Delta introduced their ‘SimpliFares’ intitiative on January 4th and their efforts were widely matched across the country. Though airfares have dropped since the end of 2004, the number of fare basis codes on an average route has increased by nearly a third.
On Friday I mentioned a signup bonus of 15,000 points for the free Hilton American Express. Looks like from a discussion at Flyertalk that the card has some new improved benefits. Historically the card come with Silver elite status and has offered 3 Hilton points per dollar spent, plus an additional two points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels. Effective April 15th, there will be three new benefits: An additional two Hilton points per dollar spent (for a total of five) at supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs, the post office, restaurants, and for cell phone bills. Five Hilton points per dollar spent is an excellent return for a free card. Gold VIP status for a year if you spend $20,000 or more on the card in…
In addition to the bonus for converting Marriott hotel points that American is offering (mentioned yesterday), through March 31 American is offering a 20% bonus for converting Priority Club hotel points as well. Registration is required.
Through May 31 American is offering a 20% bonus on points converted from Marriott. Registration required.
Also via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, as always the Hilton American Express has no fee. Now there’s an offer of 15,000 bonus miles with first use. As I’ve explained before, American Express is pretty good at figuring out who they’ve given signup bonuses to in the past. If you previously signed up for a Hilton Amex with a 10,000 mile offer you’ll probably get only 5,000 more points this time — that is, you’ll get the difference between what’s on offer now and what you’ve gotten in the past. In my experience, Bank One (actually now JP Morgan Chase) and Citibank are pretty good for giving multiple signup bonuses…
Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, Radisson is offering 2,000 bonus Goldpoints for first-time use of their new online checkin feature at Radisson.com through June 30, 2005. Gary Steiger also reminds his readers something that I post every three months at Flyertalk.com — that you get 500 Goldpoints for updating your email address every 90 days. I set a reminder in my Outlook and every 90 days switch between my primary email address and my Yahoo account.
Points.com is offering double miles for any points exchange into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan through March 31. Incidentally, the rumor is that Alaska will be introducing a new top tier to its elite level program. Details on Platinum status are sketchy at this point.
When I read the headline in the Phoenix Business Journal, “America West adds Australia to frequent flyer program,” I assumed that America West must have inked a deal with Qantas. Nope. They’ve expanded their partnership with Hawaiian Airlines to include Hawaiian’s service to Sydney via Honolulu. Oh well, any new award redemption option is a good thing.
Site59, the provider of last-minute discount travel packages, is offering $59 off packages of $300 or more with promo code JETSET59 (valid through March 15).
I’ve been brushing my teeth with Colgate Total ever since it won Slate‘s Paste Test. So this trivial rebate worth $2.99 was interesting to me, since it was for a free tube of the stuff.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
