Truly shocking and I’m not easily shocked. The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable, congressional investigators say. The department compounded the problem by reimbursing employee claims for tickets bought by the Pentagon, the investigators said. … A prior report, issued last November, found that the Pentagon bought 68,000 first-class or business-class airline seats for employees who should have flown coach. … The reimbursable tickets had no advanced purchase requirements, minimum or maximum stays or penalties for changes or cancellations under department agreements with the airlines. “The millions of dollars wasted on unused airline tickets provides another example of why DOD financial management is one of our high-risk areas, with DOD highly vulnerable…
Online Shopping Mileage Earning Comparison Guide
I’ve written several times about earning miles for almost all online purchases that you’re going to make anyway (such as here and here).One of the challenges is keeping up with all of the partnerships — which sites allow you to earn miles, and through which programs? Do you actually have to check all the different mileage malls each time you want to buy something, and ever worse compare the earning rates as well? Andrew Cram a chart that compares the earning ability of several hundred commercial websites across nine different mileage programs. A truly handy reference.
New Amtrak Discount
Amtrak has two new discount codes (must be logged into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account for the link to work, not necessary to use the discount) for Northeast Corridor travel. Code V823 and V132 provide 15% off qualifying fares for travel between June 1 and September 12, 2004.I haven’t found the full terms and conditions of the offer, but the codes do seem to work with some Acela Express trains.
Irony-watch
AmeriDebt, the consumer credit counseling company, has filed for bankruptcy. There are also allegations of shady business practices. Then the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Trade Commission and state regulators weighed in with a consumer alert about credit counselors. The FTC in November also sued AmeriDebt, one of the industries leaders, alleging it used deceptive marketing to bilk consumers. FTC Commissioner Thomas Leary said in testimony to Congress that AmeriDebt advertises its services as “free,” when in fact the company retains a consumer’s entire first payment as a “contribution.” … Leary cautioned in his testimony that some companies use their non-profit status as a badge of trustworthiness to attract customers, who are then duped into paying large fees. Those fees are sometimes funneled to for-profit companies.
Northwest Instant Elite
Residents of Asia can get automatic gold status for the summer when signing up for Northwest Worldperks.
Star Alliance Set to Expand
The Star Alliance is set to expand, adding South African Airways, TAP Air Portugal, and Finland’s Blue1. Blue1 might seem like a strange choice given its limited route network, but its parent company is SAS which is already a member of Star.
Free Knife
Amazon has a free knife available. Shipping on one is nearly $8, but shipping on 30 comes to only about $15. Order 300 of them for about $85 in shipping and re-sell them on eBay…
Northwest Airlines New Member Enrollment Bonus
Northwest is offering up to 7,000 miles for new members of its frequent flyer program who take flights within six months. So enroll in the program and participate in Fly Free Faster 4 as well and you should have a free ticket on Northwest by the time you’re done.
Delta Membership Rewards Bonus
Through July 15 Delta is offering a 15% bonus on Membership Rewards point transfers.
AA Mastercard Offers
The American Airlines Mastercard Business Card is available free the first year with 15,000 bonus miles for signup. The personal card is available free for six months with 12,500 bonus miles for signup.(Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)
