A story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday has been much talked about on the web, the man who turned down 12 round-trip coach tickets for two from the U.S. to anywhere in the world American flies. (He won the ‘We Know Why You Fly’ contest, I’ll save mocking American’s ad campaign for another post.) The man turned down the prize because American reported that each ticket would be worth $2200, and so his tax liability was going to be $800 per ticket. The tickets expire within a year, and he quite reasonably didn’t think he’d get as much value out of them as he’d be liable for in tax. As the Journal piece notes, it is possible to dispute the reported value of a prize. Contest winners do have alternatives, according to tax experts.…
About Gary Leff
Wrapping up Northwest’s Fly Free Faster 5 Bonus
Jul
05
2005
Last month I detailed Northwest’s Fly Free Faster 5 bonus. Over the past week I’ve gone through the hoops to earn it. Last weekend I applied for a Northwest Visa Signature, I received the card on Friday . That qualified me for the Fly Free Faster 5 bonus. I promptly registered that credit card to earn Northwest miles at iDine (er, “Rewards Network”) restaurants. Last Monday I transferred 1000 Goldpoints into 125 Northwest miles and 1000 Diners Club Club Rewards points into 1000 Northwest points. This weekend I racked up two iDines with the Northwest credit card. Once those points post, and I receive the Visa bill, I’ll have 5 partner credits and I’ll receive the 10,000 bonus miles. The Visa will provide another 25,000 miles, and I’ll earn about another 2,000 miles from the…
Where I’d like to Stay
Jul
03
2005
I’ve had fabulous oceanfront rooms and rooms with the neatest gadgets imaginable. I’ve stayed in suites at Ritz-Carltons. Though not the largest or most technologically advanced I’m probably happiest with my room at Bora Bora Nui, if only for the view from my deck (here’s the view to the right). The ability to feed fish from the tub isn’t bad, either. The sunset, the view from the spa, and the incredible colors of the water made this the most beautiful physical property I’ve ever seen, though service at the property was a bit lacking. Recently I’ve been musing over what properties are on my ‘must see’ list. While reserving the right to change the list at any time, the hotels I’m meaning to see in the near future include: Cala di Volpe on Sardinia’s Costa…
RSS Feeds
Jul
03
2005
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United Mileage Plus Visa Signature Platinum Class
Jul
02
2005
There’s been a lot of buzz about a new United Airlines co-branded credit card. It’s expensive but has some great features. I haven’t chosen to carry it myself, but for frequent United flyers it may be just the right card. First, the fee is $140 per year. That’s more than the regular Signature Visa at $60 and more than the Gold Class Visa Signature which is priced at $85 (and which comes with 2500 anniversary miles, double miles on United purchases, and up to 10,000 miles a year for balance transfers). It’s also more expensive than the $30 Starwood American Express, to my mind the gold standard in mileage earning credit cards. However, there are some interesting benefits to the new United card. In addition to the 15,000 bonus miles with first purchase, 1000 mile…
Extra income on the side
Jul
01
2005
Jaqueline Passey explains how to make a few thousand dollars off of online casino signup bonuses by exercising a bit of self-control.
Flyertalkers meet with Northwest Management
Jun
30
2005
A couple of Flyertalk members met with management from Northwest Airlines and the Worldperks program and filed this report. An interesting read, though I’ll nitpick at a couple of explanations Northwest offers for decisions. In keeping with its commitment to customer loyalty, WorldPerks currently has no plans to participate in the American Express Membership Rewards program. Northwest see this as simply: “Why should someone who has no loyalty to Northwest Airlines receive miles for the points they have in another loyalty program, and redeem them for awards, thus reducing the number of awards for loyal WorldPerks members? If that’s the case, how come I can transfer points to Northwest from Diners Club, Starwood, Goldpoints, etc. etc.? And if the issue is sharing a fixed pie of award seats with folks other than Worldperks members, how…
Frontier Introduces Miles for Merchandise for Elite Members
Jun
30
2005
Frontier Airlines has launched a new feature for its frequent flyer program allowing elite members to redeem points for merchandise: the More Store. Frontier Ascent and Summit Early Returns members (those who fly at least 15,000 miles a year) will be able to trade miles for jewelry, rounds of golf, restaurant meals, luggage, sporting events, overnights at the Brown Palace and tickets by visiting www.frontiermorestore.com …The Web site also has an online auction feature, with items including a new Mercedes M- Class SUV with a starting bid of 10,000 miles. More Store perks partners include restaurants such as Jax Fish House, Tamayo, Zengo, Panzano, Lola, Aix, Luca D’Italia, The Palm, Rioja and Opus. Frontier frequent fliers can trade miles for rounds of golf at Bear Dance, Green Valley Ranch, The Raven, Pelican Lakes and Arrowhead,…
The economics of frequent flyer program spinoff
Jun
30
2005
The cover story of the July, 2005 Inside Flyer is on airlines spinning off their frequent flyer programs in public offerings. David Rowell thinks United could be worth $15 billion. Randy Petersen says “greater than $2.5 billion.” According to the piece, airlines sell $3 billion worth of miles annually. United’s spinoff of Mileage Plus into a wholely-owned subsidiary in 2002 was a $1.4 billion transaction. Mileage is clearly a big business: In 2003, ULS accounted for 5 percent of UAL’s 2003 revenues. In 2004, United recognized more than $400 million in revenues related to ULS, which would not reflect the entire business revenue of ULS for that year. In 2000, revenue for third-party mileage sales reached $220 million during the first six months alone. But American AAdvantage is clearly the king of frequent flyer programs,…
Reactivate expired American Airlines miles
Jun
30
2005
Through the end of the year, American is offer AAdvantage members the opportunity to reactivate miles that expired after December 30, 2002. There’s a fee — $50 for every 5000 miles plus $30 for ‘processing’. So really you’re just being allowed to purchase miles at a discount, one cent per mile, but that’s actually a pretty good value. (Hat tip to the MilesLink newsletter.)
