Category Archives for Discounts & Deals.
Several online shopping portals are offering bonus miles right now. When one shopping portal has a bonus usually many do because they’re mostly run by the same company.
All of these bonuses are called “Extra Rewards.” However the earning from each for different merchants and the value of each currency varies.
Registration (required by March 15) isn’t yet open however the promotion page URL suggests that internally this is called “Multibrand 2019” so I imagine earning will be based on staying at different brands within the IHG Rewards Club portfolio.
And since the offer is to earn “at least 40,000 bonus points” I imagine that the actual bonus and requirements will be targeted, as most IHG promotions have been in recent years.
I just wrote about $675 roundtrip from Vietnam to the US in Cathay Pacific business class. Even if you just book a one way award ticket to Asia and use this for your flight back to the U.S. it’s an amazing steal.
However there are amazing (even better!) first class fares, too.
Last week I wrote about a Club1 Hotels offer. It’s a membership site that offers discounts on hotel bookings. Since they normally charge a fee to join their hotel rates aren’t subject to hotel ‘best rate guarantee’ policies and they frequently offer savings compared to how hotel websites are pricing.
Their membership has been priced at $675 for a year, but they’re giving away one year memberships that provides access to discounts. It’s worth signing up just to check out pricing.
Hotel chain Best Price Guarantees are for the most part Best Price Gimmicks, there are so many holes and exclusions that it serves to say that the chain has the best price without having to have the best price.
However you don’t earn points, stay credits, and you’re not supposed to receive elite recognition if you don’t “book direct.” Still if the price is good enough you can buy your won breakfast or even just book the room you’d like to stay in straight away, and still pocket a savings.
Qantas roundtrips between the US and Australia as pricing as low as $639 roundtrip out of several cities including Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
It’s a long way to go in coach but at these prices you’d expect to fly to Sydney, Canada rather than Sydney, Australia. Qantas ‘O’ fares earn 100% of flown miles when crediting to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, just 25% of flown miles crediting to American AAdvantage.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
In March United Airlines told employees that instead of receiving quarterly bonuses they would all be entered in a lottery if the airline met certain performance metrics. While individual employees could win a Cadillac Eldorado or a set of steak knives up to $100,000, most would get nothing.
There was tremendous backlash at the pay cuts, and the airline put off changes. They still planned to change their incentive structure but went on a listening tour to figure out how.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The reason I love points in credit card programs that transfer to frequent flyer miles is flexibility. I don’t know which airline is going to offer the award that I want when I want it. When I can transfer to airlines in all of the different alliances, and to airlines that offer more availability to their own members to partners, I really multiply the chances of getting the saver award I’m looking for. And I make my miles go a lot farther.
What’s more, several foreign frequent flyer programs will give you the same awards that a US airline will — for fewer miles. They partner with the US airline, but have a more favorable award chart.
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 »
