Via One Mile at a Time, the Westin Charlotte’s Facebook Page is giving away 250 Starwood points for signing up for their Insiders eClub newsletter by February 1. Of course the offer could get pulled earlier. And the signup page doesn’t ask for your Starwood Preferred Guest number, one has to guess they’ll email you for it later (I hope!). But it’s quick free points, if they post of course..
About Gary Leff
Oneworld MegaDO Blogstorm!
The Full Boeing Customer Experience Center Experience The President of AAdvantage Responds to a Frequent Flyer Emergency American’s New Premium Transcon and International Business Class Meal Service MegaDO Charter Takes off Dallas – Seattle Touring American, Flight Simulators, and a Water Evacuation Sneak Preview of American’s 777-300 Onboard Product Meeting American Execs at the C.R. Smith Museum Big Hyatt News at the MegaDO Dallas Opening Reception Some Serious Food and Drink in Dallas Checking in for the MegaDO at the Hyatt Regency DFW The MegaDO Flight Gets Cancelled. Best. Thing. Ever. American’s Premium Service JFK – London The Flight Over and Heathrow Arrival The First Flight of the oneworld MegaDO takes off for London The Chariot to London Awaits Getting to Know JFK Terminal 8 and Finnair Opening Reception at JFK A Five Star Checkin…
Hyatt’s Winter Promotion Revealed at oneworld MegaDO Opening Reception
Over on the oneworld MegaDO blog, I posted about last night’s opening reception at the Hyatt Regency DFW. Jeff Zidell, who runs the Gold Passport program, gave a great talk with trivia and prizes.. and dropped some advance news. Their winter promo details. He also broke the news about their first quarter promotion which offers up to 55,000 bonus points, more than enough points for 2 nights at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris or Park Hyatt Maldives (with 11,000 points to spare). We started off guessing Charlie Sheen’s favorite promo… #Winning And then the new promo was revealed! For every 4 nights between February 1 and April 30, members will earn progressively more bonus points and Hyatt Visa cardholders will earn an extra 25% bonus on top. Registration for the promo is required by…
Do You Have to Pay Taxes on Your Frequent Flyer Miles?
Several readers have sent me a Los Angeles Times piece about Citibank’s reporting of mileage signup bonuses for bank (not credit card accounts) beings reported to the IRS on 1099 forms. I’ve written about this sisue several times in the past, and I have a new post up on Conde Nast‘s Daily Traveler. I make the point that just because something is reported to the IRS doesn’t mean you have to agree that it is taxable or agree with the valuation of the entity sending you that tax form. The IRS has said in the past that not paying taxes on miles wouldn’t generate an enforcement action, and I argue that the value of the miles is likely lower than that being reported by Citi. In the Daily Traveler post, I share how to dispute…
Best Deals Around the Blogs for January 24, 2012
One Mile at a Time tells you how to get a 20% off coupon code for Virgin America. Mommy Points has a roundtip of the best mileage offers for flower purchases, it’s almost Valentine’s Day fellas! And there’s 40 Delta miles per dollar from 1-800-Flowers and 30 United miles per dollar with FTD. At 40 miles per dollar you’re basically buying miles and getting flowers for free (though delivery charges don’t earn miles, so the deal isn’t ever quite as good on a straight mileage purchase as it initially seems, but it’s still a good deal since you do also get flowers…). Yesterday Frugal Travel Guy pointed out that JetSetter is offering some deep discounts on the Peninsula New York. I actually emailed Lucky from the One Mile at a Time blog on Sunday saying…
Blogstorm All Over the MegaDO Launch
The oneworld MegaDO so far, posts on the MegaDO Blog over the last 24 hours: Oneworld MegaDO is about to take off! Arriving for the New York opener in VIP style Taking over Puglia Ristorante in Little Italy for the Opening Dinner Gold Passport Diamond Breakfast at the New York host hotel, Andaz Wall Street Your Badges Have Arrived! Planning and Lunch – But Distracted by Football Pink Limos to JFK! Waiting in Traffic, Wishing for Champagne With this kind of welcome, the wait is worth it!
Where the Blogging Action is for the Next Week: the Oneworld MegaDO is about to take off!
Over the next week I’ll be blogging over at the Mega DO website. That’s where I’ll have extended posts about all of the activities, experiences, and insights that are going on during the ultimate frequent flyer once in a lifetime experience that starts in New York, heads over to London then Dallas on American Airlines with a visit with oneworld European carriers.. then visits with American Airlines execs in Dallas, there will be flight simulator time for participants and even a real simulated water evacuation of an aircraft and folks get to go down the emergency slide. We all hop on a chartered 757 party plane (I’m told, quadruple catered with liquor) up to Seattle for tours of private parts of Boeing and a cocktail reception with industry execs as well, and then take the…
1000 Free Hilton HHonors Points
Via MilesQuest: You can get 1000 Free Hilton HHonors points by registering a mobile phone number and a Visa card. You’re basically agreeing to receive “special offers” via text. They promise to only send you two messages and you can opt out at any time. You can earn an additional 4000 Hilton Honors points by spending at least $100 at a US Hilton hotel or resort with your registered Visa card. You must register by June 30, 2012 to receive the sign up bonus and must spend $100 by then to receive the additional 4000.
Save the Date! Frequent Traveler University, April 27-29, New York Area
Announced last night on Milepoint: After the huge success of the inaugural FT University in NYC last April, the FT University is coming back again this year with a brand new format! This year you can enjoy: — Complimentary cocktail party on Friday night sponsored by milepoint.com — On Saturday you will be able to learn from the best in the biz from exclusive speakers you won’t be able to hear anywhere else, including the miles guru himself, Randy Petersen and popular blogger Gary Leff! — On Sunday, interact with the largest frequent flyer and hotel programs in the world, including Mileage Plus, AAdvantage, SPG and Hyatt Gold Passport — The introduction of the best credit card learning program “Credit Card Lions Den”. The credit card programs will present their most popular cards in front…
Alaska Airlines Partners with Emirates: A380 First Class Showers in Our Future?
Lucky notes that effective March 1, Emirates will become a mileage accrual partner of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan — and that later in the year you’ll be able to burn miles for Emirates flights. That’s great, I noted yesterday that Emirates was in desperate need of a US airline partner having lost United and Continental (I had expected that partner to be American until American hooked up with Etihad). Sure, Emirates promoted its interline agreement with JetBlue, and there’s probably some non-zero benefit they get feeding their New York flights from that. But the cupboard is pretty bare. I expected them to cozy up to Delta, and for sure they still may, but it seemed interesting that concomitant with the launch of their Seattle service they’re hooking up with Alaska. Good move for Emirates, and…
