Northwest’s Fly Free Faster 4 promotion begins on June 1. Register first and them complete one “qualifying activity” and five “partner activities” by August 31st for 10,000 bonus miles. (The “qualifying activitiy” can come in the middle of or even after the “partner acitivities” – the order is unimportant.) Qualifying Activity The activities which will qualify you for the bonus: Credit one flight segment on Northwest, KLM or Northwest Airlink to your Northwest frequent flyer account “Apply, be approved and pay the annual fee for” a new Northwest Visa (although some folks have gotten free Visa cards and still qualified in the past, your mileage may vary). Sign up for service with MCI, Nextel, T-Mobile, or EarthLink (using a promotion that earns Northwest miles) Purchase a new one-year WorldClub membership Purchase 5,000 WorldPerks miles through…
America West is Promoting their Los Angeles Service
Book and fly 2 roundtrips on America West’s nonstop coast-to-coast service from LAX (to Boston, New York JFK, and/or Washington-Dulles) by November 15th and receive a free companion ticket good for travel to any of America West’s nine nonstop destinations originating from LAX. Registration required.
Attention Bay Area Travelers
Free off-airport parking in Oakland from May 25 through August 31.
$65 + tax, Chicago-New York roundtrips
Delta is offering a $65 + $43 tax ($107.90) roundtrip fare between Chicago O’Hare and New York’s LaGuardia or JFK. This seems to be available throughout the next year, doesn’t require a Saturday night or minimum stay, and doesn’t even require advance purchase. The fare seems to be available everywhere — at Delta.com, Cheaptickets.com, and Orbitz… The fare basis is UA0TN.Update: Still available at 9:15pm Eastern.
The Source of Delta’s Woes?
A piece in the Cincinnati Post wonders whether Delta would be in such huge financial trouble if they hadn’t done so much to alienate their best customers. The movement led by the airline’s Platinum Medallion-level frequent fliers has included ads in USA Today, a roving billboard outside a stockholders’ meeting and a negotiating session with Delta executives. They say they were trying to save Atlanta-based Delta from itself and potential bankruptcy. If Delta had listened to them, some say, the airline might not be struggling for its survival. Delta for years attracted customers with its SkyMiles program, and many of its most loyal passengers — those flying at least 25,000 miles a year — enjoyed benefits such as upgraded seats and free flights. But in 2002, Delta reworked SkyMiles. It cut in half the frequent…
Free Stuff
Free paper from Hewlett-Packard. Free mouthwash.64 meg USB drive for taking a survey.Food and Wine pairing magnet.
American Express Bonuses
All points-earning American Express cards are offering double points on retail, dining, and entertainment expenses from June 15 – July 15 (up to 10,000 bonus points) to residents of the greater Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles areas. Registration required.Update: As the first reader comment observes (and as I posted elsewhere yesterday) the geographic limitation applies to all Amex cardholders except those with the Delta American Express. It appears as though the bonus is open to all Delta cardholders regardless of residency. For the month up until June 15, targeted cardholders of the Delta Skymiles American Express earn double miles on all spending over $1000. Registration is required for this one, too.
Independence Air Unveils iClub
Independence Air, which starts service next month, has unveiled its frequent flyer program, iClub. Earn one point per dollar spent on Independence Air tickets. 1500 points is a free trip of 1500 miles or less or 50% off a trip longer than 1500 miles.The real innovation, taking a page from Southwest and going a step further, is There are no blackout dates restricting your use of awards and we don’t limit the number of award seats on our flights. If there’s a seat available for sale, it’s available for award travel. iClub members also save $25 on their first online ticket purchase.I like the simplicity of the program and especially that there aren’t any capacity controls. Customers looking to redeem awards won’t go away unhappy. But the awards themselves aren’t all that appealing — short-haul…
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“Fake” frequent flyer credit cards
The unaffiliated, generic mileage cards are a bad deal for most consumers. Credit cards that aren’t affiliated with any airline’s frequent-flier program — but which promise users the ability to earn free trips on a variety of carriers — have been around since the mid-1990s. Known as “fake” cards to the frequent-flier cognoscenti, they’re marketed primarily to infrequent travelers who aren’t loyal to any single carrier but who would like to earn a free flight every couple of years. They provide domestic coach tickets with values usually capped at about $400 and points can’t be combined with other mileage earning opportunities (like flying, telephone, hotel stays, etc.). So they don’t provide earning power or redemption power. They aren’t going to get you into that business class cabin to Sydney, which is enough to tell me…
