Randy Petersen reported some fascinating pieces of data about Delta frequent flyers: The largest current SkyMiles balance is 21,846,145 miles. …Most transoceanic segments in 2005: 61 Most miles flowm: 519,676 I have miles in my accounts. And I’m known to fly occasionally. But I’m a nobody. Nothing. A gnat. No, not even a gnat. Gnats have wings and can fly.
Chase is offering the United Visa free the first year with a 20,000 mile signup bonus and an additional 5000 bonus miles when you fly a paid United roundtrip by March 15. Certainly the first purchase bonus will post for everyone, and the fee will be waived for anyone using the link. The 5000 mile bonus for a paid roundtrip is something of a question mark — since the fine print of the offer indicates a United promotion code (MPGJ15) it may be only for members whose Mileage Plus accounts have been pre-registered. So your mileage may vary on this piece. (Hat tip to Don.)
Amtrak is offering 250 Guest Rewards points for picking up a ticket at a QuikTrak machine by March 31. Log into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and then register for the promo using code 11906.Alas the bonus is limited to one per member. Update: The promo didn’t say anything about being targeted, but a reader emails a response that it’s in invalid offer so it might just be targeted. You’d think that Guest Rewards would say that if it is, but the folks running this program are among the worst in the industry so nothing surprises me at all.
The Priority Club Visa is available through February 28 offering 30,000 points with first purchase and fee waived the first year. Since it only offers one point per dollar spent it’s not a great place to put spending. The offer is three points per dollar at Priority Club hotel properties, however, and there’s a 10,000 point bonus for spending $15,000 on the card in a year.
Starwood is offering a bonus for stays on the West Coast through April 30. Registration is required. Earn up to 6,000 bonus Starpoints® for repeat stays at participating Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Luxury Collection, St. Regis and W Hotels in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento. Simply register and stay at one of the participating hotels now through April 30, 2006, and you’ll earn 1,000 Starpoints for your first stay, 2,000 for your second and 3,000 for your third stay — up to 6,000 bonus Starpoints.
E-Bates does seem to be the best portal to use when making Priceline bids, it offers 3% cash back which doesn’t compare to the old eBay Anything Points program but is the best offer standing. And best part is that rebates post quickly. You don’t have to wait until the hotel stay to see the 3% in your account. A successful bid on Wednesday yielded a rebate in my account Thursday night. Plus if you sign up for eBates they’ll give you $5 added on to your first rebate credit.
USAirways quietly increased the number of miles required for a first class award seat from North America to Europe (.pdf) from 100,000 to 125,000 miles — a 25% jump. Oddly enough, a first class seat from New York to London is now more miles than a first class seat from New York to Bangkok. There may be other changes to the chart, I haven’t looked closely yet…
Via Hotel Chatter, eHotelier.com shares a new survey on luxury hotel brands which finds the Mandarin Oriental at the top. Fair enough, I’d rank them second behind the Peninsula chain, but not an unreasonable claim. Except while the survey included “Fairmont, Four Seasons, Inter-Continental, Leading Hotels, Le Meridien, Loews, Mandarin Oriental, Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, and W Hotels” it didn’t include Peninsula!
Yesterday I mentioned United’s offering extra bonus points for booking online. Now they’re also offering additional bonus points for both buying tickets at united.com and checking in online.
United is offering discounted coach award seats between the US and Beijing or Shanghai for just 45,000 miles. Travel must be complete by March 31. This offer can only be redeemed by phone, not online, but the standard $15 telephone booking fee is waived (good call, United).
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 »
