This just in from Diners Club, points will no longer be able to be transferred to USAirways, Northwest, America West, or Continental* effective January 1. United transfers go away April 27. Guess what they call this? Naturally, an enhancement. They’ve added a program where you can pay points for travel directly, at a value of 1.25 cents per point. Don’t do it, it isn’t worthwhile. (Okay, it’s better than the 1 cent per point at Capital One but that’s not saying much!) When Diners Club became a Mastercard, I accepted the end of two billing cycles to pay and higher foreign currency conversion rates. It was worthwhile to me in exchange for broader acceptance. But they’re clearly devaluing the program. One of two things must be happening: either the programs being discontinued have exclusivity provisions…
More kudos!
I understand that View from the Wing has been named Budget Travel‘s “Blog of the Week” .. thanks!
Priority Club Shopping Bonus
Dec
01
2005
When I listed holiday shopping promos last week I left out the offer from Priority Club: double points for paying with Visa and threshold bonuses for various spend levels (up to 10,000 bonus points for $1000 in spending). Spending at 23 merchants count towards the bonuses. Thanks to the MilesLink newsletter for the reminder.
End of Year Mileage Runs
Joe Sharkey writes the obligatory end of year story on mileage runs, bringing the practice of last minute flights to earn airline status to a mainstream audience. Among folks I know this is common — at the end of year when realizing you’re a few miles shy of that coveted top-tier elite card, and in some cases even throughout the year. And it isn’t just airline runs, either, but last minute dummy stays at local hotels to rack up those coveted upgrades to suites. If you’re working on your own end of year strategy and need some assistance just drop me a note and I’m happy to help. Be sure to tell me the number of miles and segments that you have at present, how many more it take to reach your goal, where you’re…
Mexican Getaway
HotelChatter visits El Tamarindo and comes away impressed. It’s on my list of places to visit for a few nights to get away from the cold and burn a few Starwood points.
Foolproof logic on why you should send me money
Marginal Revolution offers a compelling reason why you should donate to support a blog: Efficiency says that goods with zero marginal cost should have a zero price but without prices not only is the incentive to produce diminished but so is information about what to produce. (See Coase’s 1946 classic, The Marginal Cost Controversy, JSTOR). Donations allow prices to be set at MC while at the same time providing a (noisy) signal about where true economic value lies. In particular, Tyler and I know that we can appropriate more of our marginal product from professional work than we can from blogging yet it is conceivable that our marginal product is higher in blogging. Thus, to decide how much to invest in this venture we markup donations to get an estimate of our social value and…
Double miles on international and Japanese domestic routes
ANA is offering double flight miles through March 31. Registration is required. Alas, I’m not planning to fly ANA until April — and even then on an award ticket.
I’m Profiled in Sunday’s Washington Post
The Washington Post runs a brief profile of me in the November 27th edition of their Sunday Source section. It includes basic advice on earning and burning miles.
More Media on Expedia
The LA Times is covering the Expedia / Tokyo & Osaka Hilton pricing glitch. What began as a simple error in the conversion of yen into U.S. dollars quickly snowballed into a public relations nightmare for Expedia. … Expedia isn’t saying much beyond a public statement acknowledging the error. Requests for interviews with Expedia executives were declined. The fact that an error can be publicized and acted upon so quickly is very telling. “It’s really not about FlyerTalk per se,” said Randy Petersen, founder and president of FlyerTalk. “It is about the impact of the Internet as a communication tool. “Many industries, including travel, have been pummeled by this social media in terms of the extent that information about a value offer and even mistakes can spread,” he said. … Travelers say much of their…
Roundup of Holiday Shopping Mileage Bonus Offers
As most readers likely know, nearly any online purchase can earn miles provided you enter an online store via an appropriate mileage-earning portal. Andrew Cram’s comparison chart is the best place to start to determine what miles you can earn before clicking on web store. It’s incredibly extensive. That site catalogs the standard miles on offer. However, various mileage malls sometimes offer bonus miles — especially at holiday shopping time. This year the bonus offers seem sparse. I recall earning 10,000 bonus American Airlines miles last year for my online shopping through the AAdvantage mall. There’s nothing so exciting available this year. Here are the bonus offerings I’ve seen so far: American is offering double miles shopping at the AAdvantage Online mile and paying with Mastercard. In addition you get 1000 miles when spending $500…
