Through January 30 (I meant to blog this awhile ago…) Vinesse Wine Club is offering 4500 Northwest miles for signup, in addition to 8 Northwest miles per dollar spent. Here’s the offer. This involves signing up for their wine club, so assuming you don’t want to continue you’ll have to cancel which I understand is relatively painless (under a minute) by phone. And the miles do appear to post as promised. You’ll get (6) bottles for $6.99 each with no shipping charges on the first order. I’m not valuing the wine a whole lot, but it’s less than a penny a point for Northwest miles and the wine value must be nonzero…
Hertz Sells Their Top Tier Elite Status
Hertz is offering their top status level, Platinum, for sale. The price ranges from $1200 – $1500 a year depending on your current membership level with them. (Though no one should ever pay more than $1350 since that’s the Hertz Gold price, and that status can be had free any number of ways — and even if you were paying it’s only $60 so the $1500 no status price seems silly, see for instance here or here and search on the page for ‘gold’ or find plenty more versions of this by Googling ‘free hertz gold’.) The benefits strike me as similar to Avis Chairman’s status, which I much enjoy: vehicle delivery, upgrades, valet service back to the airport so you don’t have to ride the shuttle bus. As an Avis Chairman I pay market…
Interesting Interview with Aeroplan’s CEO
An interesting finding about the effect of successfully redeeming frequent flyer miles, from the head of the Aeroplan program: One thing that’s very interesting is that when they do a redemption for an airfare or a gift card or an iPod they actually become more loyal afterwards for about a six-month period. Actually, the accumulation rate of the currency goes up substantially. He suggests that frequent flyer programs aren’t just a rebate, they’re a way to leverage a relationship. [B]y developing a longer term relationship with a consumer, you actually encourage them to focus their spending in a way that they wouldn’t normally do. And, it’s not normally because they get 1 or 2 per cent cash back, because that’s what loyalty schemes essentially represent. You’re actually becoming part of their behaviour and their everyday…
More Ways That Delta Has Gutted Their Program, And Why You Shouldn’t Fly Them Unless You Live in One of Their Hub Cities
Jeff Robertston, who runs the Delta Skymiles program, posted on Flyertalk that as part of integrating Northwest into Delta, Northwest Platinum elites will earn a 100% mileage bonus instead of a 125% bonus, and Silver elites will earn a 25% bonus instead of 50%. Losing benefits is unfortunate. This one doesn’t surprise me. First, because it’s an area where Northwest remained generous compered to competitors (Continental made a similar move, but then allowed their elites to earn at the earlier more generous levels if they held Continental’s premium co-branded credit card>) and that just doesn’t fly under the new leadership, and second because my working model has been that where the features of the Skymiles and Worldperks programs were different, the default would be to opt for the less generous benefits. So far that assumption…
The World’s Best Airports?
Via Taking Off Travel Blog, CNN has a piece on the world’s best airports They rank ’em as: Hong Kong International Airport Changi International Airport, Singapore Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia Munich Airport, Germany The problem, of course, is best for what? About Munich, they say, the architects wanted the airport “to be less an ‘anonymous transfer location,’ than a ‘foyer to the city’.” Except that what makes Munich a great airport is precisely how easy transfers are there! (I’d say the only other airport in Europe that is its rival in this regard is Vienna.) Seoul-Incheon is also outstanding for transfers, in addition to being a lovely structure. Singapore Changi, to me, is the ‘nicest’ airport. For the median passanger there’s certainly no better airport in the…
$359 for Paid First Class, DC – Ft. Lauderdale
As discussed on Flyertalk, US Airways and Delta appear to be matching Spirit’s “Big Seat Sale” and offering $359 roundtrip between Reagan National and Ft. Lauderdale in paid first class. On US Airways it’s a non-refudable seven-day advance purchase “A” fare (AA7UPN). The non-refundable Delta fare basis is QUPNL.
Hilton Wants to Help You Get Pregnant!
Boston-area Hilton properties are offering the “And Baby Makes Three” package which includes “fantastic overnight accomodations” and The Everything Getting Pregnant Book, Champagne and Chocolates and a romantic CD to get you in “the mood”. My favorite part is the disclaimer: ***Note: We do-not gurantee conception
Triple Miles on bmi Flights for new bmi Diamond Club Members
british midland is offering new members signing up by March 31 a choice of triple redeemable miles or triple status miles on bmi flights taken by April 30th. The offer also comes with instant Blue Plus status.
Avis Weekend Discounts
Through March 31, Avis is offering third weekend day free with a three or more day rental and also 50% off of weekend rentals of two days or more. Both deals were advertised to me while logged into my Yahoo! e-mail account. They’ve gotten very good at targeting ads based on web-surfing behavior, they have..
FTD 25 United Miles Per Dollar Plus 100 Miles
FTD is offering 25 United miles per dollar plus 100 miles for flower purchases. It’s a campaign tied to Valentine’s Day and the United Visa, but the offer doesn’t appear to require having or using a United Visa for the purchase. Unclear if or when the offer will expire, as most FTD offers stay around quite a long time. I used a temporary targeted 30 miles per dollar offer successfully for years, and as long as the offer details appear at the top of the landing page it should work. This one is incrementally better than the 25 United mile per dollar offer which has been around for years.
