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).
The Best Insights from the Other Travel Blogs in the Past Several Days (Read It All Here in One Place, They Blog So I Don’t Have To)
Priority Club Insider lists various discounted rate offers for Intercontinental Hotels Group properties (some Europe-specific). (Meanwhile, here’s my post on getting the best hotel rates across all the chains and also how to score hotel upgrades as well.) Million Mile Secrets describes how to still churn the Citibank American Airlines cards and how to get multiple cards approved with bonuses at the same time if you’re a first-time cardmember. As I’ve noted here on this blog before, the monster bonuses like 75,000 miles after modest spend that supposedly expired still seem to work. The Points Guy notes a 25% bonus on transfers from the US American Express Membership Rewards program to Virgin Atlantic. There are a few decent award options, such as Gulf Air, but mostly this remains a poor deal given fees that often…
Looking for Reader Input on ‘Blogger Junkets’
I recently had a conversation with a well-known writer about some of the things that are offered by travel providers and their PR firms and that get turned down. From some well known brands that you would be surprised actually ask. Things like paid product placement along with ongoing commissions based on customers driven to the product through the writing. Aside from the fact that this person would lose their job… It made me realize that I’m pretty darned naïve. First, the fact that these offers are forthcoming suggests that it’s going on a whole lot more frequently than I realized. Even though I rarely read blog posts noting that the content was sponsored. Lots of travel bloggers that I read get comped trips. The Points Guy, who deserves much congratulations for leaving his job…
When I Have My 15 Minutes of Fame, I Won’t Be Flying Southwest
I don’t follow TMZ, and didn’t know who Scott Disick was. But I do now. Kourtney Kardashian’s boyfriend flies Southwest. He’s apparently the worst kind of gate lice, instead of waiting to board he tries to bribe the gate agents to let him on first and shoves ahead of families with small children. (Maybe he got confused and thought he was on United, thinking he had purchased ‘premier for a day’..?) His representative, howver, denies both the bribe and pushing ahead of the kids. But his representative lacks credibility, also claiming that the Chicago-Midway to Islip flight was diverted to Detroit, which didn’t happen. And yet for some reason Southwest reserved an exit row seat, and no F16s were scrambled.
Hotels.com One Free Night for a Paid Night if You’ve Stayed with Three Major Chains During the Past 18 Months
Hotels.com’s Welcome Rewards program is offering a free night after making a paid booking through them if you can show that you have stay activity with three different major hotel chains since January 1, 2010. They call the promotion ‘The Great Unloyaling’. They make you submit proof from each of the chains, then they give you a coupon code to apply to a paid booking which has to be completed by November 15. That paid stay will earn you a free night equal in value to the average daily room rate of the stay you pay for, up to $400 (to be credited to your account 4-6 weeks after the paid stay has been completed). So if you book a one-night $400 stay, you’ll get a free night for future use worth up to $400.…
Joe Brancatelli’s Solid Advice on Frequent Flyer Mileage Earning and Burning
Joe Brancatelli whom I often disagree with but is always worth listening to, writes about frequent flyer award redemption at portfolio.com, and points out that airlines aren’t being dishonest when customers find their miles are difficult to use: I never go on a radio or TV show without my sound bite at the ready: “What part of restricted did you think the airlines were kidding about?” If your goal is to fly the family to Disney World for 25,000 miles a seat on President’s Day Weekend, you’re sure to be disappointed. If your rating of a frequent-flyer program is based solely on your ability to fly first class to London for Wimbledon later this month for only 50,000 miles, I’m comfortable saying that you’ll be watching tennis on television. If you think you can have…
Amazing 50% Bonus on American Express Membership Rewards Transfers to British Airways
The U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to British Airways Executive Club through July 31. Points from Amex transfers post to BA instantly in real-time, and the bonus posts right away as well. (The fine print says ‘one bonus per cardmember’ so you may only get to do this once during the promotion period, though time will tell whether or not that’s enforced.) In February and March there was a 40% transfer bonus offer and that was a huge deal, of course this is even better. While I wouldn’t make transfers without a specific award in mind, because I do hugely value the flexibility of Amex points more than I do most bonuses, and it’s important to understand what BA miles are good for and what they aren’t,…
