Lucky beat me to the punch. United, under the signature of Robert Sahadevan who is Vice President for Mileage Plus, announced on Flyertalk that they will be moving to ‘unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades for elites’ beginning in the second quarter of next year. United, along with American, has retained the 500-mile upgrade system where flying earns domestic upgrade certificates that can be redeemed for future travel. Since you had to fly 10,000 miles on United or United Express to earn 2,000 miles worth of upgrades, many heavily domestic flying elites found themselves either purchasing more 500-mile upgrades or sitting in coach some portion of the time. American offers unlimited complimentary upgrades to their 100,000 mile flyers. United will now offer them to all elites, joining the majority of the industry. This will mean several things.…
20% Discount on United Domestic and Canada Coach Awards
Through October 19, for travel between January 10 and April 30, 2010, United is offering roundtrip awards in the U.S. and between the U.S. and Canada for just 20,000 miles instead of the usual 25,000. The offer applies to flights on United and United Express only, no partners, and the award must be booked online. April 1, 2, and 5 are blacked out for this discount. A pretty sure sign that the airline is seeing light bookings for the start of next year, at least after the busy leisure travel holiday season ends.
Recurring Bad Advice on How to Secure an Upgrade
TripBase offers upgrade advice from Jonathan Marks, a global investment banker and frequent flier has an envious track record of bagging flight upgrades. He’s agreed to share his secrets, helping us to reach that first class cabin! There are a million of these silly upgrade articles out there, why am I bothering to comment on this one? Because I got pitched the post, they wanted me to link to it. I was going to ignore it but I htought I would take stab number 72 at putting the silliness to bed. As usual there’s a kernal of truth, but on the whole the advice is msileading at best. Ah the elusive flight upgrade. Everyone wants one but noone knows how. Read on for my upgrade secrets, guaranteed to improve your chances of flying like a…
Travel Bloggers Offering Travel Services
The Washington Times today carries a piece on travel services offered by bloggers. The piece highlights two: my award booking service and CrankyFlier‘s Cranky Concierge. For $30 (for a domestic itinerary), Brett Snyder will search for the best fares and offer you advice on booking the best onboard product, monitor your flight and assist during irregular operations, and provide any necessary post-trip followup. Basically he’ll act as a really good travel agent and then some, and at a reasonable price. Brett’s services aren’t aimed at me but at his price point I think they’d be great for a regular business traveler without a travel department for instance. Now, my services are more expensive than Brett’s as the Times piece notes. But I think the article conflates what we’re offering a bit. My services are rather…
What Should I Post On My Blog, Versus On Twitter?
Do you prefer to read the blog, grab the RSS feed of the blog, or follow me on Twitter? And what do you think I ought to be writing on my blog, versus on twitter? As I mentioned last month, I’ve been ‘tweeting’ (and even getting a bit of recognition for it!). Thus far Twitter gets a feed of my blog posts, so it’s a decent way to keep up on the deals and advice I offer here. And I post some minor deals and thoughts that don’t seem to ‘rise to the level’ of a blog post. For example I just tweeted a US Airways magazine sweepstakes for Bose Quiet Comfort 15 headphones. If it was a free set for everyone who signs up, I’d have blogged it, but… Since I’m just figuring out…
Hilton 25% Discount Through the End of the Year
The Hilton 25% discount for Visa Signature cardholders has been extended through December 31. Back in June I posted the following offer: First they ask you to authenticate with the first 8 digits of a Visa signature or Visa infinite card, and then they take you to a booking page. The 25% discount is off of the Best Available Rate rate plan, which of course may not be the best available rate. Still, on a few random tests it appeared to be the lowest price room – lower than advance purchase rates and this rate is cancellable per the reservation’s cancellation deadline and not prepaid. The rules do require payment at the hotel to be made with a qualifying Visa card, though that’s like a “your mileage may vary” requirement. Glad to see it’s still…
British Airways Visa to Increase Mileage Earning by 25%
Last month I posted about a new offer of 30,000 bonus miles for signing up for a British Airways co-branded visa from Chase. The card has a $75 annual fee. Effective November 4, the card will earn 25% more miles: 1.25 miles per dollar on regular spend, and 2.5 miles per dollar on spending with British Airways. Now, to me the card is really just best for the signup bonus. You already earn 1.25 British Airways miles per dollar when you spend $20,000 on a Starwood American Express and transfer those points to British Airways (because Starwood gives you 5000 bonus miles). And there are occasionally additional transfer bonuses on top of this. So I’d still stick with a Starwood Amex for spend (which also gives you the flexibility of deciding where to transfer your…
1500 Free EVA Evergreen Club Miles for New Members
Through the end of the year EVA Air is offering 500 miles for signing up for their frequent flyer program and another 1000 miles for applying online and creating a password. Effective now to DEC 31, 2009, join Evergreen Club during the promotional period will be eligible to receive 500 bonus miles on next day of enrolment. Join now to get more benefits. Please click here for more details. Joining Evergreen Club with password applying on-line can earn extra 1,000 bonus miles. Please share this good news with your friends immediately.
Your Turn to Share a Tip/Trick With ME?
So I’ve been at this blog for several years. I’ve shared offers for free status, just for signing up. Folks have gotten plenty of upgrades as a result, whether airline, hotel, or rental car. I’ve shared free miles offers, sometimes from just clicking a link and other times for churning credit cards, savings accounts, prepaid debit cards, purchasing travelers checks, and whatnot. Folks have also gotten cheap trips via discount promotions and mistake fares that I’ve posted. And I’ve worked hard to help folks learn to get the most of their miles, whether via options to transfer or launder via other programs or how to get the best value redemptions or the best return in premium classes using the least amount of miles. Hopefully y’all have gotten your nickel’s worth of free advice! But I’d…
British Airways Free Status and Bonus Miles for Premium Class Travel
I don’t usually highlight promotions for paid premium class travel, but this one is interesting. British Airways is offering residents of Europe other than the U.K. both progressively more bonus points and elite status for a single roundtrip in their longhaul business or first class product. Details are here and vary by your country of residece. The offer is for free silver status for a year based on a single roundtrip in business class, and BA Silver is enough for lounge access across oneworld. In addition the bonus point offers are as follows: Residents of Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, Netherlands, and Switzerland earn 18,000/50,000/100,000 bonus miles for 1, 2, or 3 roundtrips during the promo period. Residents of Andorra, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Faeroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland,…
