Balloting for the Freddie Awards has begun. Polls close February 28th. Expecut much lobbying from frequent flyer and frequent guest programs, incessant emails from programs to their membership. Marriott’s surprising performance last year was, I believe, in large measure due to signfiicant “get out the vote” efforts and I expect other programs to learn from that result and plan accordingly. Such measures can only have an effect at the margin when over half a million people turn out to vote. But since several awards are ultimately decided by numbers closer than Al Franken’s Senate margin, such efforts can make a difference. One pecularity in how the votes are tabulated — which I admit I’m not keen on — is that the number of votes cast for a particular program only determine whether that program crosses…
No Changes to Intercontinental Royal Ambassador in 2009?
Further to Yesterday’s post on changes to the Intercontinental Ambassador program, the current speculation on Flyertalk is that there won’t be any changes after all to Royal Ambassador in 2009. Any changes would only come in 2010. That’s a good thing, a very good thing, a real reprieve for Royal Ambassador members…
Intercontinental Ambassador Program Changes Announced – Royal Ambassador Changes Still to Come
Changes have been announced for the Intercontinental Ambassador program (Flyertalk thread is here), they’re mostly ho-hum (though will wait and see how they function in practice). Still waiting to see what the changes to the Royal Ambassador program bring. We should find out within a few weeks tops. Plain-old vanilla Ambassador, which is what you can buy for $150 ($100 renewal, or 24,000 Priority Club points last time I checked), comes with late checkout, a one-category room upgrade, a free movie during your stay, and a welcome gift that at some properties is a nice little amentiy and at other places is a bowl of fruit. The announced changes are: 20,000 bonus points for every 15 nights at Intercontinental properties. This helps address the perverse incentive that non-Intercontinental hotels in the program (Crowne Plaza, Holiday…
Best Uses for American Express Membership Rewards Points
One Mile at a Time summarizes some of the best and worse uses of American Express Membership Rewards points. I agree that in general Air Canada and ANA are the best transfer options, though of course it’s best to keep the points in American Express until needed to preserve flexibility (and of course both of those programs have mileage expiration rules). But something not mentioned in the post is a really neat feature of the program — that via the Membership Rewards website you can link anyone’s frequent flyer mile account you wish and once so linked transfer points into that account. You can have more than one of a particular program linked at the same time. So drop 1000 miles in a friend’s account to top them off towards an award, and then 10,000…
Led By Citibank, Bank Rewards Cards Cutting Bonuses and Redemption Opportunities
I previously mentioned that Citibank’s Thank You Rewards program was eliminating “fixed point redemption” which allowed members to derive up to 3 cents per point in value, leaving “variable point redemption” — which caps value at 1 cent — as the only travel rewards option. (Other redemptions such as for gift cards generally provide less than 1 cent a point in value.) The Wall Street Journal picks up the story and notes that other proprietary bank rewards programs are cutting benefits — for example, American Express ending the domestic companion program for Platinum and Centurion members, and ending the Mandarin Oriental two nights-for-one program for Centurion members; banks generally reducing bonus opportunities on spend such as on gas and groceries; and requiring meeting spending thresholds before bonus point opportunities kick in. The dramatic example of…
US Airways Dining for Miles VIP Fast Track Offer
Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, though the iDine (Rewards Network) dining for miles value proposition has been cut in half for its most frequent participants, it’s still worth noting that the US Airways dining program if offering a fast track to VIP status. Registration is required, and then dining 5 times at participating restaurants by March 31st ($25 minimum spend each time) will yield VIP status in the program and future dines through 2009 will earn 5 miles per dollar spent. In addition, there’s 1000 bonus miles on offer for completing the promotion.
Air France-KLM Program Changes Coming April 1
A long and growing Flyertalk thread outlines the changes to the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program that go into effect April 1. You’d almost think it’s an April Fool’s joke, it’s so bad. Mileage earning gets cut back: Most fares will earn less than 100% of flown miles, with only “B” and “S” fares earning 100% of miles flown. Lower fares will range from 25% to 75% earning. Mileage earning for premium fares changes, ranging from a 25% bonus to a 75% bonus (advance purchase restrictive “Z fares” will earn only 25% class of service bonus). First class redemptions get restricted: Only Elite members of the program can book first class awards. General members, no matter how many miles they have, will be ineligible for first class redemption. Those elites who are permitted to redeem…
Continental Onepass Signup Bonus
Continental is offering 2000 bonus miles for new members and an additional 5000 for those members who fly Continental by the end of 2009. No minimum fare class is required to earn the flight bonus. The only restriction is that the address on the member’s account must list an address in the Mid Pacific, South Pacific, China or South Asia (excludes Japan). Residency is defined by the address on the OnePass account.
35% Off at W Hotel Store
The W Hotel Store is offering 35% off with promo code R5GC6 through January 31. They semi-frequently run 40% off discounts on beds and bedding, so this isn’t the absolute best discount ever if you’re looking for a W Hotel Bed (I love mine). But for site-wide discounts 40% is much more rare. I took the opportunity to replenish my supply of Bliss products, which with the discount are offered at a good price.
2500 Delta Miles for Purchasing 24 Bottles of Fiji Water
Via both SlickDeals and Flyertalk, Fiji Water is offering 2500 Delta Skymiles with an order of a 24 bottles of water. Now, there’s some dispute as to the details of this offer. It’s being discussed on Flyertalk as though any purchase will work, including a one-time purchase with a 40% off discount code. But I read the terms and conditions on the page with the mileage offers, and those say on Monthly Recurring Orders> of 500mL and 1.0L bottle sizes only. This offer is not combinable with other savings or promotions So we’ll see what ultimately turns out to be true in practice. With the discount, the price is $22.50 without a cancellable monthly subscription and $17.97 with that subscription using promo code fijiblack which yields a 40% discount this week only. (Promo code giftfiji…
