Using miles for things other than travel has been an increasing trend, the loyalty programs have been offering several new options over the past few years — whether it’s redeeming miles for other travel like hotels and rental cars, or for LCD toasters.
Miles are almost always best spent for travel. That’s because earning miles isn’t just a rebate on your travel or credit card spend.
Star Alliance program Avianca LifeMiles is offering a 100% bonus on transferred miles through February 23. With this offer you can effectively buy miles with this promotion for 1.5 cents apiece.
Star Alliance member Avianca has really useful miles (that have gotten more useful over the past few months!) through the LifeMiles program.
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.
United and American are starting service to New Zealand. Air New Zealand has a new Houston flight. More capacity should drive down prices, mean unsold seats, and likely award space available. Award space on American’s flights was wide open Friday morning.
Historically though awards between the US and New Zealand has been one of the toughest things to book. Years ago Air New Zealand used to open up business class awards 60 days prior to flight. Then they stopped. There really hasn’t been meaningful Air New Zealand business class award space in years.
However this morning it appears there are several dates in the coming months where 2 business class awards are available from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Auckland.
A year ago Delta, American, and United started beating the drum that the US government ought to shut down our markets to Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar because of subsidies. US Airlines Believe Emirates Showers in the Sky are Unfair The US airlines weren’t concerned with free markets and don’t hate subsidies, they hate competition. And their lobbyists are concerned only with their interests, and not those of travelers or consumers. While I’m no fan of state-backed airlines, I’ve been a consistent critic of the US airlines for 3 main reasons. This is really a call for protectionism that hurts US consumers. It limits their choices and would raise fares. Delta’s CEO was actually explicit that the goal was fewer flights and higher fares. Open Skies agreements don’t obviously preclude the financial assistance that some of…
A couple of weeks ago I pointed out outstanding Japan Airlines first class award space between the US and Tokyo.
Now award availability is wide open from March through December in first class between Tokyo and Sydney. Here’s award availability for four passengers which is half the cabin (some dates may have more space than that).
Turkish Airlines is paying for a big marketing tie-in with Batman v. Superman. It’s no ANA-Star Wars, but they’ve got a special livery on a Boeing 777 that’s been flying Miami – Istanbul – Mumbai.
Apparently business class menus and amenity kits on Turkish will have Batman vs. Superman tie-ins. And a key movie plot point takes place in Turkish business class.
Amazon had some amazing gift card deals in the runup to the holidays. Now with Valentine’s Day around the corner, they’ve got discounted gift cards again.
You really can earn miles for everything. People will do crazy things for miles, and why not? They’re the most successful marketing innovation of our time. Airlines rent their programs to motivate customers of others businesses, and earn billions in return.
I’ve done plenty of crazy things for miles like renting and returning cars that you do not need and don’t actually drive, going to a Bosley hair loss consultation for 20,000 Delta miles when I’m not actually bald (and before I had lost any hair).
Before I wore glasses there was Lasik eye exams for 5000 Delta miles. And then there was dumpster diving for Wendys sode cups when those were redeemable for Airtran A+ Rewards credits.
I’m going to visit Al Maha Desert Resort next month. Lucky called it his favorite Starwood Starpoints redemption ever. It’s an all-inclusive with standalone villas and infinity pools in the desert outside Dubai where rates can exceed $1700 per night and is consistently deemed one of the world’s best properties on TripAdvisor.
For bookings made by March 8 Starwood is offering awards there for ‘only’ 39,000 points a night instead of the usual 60,000. And I’m going to use some of my points there. And one lucky reader gets 2 nights free.
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 »
