Frugal Travel Guy‘s post for today was titled “Which Credit Cards for the US MInt Deal?” but it’s really a generalized comparison of credit cards. He likes the Starwood American Express and Citibank American Express Platinum which earns Thank You Points the best. Both are respectable choices. I recommend the Starwood American Express in my much larger discussion of how to choose the best credit card. I can’t really complain about the 5 points per dollar from the Citi Platinum Amex though I long for the days when those points were worth three cents apiece (or the days when they were worth even more…) rather than just one. Rick both recognizes and dismisses the Asiana American Express, an explanation of which I provided recently — 2 points per dollar on all spend, and a mileage-based…
JetBlue’s New Revenue-Based Frequent Flyer Program
Wandering Aramean has an outstanding post detailing the revamped JetBlue TrueBlue program. All the details and plenty of analysis. Bottom-line is JetBlue is going to a revenue-based program, rewarding points based on spending. But with plenty of spending threshold bonuses, and eliminating the expiration of credits as long as you fly every 12 months or use their co-branded American Express card. It isn’t a compelling program for me to use, but it may actually be a better program for many members than their segment-based credit model. Although folks flying plenty of deep discount short hops and redeeming for more expensive trips will see a deterioration in value, unsurprisingly.
Sen. Kent Conrad Uses Frequent Flyer Miles as an Excuse for Special Mortgage Perks
Senator Kent Conrad says he thought his special VIP mortgage from Countrywide was a frequent flyer deal. But no details on whether he actually got the miles, and if so in what program? How are we supposed to evaluate a Senator if we don’t know the decisions they make in mileage accumulation? Put another way, do you really want someone accruing primarily Delta Skymiles making decisions on major pieces of legislation? Or would you trust someone more who is doing their best to take advantage of promo opportunities, or banking flexible currencies like Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints or American Express Membership Rewards? More to the point: how much mileage does it take to get a Senator to sponsor legilslation? All the major carriers have lobby shops, perhaps they should consider donating miles rather than money…
Northwest Double Miles for Most Shopping
Northwest is offering double miles for shopping at most of their mall merchants through September 30. Registration required. Notable expcetions to the offer include flower merchants, movie and game delivery services, and Vinesse wine club.
25% Off and Free Shipping at W Hotel Store
Through August 15, promo code HEAT99 will give you 25% and free shipping at the W Hotel Store. They frequently offer 40% off beds and bedding, so if that’s what you’re shopping for you’ll want to hold out for a better offer. But I find the offer especially useful for restocking on Bliss products myself..
Join US Airways Dividend Miles Now and Earn Lots of Random Bonus Miles!
US Airways is offering a randomized bonus to new members who join by October 15. They’ll assign the account a bonus randomly, and that bonus will be earned on most account activity in the first 30 days of membership. Within seven days of signup new members get an email letting them know just how rewarding the bonus will be. 80% of signups get a 25% bonus, 15% of signups get a 50% bonus, 4% of signups get a 100% bonus, and 1% of signups get a 200% bonus. Credit card first use bonuses, hotel points transfers, and mileage purchases don’t count towards the bonus, sadly. But all other activity does. Including, for example, shopping transactions which are also currently earning a 100% bonus. (Hat tip Keri.)
Alitalia Member-Get-Member: 25,000 Miles for Each New Member Who Flies Two Flights
Alitalia offers a pretty screwy program, they ‘end’ the program and cancel all miles in the account every few years unless you earn back your existing miles. And this has nothing to do with expiration of an account for inactivity, they simply close their old program and start fresh. That said, they’ve got a pretty impressive member-get-member offer going. They’re offering 25,000 miles for referring someone by September 30 who then flies two flights on Alitalia or Air One by December 31. Seriously. 25,000 miles. The link for more details on the offer is in Italian, but iGoogle tells me that in addition, the referred member receives a bonus 1000 miles as well. And that’s on top of the 2000 mile bonus for first account activity within 3 months of joining.
Deregulation, Important Data that Proves Why It’s Good
The next time someone offers a screed on the horrors of air travel and the need for the government to re-regulate, just remind them what it’s done for pricing. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said the average domestic airfare in the first quarter was $315, down 5.9% from a year earlier. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, fares fell 9.1%, the biggest quarter-to-quarter drop recorded by BTS. The average fare in the BTS quarterly survey hit a high of $360 in the third quarter of 2008. BTS has been surveying fares since 1995. Since the start, the average airfare has increased 6.1% compared to a 40.5% inflation rate, the government said. (Emphasis mine.) Mind you, that’s following a period in which The average airfare, for example, dropped by more than…
Parker Meridien Palm Springs Discounts
Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs is offering either a 17% discount on award bookings (each 12,000 point redemption night earns a 2000 point rebate – not sure if this is combinable with 5th night free to earn the rebate on a night you’re not actually ‘paying for’ but I would assume so since the hotel gets paid just the same). The paid offer is for a $200 food and beverage credit each night on a $199 room rate. The offer is valid through September 3. Combine a slow hotel year with the off-season in the desert and the offers get pretty crazy (read: hotels get pretty desperate — this hotel didn’t even participate in Starwood Preferred Guest a year ago!).
5000 Delta Miles for Free Lasik Eye Exam
It’s not quite as rewarding as last summer’s Bosley hair replacement consultation promo, but you can earn 5000 Delta miles for a free Lasik exam/consultation. Not valid at Virginia and New York locations so folks in those locations will need to cross state lines… If you actually choose to do the procedure they’ll give you another 20,000. (Hat tip to Randy.)
