10% Off at Best Buy

Best Buy has a printable 10% off coupon for use over Labor Day Weekend.Of course, if you buy in-store then you can’t get miles via an online shopping portal.

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Air Marshalls Enforcing — and Breaking — the Law

It’s not just for TSA screeners any more! Via David Rowell, there were 753 incidents of misconduct by federal air marshalls during an eight-month period of 2002. Federal air marshals have slept on the job, tested positive for alcohol or drugs while on duty, lost their weapons and falsified information, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general said Monday in a scathing report on the air marshals program. The report criticized the the lenient treatment received by the marshalls, including paying them during forced leave.

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Sorry for Not Writing, I’ll Try to Soon

This week is one of my busiest of the year at work. Y’know, my real job. Not this hobby of mine called miles and points. I don’t get paid for this, y’know! So if I want to keep getting paid well enough to have spare time to share my thoughts on travel with you, I have to pay attention to pressing concerns with my job.. at least this week. In the meantime, I did order my free desktop computer and monitor this afternoon. My free flat screen TV finally shipped and is on its way. And my free iPod is truly amazing. For those of you working towards completing these same offers, reader David Caplan shares the following tidbit: tickle.com is really easy. The sign up form is short, the cost is $1 and you…

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Bad Credit Card Advice from Frommers

A new article up at Frommer’s discusses no-fee mileage earning credit cards.Most airline credit cards come with an annual fee and earn one mile per dollar. Some airlines offer a no fee card that earns one mile for every two dollars spent. So it should be basic math – is the value of those extra miles worth more than the annual fee? That’s what this article discusses.However, it gets several facts wrong. [T]he airlines charged the consumer from $45 to $65 per year to use these cards. Umm, no, the banks charge the fee. The fee does not go to the airline marketing partner. Now for the all-important question, are the no-fee credit cards worth it? Depends on how much you fly. Typically, a holder of an annual fee airline frequent flyer awards-based credit card…

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Those darn free offers

I’ve received my free iPod, my free flat screen TV order has been sent to the vendor, and I’ve completed all of the tasks for the free desktop PC. A couple of reminders. If you sign up for an account, you’ll be taken through a whole series of marketing offers where you’re asked if you’re interested. The choices are Yes/No. Just choose No — these offers do not help you get your free stuff. The object then is to get credit for an offer without spending any money. So far I’ve done the AOL Free Trial (for the iPod), Video Professor (for the Flat Screen), and Infone (for the computer). I had no problems with AOL. I signed up and then a couple weeks later just called up to cancel. They give you a 45…

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Silly arguments against a silly policy

I’m as opposed to Northwest’s new fees for booking with a telephone agent as the next person. But there are just some silly claims being made in the debate.John Frenaye writes Last time you walked into a bank to deposit your paycheck, were you charged extra because you dealt with a person instead of an ATM? … No, of course not. In fact, it is quite common for banks to offer “self service” checking accounts where no fees are charged for ATM banking but use of a teller at a branch incurs a service fee. It’s frightening because there are millions of people out there without Internet access or credit cards. These folks are now going to be penalized for doing business with Northwest since they will be forced to deal with a travel agency…

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Free Desktop PC

So my I’ve been playing with my free iPod for a couple weeks, and my free Flat Screen TV has been sent to the vendor for shipping. The next freebie opportunity has arrived: an opportunity for a free Desktop PC. Like the previous deals, you need to complete one of their offers (such as a free trial, which you can cancel free of charge) and get friends to complete offers as well. Then they ship you a computer.

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