As many of you know, I probably book more frequent flyer award tickets than anyone else in the world. So I get a lot of regular experience dealing with a wide variety of frequent flyer programs. After Delta, United is my second least-favorite to deal with (Singapore is no bargain, either). All for different reasons. Delta just offers the least amount of premium cabin international award availability at reasonable mileage prices, and has all sorts of hidden rules like too many segments bumping up mileage prices (when they’re the ones who force you to go looking for extra segments to find available flights in the first place). While United as a Star Alliance carrier has access to some incrediblle partners and award inventory, regular readers of this blog kow that they are the only Star…
Details of Starwood’s First Quarter Promo – Register January 5
From January 5 through April 15, Starwood is offering double points on 1 and 2 night stays, triple points on 3 night stays, and quadruple points on stays of 4 nights or more. This is in addition to usual 50% elite bonuses and any other bonuses on offer. Registration is required, beginning on January 5. While most properties are participating, not all are. They advertise “over 850” but you may want to check the participating properties list so see whether where you’re staying will be awarding the bonus points.
5000 Bonus Miles on First Transfer of American Express Points to British Airways Miles
One Mile at a Time noted yesterday that British Airways was now live as a U.S. American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner. I hadn’t expected this until January, they’re a few weeks ahead of schedule. He also notes that they’re offering 5000 bonus miles for making your first transfer. And, indeed, the Amex Membership Rewards website says: “In honor of this new partnership, you can receive 5,000 bonus BA Miles when you transfer Membership Rewards® points to British Airways before January 31, 2010. You must be enrolled in the British Airways Executive Club in order to participate in this offer, visit http://www.ba.com to enroll. Bonus Miles will be awarded by February 28, 2010. One bonus per Cardmember. Taxes, fees, charges & surcharges, including airline surcharged, apply.” So I can transfer 1000 Amex points to BA…
And The Monster Outlets-To-Go Powerstrip Giveaway Winners Are…
The winners in the Monster Outlets to Go Giveaway Are… Well, before I actually tell you who won I’ll hold onto the suspense for just I moment (I know you’re all waiting with bated breath). There were 669 eligible comments, submitted by the deadline of noon eastern time yesterday. Thanks, folks! I didn’t check to see just how many were submitted by the same folks, multiple entries were eligible, but I know that commenting in this thread became a favorite pasttime for many. What will you all do now that the contest is closed? I used an online number generator to come up with (3) random numbers in order to determine which comment numbers were the winners. But I had a little problem the first time through. The initial winners were Erich and Autumn and….…
FTD: 30 United Miles Per Dollar PLUS 1500 Miles Per Order
Now this is a great bonus offer. Sure, for large dollar orders the US Airways holiday shopping promo (which makes the standard 20 miles per dollar from FTD 70 miles) is better. But then you have to use one of your 10 possible transactions under that promo. For smaller orders, this United offer reigns supreme. A $30 order from FTD will earn 2400 miles. Worth it for the miles alone? Maybe not, since you have to pay delivery fees. But a darn bit better than buying miles directly from United, that’s for sure. Find the cheapest item on their website and order away. Or just be sure to use this link for all of your holiday gift giving if you can get away with it.
US Airways Holiday Bonus Promotion: TrackItBack is a Good Partner in All of This
I’ve explained previously how to use the US Airways holiday shopping promotion to buy miles at about 7/10ths of a cent (or less..) per mile, for instance here. There’s no doubt been an uptick in purchase transactions over at TrackItBack as a result of all this. What do they think about the whole thing? They love it! Their President writes to me, “[T]he main reason that people are making such transactions is to secure Dividend Miles. This is great and we’re pleased that we can provide them a conduit to do so.” We’re pretty pleased as well, so thank you TrackItBack!
500 Priority Club Points for Taking a Quick Survey
Priority Club is offering 500 points and a second night free at a new property in Shanghai for answering a few quick questions about what’s important to you in a hotel and how often you have traveled/will travel to Shanghai. Terms and Conditions say the second night free is valid only for the first 500 respondents, but otherwise don’t seem to limit the offer in any way. They don’t say the survey is targeted, just that the offer expires December 31. And while these sorts of things are always “your mileage may vary,” I’ve found the Priority Club surveys in the past to be pretty good about posting points (after 6 to 8 weeks).
Los Angeles Times Covers the End of the US Mint Buying Money For Miles Deal
The deal was on the way anyway, in all likelihood, but certainly Wall Street journal coverage has to be the nail in the coffin. There are plenty of reports that purchases of coins from the US mint no longer earn miles, at least via those credit cards where I’ve seen reports. The Los Angeles Times covers the end of the deal. Here’s their summary of the opportunity, which is pretty much accurate: The trouble began in June 2008 when the U.S. Mint launched a “direct ship” program to sell dollar coins directly to the general public in hopes of increasing the use of the coins, which last longer than paper currency. Under the program, individuals could buy a maximum of 500 of each of five presidential dollar coins issued by the mint (Washington, John Adams,…
Little White Lies I Tell When Booking Award Tickets
I’m a liar. I tell customer service agents the same lie, every time I call to make an award booking. But I do it for their benefit, to make them feel at ease. What’s more it saves them time, which I imagine helps their performance ratings. So I feel like I’m doing it for a good reason. But I’m still a liar. Here’s what I’m talking about: before I ever call an airline to try to book an award, I do my research. I figure out what exact award seats should be available, I find the seats and precise routing that I want. And then I call to ask for those seats. But that makes agents a bit uncomfortable, for one of several reasons. (1) You know more infomration than they do. It’s their job,…
My Progress on the Amazing US Airways Holiday Shopping Promo
As a followup to my last post on the shopping promo where you can buy miles for $0.007 apiece, I thought I’d update my miles posting progress. Gaiam, a Dividend Miles Mall member not separately listed on the promo page, posted for me this morning and was listed as “SHOPPING MALL, GAIAM” My Bose purchase posted as “SHOPPING MALL, BOSE” — although I’m a little bit concerned that this won’t count towards the promo (95% that it will, but I’m paranoid) because the promo page highlights only “1,500 bonus miles when you buy the new QC15 headphones” rather than all miles counting towards the promo. Still, since all shopping partners count, this should as well. Later in the promo I may make some extra purchases just in case. My Sears $5 gift card (free shipping)…
