The Starwood American Express offer for up to 10,000 points as a signup bonus is back and valid through July 16.Longtime readers will recognize this as what I recommend as best mileage earning credit card.
Are you earning enough hotel points?
Erica Silverstein asks whether you should focus more on hotel points than airline miles. No doubt some hotel point programs can be easier to redeem with than miles. Starwood is the perfect example: all of their ‘standard’ rooms are available for redemption. I find that airline programs still offer the greatest value proposition provided that you redeem for international upgrades or international premium class tickets. But hotel points are certainly underemphasized in most folks’ portfolios. I say collect both!
Miles for Large Sodas, but No Miles for Popcorn
I read some weeks ago that Cinemark Theatres was offering 100 American Airlines miles with each 44 ounce soda. Didn’t seem too lucrative until Free Frequent Flyer Miles pointed out the obvious: stay around the theatre after the credits and check for cups left behind at the seats. You might pick up a few thousand miles for free.
Marriott $100 Bonus
Marriott hotel stays that include a Friday or Saturday night receive free breakfast and $100 towards a future stay, subject to rate availability when paying with Visa.It’s actually not available for my upcoming Marriott stay in Florida, though I could grab the rate at any of the 10 other Marriott properties in town. It’s almost enough to make me change locations.
$40 Roundtrips from Washington Dulles
Independence Air is offering a “Friends and Family” promotion beginning on their first day of flying (tomorrow) through the end of the month — $40 roundtrip plus tax to anywhere they fly. Since the email from their Director of Marketing, which was forwarded to me, says “You can FWD:FWD:FWD this to anyone and everyone. Go ahead!” I feel pretty comfortable sharing it on this website. —–Original Message—– From: Rick Delisi [mailto:Rick.Delisi@flyi.com] Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 10:59 AM Subject: Special Offer to Friends of Independence Air Team Members Greetings to Everyone I’ve Ever Met In My Entire Life: As you can probably imagine, all of us at INDEPENDENCE AIR are pretty excited about our new service at Washington Dulles. We’re ready to start flying in less than a week–June 16th. As part of the inaugural…
Enhancements to this Website
I’ve just added an RSS feed and a version of this website optimized for mobile phone browsing.
Hits4Pay
I just signed up with Hits4Pay, a service that sends you email ads and pays you to read them. They give you $10 to signup and mail checks when you accrue $25. It will probably take awhile to get there, but it’s free money and I click on those Mypoints emails as it is… (The previous link will show Hits4Pay that I referred you, and I do get something for the referral. You’re welcome to go signup without the referral credit to me if you prefer.)
United New Member Signup Bonus
Earn 3000 United miles for signing up for United Mileage Plus. Most of the signup bonuses that United offers require a flight, and usually an expensive one at that. This one doesn’t. I discovered this offer from an affiliate marketing website, and United’s marketing materials say “Miles for Everyday Activities” and “Enroll today. Get 3000 bonus miles.” Because it’s through an affiliate marketing page, Mileage Plus will actually pay me $3.50 for each person that signs up through the offer. (I don’t know any way to link to the offer without the benefit to myself.)
(T)ruth (S)eems (A)WOL
An “unknown machine malfunction” forced the TSA to re-screen 500 passengers at Long Beach airport on Tuesday. The malfunction? One of the machines was unplugged.Worse than failing to notice that the machine was unplugged while screening passengers has to be the TSA’s unwillingness to deal honestly with the public and acknowledge the cause, instead of hiding being “unknown malfunction.”
Federal Procurement, or Who Says the Airlines Aren’t Getting Enough Subsidies
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…
