American is offering 42,000 bonus miles for premium class flights to London. The move is very similar to British Airways’ offer of 40,250 bonus miles. Registration is required.
Balloting for the Freddie Awards has begun. For 17 years, frequent travelers have been asked to make their picks for the best frequent travel programs via the Freddie Awards. Introduced by InsideFlyer magazine publisher Randy Petersen in 1988, the Freddies allow consumers to rank airline and hotel programs from their point of view. The awards have grown in stature and importance and are the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the industry. The nice thing is that the Freddies are voted on by hundreds of thousands of real travelers. I get rather sick of having to roll my eyes at the hotels and airlines that claim to be world’s best this and that as determined by an award they’ve funded themselves. When a program wins a Freddie Award they tend to trumpet it pretty loudly. I’ll…
Now’s the time to subscribe to Inside Flyer magazine. They’re offering 50% off subscriptions in conjunction with the Freddie Awards. The usual $45 a year may be rich for some, but a few new tactics or bonus offers to take advantage of and it more than pays for itself. At $22.50 it’s a steal.
British Airways is offering 40,250 bonus miles for transatlantic roundtrip flights in first or business class through April 30. Registration required and offer is available to residents of the US and Canada only. As NotiFlyer observes, BA is trying to make itself relevant to North American flyers by marketing the way that these bonus miles can be used on partner airlines for domestic travel.
Register to earn 500 bonus Amtrak points on your next train trip by March 31.
Speaking as someone with a hefty seven-figure total mileage balance (which doesn’t compare to some folks I know with an eight-figure balance), my own preferences are as follows, in order: Starwood: hotel rooms are almost always available, plus points transfer into most airline programs is at 1:1 — plus 5k bonus for transferring 20k. Starwood Amex is the best points-earning card to the extent that spending earns 1.25 miles per dollar on all spending when transferring points in 20k blocks to airlines with 1:1 ratio, which is better than the AA Mastercard for instance. Not to mention the card is cheaper. American: I’ve never had any problems with availability. Partner awards are great. All miles earned count towards lifetime elite (we’ll see if that feature lasts). United: Availability on UA metal ain’t what it used…
The Starwood American Express is now offering 6000 points with first purchase and 6000 bonus points for hotel stays. Fee waived the first year. (Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)
Travelocity has a new promo code, TRAVEL_MORE, which will take: $50 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $300. $100 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $600. Valid through April 30. Anecdotally it appeared to take $150 off a $900 package as well, but it may be an anomaly.
Only good on a few dates and flights, but nice values nevertheless: Hot Winter Specials – 2 Romantic DestinationsJust in time for a Valentine’s Day Getaway!!Take your Sweetie to Tahiti or go to France for Romance! TahitiMoana Economy $395 per person, plus tax Poerava Business $2000 per person, plus taxParis (CDG)Moana Economy $498 per Couple, plus taxPoerava Business $3400 per Couple, plus tax*** Tahiti Instant Purchase Special ***$395 (plus taxes) per person – Moana Economy Class $2000 (plus taxes) per person – Poerava Business ClassValid only by combining the following designated flights:Southbound – Los Angeles to Papeete, TahitiFlight # TN1: January 23, 30, February 3, 6, 13, 24 & 25.Flight # TN301: February 22. Northbound – Papeete, Tahiti to Los AngelesFlight # TN2: January 31, February 7, 9, 14, 16, & 28.Flight # TN302: February…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
