Jan
06
2005
Avis is offering a free Blackberry with one-year paid service agreement to customers who complete a rental by March 31.
Free Blackberry: Not a great deal, but if you wanted one anyway…
Loews Hotels Discount
Jan
06
2005
Loews Hotels is offering a $20.05 credit on reservations of two or more nights made online by March 27.
Another tax preparation offer
Jan
06
2005
Earn 1500 Priority Club points for having your taxes done by H&R Block.
Use Amex Points on OneWorld Carriers
Jan
05
2005
One of the great frustrations of the American Express Membership Rewards program is that American Airlines does not participate as a transfer partner. What’s more, it’s nearly* impossible to use American Express points to claim an award seat on any oneWorld carrier (American, British, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LanChile, Finnair, Aer Lingus). I say nearly because there are ways of working partnerships to get some seats, such as transferring points to Continental or USAirways to claim award seats on Qantas. But there aren’t any oneWorld partners in the Membership Rewards program. Right now there’s a brief window of opportunity, however, created by a confluence of two separate conversion bonuses. As I noted yesterday, transfers from American Express to Starwood earn a 50% bonus through March 31. And until January 31, transfers from hotel program into…
Amex Transfer Bonus to Starwood
Jan
04
2005
American Express is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to Starwood through March 31. Instead of the usual ratio of 3 Amex points to 1 Starwood point, this offer improves the exchange to 2:1.
Fare Glitch on Tickets Originating in French Polynesia
Travelocity seems to be having difficulty properly converting French Polynesia Francs to US Dollars. Right now, all tickets originating in Tahiti and Noumea are showing up at 10% of their usual dollar cost. For instance, Tahiti-Los Angeles roundtrips are showing up from $299 in business class. So if you plan to be in French Polynesia, now is the time to book your tickets. If you already have tickets to French Polynesia, consider buying a one-way return ticket in business or first class and throwing away your existing return. Or you might claim an award ticket to French Polynesia (expensive in miles, I know) and fly from there to pretty much anywhere in the world in a premium class of service. After catching a free flight, top level elite status can be had for ticketing originating…
Subscription pitch!
Jan
01
2005
Don’t worry, it’s free… Sign up to receive each day’s content by email. Just enter your email address underneath my picture at right and each day’s entries will be sent to you overnight. I’ve never used the email list for any other purpose, so you don’t need to worry about spam either. It’s a great way to keep up with the latest deals. Another way is to subscribe to my RSS feed: http://blogs.flyertalk.com/viewwing/index.rdf (You can even get it on your mobile phone at http://www.winksite.com/gleff/blog)
Free the First Year American Express Platinum
Jan
01
2005
Now that banks are able to issue American Express cards, some interesting offers may be coming down the pike. The first one that I’ve noticed is from MBNA, which is offering the American Express Platinum card free the first year and $195 after that. The card comes with MBNA Worldpoints as its rewards program rather than Membership Rewards. As far as proprietary rewards programs go, this one is pretty good but I still don’t like it as much as the various airline and hotel programs. So I wouldn’t put much spending on the card. Instead, I’d use the card for its benefits like airline lounge access. Amex Platinum cards come with access to Delta, Continental, and Northwest lounges when flying on the respective airline. The Platinum card is usually more expensive than straight lounge access,…
Free stuff
Jan
01
2005
Get a free subscription to Men’s Journal and four Crest Whitening Expressions flavors.
Donate Miles in Addition to Money
Jan
01
2005
Here’s an updated list on how to donate miles for tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia. Not everyone can spare tons of cash, that’s certainly understandable although in times of severe crisis I hope that folks will dig as deep as possible. But those of us with even a small amount of spare frequent flyer miles — possibly not even enough to use for free tickets — can help provide free travel for relief efforts. While minimum donations vary by program, in some cases you can give as few as 1000 or 5000 miles. You may have this laying around in an otherwise-forgotten account. These miles might even expire on their own, going to waste. But you can do some good with them. And since most frequent flyer programs keep accounts active with any activity…
