Through December 31, Marriott is offering a 10% bonus on the purchase of gift cards. You can use these to pay for your stays and, together with the bonus effectively receive a discount on your hotel rates. This is a ‘friends and family’ offer for Marriott associates, and they were encouraged to ‘pass it on.’ Use promo code MMF at MarriottGiftCardOffer.com. Update: Reader Rich points me to a Flyertalk thread which details how to get 10% off on the purchase of $1000 and $2000 Marriott Vacation Cards and also receive 1000 Delta miles per $1000. This requires a greater cash outlay (so you’d better have some Marriott stays lined up!) than the gift card offer above, but it comes with some Delta miles and a 10% savings rather than a 10% top-off to the card.…
Happy Birthday Frugal Travel Guy!
Congratulations to Frugal Travel Guy on his one year blogiversary! Rick’s site, along with One Mile at a Time are the two miles and points-focused blogs i find indispensable.
Show Your Papers, Your Gender, and Your Date of Birth to Fly
Last week final plans were announced for implementing ‘secure flight’ – the nomenclature for silly rules that all passengers will have to submit their gender and date of birth in order to obtain an boarding pass, starting in July of 2009. This applies to domestic US flights, flights departing or arriving the U.S., and flights overflying the U.S. Terrorists could easily find out if they’re on the list, simply with a dry run — that is, buying a ticketing for a flight they don’t intend to bomb to see if they have any problems getting their boarding pass. If they do face hassles, they could either turn the job over to someone else in their group or use fake documents (whether a fake boarding pass with their own name that matches ID or a fake…
25% Off Specific Routes on Virgin America
Virgin America is offering 25% off of flights booked by October 31 for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Saturday using promo code 25OFF. The discount applies to: San Diego to/from San Francisco Los Angeles to/from Seattle San Francisco to/from Seattle Seattle to/from San Diego The discount applies to travel through February 25, 2009, and Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Presidents Day weekend blacked out.
5000 Miles for New bmi Account Signup
British Midland is offering 5,000 miles for new account signups prior to November 2nd. It’s also supposed to come with ‘Blue Plus’ status. If you don’t have a bmi account, this is the perfect time to sign up. It’s my favorite frequent flyer program at the moment, though if the program is eventually swallowed up by Lufthansa its special benefits could well go away. This is the account where I credit my short flights, now that United and US Airways give only actual miles flown rather than 500 miles minimum (bmi gives 600). bmi is the best place in my view to credit Hertz rentals and Hilton double dip miles. Gold members who have requalified for their status earn 625% mileage on paid first class travel. bmi offers one-way awards and a cash and points…
21% Hyatt Discount Code
Book by November 5, 2008 for stays between October 31, 2008 and February 1, 2009 and receive 21% off the ‘prevailing rate’ at Hyatt using offer code LTGP06. Rates are pre-paid, non-refundable.
Vegas: Caesars Palace from $75, Paris from $60, and Harrahs from $49
Harrah’s Properties are offering some deep discounts in November and December (offer valid through January 5). Their Vegas property offerings are rates at Ceasars Palace from $75, Paris from $60, and Flamingo, Ballys, Harrahs, and Rio from $49. For Laughlin rooms start at $22. There are even some Saturday and Sunday nights available at the lowest special rates. Hat tip to CalItalian.
Northwest and Delta Integration Begins: Reciprocal Elite Upgrades Begin on Tuesday
As detailed in this Flyertalk thread, and discussed by One Mile at a Time, beginning this coming Tuesday Delta and Northwest will begin offering reciprocal upgrades — Delta elites will receive automatic complimentary upgrades on Northwest, and Northwest elites will receive automatic complimentary upgrades on Delta. DL/NW Reciprocal Upgrades Are On The Way! ———————————————————————- October 23, 2008 On October 28, 2008, SkyMiles and WorldPerks elite members will be eligible to receive complimentary upgrades on Delta and Northwest flights. Reciprocal upgrade is for the elite members only. SkyMiles companions will only be eligible for upgrades on DL coded and Delta operated flights. WorldPerks companions will only be eligible for upgrades on NW coded and NW operated flights. What is changing? • Beginning October 25 you will start to see V/X inventory being added to some DL…
$35 Each Way+Tax, American from Newark to Belize (via Miami or Dallas)
American is running a $35 each way fare, Newark to Belize (EWR-BZE), clearly aimed at Continental. The $70 roundtrip fare comes to a total of $143 or $146 depending on connecting airports, the taxes consisting of Tax: US International Departure Tax $15.40 Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $7.50 Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $5.00 Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00 Tax: US Customs Fee $5.50 Tax: Belize Conservation Tax $3.75 Tax: US International Arrival Tax $15.40 Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $13.50 Appears valid through June, a Saturday stay is required, and no travel is permitted December 19 through December 28 or January 1 through January 8. (Hat tip to Online Travel Review.)
30% Bonus on American Express Transfers to Delta
Through December 31, Delta is offering a 30% bonus on points transferred into a Skymiles account from American Express Membership Rewards. This is not worth cleaning out your American Express Membership Rewards account for. Don’t dump your valuable Amex points into a less valuable Skymiles account unless you have a specific use for those Delta miles, and unless you’re certain there’s availability (and it’s possible to test that first, since Amex transfers to Delta are ‘live’ and show up in a Delta account instantly). The other thing to bear in mind is that you’ll get the 30% bonus later, a week after the transfer takes place, so you won’t be able to use those points immediately to ticket an award. My suggestion is to transfer the points you need for a given award, ticket it,…
