Ron Lieber has the scoop and surveys other rewards cards which have eliminated these fees recently, or are about to: Chase has gotten rid of the fees on its co-branded cards with British Airways, Hyatt and Intercontinental Hotels. In its wake, Citigroup’s card unit announced a similar move in my Your Money column this weekend, which is about the overhaul of much of its credit card lineup. Two new Citi cards will not have the fee. And when I asked American Express why it was taking so long, company officials sped up an announcement they had planned for 2011 and made it in my column as well. AmEx will soon get rid of the fees for Platinum and Centurion (aka Black) card cardholders, both on consumer cards and the ones for small business owners. Not…
US Airways Begins to Crack Down on Extreme Award Redemption
The US Airways gravy train has been incredible for the past few years. First, they’ve printed miles like mad, whether through last December’s holiday shopping promo that allowed the purchase of miles at about 7/10ths of a penny apiece through the purchase of stickers (donating those stickers to charity could get your effective cost down half a penny) or perpetually selling miles with a 100% bonus (125% for elite members!). With cheap miles abundant, US Airways was said to be the ‘official consolidator of Star Alliance premium cabin seats’ — you could buy your business and first class travel dirt cheap on flights where awards were available. Second, because they were incredibly flexible and easy on the redemption side. With no ‘Starnet blocking’ (United’s practice of programming their computers to say that award seats aren’t…
20,000 Amex Point Rebate or $250 Macy’s Gift Card for Transferring 50,000 Membership Rewards Points to Delta
Via TM Travel World comes the next bonus for transfers of 50,000 points (or more) from American Express Membership Rewards points to Delta: a certificate to return 20,000 Amex Membership Rewards points back to your account or a $250 Macy’s gift card. The offer runs through December 31, registration is required, and you have to select which bonus you want when you register. Hint: take the points. If you’re transferring 100,000 points or more then you should break the transfer up into multiple transactions. You only earn one bonus per transaction, but each separate transfer of 50,000 points will earn the bonus. Either bonus will be shipped by mail 4 to 6 weeks after the New Year, so you don’t get instant gratification here. And of course I never advise transferring Amex points to Delta…
Continental’s Mile-a-Thon Promo Coming Back
Via TM Travel World, Continental will be bringing back their Mile-a-thon promo where various activities earn credits towards bonus miles. Registation will begin January 1 and activity between February 1 and April 30 will count towards the promo. You can’t register yet, and full details aren’t up yet, so just one for the calendar. At a minimum the offer usually includes a kicker for signing up for a Continental Airlines credit card, so a good opportunity for extra bonus if you’re considering grabbing one of those before the Continental Onepass program goes away (since the signup bonus for each card is usually once in a lifetime, there’ll be no reason to wait for a better offer as in the past — the program itself will go away in a year!).
50% Off Luggage and Bags (including Tumi) at Amazon
The Travel Fund reports a deal found on Slickdeals, 50% off on ‘Sunglasses & Purses & Bags’ which works on luggage. There’s a Flyertalk thread on the offer as well. It seems that the offer requires a minimum $75 item, and applies only to things shipped by Amazon, so filter by ‘eligible for Amazon Prime’. One example is Tumi items, search Tumi and then filter by Mens or Woments Clothing to get only items eligible for the discount, and also filter by eligible for Amazon Prime. Items that come up should be eligible for the discount. The Travel Fund says you should be able to get an additional discount as well using code AZTWENTY. Nothing I want to buy at the moment, but for example one Flyertalk member reports buying this Tumi laptop bag for…
Science Proves Frequent Travellers are Stupid
Or at least, that jet lag may have lasting effects on memory and learning. [T]he impacts of jet lag—memory loss and learning problems—may alter your brain’s structure long after you unpack… The researchers now believe that frequent travelers suffer physical changes to their brains due to chronic jet lag. The jet-lagged hamsters showed a drastic drop in neuron production in the hippocampus area of the brain, which closely contributes to memory processing and learning. “This is the first time anyone has done a controlled trial of the effects of jet lag on brain and memory function,” said lead researcher Lance Kriegsfeld, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley. “Not only do we find that cognitive function is impaired during jet lag, but we see an impact up to a month afterward.” At least now I have…
US Airways Introduces Star Alliance Upgrade Awards
US Airways has been saying it’s coming, I’ve been skeptical, but they finally joined the vast majority of Star Alliance airlines by participating in the Star Alliance upgrade program. Now, the benefit won’t be useful to most. You have to buy a full (Y or B) fare coach ticket in order to upgrade to business class, and a C or D business class fare in order to upgrade to first class, no advance purchase discounted Z business class fares are eligible. If you don’t buy at least full fare coach tickets, you cannot use your US Airways miles to upgrade on their Star Alliance miles. This is the same way it works with other Star Alliance mileage programs as well. Further, each flight segment requires a separate award redemption. And the upgrade can only be…
Free Ticket and 10% Cash Back (in Gift Cards) on First $5000 in Spend from Southwest Airlines Visa
Chase is offering a Southwest Airlines Visa that comes with 16 Rapid Rewards credits on first purchase (enough for a free flight) and Southwest Airlines gift cards based on your spend in the first 3 months with the card: $100 gift card after your first $1000 in purchases $150 gift card after your first $2500 in purchases $250 gift card after your first $5000 in purchases At each spending threshold it amounts to 5%10% cash back to spend on Southwest in addition to the regular credits for spending and in addition to the Rapid Rewards credits at first purchase. That’s a pretty attractive first purchase offer and cash back offer in the first three months. First year annual fee is waived, but if you keep the card then the regular $59 annual fee comes with…
Southwest Preparing to Make a Run at Hawaii
Holly Hegeman reports that Southwest is advertising for an ETOPS manager. One only needs to consult Wikipedia on ETOPS if you aren’t familiar to know that it means they’re looking to fly significant distances over water that are far from the nearest diversion airport. And their current aircraft won’t make it to Europe. The folks down in Dallas are getting themselves positioned to fly to Hawaii!
New York to South Africa $699 Roundtrip
Via Dan’s Deals, and this only prices out on the New Zealand Expedia site. Total is $930 New Zealand dollars which comes out to just $699 US Dollars! This seems to work for tons of dates in January and February. If you can find it in other months please post a comment! Sample dates for JFK-JNB 01/12/11-01/19/11. 02/07/11-02/14/11. 02/15/11-02/22/11. Update: According to the Flyertalk thread on the deal: Works for IAD as well. When AndrewT84 mentioned CPT works as well, I checked and there is the same (or noted +$) base fare to LAD, LVI, DKR, LLW, PLZ, ELS, VFA, HRE, BLZ (+$50), LUN (+$50), DAR (+$120), NBO (+$120), EBB (+$120).
