The ongoing saga of the AAdvantage e-shopping mall glitch offering 83,000 miles for any Verizon purchase is winding down, or so it seems — to date the deal isn’t being honored, but those who got in on it will receive 2500 miles for their trouble and another 2500 miles if they make another purchase of any kind from the AAdvantage e-shopping mall within a month. At least that is the email that some folks have gotten, others like me so far have heard nothing. Meanwhile, The Points Guy points to another e-shopping offer from Verizon, this time 2300 Delta miles for the purchase of a $4.96 charger. That’s a great deal, and of course there’s no limit to the number of chargers you can buy. The Points Guy thinks this one is not a mistake.…
About Gary Leff
Online Travel Review Clears Up the Confusion on Current Amex Bonus Offers
At least this resonates as being generally about right: You can sign up for the Amex Gold Premier Rewards Card (here) and you’ll receive 15,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after $1,000 in spend. After you apply and are accepted, you can wait 24-48 hours until the card is in the system then you can call them and ask them to apply promo code 6661 to your account. That will bump your bonus up from 15k points to 75k points. There is some misinformation out there about using this code to add authorized users to your account. Ignore that. The authorized users bonus (10k per authorized user) is apparently expired. Code 6661 will get you the 75k points with $1,000 in spend, no other users necessary. You can then call back or secure message them and…
Option to Transfer from American AAdvantage to Hilton HHonors Ending
Yesterday morning I read on Milepoint that the option to transfer points from American to Hilton HHonors was being pulled. This was apparently actually uncovered by Flyertalk’s Community Director, SanDiego1K. With the introduction of the ability to use American Airlines miles directly to book hotels, cars, and vacation packages (not usually a great deal), they view transferring points to hotel chains as extraneous. It isn’t, because Hilton points generally go farther especially at the higher end properties than using American’s pay with points option. So this will be disappointing for many. Still, I’ve never considered it a particularly good use of American miles, at least for folks who can accumulate sufficient miles for high-value international airline rewards. But it’s a way to top off a Hilton account, and when you’re booking the truly top HHonors…
Hotel Chains Begin Rolling Out Their Fall Bonus Promotions
Loyalty Traveler does his usual thorough job detailing the Priority Club Fall promotion: 500 bonus points per night through December 31, and that doubles, triples, or quadruples if you stay in 2, 3, or 4 different Priority Club brands during the promotion period. Maximum earn is 80,000 points, and you can also earn 100 miles in your favorite airline program per night which doubles, triples, or quadruples up to 20,000 miles. Registration required. Deals We Like details the fall Marriott MegaBonus. Marriott targets different offers to different members, though elite members can usually call and ask to switch if they don’t like what they’re offered. As with the current bonus ending August 31, one option is stay 2 get a free night, capped at 2 nights and not valid for redemption beyond category 4 (which…
Help Some Travelers Win 1 Million SAS Points
Milepoint member HansGolden emails for help for some folks that are (as of his email) just 538 votes away from 1 million SAS EuroBonus points. I was wondering if you’ve seen that I’m giving away a free 25K-level ticket in the US in exchange for checking out and voting for some videos by some buddies of mine in an SAS contest? If they get enough votes (538 more people), they’ll get 1 million SAS miles. They’re already the team in the lead, so votes won’t change the outcome, but there’s a big diff between 300K miles and 1 million miles. It’s an opportunity to help out community members and also get a chance to win something. Some of the videos are quite good as well (my faves are Takeoff, Helicopter, and Alarm Clock). Randy Peterson entered and enjoyed…
What United Used to Consider a Loyal Customer
The rumored changes to United Mileage Plus for next year very much would make the program more transactional in nature, rather than focused on loyalty. I’ve argued that the best (most effective and profitable) programs shift member wallet-share, rather than rewarding high spend. And I’ve contended that a program which rewards the highest spend on a given flight, rather than the most valuable customers overall, undermines loyalty over the long term. We need to shout from the rooftops, I am not my rate or my fare! A customer is the same person every time they board one of your planes or check into one of your hotels. We’re either valued or we’re not, loyal or we’re not. Setting a minimum spend for benefits defines what you see as loyal, though I grate at punishing people…
Mileage Plus 2012 Change Rumors: Fallacies, Fantasies, and Fact
One Mile at a Time writes a followup post to yesterday’s rumors about the face of the new United-Continental Mileage Plus program. United all but confirmed that the gist of what’s been leaked is correct when they issued a denial. As we’ve said, the details are coming in the fall – specifically, we’re aiming for the end of next month. In the meantime, there will be rumors — like what’s been posted here — that unfortunately contain some inaccurate information. “Some inaccurate information.” Indeed. Not false, incorrect, mistaken, grossly speculative even. Just some of what’s been speculated isn’t quite right, but we won’t tell you what. So if you haven’t seen the direction that at least some of Mileage Plus’ thinking seems to be going in, it’s worth reading up. In Ben’s follow up, he…
How PR Firms Pitch Bloggers, and Why It Can Take Me Awhile to Answer Emails
There’s a reason that I use a Yahoo email address here on my blog, an email account that I don’t download to Outlook on my laptop. Instead, I usually check it twice a day for reader emails and comments. So I apologize that I’m not always quick on the draw with my replies. The reason isn’t that I need to focus on work, although I do, so I shouldn’t always be paying attention to your questions and needs during my business day… Rather it’s because once you put an email address up on a blog, you get on lists. PR firm lists. And you get pitches. A lot of pitches. Some of them are better than others, which is to say they’re at least customized to the blog. They might reflect some understanding of what…
Studying at 36,000 Feet for the Mile High Club
Long-haul flights can be tedious, but they’re also a great opportunity for uninterrupted education, at least if the multimedia offerings can hold your interest. On Qantas, apparently, the video on demand system allows you to learn improved sex techniques (HT: Sam S.) A documentary about the female orgasm is now available for viewing on all of the carrier’s international flights, reports news.com.au. The French film, “The Female Orgasm Explained,” seeks to show the intricacies of the female orgasm and features old pornos, graphics and sound effects. According to a Qantas spokesperson, the documentary is the most popular selection on in-flight channel The Edge… Apparently flight attendants can block this from the inflight entertainment systems of unaccompanied minors. I understand that Cathay Pacific offers similar instruction, albeit not through their CX World entertainment system.
Friday Links Around the Blogs: View from the Wing Reads Everyone Else So You Don’t Have To
Lots of credit card deals, American Express getting aggressive, deals to take advantage of you may not have known about. And a couple of imbecilic stories – from passenger and from the TSA: 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards points per month, for every month you make at least 15 transactions on the card. Possible 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points for Adding Authorized Users to Your Account TSA Agents Can Now Use Their Judgment to Decide Who is Really a Pilot, and Who Needs to Be Screened Ugh, I think I was on this flight 75,000 mile signup bonuses for new Citibank American Airlines credit cards still work. Meanwhile, Some people are still getting 75,000 signup points for the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card.
