Rick Seaney says to go price your United tickets NOW: A short time ago, United REMOVED its fuel surcharges in approximately 18,000 of its markets. Most of those fuel surcharges added $130 to the price of their airline tickets. The fuel surcharge is now ZERO.UPDATE 4PM EASTERN: United Spokesperson Robin Urbanski described this as a “clerical error” and said the fuel charges would be reinstated at 8pm Eastern time. However, many of those “fixes” won’t be loaded until Midnight Eastern time, so you may have until then to get a very good deal. So buy your tickets NOW and save as much as $130, before United reinstates the fuel surcharges.
Offset Your Carbon and Fly More!
I love the concept of spending money to cleanse your soul of sin. So arguments about the logical fallacies of carbon offsets notwithstanding, the concept generates a certain aesthetic appeal to my inner postmodernist. But offering rewards for purchasing carbon offsets seems odd to me. And offering frequent flyer miles for the purchase of carbon offsets — giving customers free flights — seems downright paradoxical. My inner postmodernist approves!
United Ends 500 Mile Minimums on Short Flights
Much virtual ink is being spilled hand wringing over United’s announcement yesterday that they would be following USAirways’ lead in no longer awarding 500 miles as a minimum for short flights. They’ll be awarding actual miles flown instead, and this change applies to both base miles and elite qualifying miles. This means that those East Coast to California mileage runs can’t be supercharged with a few extra intra-California segments. What it also means – for me – is that whenever I have flights meaningfully less than 500 miles I won’t be crediting those segments to Mileage Plus or to Dividend Miles. Instead, I’ll likely be crediting another Star Alliance program (bmi Diamond Club, no doubt). It is possible, though admittedly a potential pain, to to credit more than one program on a single itinerary. I’ll…
100 Free Citibank Thank You Network Points
Log into your Citibank ThankYou Network account on the promotions page and enter promotional code CITICCI508IN. The points post instantly and show up as Citi Bank,N.A-Retail – Bonus Points.
Orbitz Hotel Coupon
Orbitz is offering 15% off hotels booked by May 26, 2008 for travel through July 31, 2008 using promotion code EMSAVE15.
Run Out of Supplies, Borrow from Another Airline
Back in March I posted about American Airlines snacks inthe United Red Carpet Club. Now lucky’s got Northwest glassware on a United flight. Suppliers gone awry, and staffers don’t care?
2000 Delta Miles for Thrifty Rentals
Thrifty is offering 2,000 Delta miles on rentals of two days or longer between May 15 and August 15. Of course, these are Delta miles and you have to rent from Thrifty to get them but it’s not a bad offer.
Citi Platinum American Express Offer
Via Frugal Travel Guy, the Citibank Platinum American Express has comes packed with goodies: 15,000 Thank You Points after spending $300 on the card Free Priority Pass annual membership, with first three lounge visits included ($24 thereafter) For the first 24 months of cardmembership, receive 5 Thank You Points per dollar spent at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations and 3 ThankYou Points per dollar on all other purchases. Annual fee waived the first year ($125 thereafter, I’ll consider keeping it for year two given the spend bonuses but definitely won’t keep it for year three). Thank You Points can be deceptively valuable I haven’t checked to see whether this card is eligible for Citi’s fixed point redemption chart, but if you link it to an Expedia account the points can be used with the…
Up to 6,000 Worldperks Miles for New Northwest Members
Via Frugal Travel Guy, Northwest is offering new members who enroll by July 15 up to 6,000 bonus miles for flights. You will receive 1,000 Bonus Miles for any flight you take on Northwest Airlines or KLM within six months of enrolling. If you take a second roundtrip flight on Northwest Airlines or KLM during this six-month period, you receive 5,000 Bonus Miles.
United Raises Fees on Award Redemption and Changes
United is increasing a variety of fees for redeeming awards effective May 15. Change fees go from $100 to $150 (matching changes United made to many of its revenue fares). Telephone ticketing goes from $15 to $25. “Close-in Processing Fees” (1) now $100 (from $75) for ticketing less than 7 days from departure (2) $75 (from $50) for tickets less than 21 days from departure — where the $50 used to apply less than 14 days from departure, so they’ve stretched out the period for this fee. This doesn’t appear to change the fee waivers of United 1Ks (100,000 mile flyers) who can still change their award tickets at no cost over and over, constantly striving for better routings and carriers to meet their needs (thank goodness). (Hat tip to One Mile at a Time.)
