Do you cherish Doggie Howser, M.D. as much as I do, but think he’s just too expensive? Fortunately jfhscott reminds me about a 1-800-Flowers discount that still allows earning miles: Skyselect sells $50 gift cards to 1-800-Flowers for $29. The current offer runs through November 27 but these sales are run consistently (so another should likely be along shortly after this one is done). You can only use one card per transaction (account login required). But this amounts to a $21 discount on 1-800-Flowers purchases. And here’s the kicker: If the base price of an order before shipping is less than $50, miles don’t seem to be awarded, but if the base price is over $50 then miles seem to be awarded on the full cost of the order (not on the amount over the…
About Gary Leff
How to Find The Very Best Specialists to Guide You Through Your Travel
The December issue of Conde’ Nast Traveler carries their annual list of the world’s top travel specialists. Online travel agencies have revolutionized the way that travel is booked, certainly something is lost in the process but for the median airline ticket it’s overkill to pay a human to do things for you. For higher end trips, for complicated trips, for experiences there’s little that can replace an expert with local knowledge, contacts, and an understanding of how to deliver more than a mass product. And several individuals are recognized in the magazine for their ability to consistently deliver on those things for clients. I’ve been honored to be selected for the list for the work I do as part of my award booking service, for the third year in a row. Wendy Perrin curates the…
Earn Miles for FedEx Shipments
The ‘other Gary,’ this one of Free Frequent Flyer Miles, does a great job of updating his site with the latest frequent flyer offers by category — whether it’s miles for checking accounts, cell phones, shopping, or other activities. He updated the site today with a note that US Airways has an offer of miles with first Fedex shipment from a new account. So I checked out the rest of his ste and found FedEx offers from four airlines: Kinko’s and FedEx: Earn 500 American Airlines miles for your first order of $100 or more using File, Print FedEx Kinko’s, which seems to be a system designed for businesses for printing stuff in bulk. Details. FedEx offers 1 Hawaiian Airlines mile/$1 spent plus some discounts for shipping with them. FedEx offers 250 miles U.S. Airways miles for your first shipment, and 1 mile/$1 spent on eligible FedEx shipments.…
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 23, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Million Mile Secrets says that through Monday, November 26th this link will still work to get 50,000 points as a signup bonus for an American Express Business Gold Rewards card (after $5000 spend within 3 months, no fee the first year). [Offer expired] Mr. Pickles recounts how you used to be able to buy diamonds at costco.com with Visa or Mastercard, and then return them in-store for cash, in order to earn miles. And there’s still an incredibly generous return policy at Costco for used and beaten up items, apparently. Joe Brancatelli has basic principles for selecting an airport hotel: choose the one that’s connected to the terminal (avoids delays of the shuttle bus), choose the newest one (since one-night stays generate much more wear and tear), avoid…
Free Delta Skymiles for Social Media Checkins
Lots of folks have been earning lots of points from social media checkins, by signing up with Topguest and linking a Foursquare account and then identifying your location with participating loyalty programs like Priority Club and Doubletree hotels (Hilton HHonors). There’s lots of discussion on Milepoint of folks who may have checked in a few too many times, perhaps without being anywhere near the locations they were checking in at, and got warning emails from Topguest as a result. Now there appears to be a new option for earning free miles for social media checkins. Via this Milepoint thread, Tripanomaly will give you 80 Delta Skymiles “just for sharing your location at a Delta Airlines terminal, departure gate or any of our listed partner locations.”
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 22, 2012
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Effective December 1, British Airways subsidiary OpenSkies will be a oneworld affiliate member opening up mileage earning and redemption and reciprocal benefits on that airline’s flights from Newark to Paris-Orly (and beginning March 1 New York JFK – Paris-Orly as well). Rapid Travel Chai reports that Xiamen Airlines has joined Skyteam. Along with China Eastern and China Southern that positions the alliance strongly in China. Star has Air China (and soon Taiwan-based EVA Air and Shenzhen Airlines), oneworld has (Hong Kong-based) Cathay and Dragonair. The next major alliance ‘get’ would be Hainan Airlines. One Mile at a Time notices that Hawaiian Airlines has updated their award chart for Virgin Atlantic again. Earlier in the week they posted a massive price increase. Now they’ve clarified that award pricing is…
Experiencing the Boeing 787 — Media Coverage of a Frequent Flyer Dream Trip
The Wall Street Journal‘s Scott McCartney offers more coverage of the Boeing 787 which he experienced as a passenger on the recent Star MegaDO. Give a bunch of airplane geeks and frequent travelers a new, innovative airplane and watch the excitement build. When United Airlines flew 200 travel enthusiasts and top-tier frequent fliers on its newest jet, the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner,” it was love at first flight. Except for some of the folks sitting back in the narrow seats of the coach cabin. …For passengers, the Dreamliner offers slightly higher humidity in the cabin. Because it is mostly made of composite materials that won’t corrode, more moisture in the air is OK. The cabin is pressured to a lower altitude than other jets — 6,000 feet above sea level instead of 8,000 feet. That should…
No, Really, You SHOULDN’T Collect Miles and Points
A couple of days ago I offered an old-school Fisking of a Christopher Elliott piece where he suggested that frequent flyer miles are worthless, you should walk away from the programs, and even that “[a]irline loyalty programs as they currently exist should be banned and the accomplices who pushed points on an unsuspecting public should be arrested and put on trial.” It was a silly, over-the-top piece and frankly almost too easy to mock. But Elliott, writing for a mass audience highly unlikely to be paying close enough attention to frequent flyer programs to benefit properly from them, could have taken his basic arguments and written a much better and more useful piece. And I think I probably owe him the courtesy of responding not just to the piece he wrote, which was easily mocked,…
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 21, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: JetBlue is offering triple points on all flights booked at JetBlue.com and after promotion registration for travel through the end of the year. One Mile at a Time says that Marriott Rewards will be changing the rules to acquire lifetime elite status in their program, details to be announced in January. So far we know only that the requirement for years in the program will be going away. Doesn’t affect me personally, but I’m always nervous when changes are announced to lifetime status programs. They won’t take lifetime status away from anyone that has already earned it. But folks could be very close to earning the status after years of loyalty and see the football pulled away from them at the last moment. Tread lightly, Marriott… Wandering Aramean…
The TSA Kills. Why People Die Because of Airport Security.
Wandering Aramean passes along an idea that I’ve been suggesting for years, that cumbersome security theatre actually kills — wasting time on security that doesn’t make us more secure makes flying less attractive than driving for short-haul destinations. But flying is safer. When you have to arrive at the airport earlier due to the vagaries of airport security and uncertainty in how long it will take, you may choose to drive short distances because the cost of an airline ticket is no longer worthwhile for the time saved. More driving means more traffic fatalities, deaths that would not happened had airport security not been so inefficient. Those are real costs on the table. Alex Tabarrok covers this issue as well. Matthew Yglesias adds that the TSA should have to estimate how many planes it thinks…
