Via this Milepoint thread, Delta’s offer of a 50% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards for first time transfers is back through September 30. Transfers of 100,000 miles or more will generate 25,000 elite qualifying (status, not redeemable) miles as well. Registration is required, and the terms and conditions explicitly say that the bonus cannot be combined with other offers. They apparently learned their lesson after the recent error that had them awarding 80% bonuses… Presumably it won’t stack with the current (up to) 40% bonus on transfers from Amex to Delta. But folks who don’t qualify for the 50% offer, because they’ve transferred points from Membership Rewards to Delta Skymiles in the past, can use this one instead.
Delta Should Have Stood Firm: No Obligation to Provide Fourth Checked Bag Free to Military
Plane Reality says take it easy on Delta over the recent kerfuffle that the airline has been charging for fourth checked bags for soldiers returning from combat. He thinks they ought to get that fourth bag free, but c’mon, Delta is really patriotic! Delta already provides the military with more free checked bags and ‘regular’ customers. There was a YouTube viral video about a soldier who had to pay to check his grenade launcher. The outrage, though, seems misplaced. The military is causing him to carry weaponry, Delta is already extending a courtesy with three free checked bags, and it strikes me that the government is the one that’s unreasonable here in not covering the transportation cost for military equipment. Not Delta. If the government wants Delta to carry rocket launchers, the government should pay…
Free Hilton Gold Status Through August 31 and 5000 HHonors Points for Current Gold and Diamond Members
I’m a little late to this party since others have mentioned this several hours ago, but you can sign up for instant Gold status in the Hilton HHonors program just by entering any Visa Signature credit card number. The status will last through August 31, and three Hilton stays by August 31 will extend status through March 2013. Gold status gets some modest upgrades with Hilton (even Diamond doesn’t include suites as part of the terms and conditions of the HHonors program) and it gets complimentary breakfast. The offer is supposed to require a US-based Visa Signature, but there are reports of non-US cards working. The offer also specifies that the three stays to extend status must be paid for with a Visa Signature, though it’s unclear whether this will be enforced. Current Gold and…
American AAdvantage President Maya Leibman Answers More Member Questions (Spoiler Alert…)
As a followup to American AAdvantage President Maya Leibman’s online chat with Milepoint.com members, she’s gone through questions that were submitted but weren’t answered due to lack of time, and written up answers. The new American AAdvantage rep on Milepoint has posted a link with additional questions and answers from Maya. I was especially intrigued to hear hints about the return of threshold bonuses for AAdvantage members flying beyond 100,000 miles per year. Hopefully they’ll keep segment qualifiers in mind, too, as they develop this part of the program.. Meanwhile, I understand there will be more questions and answers to come, and great to see the new American AAdvantage presence on Milepoint.
Hilton Point Stretchers are Out for Stays through November
Via Deals We Like, Hilton has published point stretcher availability for June through November. Point stretchers discount award redemption by 40%. They’re offered mostly at properties during their low seasons or when they otherwise expect quite low occupancy. Just as paid rates go down, when a point stretcher is available point rates go down as well. That’s especially worthwhile on shorter stays. For stays of four nights or more there are discounted awards for co-branded credit card holders and for HHonors elites (which even includes silver members, and you only need to have one of their credit cards for that). For instance, I recently redeemed for a 5-night resort stay and the redemption was 20% offer (32,000 points per night instead of 40,000). Of course, had the hotel been on point stretcher, it would have…
Spirit Airlines Runs an Anthony Weiner Sale!
It’s HARD to resist their fares! Screen caps from the Spirit Airlines website today: My wife says I’m a 13 year-old boy. Which is why I really, really want to like Spirit Airlines. But even if I like their advertising, I won’t actually fly them. Spirit is a bad airline and even when I defend them (as I often do), it’s in the context of “they have a right to be bad, and this is what the customer is buying and they shouldn’t expect anything different.” Spirit used to charge extra for booking online. That made carryon baggage fees. Their President, who spawned the ‘cockroach’ movement amongst passengers when he was at US Airways for saying publicly that passengers on low fares aren’t people they value, writes nasty emails to internal staff about his customers…
US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles is Back!
At one point — between November 2009 and November 2010 — US Airways had regular offers of a 100% bonus on purchased miles, either 9 or 10 of 12 months I believe. But in 2011 they’ve focused mostly on either targeted offers or offers with components designed to determine what drives consumer behavior and optimizes the sort of purchases that they’re looking for. In April and May it was a mileage transfer bonus and a purchase miles bonus only for co-branded credit card holders. Mid-February through March they required use of a downloadable app in order to qualify for the full bonus. In January it was an offer targeted at past mileage buyers. They also discounted rather than bonusing awards. They must have had enough fun with the analytic toys, because they’re back to offering…
$10 Discount Coupons for Airtran ($20 Savings Roundtrip?)
Airtran is offering $10 discount codes in conjunction with Little Debbie. One code per email address. Book by August 31 for travel August 1 through November 18. It’s one discount code per email address, and the rules do say “Limit one (1) discount per person” though presumably in practice this means one $10 discount per reservation. I imagine you could get two codes, and book two one-way tickets instead of a roundtrip, taking $10 off each one-way (for a total discount of $20 roundtrip). The terms and conditions of the offer do not require roundtrip travel. (HT: scflier on Milepoint)
25,000 Aeroplan Mile Signup Bonus for U.S. Credit Card
Bank of America is offering 15,000 bonus Aeroplan miles with first purchase and 10,000 more bonus miles for $1000 in spend within 90 days of account opening. The $60 annual fee is not waived, I have rarely if ever seen Bank of America mileage credit card offers with fees waived. They’re upping the signup bonus just before Aeroplan ups the mileage required for their best awards on July 15.
250 Free Virgin America Elevate Points
Gilt City/Jetsetter will give you 250 Virgin American Elevate points for registering (and more points with first purchase from each site).
