and they offered of course to store bags and ring me on my mobile when they could accommodate. But then the woman assisting with our checkin said she thought they could have something ready fairly quickly, offered us complimentary coffees and to be seated while they checked into things. We sat down and ordered cappuccinos, and just as it was arriving she came back over, let us know…
Different Ways to Create Spending at Little Cost to Earn Miles and Signup Bonuses
There are lots of ways to ‘manufacture’ spending on a credit card. I’ve written about several of them in the past. The holy grail of miles and points is buying money with a credit card (for the miles), depositing that money into your bank account (to pay of the credit card). Rinse, repeat. This is most leveraged for meeting credit card signup bonuses but also is helpful to simply earn miles month after month. Bluebird, Vanilla Reload, and Billpay What’s gotten the most attention is the American Express Bluebird card. You sign up for the card for free, then buy ‘Vanilla Reload’ cards (note: not Vanilla Visa or similar). Some CVS and some Walgreens will stock them and allow you to buy them with a credit card. Earn miles. Load the Vanilla Reloads onto your…
Finally, Full Details on the Business ExtrAA American Express Corporate Card
Pizza in Motion follows up with additional details on the Business ExtrAA American Express card. It’s one of the least understood credit cards I’ve seen, it’s hard to apply for (cannot be applied for online), and the benefits aren’t even documented online. Anywhere, that I can tell. He previously outlined some of the basics: $395 annual fee, comes with American Admirals Club access, 4% rebate on American Airlines spend and 1% on all other spend. You call to express your interest, someone calls back to qualify you, then they’ll schedule a followup call. Seriously. Well, he’s now apparently had his followup call and has additional answers. It’s a true corporate card, they don’t pull your personal credit. They require $4 million in business revenue. The 4% rebate on American purchase and 1% rebate on all…
United Being Sued for Dodging $100 Million in Fuel Taxes
The Chicago-area Regional Transportation Authority will file suit against United Airlines today for tax evasion — there’s a tax on jet fuel that depends on where the fuel is being purchased, and United keeps an office in DeKalb County to confuct fuel purchase transactions in order to save on the much higher Chicago taxes. American apparently engages in a similar arrangement, but they aren’t being sued while they’re in bankruptcy — though the Transportation Authority may sue them once they emerge. How much money is at stake? The RTA said in a prepared statement that “sales tax dodges” have cost the city of Chicago $133 million in lost sales tax revenue since 2005. They have cost Cook County an additional $60 million and Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority another $96 million, according to…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: Washington Dulles-Paris Onboard the A380
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles Looking for something to do for New Years I settled on Paris, there was non-stop business class availability on the Washington Dulles – Paris non-stop. And it’s their Airbus A380. I’m not one to chase aircraft. I’m much more interested in the inflight product than the model of the plane itself. And believe it or not (it’s sort of something I hadn’t even realized until I stopped to think about it), I hadn’t actually ever been on an A380 other than crawling around one of Qantas’ during the oneworld MegaDO back at the end…
Renting a Wireless Internet Device for International Travel
Renting Wireless Internet for International Travel: I first learned about XCOM Global from this Milepoint thread which is a good discussion of getting wireless internet access while traveling abroad. XCOM Global offers pocket-sized wireless internet routers (“MiFi”) that will work in most any of the destinations you’ll be traveling to, and they give you unlimited data for a fixed per-day price. My Usual Solution On most of my trips I just turn my phone into airplane mode so that I don’t eat any roaming charges, and log into the hotel’s wireless internet. If I want to make calls I use the Skype app and I’m only paying about 3 cents a minute to talk to the U.S. And this works well for me because (1) just about anywhere I stay, I get free internet —…
Time to Burn Your Wyndham Points? Another Program Diminishes Trust By Devaluing Without Notice
Mommy Points discovers that Wyndham Rewards has made a no-notice devaluation in their award chart. Previously, the most expensive hotel redemption for most of their brands was ‘category 4’ at 16,000 points per night. Which is why when they would run a 16,000 point bonus promotion they would advertise it as a free night, anywhere. But now, apparently, some hotels have gotten more expensive than that, out of the blue — a lot more expensive. She reports that the Wingate Midtown Manhattan has gone from 16,000 points to 45,000 points per night. Airline mileage transfer rates remain the same (for now). 8,000 Wyndham Rewards points -> 3200 airline miles 17,500 Wyndham Rewards points -> 7000 airline miles 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points -> 12,000 airline miles I’m inclined to just transfer all of my Wyndham points…
74 HawaiianMiles Per Dollar at Amazon Local — If They Honor It
Lucky writes that the Hawaiian Airlines online shopping portal is offering 74 HawaiianMiles per dollar for purchases at Amazon Local. The Hawaiian Airlines online mall seems to be offering 74 HawaiianMiles per dollar spent at Amazon Local. Once you get to the online mall just enter “Amazon” in the top right search bar, and the offer should come up. And indeed, it does come up: I imagine this is either a mistake, or they’ll decide later that this is a mistake. The Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal has a of not honoring super lucrative deals even when the terms and conditions of the offer explicitly say ‘no restrictions’. And in this case there’s a bit of murkiness, because when you click through to the Amazon Local offer it says “Earn 74 miles / member signup” rather then per…
