I’m down to a little over 25,000 bmi Diamond club miles, what should I do with them? The expectation was that Diamond Club would get folded into Miles & More by this summer, but that plan appears to be on hold. And I guess that also means if I want to be a Lufthansa Senator (not that I really do, I just love the name for the status) that I’ll have to qualify for bmi Gold status this year — assuming that the program gets folded into Miles & More next year. Which is still an assumption. But I don’t want to wind up with a stash of Miles & More miles. They’re not great for a US-based flyer except single-continent travel, their award chart in premium cabins is pretty expensive for travel to, say,…
Frequent Traveler University Program Announced
I should have been more on top of this, considering that I’m speaking as part of the agenda, but Lucky scoops me on the schedule for the day at Frequent Traveler University. Events begin Friday evening, April 29 with cocktails at the Sheraton LeGuardia East. THen the educational program is as Lucky posted: 850a-900a Opening Remarks MORNING: EARNING 905a-1015a Part 1: Earning By Flying Fare Classes: How Flying 1 Mile Could Earn You 2.5 miles or .25 miles! Elite Status: How to Transform Precious Metals Into Precious Bonus Miles! Mileage Running: How To Top-Off Your Account To Achieve Elite Status or Reach Award Redemption Threshold 1015-1030a Break 1030-1140a Part 2: Earning By Buying Credit Cards: Sign Up Bonuses and Most Points Per Dollar of Spending Mileage Transfers: How Credit Card, Hotel and Your Best Friends…
Changes Coming to Priority Club Over the Next Two Months
Via Priority Club Insider, Business Traveler reports on Priority Club’s planned ‘revamp’ in the coming two months. The piece is light on specifics but does mention the introduction of “a ‘flights anywhere’ function will allow travellers to redeem their points on any flight globally” which sounds tremendously like “SPG Flights” — directly spending points to buy airline tickets, which is almost certain to be a low value reward (too many points per dollar of airfare). The rest of the piece focuses on introduction of mobile platforms, and revamping lobbies to accommodate small business meetings, so doesn’t give much to go in as far as a revamp of the program itself is concerned. Surely there’ll be more than a flight option? Priority Club sorely needs: Ability to spend additional points for upgraded rooms Real elite benefits…
Capital One’s 110,000 Mile Offer Applies to Their Business Credit Card Too, And You CAN Get the Bonus for Both!
There’s been lots of discussion and speculation about how the Capital One 100,000-mile account balance match offer would apply to their small business card program, and whether it would be possible for one person to get the bonus once for the personal card and once for the small business card. The answer is that yes, it applies to the small business card as well. And yes one person can get the bonus twice that way! But you need to use a different frequent flyer account to match each offer. You can’t give Capital One the same frequent flyer account with 100,000 miles in it twice. (At least those are the rules as they explain them to me, I can’t say whether they’ll catch this in practice and actually deny the miles to someone who tried…
Hilton’s Second Quarter Promo: 1000 Bonus Points Per Night
Via Lucky, Hilton’s second quarter promo is 1000 bonus points per night from April 1 through June 30. Registration required. As my grandfather used to say, “better than a hole in the head.”
What Do Terrorists and Mileage Runners Have in Common?
They’re both interested in low cost per mile. When an admitted al-Qaida operative planned his itinerary for a Christmas 2009 airline bombing, he considered launching the strike in the skies above Chicago, the Associated Press has learned. Tickets were too expensive to Chicago, as well as Houston, however, so he refocused the mission on a cheaper destination: Detroit. (HT: Dan R.)
How I’m Thinking About Using My Capital One Points
I’ve never been a fan of the Capital One program, but their 110,000 point signup bonus sure caught my attention Sure, 110,000 Capital One points aren’t really worth as much as 110,000 miles in most frequent flyer programs. I thought that the best I could do was an $1100 credit towards paid travel. Which is pretty good as a credit card signup bonus, of course! So I applied, and my wife did as well. We got instant approvals, and then after a week and a half or so yesterday morning we got the emails with special codes to enter to upload competitor frequent flyer statements and qualify for the signup bonus. See, the Capital One offer isn’t a standard signup bonus. Most credit cards give you a specified number of miles as a bonus, usually after…
Double and Triple Points Offer from Amtrak Guest Rewards
Via Wandering Aramean, Amtrak is offering double points through May 6 and triple points May 6-21. Registration required. Unlike Seth, I’m not so high on Amtrak points. But as they say, “better than a hole in the head.” If you’re going to take the train, might as well earn points for it, even if earning from Amtrak travel is rather mediocre, except on the Acela trains.
Upcoming Changes at the Post-Merger United, Outsourced Blog Post Edition
Matthew details comments about upcoming changes to United’s products and the future of their business model. One thing’s for sure, Jeff Smisek certainly seems to know more about the airline’s operations than his predecessor Glenn Tilton. “Differential offerings for each customer” through specially-tailored options for each users based on “advanced” software that tracks what customers needs, leading to substantial revenue increases for United. Employee morale – not about classroom training, it’s about trust of management Poked fun at Delta – says UA will have a lot more lie-flat seats than “that carrier from Atlanta” Economy Plus is a moneymaker–upselling is gaining traction Wouldn’t share details about new mileage program, but promised customers and bean counters would love the new product. Again, emphasized specifically tailored travel options–specifically mentions holding fares. Airline clubs will be enhanced. Ability…
Convert Hotel Points to Air Canada Aeroplan and Earn Up to 5000 Bonus MIles
Through April 30, Aeroplan is offering up to 5000 bonus miles for converting hotel points into their currency. Convert hotel points to 5000 miles and earn 1000 bonus miles. Convert hotel points to 10,000 miles and earn 2000 bonus miles. Convert hotel points to 25,000 miles and earn 5000 bonus miles. Participating partner hotel programs include Best Western Rewads, Goldpoints Plus, Choice Privileges, Coast Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, Starwood, and Wyndham Rewards. The bonus can be earned once per hotel program that you convert points from. Registration required. With Starwood, for example, 20,000 Starpoints normally becomes 25,000 Aeroplan miles but with this bonus you’ll receive 30,000 Aeroplan miles. Unfortunately you can only convert once from Starwood for the bonus, and most other programs are less generous with their mileage…
