You know you think about miles too much when… * …you hear the words “mile a minute” and find yourself pondering the concept of earning bonus miles as a function of time. …you answer the question, “How many miles per gallon do you get?” with “It depends on what credit card I use.” …you unthinkingly ask your non-frequent flyer friend why she is taking the nonstop flight to London instead of the connection through Syracuse. …you check 4 times a day to see if another partner has posted on the Northwest Fly Free Faster promo. …one half of your brain keeps trying to calculate the cost/mile value of a mileage run against a baseline of a $24.98 SFO-CDG ticket, leading to a temporary conclusion that a $507 JFK-SIN trip is “expensive”. …you criticize your spouse…
Rent Three, Drive Free
Avis is offering rent three times September 7th and December 16th, 2004 and get a free weekend rental. Registration is required. (Hat tip to Samir.)
More free magazines
Free subscriptions to Family Fun and Best Life magazines are back. Plus a free sample issue of Nuts & Volts.
United Visa: Triple Miles on Fast Food
Between September 1 and November 30th, the United Visa is awarding triple miles for spending at ‘quick service’ restaurants, up to 30,000 bonus miles total. Details are here. Quick service is a Visa designation, and the website specifically cites examples as Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, and Quizno’s.
Northwest’s 1-2-3 Free Promotion
Northwest has matched United’s reintroduction of ‘fly three, fly free’ and upped the ante. Northwest is offering international as well as domestic free travel, and most fares are eligible (although the lowest — L, T and K class domestically and V, L, T, and K internationally — are not eligible). Unlike United, Northwest will award credit towards this promotion when flying discount coach fares that include a Saturday night stay.Registration is required.
We won’t even tell you why we won’t let you have freedom to travel
Nick Gillespie over at Reason‘s “Hit & Run” updates on John Gilmore’s legal battle against the requirement that we show papers in order to travel by air. The government doesn’t even want to allow Gilmore to see its legal arguments before the 9th circuit. Chilling.
Free magazines
Subscribe for free to your choice of Blender, Maxim, Details, Men’s Journal, Fitness, Razor, GQ, Rolling Stone, Golf, or Stuff.
More on the free electronics offers
A Wired article from last month outlines the economics of the free electronics deals, and is consistent with the explanations I’ve given here. Instead, they explained, Gratis Internet is paid a bounty for sending potential customers to sites like AOL, eBay or RealNetworks. “We’re a marketing firm,” said Jewell. “We’re sending these people to our advertisers. We cringe when we hear ‘pyramid’ or ‘scheme.’ We’re more closely associated with viral marketing, with the subservient chicken, than Amway.” …The company has sent out more than $3 million worth of free merchandise, Martin said, including 5 million to 6 million condoms. Since the launch of FreeiPods.com in June, the site has dispatched more than 2,500 iPods, Martin said, worth more than $1 million. But in the last few weeks traffic has exploded. Martin claimed nearly 1 million…
Double Miles from Delta Amex
The Delta American Express card is offering double miles on retail purchases (up to 10,000 bonus miles) from October 15 to November 15, 2004. Registration required.
Office Depot Coupon
Save $30 off $150.
