Bits ‘n Pieces for June 19, 2012

by Gary Leff

This morning’s roundup:

  • Just Another Points Traveler flags 100 free American Airlines miles on Facebook with a chance to win 100,000.

  • Loyalty Traveler reports that Starwood Preferred Guest will now give elite stay credit for up to three rooms in a night, if the member is present and pays for all three. So book rooms for your family, you not only get the points but also elite credit. Even if they’re award nights, since awards now count towards status. And if you’re mattress running at a nearby hotel on a cheap rate, book (3) concurrent stays for triple the credit.

  • Joe knows that I’m considering the Samsung Galaxy SIII phone that debuts in the U.S. in a couple of days, and emails to let me know that in addition to whatever rebates my purchase comes with, Samsung will pay me to trade in my current phone. My old Blackberry is worth $70, I have to decide whether it’s worth it to me to keep it as a backup (and whether it’s worth the hassle of truly wiping the phone before I send it in).

  • One Mile at a Time points out that if you originate in Kathmandu, Nepal that a one-way first class ticket for the Singapore Airlines suites will cost you ‘just’ US$3290 back to Los Angeles. It a great fare compared to regular price for most long-haul Singapore AIrlines suites flights, but I’ll still just redeem miles for first class on another carrier…

  • LoyaltyLobby summarizes 8 Priority Club promotions you may be able to double, triple, or sextuple dip on.

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  2. Wipe the phone. Is it that much of a hassle? You most likely have a lot of personal info on there.

  3. @Jim I would definitely wipe the phone before sending the it, the question was whether it was worth wiping and sending in for the $70 vs keeping as a spare

  5. I would just keep it. It is always good to have a backup.
    At the same time, the $70 trade in value really is just low, and very often you might get a lower value because your phone looks old/dirty/scratched…
    The priority club thing is just crazy, I recently had a stay that gives 700 pts by itself but a whopping 6,750 from those x-ple dip. I was totally lost about what kind of promotion yielded me the points. This is not counting the $75 weekend stay rebate and the visa promotion pts.

  6. FYI, the loyalty traveler link for the SPG comment isn’t working…

    Thanks for all the great work you do on this blog!!!

  7. I had two rooms at the Prague Sheraton last week. I only got a stay credit for one and the nights for one. I emailed SPG and referred them to their new policy. So far no luck. I can see this will take a few rounds to get the credit. It sure would be nice if agents for a company knew their policies.

  8. Glad to hear you are getting the S3. I would keep the blackberry still a good backup phone in case you need it.

  9. Is the S3 capable of use overseas? Maybe keep both phones active? I currently use a BB for regular use (talk, emails, bbm) and HTC EVO for “play”.

  11. The SIII is amazing- my wife got it and I immediately got a serious case of phone envy. The screen is so big and clear, and the processor so fast. My iPhone 4S looks completely dowdy in comparison ;-{ I am really regretting getting locked into a new contract 6 months ago.

    But as I said in another comment, if you mainly use your device for email, and like a dedicated keyboard, you probably aren’t going to be happy with any of the glass faced smartphones. Typing on a touchscreen is just not as good as a physical keyboard. So keep your blackberry just in case you decide you want to go back (and keep all the packaging for your SIII- I saw someone was selling his used one on Ebay just now for $675)

    @Ryan- last year with all the promotions, I was averaging 15,000 priority club points per one night stay- crazy!

  12. Make sure to get some miles or points out of the whole Samsung deal. I hate to sound like a cult member but I would go with an iPhone. I was a huge blackberry fan until I got mi iPhone. It’s so much better except the keyboard part.

Comments are closed.