Delta is promoting a 20% bonus on American Express Membership Rewards transfers through October 17th. Registration is required before initating the transfer. 20% certainly isn’t enough to lure me into Delta transfers that I wouldn’t otherwise be making, I’d rather preserve the flexibility of my Amex points and they are far more value when transferred into other programs (such as ANA and Air Canada). Still, if you’re transferring to Delta anyway this is worth knowing about. Unfortunately, the bonus can’t be used immediately for booking travel. Rather, you’ll still need to make your full transfers necessary to redeem an award, and the bonus will post after the end of the promotion period.
500 Delta Miles for Auto Insurance Quote
Ameriprise offers 500 Delta Skymiles for an auto insurance quote. The miles tend to post quickly, and some reports are you can do this every six months. The key in my mind is not to enter your social security number when requesting the quote. It’s optoinal on the form, and I’d just assume not have the inquiry show on my credit file (in truth it won’t appear as a request for credit, but 500 miles aren’t worth enough for me to mess with my credit report in any dimension). Here’s the current Flyertalk discussion. Incidentally, I also signed up for Skymiles Shopping, which Frugal Travel Guy assures will yield 250 points despite no mention of the miles on the Skymiles Shopping page. They are promoting signups, have sent out emails which ostensibly aren’t targeted, but…
Alitalia on the Brink
When the posturing in labor relations turns so ugly and public that management makes statements that will scare away customers, things are truly an intractable mess. Such is Alitalia, where the company says they don’t have enough money for fuel and will have to start flight cancellations on Monday. Foreign suitors are making noises about pulling their offer to infuse cash because the unions won’t agree to contract concessions. The Prime Minister says he won’t let the flag carrier fail, despite E.U. laws Italy has already violated in subsidizing the airline… Will Alitalia rise from the ashes once more? It’s one of the few companies to which I’d just assume say good riddance, I still resent them from cancelling all the miles from their ‘old’ frequent flyer program and starting anew. Still, it’s hard enough…
Another Baldness Offer
If you didn’t have a hair loss procedure done just for the miles you might be in luck — if you find yourself in New Zealand, the national airline has another lucrative offer: they’ll pay to advertise on bald heads. Air New Zealand said it wants 70 recruits to stand in lines in three airports — while wearing temporary tattoos on the back of their heads so the displays can be seen by people lining up behind them. The airline would pay 1,000 New Zealand dollars ($660) for each walking billboard, a company official said. The tattoos will promote a new system that is meant to reduce check-in waiting times.
10% Off American
American Airlines is offering 10% off within the 48 continental United States and Mexico for travel through October 31. Thanks to reader Patrick for the tip.
Airtran introduces new elite benefits
Via High Anxiety, Airtran is actually improving elite benefits — granted, they’re introducing some pretty basic benefits that should have been there in the first place, but it’s improvement nonetheless. And I’m personally fortunate that I took advantage of a temporary status match program they offered about 5 years ago — since at least up to this point elite status, once gained, is permanent…. Specifically, the new benefits are: Complimentary space available upgrades for elite members and a companion, at the gate 40 minutes prior to departure. Priority standby Reciprocal elite benefits on Frontier A dedicated elite phone number, we’ll see if it’s staffed with dedicated agents or if calls just get priority in the queue.
Two Frugal Travel Guy Posts Worth Reading
Frugal Travel Guy walks through in some detail the process of buying grocery store money orders with credit cards for the points, depositing the money orders in your checking account, and using the funds to pay off the credit card. Rinse, repeat. A definite must-read! Meanwhile, I haven’t played around with this myself, but he also writes about $250 all-in fares to London (using Priceline and clicking through various flight options) and 250 free Delta miles for signing up for their online mall. Note that I haven’t seen anything myself about the 250 bonus miles, no email in my inbox and nothing on the website, so that one may well be ‘your mileage may vary’.
New Route Alert (These Are Frequently Award Redemption Opportunities): Los Angeles – Melbourne on United
United is starting seasonal service from Los Angeles to Melbourne (December 17 – February 1). Since it’s a brand new flight, just loaded into the system a few days ago, it’s also a great opportunity for award seats and upgrades. Australia is notoriously difficult to secure premium class awards, so this is as good an opportunity as any, and during the heaviest travel season.
Can Lufthansa Make the Frankfurt First Class Experience Even Better?
According to this Flyertalk thread, Lufthansa is adding a spa to their B Concourse First Class Lounge in Frankfurt. Which begs the question, will visiting that lounge be better than heading over to the First Class Terminal? I’m one of the few who actually prefers the Thai Airways Bangkok ground experience over the First Class Terminal precisely because of their proper spa and wonderful hour-long treatments. If Lufthansa offered a quality spa they could retake the top spot in ground experience in my estimation…
Westin Fails to Renew United’s Sorry Domestic Lounges
One Mile at a Time has pictures of the new Westin Renewal Lounge inside United’s San Francisco Red Carpet Club. The bottom line? It was worse than what I expected, and I went in with low expectations.
